Abstract
Humor is a social phenomenon with an ancient history. The cartoon is one of the most unique and exciting types of humor. Cartoon albums, advertisements, posters, and (today) social media tools are some of the transmission ways of cartoons. However, periodicals have undoubtedly the most significant contribution of handing the cartoons in society. This study aims to determine the signs of Ottoman and Turkish culture through the strip cartoon writings and interpret how these writings are translated into French. The strip cartoons from the Ottoman Empire journals were accessed online through the National Library Digital Archive. The strip cartoons published with their French translations were selected as the object of this research. In this context, the strip cartoons identified in the journals called Kalem, Cem, and Diken were analysed according to the "translation semiotics" approach in terms of cultural specific items in translation studies. As a result, it has been seen that adaptation and generalization methods are primarily used in the translations of the strip cartoon writings of the Ottoman Empire. In addition, it has been seen that word-for-word translation is not preferred in the translations of cultural and linguistic items. Although the meaning is lost from time to time in the translated text, it has been observed that some expressions are not translated.