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WHAT'S IN A NAME? RE-REVISITED
by BURAK BEKDÄ°L
Hurriyet
May 2 2012
Turkey
So, you, Honorable Prime Minister, say you hate the "invasion of our
language by foreign words"? And you complain of too many "foreign
words" on commercial displays, as, for example, "'mall,' 'computer,'
'tower' and 'check-up'"? But what exactly do you mean when you say
"foreign"?
Wikipedia describes a foreign language as "a language indigenous to
another county." By that definition, you are correct that "mall,"
"computer," "tower" and "check-up" are foreign words, because they
are not Turkish and are "indigenous to another country" (or other
countries). Just the same way that "Tayeb" [from which the prime
minister's name, Tayyip is derived] means "good" or "kind" in Arabic.
But that's not all.
In my previous column titled "What's in a name?" I wrote the following:
"My grandfather came from Georgia, and settled first in Rhizios. My
mother was a proud Chalcedonian. Sadly, my parents died two and a
half years ago, and were laid to rest in Aivali."
"I was born in Ancyra, but spent part of my childhood in Smyrna
[Ä°zmir]. I took my military training as a conscript in Amaseia,
but then I was transferred to Cevlik via El-Azez."
"Our prime minister is from Potamia, and our president is from
Caesarea. The president's three predecessors, chronologically, came
from Akroenos, Sparta and Maldiye."
"Our proud nation owes its independence largely to a successful war
at Gallipoli. ... Every year [we also] commemorate Ataturk's landing
at Sampsus to launch our War of Independence. But the first capital
of the Ottomans was Prousa, anyway.
"I hope the generous Turkish hearts that can now restore Kurdish [town]
names will no longer be agitated each time Greeks call Constantinople
by its original name -- Konstantinopolis. And, by the way, Turks who
proudly insist that Istanbul is Istanbul should be reminded that even
that presumably Turkish name is a cognate of the Greek 'Eis tin Polin'
meaning 'to the city.'"
"The name controversy may be more complex than one could imagine. The
Kurds may be rightfully happy to get the names of their villages
back, but they might be equally embarrassed in some other cases. For
instance, where does the name of the Kurdish homeland, Mesopotamia,
come from?
Kurdish? No, just Greek, meaning 'between the rivers,' the Euphrates
and Tigris." ("What's in a name?" Hurriyet Daily News, Sept. 9, 2009).
I apologize for the long but necessary reminder. But here is another
passage from "What's in a name? -- Revisited," Hurriyet Daily News,
July 19, 2011:
"In another appearance of what this columnist calls 'the official
Turkish humor machine,' the president of the supreme court that ruled
in favor of [a] ban on foreign names is named HaÅ~_im Kılıc. 'Hashim'
or 'Hasheem' is a common Arabic male name (the 'unofficial' humor of
the story is that this columnist's name is also Arabic). The official
humor machine keeps on rolling when we look at the men who rule this
country in which names representing foreign races and nations are
banned. For fun's sake let's narrow our sample to the first names of
the president, the prime minister and the Cabinet ministers. Of those
27 names, 20 are common Arabic names, and two are Turkish versions
of common Arabic name.
Only five are Turkish names. Legally, a ban on foreign names means
a 'Richard' is no different than a 'Tayyip.' An Arabic name is no
different than an Icelandic name, because they are both foreign,
both non-Turkish."
"Yes it's the religion, but it's also the culture. One's automatic
acceptance of a Muslim name would not extend to a Muslim Indonesian
name. In other words, this is precisely why claiming someone has
Armenian ancestors is deemed libel to be settled in a courtroom,
but claiming someone has Arab ancestors is not."
Unfortunately, Honorable Prime Minister, if we deprived our language
of "all foreign words" -- all, i.e., including Arabic and Persian --
we might fail to communicate, and you might fail to deliver your
perfect speeches. Or, you should explain why Arabic names are not
foreign, but others are. Sadly, you are a couple of centuries too
late to prove that the Turks are in fact Arabs.
by BURAK BEKDÄ°L
Hurriyet
May 2 2012
Turkey
So, you, Honorable Prime Minister, say you hate the "invasion of our
language by foreign words"? And you complain of too many "foreign
words" on commercial displays, as, for example, "'mall,' 'computer,'
'tower' and 'check-up'"? But what exactly do you mean when you say
"foreign"?
Wikipedia describes a foreign language as "a language indigenous to
another county." By that definition, you are correct that "mall,"
"computer," "tower" and "check-up" are foreign words, because they
are not Turkish and are "indigenous to another country" (or other
countries). Just the same way that "Tayeb" [from which the prime
minister's name, Tayyip is derived] means "good" or "kind" in Arabic.
But that's not all.
In my previous column titled "What's in a name?" I wrote the following:
"My grandfather came from Georgia, and settled first in Rhizios. My
mother was a proud Chalcedonian. Sadly, my parents died two and a
half years ago, and were laid to rest in Aivali."
"I was born in Ancyra, but spent part of my childhood in Smyrna
[Ä°zmir]. I took my military training as a conscript in Amaseia,
but then I was transferred to Cevlik via El-Azez."
"Our prime minister is from Potamia, and our president is from
Caesarea. The president's three predecessors, chronologically, came
from Akroenos, Sparta and Maldiye."
"Our proud nation owes its independence largely to a successful war
at Gallipoli. ... Every year [we also] commemorate Ataturk's landing
at Sampsus to launch our War of Independence. But the first capital
of the Ottomans was Prousa, anyway.
"I hope the generous Turkish hearts that can now restore Kurdish [town]
names will no longer be agitated each time Greeks call Constantinople
by its original name -- Konstantinopolis. And, by the way, Turks who
proudly insist that Istanbul is Istanbul should be reminded that even
that presumably Turkish name is a cognate of the Greek 'Eis tin Polin'
meaning 'to the city.'"
"The name controversy may be more complex than one could imagine. The
Kurds may be rightfully happy to get the names of their villages
back, but they might be equally embarrassed in some other cases. For
instance, where does the name of the Kurdish homeland, Mesopotamia,
come from?
Kurdish? No, just Greek, meaning 'between the rivers,' the Euphrates
and Tigris." ("What's in a name?" Hurriyet Daily News, Sept. 9, 2009).
I apologize for the long but necessary reminder. But here is another
passage from "What's in a name? -- Revisited," Hurriyet Daily News,
July 19, 2011:
"In another appearance of what this columnist calls 'the official
Turkish humor machine,' the president of the supreme court that ruled
in favor of [a] ban on foreign names is named HaÅ~_im Kılıc. 'Hashim'
or 'Hasheem' is a common Arabic male name (the 'unofficial' humor of
the story is that this columnist's name is also Arabic). The official
humor machine keeps on rolling when we look at the men who rule this
country in which names representing foreign races and nations are
banned. For fun's sake let's narrow our sample to the first names of
the president, the prime minister and the Cabinet ministers. Of those
27 names, 20 are common Arabic names, and two are Turkish versions
of common Arabic name.
Only five are Turkish names. Legally, a ban on foreign names means
a 'Richard' is no different than a 'Tayyip.' An Arabic name is no
different than an Icelandic name, because they are both foreign,
both non-Turkish."
"Yes it's the religion, but it's also the culture. One's automatic
acceptance of a Muslim name would not extend to a Muslim Indonesian
name. In other words, this is precisely why claiming someone has
Armenian ancestors is deemed libel to be settled in a courtroom,
but claiming someone has Arab ancestors is not."
Unfortunately, Honorable Prime Minister, if we deprived our language
of "all foreign words" -- all, i.e., including Arabic and Persian --
we might fail to communicate, and you might fail to deliver your
perfect speeches. Or, you should explain why Arabic names are not
foreign, but others are. Sadly, you are a couple of centuries too
late to prove that the Turks are in fact Arabs.