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will terrify not you alone but the whole world, which
[Footnote: Lines 1-52 are reproduced in facsimile on Pl. CXVI.
1. Diodario. This word is not to be found in any Italian
dictionary, and for a long time I vainly sought an explanation of
it. The youthful reminiscences of my wife afforded the desired clue.
The chief town of each Turkish Villayet, or province --such as
Broussa, for instance, in Asia Minor, is the residence of a
Defterdar, who presides over the financial affairs of the province.
Defterdar hane was, in former times, the name given to the
Ministry of Finance at Constantinople; the Minister of Finance to
the Porte is now known as the Mallie-Nazri and the Defterdars
are his subordinates. A Defterdar, at the present day is merely
the head of the finance department in each Provincial district. With
regard to my suggestion that Leonardo's Diodario might be
identical with the Defterdar of former times, the late M. C.
DEFREMERIE, Arabic Professor, and Membre de l'Institut de France
wrote to me as follows: Votre conjecture est parfaitement fondee;
diodario est Vequivalent de devadar ou plus exactement devatdar,
titre d'une importante dignite en Egypt'e, sous les Mamlouks.
The word however is not of Turkish, but of Perso-Arabie derivation.
[Defter written in arab?] literally Defter (Arabic) meaning
folio; for dar (Persian) Bookkeeper or holder is the English
equivalent; and the idea is that of a deputy in command. During the
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