Dragoman

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Dragoman \Drag"o*man\, n.; pl. {Dragomans}. [From F. dragoman,
     or Sp. dragoman, or It. dragomanno; all fr. LGr. ?, Ar.
     tarjum[=a]n, from the same source as E. targum. Cf.
     {Drogman}, {Truchman}.]
     An interpreter; -- so called in the Levant and other parts of
     the East.


     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  dragoman
       n : an interpreter and guide in the Near East; in the Ottoman
           Empire in the 18th and 19th centuries a translator of
           European languages for the Turkish and Arab authorities
           and most dragomans were Greek (many reached high
           positions in the government)

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  DRAGOMAN. An interpreter employed in the east, and particularly at the 
  Turkish court. 
       2. The Act of Congress of August 26, 1842, c. 201, s. 8, declares that 
  it shall not be lawful for the president of the United States to allow a 
  dragoman at Constantinople, a salary of more than two thousand five hundred 
  dollars.