Re: Turkey (Re: cecla fanta flalu)

[Robin Turner <robin@bilkent.edu.tr>]

la .ivan. cusku di'e

> Mark E. Shoulson wrote:
> > Yes, "turkie" is what I was complaining about; you missed the final
> > consonant so it isn't a valid cmene [...].  Hmm.  Should it have been
> > {turki,es}?  I don't know Turkish.
>
> No, but you know Hebrew, so you're familiar with the Semitic feminine
> ending whose forms alternate between /t/ and /h/ or nothing (the former
> typically under liaison, the latter usually before pause).  This is
> an Arabic toponym, and if it is to be made into a cmene, the natural
> choice for a final consonant is {t}.

The only Turkish dictionary I have in the office is the one without the
etymological notes, so I'm on shaky ground here.  "Türk" is obviously
Turkic, and the "iye" suffix certainly looks like the Arabic feminine ending
(most commonly found in Turkish in personal names e.g. "Nazmiye" as the
feminine form of "Nazim").  On the other hand, I wouldn't want to get
etymological with cmene and fu'ivla.  What we want is a word which suggests
"Turkey" or "Türkiye" (preferably both).  {turkie} or {turki,e} manage this
reasonably well (if you try saying them out loud, the result is pretty
similar).  A final consonant needs to be as unobtrusive as possible, so I'd
still go for {s} .  Incidentally, {turkiet} sounds a bit too much like
"Türkiyat", the old word for "Türkoloji" for my tastes.

For "Turk" and "Turkish" in general (and porbably "Turkic"), I'd make
fu'ivla using {-turko}, so {kulnrturko} would be the culture of
Turkic-speaking peoples, as opposed to {kulnrturkie}, the culture of Turkey
(which includes considerable non-Turkic elements, of course).

co'o mi'e robin.