Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-12-26
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bantam districts have Albanian names.
some of these names are eolruptions in
one language of name taken from an
other; thus Edirneh and Cskub are mere
ly Turkish corruptons of the Greek
Adrianople and the Greek S&opia the
latter of which in the Slav Languages be-
come Skopliye. Others again are transla-
tons from one language into the other;
Bielopolyle tServam in the Sanjak of
Novibazar is the same place as -Akova
Crurldsh), and both have the same
meaning the English Whitefeld
In third class the names in different
languages have no connection of meaning
or sound. Kirk Kilisse, according to the
current Interpretation, means in Turkish
Forty Churches" from kirk i. e., 40 and
ldlsse corrupted from the Greek ekkle-
sia), l. e. church, Some high authorities on
Turkish pholoogy assert that the first
word of the name should be not kirk but
kirk. i. e, broken tumhle-down and that
the name was given TO the town from the
ruins of an old church which were Il
prominent landmark when the Turks oc-
cupied However that may be- whether
the name means Ruined Church or Forty
Churches the Slav name Lozengrad. the
City of Nineyards-Kirk Kiiisse is IA
| nous for its wiues-is altogether distinct
For European readers the confusion
caused by the existence of different
| names for the same place is made worse
COMPOUNDED by the fact that Turks use
| the Arabic, Greeks the Greek, and Siays
! the Cyrilic characters and that no fixed
| rules exist for the reconsideration of
| these into Latin characters, and the or
| biography of many Turkish names is not
| definitely established even in the Arabic
character. Occasionally on the same
| map c, ch. Itch, tsch will stand for one
and the same thing. and the same vowel
sounds will be represented in haif-a-dozen
| different ways--e. g, kupru. kupru
keupreu are all the same Turkish word
meaning bridge.
II one place has many names il is no
| less true that the same name il given 70
many different places. Visitors TO Tur-
key have complained that most of the
villages not called Yenikeui tNew Vii
| lage) are apt te be named Ortakeui mid
die Nillage1.
Perhaps the one comforting feature Is
| that most of The Turkish names. at any
| rate. have meanings which make them
| easier to remember. The traveller or
| reader who knows that ak means white
and bunar, spring or fountain. is not
| likely to freget the name AK Buuar, nor
| he surprised to find that there are sew
| eral places of that name between the
| Tchataldja lines and Gonstantinople.
| The number of small Albanian colonies
| scattered over European Turkey suffi-
GENTLY explains the number of places
| called Arnautkeui to any one who re-
members that an Arnaut is an Albanian
and keni village. Among the other
most common words that occur in place
| names may be mentioned shehr, tower;
| hissar, castle; kale or kaleh. fort: khan
| or han, inn: knpru bridge liman, harbor;
| burun,s cape cheshmeh. spring: chiftlik.
| farm: kun, sand agatch. tree; KAYAK.
poplar; bagh, park; bagheheh, garden;
dere or dereh, valley; su. water or river;
1 rmak or yirmak, river; tepe tepeh, hill,
dagh. molntain kumur, charcoal; ku-
murdji,. charcoal burner; fash, stone;
bash. head; chekmedjeh, passage; bog
haz. strait or pass: fener. fanar. or pha-
mar, lighthouse; geuk, sky; taria. field:
ova plain; kapu, gate; top. gun; orman.
| forest: harman, threshng floor. These
are substantives Among the most useful
| adjectives are eski, old; yeni, new: kara.
mack, ak or beyaZ, white: KILL. red.
buyuk, great: kuchuk. small: uzun, long;
kuru, dry. orta. middle From most sub
| stantives adiectives can be formed by the
| suffx Ii.
Among names of frequent occurrence it
| is interesting to note that Chataldja or
| Tchataldja from chatal a fork, probably
means the place at the forked roads.
| Deli Yunus at the north of the Tchataldja
| lines, which was at one time reported to
| have been captured by the Bugarians.
simply means Prophet Jonas. from deli,
mad or inspired and Nunus. the Turkish
| form of the name Jonas The name per-
petuates ~ local tradition The name
Rumelia lin Turkish RumilD for Eu-
ropean Turkey is itself interesting IN its
| origin. Rum. the Turkish word for
Greek. is itself Il corruption of Roman,
and was applied to the Greeks in ByZan-
tine times as the people of New Rome:
| II means land or country, and the is a
| suffix marking what may cali the
Turkish reflex genltive. The whole name
means the Land of the Greeks. The i
of the reflex genitive is written 81 after
vowels. 1t becomes and su in many
words Top kapusu is Gun Gate; Tcha-
max Kalesi is Pottery Port.-London
Times