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Category: Modern Greek
What are some slang phrases to describe getting drunk in your language or country?
Greek: Someone drunk is, or becomes: 1. στουπί, meaning oakum, or tow: Oakum: “loose fibre obtained by untwisting old rope, used especially in caulking wooden ships.” Tow: the coarse and broken part of flax or hemp prepared for spinning. It’s a traditional society concept, so the modern metaphorical meaning is the main one. Presumably the […]
How do I translate the Greek word filotimo?
An attempt at a grand unified theory of filotimo. Eleftherios V. Tserkezis touches on all the key aspects. It is a Greek’s sense of honour, to use the old fashioned wording; of being respected in society, of social capital. It is what one can take pride in as an engaged member of society. But this […]
Why didn’t Turkey claim any Greeks island near their shores?
They did: Imbros and Tenedos. Like the other islands, they were substantially ethnic Greek, but they remained in Turkey under the Treaty of Lausanne, presumably because of their strategic importance outside the Dardanelles. Of the other Aegean islands near the shores of Turkey, the islands from Samos up were ceded to Greece by the Ottoman […]
Are να and ας translated identically when used with a first person plural verb in Modern Greek?
They differ only by nuance. Ας is encouraging, it corresponds to “let’s”. Να is more like “we should”: it lacks the explicit notion of encouragement. Answered 2016-06-09 [Originally posted on http://quora.com/Are-να-and-ας-translated-identically-when-used-with-a-first-person-plural-verb-in-Modern-Greek/answer/Nick-Nicholas-5]
What is the Greek word for “baby”? Is it used as an endearment, like in English?
Modern Greek, right? μωρό, moro. And yes it is, though you have to say “my baby”, μωρό μου moro mu. The ancient Greek term it comes from had a final n. Why yes, the modern Greek word for “baby” is the Ancient Greek word moron. In Bithynian Greek, the word for baby is σαλό salo, […]
Was Antonis Samaras a cooler Prime Minister than Alexis Tsipras?
Well, let’s see. On the one hand, a sixty-five year old who looks like an undertaker, who brought down a government and formed his own party over being More-Patriotic-Than-Thou, who presided over austerity, and who saw some economic indicators nudge upwards but failed to raise anyone’s hopes that anything would ever change for the better. […]
Provided you speak greek, how would you respond if someone used the word “ταχυδρόμος” for someone crossing a distance fast, not for the postman?
To explain the question: Tachy-dromos, “quick-runner”, was originally a word for a courier. Couriers deliver mail, and tachy-dromos is now the word for mailman. If someone uses tachy-dromos in its original original meaning of “fast runner”, rather than its community accepted meaning of “mailman”, how do I react? I react by telling them to stop […]
What are some Greek terms of endearment?
To add to others: We use the neuter to address or refer to someone cute; desexing them is infantilising them, and infantilising them is a sign of affection, even if you are otherwise sexual with them. It’s the same thinking as using baby or babe in English. So χρυσέ μου “my golden one” (masculine) or […]
What is the translation of the word “fox” to Greek?
Ancient Greek ἀλώπηξ /alɔ́ːpɛːks/; this ends up as Modern /aleˈpu/ via the Hellenistic variant ἀλωπά, somehow: Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής. In English, the Ancient word for fox has given us alopecia: Hair loss The origin of this usage is because this animal sheds its coat twice a year, or because in ancient Greece foxes often […]
What does the Greek word “kefi” mean?
What my peers said. Being upbeat and in a good mood, having fun. To do something with kefi means you’re smiling, you’re doing it with gusto, you’re having fun. To have kefi is to be in a good mood. Kefi is one of those Greek words that is routinely listed as “untranslatable”, because it has […]