Cyprus-Forum.com

[denizaksulu]

just spotted in a post on the abandoned puppies that said instead of siga-siga it is Cypriot to say 'yali yali'

that right?
x

Before 1963, us TCs would have used both , yali, yali and siga, siga for slowly slowly.

In addition the large bumble bee was 'siga' or 'sika', also the fig was called siga in Greek. What a combination.

I will tell you one combination:

tsaera in TC dialect is a chair if I am not mistaken
and in Greek it is a tea pot... lol

Interesting. I cant say that I remember/recognise either. Are these words in the /from the Paphos region? Keep them coming. I think OrPh feels left out. The only Turkish word she knows is Turk.

I use them dialy, sometimes I don't even know there TC words until I ask my uncle or grandparents, most people understand them, many chose to use them and other's who have completely forgetted their roots wipe them out.

I cannot guarantee wether there actually TC words, but there rural non the least.

jiris = dad
xore = see
katse = sit
mashala = kind of weldone, priasal
Tha = here
jite = over there
kilitjiros = gypse
pashas = well made person
shiskas = fat person, or to break, not very nice word (lol)


There is loads of them.

Sorry, to your question, Kyrinea region.

mashala = mashallah Turkish from Arabic,= praise be to God
Kilitsiro = kilinjir scrap merchant (not necessary a gypsy
Pashas = a Turkish military title, lord a man of esteem
shiskas = shishko = fatty fat man (written with an s with the hook

The others are GC, but in mixed villages we aused all of them.

Do normal TC coprehend those words?

I am not sure what you mean by 'normal TCs'. The older generation who have lived in mixed villages would understand most of them. People over my age would speak Greek as good as any other GC. My Greek is very poor as after 12 years old I had not much contact with my old GC friends. (as explained on another thread). Others have learnt it through study, I am sure. But then it would have been 'Ellinika' rather than 'Romaiga'.

[Nikitas]

As usual we forget the influence of Arab language and culture in the Med region. They do that in Greece too, attributing all Turkish sounding words to Turkish influence, while the roots and origins are Arabic. Examples- zamania, ishallah, chai (tea), etc. And we also tend to attribute Italian derived words to Turkish, I have often heard words like courtella (knife), pomilori (tomato), countroumbella (somersault) being described as Turkish simply because the expert did not see any obviously Greek origin. Let us not forget that we were cheek by jowl with the Franks and Venetians for a long time.

[Get Real!]

Deniz, sfika 'σφήκα' is a wasp. Siko (singular) and sika (plural) are figs. Sija (accent on the 'a') is a fig tree in Cypriot and in Greek it's Sikaminia.
Does this confuse you as much as it confuses me?

No not at all Kafenes. now the 'sfika' makes more sense as it is close to the Latin name of 'Ficus' = fig.

What we learnt of the greek lang. was from listening. Because we could not read or write (at that age) in Greek, some of the sounds would by-pass us. It was unfortunate that in 1958 when I went to the secondary school in Nicosia, the ......'s stopped teaching Greek in the schools. Very short sighted. We were so angry.

I'm quite impressed with your relatively rich Greek vocabulary Deniz... even your pronunciations were good last year...

[denizaksulu]

Deniz, sfika 'σφήκα' is a wasp. Siko (singular) and sika (plural) are figs. Sija (accent on the 'a') is a fig tree in Cypriot and in Greek it's Sikaminia.
Does this confuse you as much as it confuses me?

No not at all Kafenes. now the 'sfika' makes more sense as it is close to the Latin name of 'Ficus' = fig.

What we learnt of the greek lang. was from listening. Because we could not read or write (at that age) in Greek, some of the sounds would by-pass us. It was unfortunate that in 1958 when I went to the secondary school in Nicosia, the ......'s stopped teaching Greek in the schools. Very short sighted. We were so angry.

No, no, no Deniz, sfika is the wasp! See I told you it was confusing.

You are right again. I better go to bed. No more confusion for me tonite.

I will relate to you an anecdote related to me by my father. I will PM it as it is a bit rude. It deals with sika = figs.

[denizaksulu]

Deniz, sfika 'σφήκα' is a wasp. Siko (singular) and sika (plural) are figs. Sija (accent on the 'a') is a fig tree in Cypriot and in Greek it's Sikaminia.
Does this confuse you as much as it confuses me?

No not at all Kafenes. now the 'sfika' makes more sense as it is close to the Latin name of 'Ficus' = fig.

What we learnt of the greek lang. was from listening. Because we could not read or write (at that age) in Greek, some of the sounds would by-pass us. It was unfortunate that in 1958 when I went to the secondary school in Nicosia, the ......'s stopped teaching Greek in the schools. Very short sighted. We were so angry.

I'm quite impressed with your relatively rich Greek vocabulary Deniz... even your pronunciations were good last year...

I dont remember conversing in greek with you. But I do have a good ear. I have always liked the Greek language as in science you cannot avoid it. The Greek words I knew help me a lot. Wis I knew much more than I do.

[Get Real!]

Deniz, sfika 'σφήκα' is a wasp. Siko (singular) and sika (plural) are figs. Sija (accent on the 'a') is a fig tree in Cypriot and in Greek it's Sikaminia.
Does this confuse you as much as it confuses me?

No not at all Kafenes. now the 'sfika' makes more sense as it is close to the Latin name of 'Ficus' = fig.

What we learnt of the greek lang. was from listening. Because we could not read or write (at that age) in Greek, some of the sounds would by-pass us. It was unfortunate that in 1958 when I went to the secondary school in Nicosia, the ......'s stopped teaching Greek in the schools. Very short sighted. We were so angry.

I'm quite impressed with your relatively rich Greek vocabulary Deniz... even your pronunciations were good last year...

I dont remember conversing in greek with you. But I do have a good ear. I have always liked the Greek language as in science you cannot avoid it. The Greek words I knew help me a lot. Wis I knew much more than I do.

You would sometimes throw in a Greek word here and there which was funny...

[Filitsa]

As usual we forget the influence of Arab language and culture in the Med region. They do that in Greece too, attributing all Turkish sounding words to Turkish influence, while the roots and origins are Arabic. Examples- zamania, ishallah, chai (tea), etc. And we also tend to attribute Italian derived words to Turkish, I have often heard words like courtella (knife), pomilori (tomato), countroumbella (somersault) being described as Turkish simply because the expert did not see any obviously Greek origin. Let us not forget that we were cheek by jowl with the Franks and Venetians for a long time.

That would be "tsai," in Greece, wouldn't it?

[Filitsa]

just spotted in a post on the abandoned puppies that said instead of siga-siga it is Cypriot to say 'yali yali'

that right?
x

Before 1963, us TCs would have used both , yali, yali and siga, siga for slowly slowly.

In addition the large bumble bee was 'siga' or 'sika', also the fig was called siga in Greek. What a combination.

I will tell you one combination:

tsaera in TC dialect is a chair if I am not mistaken
and in Greek it is a tea pot... lol

Interesting. I cant say that I remember/recognise either. Are these words in the /from the Paphos region? Keep them coming. I think OrPh feels left out. The only Turkish word she knows is Turk.

I use them dialy, sometimes I don't even know there TC words until I ask my uncle or grandparents, most people understand them, many chose to use them and other's who have completely forgetted their roots wipe them out.

I cannot guarantee wether there actually TC words, but there rural non the least.

jiris = dad
xore = see
katse = sit
mashala = kind of weldone, priasal
Tha = here
jite = over there
kilitjiros = gypse
pashas = well made person
shiskas = fat person, or to break, not very nice word (lol)


There is loads of them.

Sorry, to your question, Kyrinea region.

mashala = mashallah Turkish from Arabic,= praise be to God
Kilitsiro = kilinjir scrap merchant (not necessary a gypsy
Pashas = a Turkish military title, lord a man of esteem
shiskas = shishko = fatty fat man (written with an s with the hook

The others are GC, but in mixed villages we aused all of them.

Do normal TC coprehend those words?

"Dame" as in "katse dame" (Katse edo) ... where did that come from?

[Nikitas]

Dame derives from edo xamo, literally here down, down here, sometimes pronounced as dahame.

Tsai vevaios, or tsagaki if you want to be more polite or cute.

[Filitsa]

Dame derives from edo xamo, literally here down, down here, sometimes pronounced as dahame.

Thanks, Nikitas.

Tsai vevaios, or tsagaki if you want to be more polite or cute.

I'm all for polite, but this is more like snooty. "Thelete ligaki tsagaki?" Do you know how many times I've wanted to reply, "Yes, I'd like a freekin' cup of tea ............ please"?