γούνα [ghouna] = fur or fur coat. From Late Latin/Early Italian gunna One of the problems of looking up a Greek word or expression is that it is like getting lost in YouTube. You want to see an excerpt from your favourite comedy or listen to a song, only for five minutes to turn into... Continue Reading →
Greek Word of the Week 13/2021
English-speaking students of Ancient Greek often refer to the Liddell & Scott Greek-English Lexicon for help. It has just undergone a re-writing so deep and wide in scope that the editors have dropped the names of the original compilers; it is now called the Cambridge Greek Lexicon. More information can be found here: https://greekreporter.com/2021/05/27/cambridge-university-creates-monumental-new-ancient-greek-dictionary/ The... Continue Reading →
Greek Word of the Week 12/2021
It is getting better but mobile telephony in Greece is still quite expensive. There is still no real competition as neither Wind nor Vodafone is allowed to undercut the former state-owned COSMOTE. I’m with the bad boy COSMOTE and I am a light user. To tell the truth, one thing I do like about COSMOTE... Continue Reading →
Greek Word of the Week 11/2021
καμπάνα – (kambana) bell, bell-bottoms, a fine Obviously a borrowing from Latin, καμπάνα has several extended meanings including the flared trousers popular in the 70s, also called bell-bottoms. In an article about the biologist, Professor Sotiris Tsiodras in www.instanews.gr the writer states “ο Σωτήρης Τσιόδρας … έκρουσε …. το καμπανάκι του κινδύνου για τον αριθμό... Continue Reading →
Greek Word of the Week 10/2021
χουνέρι (khuneri) Another borrowing. Persian in origin but coming to Greece via Turkey. Having checked various dictionaries and online sources, I’ve found that there is little agreement on the precise definition of the word. This gives me the confidence to add my own translation. My old Crighton does not have the word. Nor does my... Continue Reading →
Greek Word of the Week 9/2021
There were several candidates for Word of the Week, mainly words to describe a fondness for bad language: αθυροστομία, βρωμολοχία, υβρεολόγιο but the winner is another word from www.menshouse.gr άμπαλος = abalos I had difficulty working out the meaning because my first instinct was to read it as “ambalos”. Had I read it as “abalos”,... Continue Reading →
Greek Word of the Week 8/2021
Usually, I focus on words with non-Greek roots, so-called “loan words”. Why do we call them that when we never give them back? Anyway, this week’s word is Greek through and through unless someone wants to take me to some dark corner of Indo-European historical linguistics to prove otherwise. επιστράτευση – epistratefsi = mobilization. The... Continue Reading →
Greek Word of the Week 7/2021
μανούλα = mummy, but… From 6am today, 4th March 2021, the Greek government further tightened the restrictions already in place. Schools are closed again. If you want to go out, you have to send a text to 13033 and enter a number between 1 and 6, your name and address. The numbers are code for... Continue Reading →
Greek Word of the Week 6/2021
λαμαρίνα = sheet metal. Though the dictionaries don’t tell you, λαμαρίνα also refers to the bodywork of a car. Most of the words I choose tend to be words that I have heard. Λαμαρίνα is one of the few exceptions. I was watching a Norwegian series called ‘Accused’. As the series was on Nova on... Continue Reading →
Greek Word of the Week 5/2021
παρενόχληση (parenokhlisi) = harassment, especially σεξουαλική παρενόχληση, sexual harassment. Making a change from the stressful boredom of endless Corona updates and scaremongering about new strains and mutations, the “Me Too” movement has finally arrived in Greece. It began around two weeks ago when a female athlete accused her former trainer of abuse. By the end... Continue Reading →
Greek Word of the Week 4/2021
μπουρλότο – burloto, literally a fireship, a small vessel loaded with explosives and/or combustible materials sent towards an enemy ship in order to destroy it. Maybe it comes from the French brûlot. (The switching of the “r” like fromage and formaggio in French and Italian respectively, is called rhotic metathesis.) Amusingly, in what must have... Continue Reading →
Greek Word of the Week 3/2021
καριόλης/καριόλα kariolis (man), kariola (woman) “Κανένας κα ριόλλης απο αυτούς που κανόνισαν αυτή την συγκέντρωση θα πάει ΦΥΛΑΚΗ!!!!!!! ΓΑ ΜΗ ΜΕ ΝΟΙ!!!!!!!!” If we employ certain words on a post, sensors kick into action followed by censors banning our posts. Which is why we employ tricks like sh!t or f@ck to get round any potential... Continue Reading →
Greek Word of the Week 2/2021
ποστάρω (postaro) = post something online My word of the week is loosely connected with my post on this year’s Epiphany. I mentioned a tweet posted by Professor Dermitzakis. The headline said: “Ο Δερμιτζάκης πόσταρε δύο φωτογραφίες…” = “Dermitzakis has posted two photographs…” I was taken aback by the verb ποστάρω because I thought the... Continue Reading →
Greek Word of the Week #16
A few days ago I made a mess of the two doors on the driver’s side of my car. Bollard 1 Car 0. I took it to the dealer who quoted a price not much lower than the car’s current value. My neighbour told me I should take it to the nearby φαναρτζή. I replied... Continue Reading →
Greek Word of the Week #15
φράγκο = franc, nowadays more generally money, especially in certain expressions. After Alexander, Greece suffered many invasions. First it was the Romans (οι Ρωμαίοι), then the Franks (οι Φράγκοι), Venetians (οι Ενετοί or οι Βενετοί) and Turks (οι Τούρκοι); and their periods of rule in Greece are called η Φραγκοκρατία, η Ενετοκρατία and η Τουρκοκρατία... Continue Reading →
Greek Word of the Week #14
τσιφούτης – tsifoutis = mean, stingy Recently I wrote that for a nation of moderate drinkers (by north European standards, at any rate), Greeks are not lacking in expressions for ‘drunk’. It is the same with parsimony. If one were asked to describe Greeks in one word, I imagine ‘mean’ or ‘stingy’ would be far... Continue Reading →
Greek Word of the Week #13
σιχτίρ – sikhtir I must confess that for an unduly long period I thought the word was ασιχτίρ because it is nearly always preceded by άι, a sound similar to aye in English. I make this confession to illustrate how easily one can get things wrong. Many Greeks like to think (much like Mr. Portokalos... Continue Reading →
Greek word of the Week #12
τσακ μπαμ – tsak bam. An adverbial that means ‘quickly’. στο πι και φι στο άψε σβήσε Below is an example of it being used in a noun phrase though the meaning remains adverbial: Στο τσακ μπαμ τις λύσαμε τις ασκήσεις…
Greek Word of the Week #11
λιάρδα – liardha One of the big societal changes over the past thirty years in Greece is the increase in alcohol intake among young adults. They seem to drink as much as their northwest European counterparts. In upmarket “pubs”, however, where a beer can cost as much as €5 or €6 for a half litre,... Continue Reading →
Greek Word of the Week #10
μουνίκακας – munikakas My last entry promised that this week’s word would be a lexical item not used in polite circles but, first of all, allow me to give you a little vocabulary lesson. Here are two English words which come from the Latin word for wife: ‘uxor’: uxorial and uxorious. The first is just... Continue Reading →