Languages of the Ottoman Empire
The language of the court and government of the Ottoman Empire was Ottoman Turkish, but many other languages were in contemporary use in parts of the empire. Although the minorities of the Ottoman Empire were free to use their language amongst themselves, if they needed to communicate with the government they had to use Ottoman Turkish.
Sanjak
Sanjaks (; ; Modern Turkish: "Sancak", ) were administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire. "Sanjak," and the variant spellings "sandjak, sanjaq," and "sinjaq," are English transliterations of the Turkish word "sancak," meaning "district," "banner," or "flag". Sanjaks were also called by the Arabic word for banner or flag: "liwa".