IN GREEK
ταρσανάς
tarsanas
small boatyard
IN TURKISH
tersane
tersane
shipyard, naval dockyard
WEAR THE WORD
ταρσανάς in blue ink and tersane in red, on a T shirt, a tote or a mug.
THE RECORD
- LENT BY, BORROWED BY
- Shared from a third language
- STARTED IN
- Arabic
- CATEGORY
- Places
- HOW THE MEANING DRIFTED
- Greek uses it for a small local boatyard; Turkish for a shipyard of any size.
- NOTES
- Greek ταρσανάς is regional, mainly in the islands. Arabic dār al ṣināʿa reached both languages, likely through Venetian or Genoese darsena, tersana. Nişanyan says tersane came from Italian darsena, ultimately Arabic, but whether Greek took it from Italian or from Turkish could not be checked.
COMMENTS
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SOURCES
- General etymological consensus
- to verify
Etymologies are checked against the dictionaries and studies listed. An entry is stamped settled only when both the Greek and the Turkish side have been checked. Research for this ledger was compiled with AI assistance and reviewed by the editors.
HOW TO CITE THIS ENTRY
Gold, K. (ed.) (2026) ‘ταρσανάς / tersane’, entry 335, Defter ή Tefteri: a ledger of shared Greek and Turkish words. https://defteritefteri.com/en/w/335-tarsanas/. Accessed [day month year].