SAME BOOK, DIFFERENT ENDING.
A ledger of the words Greek and Turkish lent each other. Nobody is keeping score.
This is how every word in the ledger opens: both sides, what each one means, where it started and how it travelled.
τεφτέρι
account notebook; ledger (now often figurative)
defter
notebook; register; ledger
HOW IT STARTED
This ledger started on a living room floor in Australia, with a ball. Kuzey is the son of my best friend. She is Turkish, I am Greek, and we both come from the Black Sea. When Kuzey and I first played together he did not speak any English yet, and I speak Greek. On paper we had no language in common.
He rolled the ball to me and said top. I rolled it back and said τόπι. He looked at me as if I had finally said something sensible.
| NO. | GREEK | TURKISH | LENT BY, BORROWED BY | STARTED IN | ACCOUNT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 226 | τεφτέρι | defter | Round trip | Ancient Greek | |
| 161 | φανάρι | fener | Greek to Turkish | Greek | |
| 206 | μπακάλης | bakkal | Turkish to Greek | Arabic | |
| 028 | λάχανο | lahana | Greek to Turkish | Ancient Greek | |
| 019 | καφές | kahve | Turkish to Greek | Arabic | |
| 116 | λεγένι | leğen | Round trip | Ancient Greek | |
| 394 | τσάντα | çanta | Turkish to Greek | Turkish |
From the first Turkish speakers in Anatolia to the refugees of 1923 and the kitchens of today: when and where the words changed hands.
1453
1922
1999
2005
μπλε μελάνι
Blue ink is Greek.
kırmızı mürekkep
Red ink is Turkish.
On credit. The word is in the book, but its story has not been checked by both editors yet. Both languages use the same word for it.
Settled. The Greek and the Turkish side have both been checked against the dictionaries and studies listed with the entry.
The Greek μπακάλης wrote what each family owed in the tefteri. The Turkish bakkal kept the same book and called it the veresiye defteri.
These words were not handed down by empires. They were traded by neighbours: in the shop, the kitchen, the harbour and the street.