Sublime Porte

English

Alternative forms

High Porte
Ottoman Porte
Porte (shortening)

Etymology

From French, meaning 'the high gate/portal'.

Proper noun

Sublime Porte

(literally) The monumental portal at the Ottoman palace where the supreme tribunals were held; became the surname of the first palace in Bursa, transferred to the even grander Topkapı palace after the capital's transfer to Istanbul (the former Byzantine imperial capital Constantinople)
(figuratively) A pars pro toto for the Ottoman sultanic court, hence for the imperial government, notably the vizierial divan and the entire empire, or a personage with a similar standing.
- 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], OCLC 21345056, page 170:
  He liked the pleasures of the table, and he liked attendance; he was a sort of Sublime Porte to his valets.

Synonyms

(pars pro toto) Istanbul

Translations

Ottoman imperial government

Danish: Den Høje Port c (definite form), Porten c (definite form)
Dutch: Hoge Porte, Sublieme Porte, Verhevene Porte, Porte
French: Sublime Porte (fr)
German: Hohe Pforte (de) f
Swedish: Höga porten c, Porten c
Turkish: Babıali (tr)

French

Etymology

Calque of Ottoman Turkish باب عالی‎ (Babıali).

Proper noun

Sublime Porte f

the Sublime Porte, Ottoman sultanic palace, court, capital and empire

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