Uncle Garabed’s Notebook (Feb. 13, 2010)

Latin Proverb
Beware the man of one book.
 
Upon Reflection
Books are like a mirror. If an ass looks in, you can’t expect an angel to look out.
… Arthur Schopenhauer
 
From the Word Lab
“By hook or crook”: Either rightfully or wrongfully; somehow; one way or another.
There is more than one attempted explanation of the phrase. It is probable, however, that it derives from an old manorial custom which authorized tenants to take as much firewood from the hedges, etc., as could be cut with a crook or bill-hook, and as much low timber as could be reached down from the boughs by a shepherd’s crook.
 
From My Persian Dictionary
Pishdámaní: apron.
Naksh: embroidery, arabesque (ornamental design pattern), carving.
Anginár: artichoke.
Nishán: sign, mark, asterisk, badge, beacon, crest (heraldry), flag.
 
What’s in a Name?
Haviters: In the city of Sepastia in Turkish Armenia, there lived and worked two master rug weavers. A wealthy resident of the city wished to have a rug woven and commissioned one of the weavers to do the job. The weaver commenced the work, but when halfway through, died of consumption. The wealthy man who had commissioned the work then approached the other weaver to complete the job. This other master weaver accepted the offer, but being a proud artisan, decided to complete the job his own way. So, instead of picking up where the other had left off, he commenced from the other side and when he had gone for enough, joined the two parts. In doing so he ended up creating a rug with the nap going in opposite directions. This became a source for his being named haviters: hav (khav in old Turkish) meaning nap, and ters meaning contrary. Previously, the family name had been Manougian.
 (Compliments of grandson Mircan Haviters of Farmingdale, N.Y., whose ancestors moved from Van to Sepastia 1,030 years ago.)

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CK Garabed

Weekly Columnist

C.K. Garabed (a.k.a. Charles Kasbarian) has been active in the Armenian Church and Armenian community organizations all his life. As a writer and editor, he has been a keen observer of, and outspoken commentator on, political and social matters affecting Armenian Americans. He has been a regular contributor to the Armenian Reporter and the AGBU Literary Quarterly, “ARARAT.” For the last 30 years, Garabed has been a regular contributor to the Armenian Weekly. He produces a weekly column called “Uncle Garabed's Notebook,” in which he presents an assortment of tales, anecdotes, poems, riddles, and trivia; for the past 10 years, each column has contained a deconstruction of an Armenian surname. He believes his greatest accomplishment in life, and his contribution to the Armenian nation, has been the espousing of Aghavni, and the begetting of Antranig and Lucine.

Latest posts by CK Garabed (see all)

• A Reminiscence: John Najarian - February 19, 2020
• Uncle Garabed’s Notebook (Aug. 5, 2017) - August 7, 2017
• Uncle Garabed’s Notebook (July 22, 2017) - July 22, 2017