Which Turkish words adopted by the languages in the Ottoman territories have been most grammatically productive (in those languages)?

By: | Post date: 2017-06-18 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Linguistics, Modern Greek

I’m not proud to bring up puşt “bottom, male homosexual on the receiving end of anal sex, faggot”, because homophobia is not something to be proud of. But the word has certainly been productive in Greek, as you might expect of an insult.

From the Triantafyllidis Dictionary: Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής

  • pustis ‘faggot’ (used as insult; used as admiration of someone cunning; used as informal friendly address)
  • Diminutives: pustraki, pustrakos
  • Augmentatives: pustara, pustaros
  • Feminine (used mostly of men): pustra
  • pustario ‘group, collective of pustis
  • pustia ‘dishonourable conduct’
    • Diminutive: pustitsa
  • pustikos ‘adjective of pustis
  • Prefix:
    • pustoɣeros ‘derogatory term for old man’
    • pustoferno ‘to act like a pustis

From SLANG.gr, omitting clearly nonce jocular coinings:

  • pustrilikia, pustlukia (literally faggothoods, with Turkish suffix): ‘sexual insults’
  • pustevo, pustrevo ‘to become gay; to become degenerate, effete’
  • xepustevo (‘faggoting out’): ‘to cry out with joy in an effeminate manner’
  • pustriði ‘insulting diminutive of pustis
  • pustarikos ‘affectionate diminutive of pustis, someone not fully sexually aware’ (portmanteau with pitsirikos ‘kid’)
  • pustosini ‘gayness, gaydom’; deliberately grandiose-sounding, by analogy with ðesposini ‘majesty’, romiosini ‘Greekdom’
  • pustraðiko ‘gay shop, gay establishment = Mykonos’
  • Lots and lots of prefix instances; puštokalamaras ‘faggot penpusher’ deserves prominence as the default derogatory term Cypriot Greeks apply to Greece Greeks. (‘penpusher’, because they speak Official Greek as distinct from Cypriot dialect.)
  • Lots and lots of suffix instances; e.g. xeftilopusta ‘laughing-stock pustis’, poniropustas ‘cunning pustis’, trambukopustas ‘thug pustis
  • If I can be allowed one jocular coinage from slang.gr: [h]eteropustas ‘metrosexual’

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