greek name

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sinhakumara
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greek name

Post by sinhakumara »

I wonder if some scholar can help me translate and comprehend the Greek name - HRISOPIYI DEVETSI - She is apparently a famous Greek athlete and the name strikes me as being decidedly ancient ! So what would it mean in english and how do you pronounce it ? AJAY. (sinhakumara@gmail.com)

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IreneY
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Re: greek name

Post by IreneY »

Hello there :)

Well, her name is not really ancient Her first name, Hrysopege (Χρυσοπηγή) pronounced "Hrisopiyi" (i as in ink) means "Gold fount/spring. Both compounds, "χρυσός" (gold) and "πηγή" (fountain) have remained unaltered from ancient times so, in a sense, it is ancient too :)

Her last name, Δεβετζή (Devetze), pronounced "Thevetzi" (th as in though) is I'm afraid a "Hellenised" form of a Turkish surname (quite a few Greeks have surnames of Turkish origin). According to this quite interesting site (in modern Greek I'm afraid), the original form is "deveci" (pronounced, I think, "devetsi" or "devetzi") and means "owner/driver(?) of camel(s)"

sinhakumara
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Re: greek name

Post by sinhakumara »

Thanks a lot Irene ! That makes a lot of sense. I , though, was imagining something rather exotic. AJAY.

annis
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Re: greek name

Post by annis »

IreneY wrote:the original form is "deveci" (pronounced, I think, "devetsi" or "devetzi") and means "owner/driver(?) of camel(s)"
The c in Turkish is pronounced like an English "j". The -ci/-cı suffix is common in profession names. One of my favorite Turkish cabaret songs is about a halva maker (Halvacı).
William S. Annis — http://www.aoidoi.org/http://www.scholiastae.org/
τίς πατέρ' αἰνήσει εἰ μὴ κακοδαίμονες υἱοί;

PeterD
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Re: greek name

Post by PeterD »

IreneY wrote:...(quite a few Greeks have surnames of Turkish origin)...
Like the "-oglou" (son of in Turkish) suffix among Greeks of Asia Minor origin whose ancestors had been forced to Turkicize their names under Ottoman occupation. Those who opted to drop it simply added the Greek equivalent "-idis."

Interestingly, the suffixes in Greek surnames can basically tell you the place origin. For example the "-poulos" suffix (like yours truly) usually indicates the
Greek is of Peloponnese origin (Laconia, in my case).


best,

PeterD
Fanatical ranting is not just fine because it's eloquent. What if I ranted for the extermination of a people in an eloquent manner, would that make it fine? Rather, ranting, be it fanatical or otherwise, is fine if what is said is true and just. ---PeterD, in reply to IreneY and Annis

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Re: greek name

Post by mingshey »

I had been wondering what could be the origin of the word like "καφετζής".
It sounded very un-greek, er, well, far from the words originated from the ancient greek.
Now I see.

Will it be very rewarding to study a little bit of turkish to understand the etymology of modern greek?

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IreneY
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Re: greek name

Post by IreneY »

Hello there!!! :D

I wouldn't go that far although it would be interesting to be sure. Note that some words of Turkish origin we use are no longer used in modern Turkish :) In a discussion in another forum for example, we were discussing the "head scarves" worn in various Islamic countries: We are calling the veiled ones used by the Turks (and others) "feretze" and "yasmaki". They come from the words "ferace" and "yasmak" respectively. A Turkish member had to actually check his dictionary since he didn't know eitherof them. They were both described there as "archaic".

I think, for the interests of Modern Greek alone, a good etymological dictionary will serve you better, especially since any influence of the Turkish language is confined to the vocabulary. On the other hand, I have heard Turkish described as one of the most logical, most "mathematical" languages around. Seems an interesting language to study in and for itself :)

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