Is it possible to translate the word zori/zor/زور , that exists in Greek & Persian, with ONE English word?

By: | Post date: 2016-08-31 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Linguistics, Modern Greek

From Nişanyan’s etymological dictionary of Turkish, and زور – Wiktionary , zor came into Turkish (and thence Greek) from Persian, not Arabic. And lots of languages either side of Persian and Turkish have picked it up.

A single word for all uses of ζόρι in Greek, that Dimitris Sotiropoulos lists in his answer? No, but “force” covers most of them.

From the Triantafyllidis dictionary:

Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής

  • Application of relatively large amount of strength on something [force]
  • Exercise of violence or pressure on someone, compulsion; typically in the expression “with the ~” (“by force”) [force]
  • Of difficulties, inconvenience, which demand particularly intense effort. “The job has/needs much ~. I have great ~, I suffer much ~: I am under pressure”. [pressure, travails, difficulty]

The expression Dimitris brought up, “do you have a zori with me”, is not accounted for in that definition; the English equivalent is “do you have a problem with me? What’s your problem with me?”

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