Kaliarda XXXIII: The Context of Kaliarda

By: | Post date: 2018-01-05 | Comments: 3 Comments
Posted in categories: Linguistics, Modern Greek

A number of Kaliarda words contain allusions to contemporary or older history and literature; Kaliarda speakers were clearly well-read:

aɣiosaviatiko
crab (Agios Savvas’ cancer hospital; Greek karkinos “cancer” and Latin cancer both originally mean “crab”)
vavelo
someone knowing foreign languages < Babel
varavotekno
criminal: “Barabbas child”
venizeloðosmeni
Constantinople: “given away by Venizelos”
ɣerako
bracelet: from the folk song Gerakina, with the chorus “drung drung drung, her bracelets clang”; ftinoɣerakines “cheap bracelets” are handcuffs
ɣi eliniki
soldier: “Greek soil”
juðas
policeman, informant, spy: “Judas”. Hence juðu “Judas chick” = “police”, juðaðiko “Judas shop” = “Ministry of Public Order”; juðaro = “to betray”
ɡodoafiona
religion: “God opium” (Marx: “Religion is the opium of the people”)
etruska
Kaliarda: “Etruscan”
zuzunosailok
ant: “bug Shylock” (i.e. thrifty insect)
ilioɣaza
light: “sun gauze” (according to Petropoulos, from Varnalis‘ verse “O saffron-coloured gauze of dawn”)
iraklopriko
spices: “woman dowry” (spices used to be expensive enough to use as dowry)
iexoviazo
refuse to bear arms: “to Jehovah” (Jehovah’s Witnesses were the best known class of conscientious objectors)
kazeini
malicious gossip; tuberculosis: “casein” (strong glue: gossip and TB both stick to someone)
keaðas
brothel: “Kaiadas, the gorge where Spartans threw their disabled children”
kaliostraro
to enchant (18th century magician Cagliostro)
kameliodona
tuberculosis (allusion to Alexandre Dumas fils’ La Dame aux Camélias, whose protagonist died of TB)
katelanos
tough man: “Catalan”, from the persistent negative memories in Attica of the 14th century Catalan Company, which Petropoulos indicates had been revived in Athens as a gang name
kukuvaɣia
undercover policeman: “owl” (nighttime bird, and regarded as foreboding death); also Ancient Greek ɣlauks and derived ɣlaukos
katsikes
left-hand: “goatish”, and provates right-hand: “sheepish”: from Matthew 25:33 “And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.”
kerveru
trustworthy, trust: “Cerberus”. Hence kerveropuros “Cerberus old man” = “trustworthy” and kerverotekno “Cerberus twink” = “trustworthy young man”
kuasimoda
hunchback: “Quasimodo”
lanaradzis
worker: Lanaras factory, or lanari “carder”
libro d oro
police record: Libro D’Oro, the catalogue of Venetian nobility
luivraxnos
radio announcer: “Louis hoarse”, alluding to marathon runner Spyros Louis (so someone who talks as fast as Louis ran, and who is hoarse). The proverbial expression “become Louis” = “disappear by running fast” survives today.
markomixelu
madness: from Markomichelakis’ clinic in Neo Faliro
bairaktarizo
to punish (Bairaktaris, the notorious police chief of Athens)
bairon
polite, well-dressed, well-bred gay: Lord Byron; also filelinas “Philhellene”, which is how Byron is known in Greece
bakoloneslonakis
admiral: “ship Nelson guy”
batistakis
butler: Battista is a stereotypical Italian butler name
biskototekno
supporter of dictator Papadopoulos (from Papadopoulos biscuit factory)
blakis buropombonaris
Louis Armstrong: “black player of brass/wind instrument”
boðoseika
public toilet: from Bodosakis fertiliser company
nemroði
hunting: “Nimrod”
davelakis
criminal: robber Christos Davelis (died in 1856, remained renowned in folklore) (But davelo also means “to take” in Kaliarda.)
doɣis
deceased friend: “Doge”
okioluis
hare: “ears Louis”, alluding to marathon runner Spyros Louis (so someone who runs as fast as Louis, and has big ears). The proverbial expression “become Louis” = “disappear by running fast” survives today.
oktaris
member of parliament: “eight-er” (allusion to salary of 8000 drachmas a month)
oriental
luxurious, magnificent
piuso
bread, from epiousios “daily, supersubstantial” in the Lord’s Prayer (“Give us this day our daily bread”). Hence piusopuros “bread old-man = baker”, piusotrima “bread shavings = flour”, piusotsarðo “bread hut = bakery”
posiðonitsa
twenty drachma coin: “little Poseidon chick” (Poseidon being depicted on the twenty drachma coin between the World Wars)
puki
fairy: “Puck” (formerly rendered in Greek translations of A Midsummer Night’s Dream orthographically as Puk, now rendered phonetically as Pak)
rampa tu mola
Karagiozis, shadow puppetry: “Mollas’ Stage”, alluding to Karagiozis-puppeteer Antonis Mollas (1871–1949)
renotsarðoruna
gendarme: “queen hut cop”, since the palace was guarded by gendarmes
rovespakis
republican < Robespierre; hence rovespu “republic”
rozorovespakis
communist: “red republican, red Robespierre”
sailokiazo
to be a miser < Shylock; sailakumba “Shylock put-down [money]” = “money deposit”; sailokoboksas “Shylock bundle” = “jewelry box”; sailokopuro “Shylock old man” = “old miser”, sailokotsarðo “Shylock hut” = “Postal Savings Bank”; sailotezoriazo “to Shylock treasure = “to save up”
siðeromol tu lui
express train: “Louis steam engine”, alluding to marathon runner Spyros Louis (so a train which runs as fast as Louis ran).
skrudzo
miser: Scrooge
solonakis
prudent, wise: “little Solon”
dzasrovespakis
fascist: “away with republicans” (Robespierre)
dzidzis, dzidzikis
carefree, bohemian: “grasshopper”, from Aesop’s tale of the Ant and the Grasshopper
fariso
hypocrite: “pharisee”
fula
fat prostitute: proper name Foula; Petropoulos proposes as its referent the wife of Dimitris Athanasopoulos, who murdered him in 1931 in a notorious criminal case
frosaropuri
shrew, malicious woman: “Frossard old woman”, Frossard being the protagonist of Les Deux Orphelines (1875) by Adolphe d’Ennery
xitleropulo
goose: “Hitler bird” (alluding to goose-stepping, and punning on similarity to mainstream xina “goose”)
xristomol
vinegar: “Christ drink” (since Christ was given vinegar to drink on the cross)
*nifokukula
Turkish coffee: “bride hood” (allusion unknown, unless this is an allusion to the comical coinage nifokokozomon “sober bean juice” in the play Babel (1836), satirising in that instance pedantry)
*dzas dzuzis
Adolf Hitler: “away Jesus” = “Antichrist”

Some Kaliarda words involve derogatory attitudes towards other social groups. (Shared oppression has not traditionally led to notions of allyship—although the Roma do appear to have been exempted from venom, with the benign tsinganoromvia “Gypsy barrel organ = tambourine”:

ketseðomura
ugly old woman “felt face”
koen-sapuni
pogrom, persecution of Jews: “Cohen soap” (from the notion that Nazis made soap from Jewish corpses)
lakirovizu
TV anchorwoman: “speech boobs”
marioneta
paraplegic: “puppet”
olio koen
soap: “Cohen oil” (from the notion that Nazis made soap from Jewish corpses)
teknoxavro
crowd, jostling: “child synagogue” (mainstream Greek uses xavra “synagogue” < Hebrew chavurah to refer to jostling)

Geographic terms, referring to ethnicities or locations, are also often derogatory:

aðerfoxori
London: “sissy-ville” (from the reputation the UK had in the 1960s as a pioneer of gay rights)
asprokoli
Acropolis: “white-arsed” (soundalike)
vlaxoxilari
from Rumeli (Central Greece, mountainous): “hillbilly [Sir Edmund] Hillary”
vrakokopeli
Cretan: “breeches kid” (breeches are Cretan traditional dress; kopeli is Cretan for “lad, kid”)
ɣermanoɡreka
Syntagma Square, tourist haven: “German Greek”
ɡrekoturkemenos
Anatolian Greek: “Greek turned Turk”
ɣrekokaθiko
Athens: “Chamberpot of Greece” (Athens is in a geographic basin)
zimarosolinas
Italian: “dough tube guy” (i.e. pasta)
turkual, ismir-turkual
grotesque oriental jewelry: “(Izmir) turquoise”, with turquoise distorted to look even more like “Turkish”
ismir-patsul
heavy cheap perfume: “Izmir patchouli”
kanulu
Omonia Square: “Waterjet chick” (from the fountain there)
karaɡunotsarða
Thessaly: “Karagounides huts” (Karagounides were the farming population of Western Thessaly)
karamarmaru
Athens Stadium: “Marble (augmentative) chick”
karamudzu
[cis female] prostitute: “pussy (augmentative) chick”
katsikaðeros
from Rumeli (Central Greece); katsikaðero (neut): hillbilly, rustic < “goatish” (cf. Koutsavakika vlaxaðero “hillbilly” < vlaxos “Vlach; hillbilly”)
kuelorosola
Klafthmonos (“Lamenter”) Square: “tears”; the square was in fact named so for the protests of civil servants who were fired each elections—the square used to be the site of the Finance Ministry
marmaro-aθlopatsia
Athens Stadium: “marble athletics-square” = “marble stadium”
misofesu
Thrace: “half fez” (i.e. half-Turkish)
blakobubulo
black race: “black crowd”; xionobuluko white race: “white crowd”
musandopalikaru
Crete: “fake brave place” (from Cretan pride in their bravery)
mudzotopos
Paris: “Cunt-ville” (renowned for beautiful women, opposed to London)
deska
Germany < Italian tedesco “German”
kseroskatu
Epirus: “dry [your own] shit place” (proverbial attribute of misers, who would dry their own shit to eat as rusks later)
pitsun siti
Peristeri (“Dove”), suburb of Athens: Italian piccione “pigeon” + English city
protopresvira
Thessalonica: “First Elderwoman”, because the archbishop of Thessalonica is addressed as His All-Holiness, like the Patriarch of Constantinople is
renoɣlastra
Athens Royal Gardens: “Queen’s Flowerpot”
romanas
Roma, Gypsy; romano kilibe was a kind of belly dance done by gays in their tavernas
simito
Epirus: Bagelland (from proverbial notion that newborn boys in Epirus are slapped on the neck and told “may you be a bagel-seller in Constantinople”, άντε και στην Πόλη σιμιτζής)
sfazofesas
Armenian: “massacred by fezes (= Turks)”
terogamila
Central Greece: “land camel” (because it is mountainous)
teromudza
Peloponnese: “land moudza” (insulting gesture with spread palm)
dzinavotopos
London: “in-the-know (i.e. gay) place”
dzordzis o kavalitos
Lycabettus Hill: “George (English) the rider”, after the church of St George there and the rhyme of “rider” with Lycabettus.
tiraxosevas
Sevastakis shoe store: “Shoe Sevas(takis)”
tiraxostoun
Petridis shoe store: “Shoe Stone” (Petridis < Petros “Peter” is derived from petra “stone”)
turistovraxos
Hydra, Mykonos (often), Spetses (occasionally): “tourist rock”
turistofaka
The Acropolis: “tourist trap”
turkokutrukelo
Smyrna, Izmir: “Turk ?”
faflatoθalasoskatas
Cretan: “poltroon sea shit”
felaxoblakoskinis
black: “fellah black skin”
fesas
Turk: “fez wearer”; fesovakuli “Turkish church” = “mosque”
fterokapakis
Italian: “feather cap”, referring to the uniform of bersaglieri and other units in the Italian army
xionu kustoðia
white race: “(snow-)white guard”
*adzemakis
Persian < adzemis < Turkish acem
*grandabota
Italy: “big boot” (from the shape of the country)

Petropoulos said there were around forty words for gay (bottom) in Kaliarda; this is what I found:

anemi
mincing gay: “spinning wheel”
anemomilos
mincing gay: “windmill”
vlaxodana
provincial gay: “hillbilly whore”
ɣiðoteknosintiriti
provincial gay: “upkept by goat children”
ðiapompu
gay surrounded by young men: “publicly ridiculed”
ðiskos
switch: “LP record” (having two sides)
epitafios
gay surrounded by well-dressed young men: “Epitaphios” (funeral procession ritual on Good Friday, when churchgoers put on their best clothes and walk around the church)
zuɡlolubina
out gay: “jungle queer”
kapa
gay, from kappa, first letter of kori “maiden”
karalubu, karalubo
malicious gay: “queer (augmentative)”
kek
uninitiated young boy, courted by a top: “cake”
kluva
street quean: “police van”
kotula
young top who occasionally is a bottom: “young chicken”
kof mesik
notorious gay < kofa < kufala “hollow” (i.e. “slut”, of woman) + me sik “chic”
krifi
closeted gay: “hidden”
krotalo
street quean: “noise chick” (she is accompanied by outcry)
laterna
made-up gay: “barrel organ” (because barrel organs were heavily ornamented)
leði
bottom: “Lady” (as title of British nobility)
lubina
gay < Romani lubhni “whore”; variants: luba, lubesko, lubunia, lubo
misoɣunu
gay who has done hair removal: “half fur chick”
modernotekno
young gay: “modern (= anal sex) child”
bairon
polite, well-dressed, well-bred gay: Lord Byron; also filelinas “Philhellene”, which is how Byron is known in Greece
bidzanu
starving gay
dovas
hated and repulsive gay
kseskismeni, kseskistra
street quean: “ripped apart woman” (referring to sex)
ksefonismeni
poor gay: “shouted down”
plen lubinia
notorious gay: “full queer”
sikia
gay: “fig tree” (derogatory mainstream Greek term)
siko
underage gay: “fig” i.e. immature counterpart of sikia “fig tree” = “gay”
tarafoluba, tarafolubesko
out gay, clearly initiated gay: “guild queer”
teknitsa
young girl; young gay, twink: diminutive of tekno “child; twink”
dzazkarabazu
mincing gay: “unscrewed”
ipsometru
provincial gay: “altitude” (alluding to them being from the mountains)
fiongos
bottom presenting like a top: < dzidzifiongos “dandy”, lit. “pretty ribbon”; having sex with a bottom presenting like a top is called “binding a ribbon” (ðanteliazo, ðeno, avelo fionɡo)
fransi
gay: French français “French”?
psoraðerfi
poor gay: “louse sissy”
*karabines
outrageous gay: “queer (augmentative)”
*lutrokabines
gay owner of an apartment: “toilet and bath” (from wording of to-let notices)
*neroxitis
gay employee of straight brothel: “kitchen sink”
*damdelari
gay cruising the streets: French dame de la rue “lady of the streets”
*ksekoliθra
horny gay: “arse-out socket”

These are the remaining words to deal with sex and sexuality that I have gathered:

atmokavlu
steam bath, Turkish baths: “steam horny”
afroðito, karafroðito
prostitute < Aphrodite, afroðisios “venereal” (kara- “augmentative”)
adzinavoto feɣi
third gender (in the 60s, referred to the conflation of homosexuality and trans gender): “unknown leaf” (pun on feɣi < French feuille “leaf”, Greek φύλλο, used for its homonym φύλο “gender”)
axarnoeleni
old prostitute: “Helen of Acharnon St”
vatikano
gay brothel: “Vatican”
vekogrekiotiki partuza
switching in gay sex: “Ancient Greek gangbang”
vromadroðo
syphilis: “stinking venereal”
ɣamias tis pinas
pimp: “hunger fucker”
ɡazoza, ɡaza
enema: “lemonade”
ɡazozu
nurse, maid in brothel: “enema chick”
ɡuniota
lesbian < French?
ðelta
vagina: “delta”
ðiakopes sto portofino
stay at Syngrou hospital for venereal diseases: “holiday at Portofino”
ðiplo batimani
lifting legs during sex; sexually experienced gay: “double battement” (ballet move involving lifting one leg); batimaro is “to kick”
ektrosi
anal douche after sex: “abortion”
elko-afroðo
syphilis: “ulcer venereal”
iraklota
“feminine”: supine, face up
kalderimi tis xaras
cruising by top: “cobbled street of joy”
kaloɣeroɣlikes
horniness: “monk’s sweetness”
kaloɣerokendima
masturbation: “monk piercing”
kapiazo
to feel up < kapi “spoon” (English cup?); kutalia “spooning” means the same in both Kaliarda and Koutsavakika
normal
“normal”: prone, face down
karafroðitobaro
venereal disease: “prostitute penis”
karafroðitostasi
period: “prostitute pause”
karafroðitotsarðo
brothel: “prostitute hut”
katsikano
female breast < katsika “goat”
kavlokunimata
thrusting of top during sex: “erection moves”
kavlomaɣnitis
sex appeal: “erection magnet”
kavlomaksilaro
vagina: “erection pillow”
kavlopipilo
female breast: “erection suckling”
kelebia
condom: “jellabiya” (Arabic robe)
kontra-pombon
69: “opposite blowjob”
kumunoskeli
period: “commie thighs”
kupobeles
eunuch: “cut testicles”
kuraveltozumo
sperm: “fuck juice”
kuraveltopuriazo
to be impotent: “fucking old-man”
kurunes
cockteasing: “crow”
krevatoðeksiosi
night-long anal sex: “bed reception”
kolotsitono
to have forceful anal sex: “arse stretch”
laxaniazozumo
sperm: “panting juice”
lukia
slut (not whore): “Lucy”; possibly related to Koutsavakika luki “drainpipe = anus”
madam ɡu
lesbian < guniota
matiazo
to peep (in standard Greek: to single out something by glancing)
modernizo
to have anal sex: “to be modern”
modernosixliazo
to become impotent: “to shrivel while being modern (= having anal sex)”
munopasxa
period: “cunt Easter” (which in Greece features red easter eggs)
musandoperno
to flirt: “to fake take (= have sex)”
musandopasas
sexual aggressor: “fake pasha”
mudzokontratempo
deflowering: “cunt pressure”
mudzomusafiru
service staff at brothel: “cunt guest chick” (because she is a guest at the brothel, rather than core staff)
mudzotsarðo
brothel: “cunt hut”
bagazi
bulge in pants: “baggage”
bamia
small penis: “okra”
barosimo
venereal disease: “sickness stamp” (allusion to stickiness of VD)
beliera
jockstrap: “testicle holder”
bulkume, purkume
sperm, ejaculation
bulkumeðotsarðo
brothel: “sperm hut”
brateliazo
to feel up < bratelo “hand” (cf. mainstream Greek vazo xeri “to put hand” = “ibid.)
naziazo
to have sex < nazi “flirt, coquettish behaviour”
dap
masturbation (older Kaliarda: to beat up)
dezaro, avelo dezi
to be horny, dezi “desire, horniness” < deziraro “to desire”
dezoðikeliazo
to peep: “horny looking”
dezolaxtaras
sadist: “horny yearner” (only in the masculine)
dezobula
penis wart: “horny ball”
dezodupu
masochist: “horny beating chick” (only in the feminine)
dezoplenis
sensuous: “horny full”
dezoxorxora
idiosyncracy (= fetish, kink?): “horny fire”
desapote sermelia
penis without foreskin: “uncovered penis” (lit. “hatless” < French de + chapeau)
perno
to have sex as passive partner: “to take (someone)”; hence *parθikame “we were taken” = “I was fucked”
paketo
bulge in pants: “package”
parateri
(cis) woman: “redundant” (to gay relationships)
parke
blowjob: “parquet, flooring”
partuza
group sex (now mainstream Greek) < French partouse
pentikosti
married woman (or gay man): “Pentecost” (originally: fiftieth [day]), by analogy with mainstream slang sarakosti “Lent” (originally: fortieth [day]), used with the same meaning, alluding to Lent being a period of deprivation
piasman, piasmande, piastiko
groping: < piasimo “holding”
pipiloɣamulis
tender lover: “darling fuck” (lit. “suckling fuck”)
pipiloɣatulis
tender lover: “darling kitten”
plejaro dap
to masturbate: “to play wank”
plenobeles
horny: “full testicles”
pombon
blowjob < bon-bon “lolly”; pombino frape “ibid.”
pulomusafiro
enema: “anal guest”
presvia
public urinal: “embassy”. “Embassy of the United Arab Republic” = “Athens Town Hall public toilet”; “Embassy of Great Britain” = “Syntagma Square public toilet”, named for the Grande Bretagne Hotel nearby; “Embassy of Free States” = “Field of Mars public toilet”; “Embassy of the United States” = “Omonia Square public toilet”.
ruzoskelo
period: “red legs”
sarmela, semelia, sermela, mela, melitsa
penis
sarmelozumo
sperm: “penis juice”
sarmeloxamoɣelo
coitus: “penis smile”
sarmuta
female prostitute: Koutsavakika: “fat woman”
safrans tuzur
the twink has come looking for money: Pseudo-French
semelonome
to get married to a man: “to be dicked”
semnaðerfi
lesbian: “modest sister”
sividzilu, sividzo, dzivdzilu
lesbian < dziv dziv
dziv dziv
lesbian sex: probably onomatopoeic
soloflokiazo
to masturbate: “to cum solo”
spanokukula
condom: “beardless hood”
sikafra
cancer, syphilitic ulcer: “fig (= faggot) venereal”
sfera
small penis: “bullet”
teknadzu
someone into twinks (fem., with queer referent); has passed into mainstream Greek, as woman into toyboys, cougar
teknokalierɣistra
sperm: “child cultivator”
teknorokanadzis
“pederast”, top: “chews twinks”
teknodezopsino
to deprave, to lead into prostitution; “child horniness bake”
tekno tis violetas
client of gay prostitutes: “money twink”
dzasaro flokia
to ejaculate immediately: “to expel sperm”
dzinavokosmos
gay community: “in-the-know world”
dzinavopoltos
vaseline: “in-the-know (i.e. gay) jelly”
dzinavoxirokrotis
gay ally: “applauder of those in-the-know (i.e. gay)”
dzus-pulomusafirizome
to cleanse one’s anus of sperm: “to drive away the anal guest”
turloliɣuris
top: “longing for the swollen” (i.e. anus)
tutafe
hedonist < French tout à fait “absolutely”
tutu, tuta, tutuka
small penis: “whistle” (nursery word)
tremozumo
sperm: “trembling juice”
trombies
thrusting motions of top during sex: “pumping”
tsapela
someone whose anus is tense: “string of dried figs”
fakiropipiza
erect penis: “snake charmer flute”
feɣi de roza
anus: French feuille de rose “rose petal; analingus” (cf. rosebud)
fistiki
small penis: “peanut”
floki
sperm < “lint”
fsi fsol
coitus: onomatopoeic, possibly influenced by German Ficki-Ficki
fotoɣenia
bulge in pants: “photogenic”
xorxoriazo
to be horny, to burn with desire: “to be on fire”
psamoskelu
horny: “excited thighs”
psixotraɣopuros
top: “soul priest”; Koutsavakika psixopapas has the same meaning
psolaraɣma
vagina: “dick haven”
psolovrondi
masturbation: “dick beating”
*aðerfomana
supporter of gays: “sissy mother”
*lamno
to fuck: “to row”
*sapo
glans: French chapeau “hat”
*suɣlaro
to fuck enthusiastically: “to skewer”
*dzivanostasio
hangout for effeminate gays: “in-the-know station”
*sfraɣiðiazo
to have a permanent relationship: “to be sealed”

 

3 Comments

  • I’m pretty sure “vlaxoxilari” could be re-purposed nowadays to refer to the wife of a former “vlaxodimarhos” that runs for the same office, his having had an affair while in office being optional.

    I would expect most of this vocabulary to be ephemeral and sometimes restricted to certain subsets of the Kaliarda speakers, for example the literary allusions wouldn’t be accessible to uneducated speakers. That said, there can be exceptions to this, for example people use the expression “he became Louis” without necessarily knowing who Spyros Louis was.

    • John Cowan says:

      Indeed, and in English people speak of a harrowing experience without the slightest knowledge of what a harrow (a device consisting of a heavy framework having several disks or teeth in a row, which is dragged across ploughed land to smooth or break up the soil, to remove weeds or cover seeds) might be.

    • Sarantakos has already argued that the witticisms reported in the dictionary are individual creations, rather than widespread conventionalised expressions. Indeed, Petropoulos says that most speakers only had 200-300 Kaliarda words. The existence of such coinages still says a lot about Kaliarda as a linguistic system, though; and I’m sure most speakers came up with some sort of witticism. Lubunca speakers boast of their humour, and they have a lot less material to boast about.

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