Author: Nick Nicholas

Website:
http://www.opoudjis.net
About this author:
Data analyst, Greek linguist

Updated post on the etymology of βύσσινο “sour cherry”

By: | Post date: 2019-01-22 | Comments: 1 Comment
Posted in categories: Uncategorized
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I have expanded my old Quora post http://hellenisteukontos.opoudjis.net/2016-04-13-what-is-the-etymology-of-the-russian-word-vishnya-cherry-there-seems-to-be-a-connection-to-the-turkish-word/ and just had it published in Greek on Nikos Sarantakos’ blog: https://sarantakos.wordpress.com/2019/01/21/nikolaou Yes, this does mean I’m coming back. Eventually.

fufuðion

By: | Post date: 2018-01-12 | Comments: 10 Comments
Posted in categories: Linguistics, Mediaeval Greek, Modern Greek

In my time at the TLG, there was many a mediaeval Greek word that was not in the main dictionaries—Lampe, Trapp (which was not yet complete at the time), and Kriaras (ditto); and I would expend pleasant and assiduous effort in trying to track those words down elsewhere. One such word was the Byzantine Greek […]

Kaliarda XXXIV: Miscellanea from Kaliarda

By: | Post date: 2018-01-05 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Linguistics, Modern Greek

The following words mainly illustrate the interesting ways Kaliarda implements its schematicism: aðelfula cat: “little sissy” (gays identifying with cats) anemoviva soul: “wind life” adikotos distant: “un-seen” astedupuros director: “‘That’s how I want it!’ old man” < Arvanitika është dua “that’s how I want it” (also used in mainstream slang) atsarðo countryside: “houseless” axatozo interior, […]

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 […]

Kaliarda XXXII: The Wit of Kaliarda

By: | Post date: 2018-01-05 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Linguistics, Modern Greek

Kaliarda has a couple of puns: kolombos, xristoforos top: “Christopher Columbus” as soundalike of kolombaras dubloðikeliazo to be diplomatic: “double looking”; Standard Greek ðiplomatis “diplomat” sounds like “double-eyed” (dipl-ōma: “folded (document) < “doubled thing” read as dipl-omma “double eye”) *papi document, certificate: “duck”, but puns on German Papier “papers”, often demanded during the Nazi occupation […]

Kaliarda XXXI: Basic vocabulary

By: | Post date: 2018-01-05 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Uncategorized

Next, I’m posting the function words of Kaliarda, and other classes of words that indicate how the language works: Function words: altros other < Italian altro axatos this (Rom. kathe “here”; Greek a- “un-” + kate “that”?) emandes I, me, my (Rom. mande “me”); mandula (diminutive) esandes, suandes you, your (Rom. mande “me” + Greek […]

Kaliarda XXX: Kaliarda etymologies

By: | Post date: 2018-01-05 | Comments: 1 Comment
Posted in categories: Linguistics, Modern Greek

I am drawing this sequence to a close with posts on noteworthy classes of Kaliarda words from Petrpoulos’ dictionary. To begin with: I have already posted (and updated) the Romani words in Kaliarda; the Italian words are given in Minniti-Gonias have already been discussed; and the Turkish, French, and English words have been sign-posted by […]

Kaliarda XXIX: 1904, addendum

By: | Post date: 2018-01-04 | Comments: 3 Comments
Posted in categories: Linguistics, Modern Greek

I just noted that Nikos Sarantakos posted on his blog a report on the 1904 attestation of Kaliarda. I neglected to mention that he posted a full scan of the 1904 article (1904–11–25), which includes a couple of paragraphs left out in Spatholouro’s transcription, which I’d previously posted here. “Our journal is able to announce […]

Kaliarda XXVIII: Sarantakos

By: | Post date: 2017-12-30 | Comments: 3 Comments
Posted in categories: Linguistics, Modern Greek

Nikos Sarantakos has just published on his blog a report on Spatholouro’s finds in his blog comments of early attestation of Kaliarda, as already reported here. My thanks to him for disseminating Spatholouro’s findings more widely, as they deserve. There’s not a lot of new information in the article, but he does mention that Manganareas’ […]

Kaliarda XXVII: Biondo

By: | Post date: 2017-12-24 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Linguistics, Modern Greek

Thanks to friend of this blog Kostas Karapotosoglou, I’ve consulted Raffaela Biondo’s honours thesis on Lubunca from Università Ca’ Foscari, Venice: Lubunca: Lo slang queer del turco. Usi e funzioni sociolinguistiche a Istanbul e Berlino. The research contribution of Biondo’s thesis is a survey of attitudes towards Lubunca by gay Turks in Turkey and Germany, […]

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