Cyprus-Forum.com

[Bananiot]

I am not sure on this but I think the name "Morphou" stems from the ancient times since it was inhabited by people that came from the Sparta area in Greece and they worshiped goddess Aphrodite who was obviously very beautiful, "omorphi" in Greek. So, Morphou and Omorpho, probably relate to the history of the town.

[Chrisswirl]

So "Yunanlıları" means Greeks? I never knew that. I knew kibris, and merhaba means hello? But sometimes I hear yakshimash too on the PIK news, does that mean hello as well? It sounds similar to a word in Polish (I think in Polish it is how are you). That's interesting about Guzelyurt, and the history of Morphou from Bananiot too.

"Tum Turkleri, Yunanlıları ve tum Kibrislilari seviyorum, Barisi destekliyorum" sounds a bit advanced for me but it would be a great thing to learn, I will write it down and try it next time I'm in the North , though I might scare people saying it randomly!

I'm half Cypriot so my Greek isn't amazing and I'm sure other people would be a lot better help, but here are a few simple phrases.

Hello - yiAsou - note: it's hard how to represent the Greek gamma, it's a mix between G and Y, but I'll use y as "yiasou" sounds better than "giasou"

Thankyou - efkaristO

How are you - dee kAnees?

Good thankyou, and you? - kalA efkaristO, ki esEE?

Good morning - kali mEra

Hello / Goodbye - yIAsou

Sorry to any Greeks if my Greek isn't quite correct, especially the stress. I am still learning to be fluent in Greek and of course Cypriot dialect of it (often different, for example, Karpouzi means watermellon in Greek but Greek Cypriots use Pateeha).

Is there a difference between Turkish and Turkish Cypriot?

[Turker]

So "Yunanlıları" means Greeks? I never knew that. I knew kibris, and merhaba means hello

Yes, true... ("Yunanli" means Greek, "Yunanlilar" means Greeks.)

Thanks for your Greek sentences also

Is there a difference between Turkish and Turkish Cypriot?

Actually, I'm not a Cypriot but I know there's not so many differences between them. Only a few maybe. But the prononciation changes a little.Yet it sounds very good, better than the Prononciation of Istanbul.

[Chrisswirl]

Just a little note on the translations I put, I should have explained it. When I wrote in capital letters it's to show the part of the word you have to stress when you say it, it's not a funny way we write capitals or anything. For example, in Greek script, thank you would be writen as...

Ευχαριστω, with a stress (accent) on the last letter. Unfortunately, I don't know how to do stresses on Greek letters on the computer.

[insan]

Chrisswirl wrote:
Is there a difference between Turkish and Turkish Cypriot?


Actually, I'm not a Cypriot but I know there's not so many differences between them. Only a few maybe. But the prononciation changes a little.Yet it sounds very good, better than the Prononciation of Istanbul.

There are so many differences between TC dialect and all other dialects of Turkey. And also there are so many different words...




Some examples:

Code: Select all

Official Turkish  Dialect                          TC Dialect

Kız Kardeş(Sister)                                 Gız Gardaş

Anladın mı?                                           Ağnadıng?

------------                                            Gancelli(Garden Door)

Salyangoz(Snail)                                   Garavolli

------------                                            Molehiya(A kind of vegetable)

------------                                            Golagaz(A poatoe like vegetable)

Karanlık (Darkness)                              Garannık


Tavuk(chicken)                                     Bulli


Makarna(Macaroni)                               Magarına


Ne yapıyorsun? (What are you doing?)    Napang?


Soğan(Onion)                                       Suvan


Domates(Tomatoe)                               Dumadez


Kendisini(Ownself)                                Genni(Most Popular)


Burada(Here)                                        Buraşda


Kafa(Head)                                            Kaha


-------------                                          Lamarina(A kind of zinc)


--------------                                         Gonnara

The TC dialect is as different as that none of the mainland Turks cannot understand when it is spoken purely... but TCs can understand the official Turkish dialect because they are familiar to it from school, books and Tv....


There are also so many different dialects within Turkey as well... for instance the eastern enclaves of Turkey and Lazis from Black Sea region have a totally different dialect than the official Turkish....

[Chrisswirl]

A little more extreme in difference than the GCY / G dialects, then.

I reckognise some of the words being similar, for example "kafa" and "kefalos" mean head.

[mehmet]

Chrisswirl,

I believe the word you are hearing on television is 'eyi aksamlar', which I believe means good evening.

As a contribution to the discussion of difference between Turkish spoken in Turkey and Cyprus, my understanding is this.

In Cyprus Turkish people live together with Greeks forhundreds of years, many also speaking both languages. The Greek language as I have heard my mother and others speak it is soft in pronounciation (unlike German for example). Therefore when speaking our own language we have softened some of the sounds. The words k and t for example are pronounced more like a g or a d. The words 'tatli' (which means pudding or sweet) and 'kalkiyorum' would not be pronounced by Turkish Cypriots in the same way. There is also this to consider, we have shortened words and phrases. I don't know if it is because we are lazy or some other reason. I also understand that some words in Greek, and Serbo-Croat and Bulgarian for that matter are influenced (for obvious reasons) by Turkish. For example 'loukomia' and 'karpouzi'.

[Piratis]

I was in the bookstore last week and there was a book with Cyprus words, something like a Greek Cypriot language dictionary. That book was really thick and unfortunately quite expensive also.

Cyprus dialect is much heavier than mainland Greek. We use all these "SH" and "CH" sounds that do not exist in mainland Greece and that can not be written using the Greek alphabet.
This is partly because Cyprus dialect didn't evolve as fast and it got more stuck to the ancient pronunciation (because of the distance). Also it is affected more than mainland Greek from Turkish and English and our other rulers.

[mehmet]

So perhaps, the same process has worked in reverse with the greek Cypriot pronounciation of Greek.

[Bananiot]

Insan, do you know the english word for gonnara? I used to pick them as a kid, they are ready about this time of the year. They have an exquisite taste. Highly recommend them.