A Minor Moralist
Wealth is like water. He who does not open up a gate to carry off its overflow drowns in it.
…Al-Siqilli
Armenian Alliteration
One thing the Western Armenian language has which Eastern Armenian does not is a special way to say “very,” depending on the word in question. For example, instead of using “shad,” which is the standard word for “very” in describing something that is very black, the word “sep” can be used. It has no meaning on its own, but in conjunction with the word black, “sep sev” comes to mean very black, or blacker than black. Here is a list of other known examples: bas barab, chop chor, dzup dzur, gas gabouyd, gas ganach, gas garmir, jep jermag, lep letsun, mis minag, nip nihar, pas parag, ship shidag, tap tats, tep teghin, tsoup tsourd.
…from Armeniapedia
From the Trivia File
The first film version of “Frankenstein” was a 15-minute silent produced by Thomas Edison.
A Turkish Custom of Braying to Death in a Mortar
Baron de Tott says, “Fanaticism has enacted in Turkey that the goods of the ulemats or lawyers shall never be confiscated: nor shall any ulemat be put to death, except by being pounded in a mortar.”
From My Persian Dictionary
Tamám: complete, end, conclusion
Halvá,í: confectioner
Shakarí: confectionery
Shíríní: confectionery
What’s in a Name?
Giragosian: Greek in derivation, identified as a descriptive term, Kyriakos (Cyriacus in English) is defined as patron, dominical, belonging to the Lord. Sourp Giragos Church in Dikranagerd is named for a local three-year-old boy martyred sometime toward the end of the third century.
Always fascinating material in CK’s columns. It is always good to know that many of the words we Armenians use and that some people say are Turkish really have a Persian origin.