Kaliarda VII: The Romani basis of Kaliarda, updated

I have found a copy of Montoliu’s paper on Kaliarda.¹ I will post on it separately, but I’m going to use the opportunity to supplement the Romani etymologies provided by Poniroskilo on slang.gr, with the extensive etymologies provided by Montoliu. Where a term appears in both Poniroskilo and Montoliu, I have gone with Poniroskilo’s transliteration (taken from ROMLEX), and I have attempted to normalise the transliteration to ROMLEX.

The Dortika are from (UPDATED) Triantafyllidis, M. 1924. 7. Eine zigeunerisch-griechische Geheimsprache. Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschungen 52: 1–40. Reprinted in Άπαντα [Collected Works]: 2: 46–85.

NOTE: I will be updating this listing as I discover more Romani words. Montoliu counts 52 roots. I have 44 (though one, mataˈlo, would have been unknown to Montoliu, and one, parniˈes, replaces berˈde which he erroneously derived from Romani—it is Turkish via cant metathesis.)

Kaliarda	Romani	Dortika
aˈvelo give, take, do, put, take out, want, have	aˈvav, pf. aˈvil be, become, come, arrive	vˈela come
ˈaxatos this	kate, kathe here	ko < Romani k’o “the”
balaˈmo middle-aged client of male prostitute	balamo, balamno boss, judge, non-Roma; in Sepeči Romani dialect (Volos): ethnic Greek	balaˈmos man, human; boss, householder
banˈɡolos deaf, banˈɡola short-sighted	banˈɡo bent, tilted, lopsided; lame, cripple
baˈlos fat	baˈlo pig
baˈros fat	phaˈro heavy; hear, tiresome, difficult	baˈros big
baˈro disease	phaˈro heavy; hear, tiresome, difficult
beˈnavo, buˈavo to speak	pheˈnav to say, to speak	pʰi˞ˈnela to say
bitzaˈnu ravenous homosexual	bičiˈnav to sell
buriˈaris singer	puˈřiv to give away; to blackmail someone
but very	but very, many	but very
davelo to take	davel “he gives”
dap masturbation, (Older Kaliarda) beating; dup beating	tab, tap beating	taˈba beating; to beat
ˈdzazo, ˈdzao drive out, leave, flee	džav leave, depart, distance oneself, go	ˈdzala leave!
ˈdzare 500 drachma note (which is green), dzaroˈsermela “green penis” = “zucchini”	(according to Petropoulos) dzare green: presumably, čar “grass”
dziˈnavo understand	conflation of ˈdžanav to know and džiˈnav to count, to read
dzoˈvi louse, fly, bug	džuv louse	ˈdzuva louse
ðiˈkelo, kuˈelo see, look; dik look	dikhˈlav, pf. diˈkhel see, look, inspect	ˈksela look (Romani etymology unknown)
eˈmandes Ι, manˈdula Ι (diminutive)	mande Ι
eˈsandes you (sg), sanˈdula you (diminutive)	mande Ι + Greek esi you (sg.)
iˈmandes we	mande Ι + Greek emis we
iˈsandes you (pl)	mande Ι + Greek esis you (pl.)
irakˈlja woman, iraklo buxom woman	rakli, rakhli non-Roma girl	rakˈlo boy
ˈkakna, kakˈni chicken	khajˈni chicken	kaiˈni, ɡaɡˈni chicken
kaliarˈda Greek gay cant < kaliarˈdos ugly, evil, strange	kaljarˈdo black, African, blackened, dishonoured: past participle “blackened” of kaljaˈrav to blacken < kaˈlo black; cf. the Spanish Roma language name Caló. Montoliu concludes that this originates from the Roma being called swarthy
kaˈtes, kaˈte that	kate, kathe here	ko < Romani k’o “the”
kuˈlo turd, shit	khul turd, shit
kuraˈvelta sex, kuraˈvelo to have sex as a top	kuravel causative of kurel “he beats, he masturbates, has sex”	kuraˈvela sex
laˈtsos beautiful, good	lačho good, beautiful
luˈbina gay	lubhˈni, lumbi, lumli whore, slut
manˈdo bread	manˈřo, mandro bread	manˈdo  bread
mataˈlo (Older Kaliarda) drunk	mato drunk, matalo drunkard	maˈto drunk
mol water, liquid, alcoholic drink	mol wine	mol wine
muˈdzo vagina	mindž vagina, vulgar word for girl or girlfriend > English minge
ˈnaka nothing, none, no	na khan not at all
paˈɡro hair	baˈkro sheep (as a fleeced animal; Standard Greek μαλλί refers to both hair and fleece)	baˈkro sheep, goat
parniˈa, pl. parniˈes money	parˈno, pl. parˈne white; money
peˈle testicle	peˈlo, pl. peˈle testicles
piˈselo to sleep	pašˈlav to put to sleep
ˈpuli anus	bul arse
puˈros old	phuˈro old, grandfather
ˈrelo fart	řil fart (in the Sepeči Romani dialect of Volos)
so kerdes? what exactly? how exactly?	so kerdes? how are you?
tekˈno boy, young man, small	tikno small, dainty
tiraˈxo shoe	tiˈrax shoe	patsarˈxa shoes
tsurˈno theft, especially of the wallet of a top by the bottom’s friend hiding under the bed	čoˈrav to steal, to rob	tsoˈrela, tsuˈrela theft
tuˈlo five-drachma piece, duˈlo money	thuˈlo fat (via mainstream Greek slang xonˈdra “fat, thick” (neut.pl) = “a lot of money”
ˈxalo eat	xav, pf. xal eat	xala < khala “he eats”, xaljon < khaliom “I ate”

NOTE: The words develo ~ dzevelo “to desire”, dapavelo “to surrender” are clearly also Romani, but I have been unable to date to work out their etymology. (dapavelo looks like the causative tapavel “he makes someone beat someone up”)