The Sultan’s language of vassalage was rendered as friendly equality in translation to England

Evidence

In these the language is one of equal negotiation between sovereigns. Thus, for example, in the berat (diploma) granted by Murad III to Queen Eliz­ abeth authorising English merchants to trade in the Ottoman lands, the Sultan speaks of the Queen as having ‘demonstrated her subservience and devotion and declared her servitude and attachment’ (izhar-i ubudiyet ve ihlas ve ish’ar-i rıkkiyet ve ıhtısas). The contemporary Italian translation renders this ‘sincera amicizia’. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 192

Categorization

• XREF: Direct concrete case proving the mechanism in the earlier dragoman passage — could be cited as evidence.
• CANDY: The Sultan calling Elizabeth his servant rendered as ‘sincere friendship’ is a vivid, tweetable diplomatic anecdote.