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Sublime Porte (The)

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The Ottoman empire. It is the French for Porta Sublīma, the “lofty gate.” Constantinople has twelve gates, and near one of these gates is a building with a lofty gateway called “Bab-i-humajun.” In this building resides the vizier, in the same are the offices of all the chief ministers of state, and thence all the imperial edicts are issued. The French phrase has been adopted, because at one time French was the language of European diplomacy.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Styles
Stylites or Pillar Saints
Styx
Suaviter in Modo (Latin)
Sub Cuitro Liquit
Sub Hasta
Sub Jove (Latin)
Sub-Lapsarian, Supra-Lapsarian
Sub Rosa
Sublime Port
Sublime Porte (The)
Submerged (The) or The Submerged Tenth
Submit
Subpœna
Subsidy
Substitution of Service (The)
Subtle Doctor
Subvolvans or Subvolvani
Succession Powder
Succinct
Succoth

See Also:

Sublime Porte