qnli question: In a literal sense what was the Ottoman empire referred to as? sentence: In Ottoman Turkish, the empire was referred to as Devlet-i ʿAliyye-yi ʿOsmâniyye (دَوْلَتِ عَلِيّهٔ عُثمَانِیّه), (literally "The Supreme State of the Ottomans") or alternatively Osmanlı Devleti (عثمانلى دولتى).[dn 5]