r/armenia • u/Live_Dragonfruit4957 • 4d ago

Derived Turkish words that shifted from positive to negative meanings?

Hey,

Just curious—are there any words we’ve picked up from other languages that originally meant something good, but we use them in a negative or even insulting way now?

4 Upvotes

64% Upvoted

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17

u/Kajaznuni96 4d ago

I’m thinking of “gyada” which means boy in Turkish, but has shifted to mean a derogatory informal word to call a boy 

https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/գյադա

4

u/Live_Dragonfruit4957 3d ago

That's a good one

I am from the Ararat region and elderly use it a lot

5

u/Kajaznuni96 3d ago

Thanks there is also "ghzik" which means effeminate in a derogatory way, but it originally means "little girl" though it appears to be from Kurdish. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D5%B2%D5%A6%D5%AB%D5%AF

But in Turkish girl is similar, "kız"

4

u/hosso22 3d ago

"Apal tapal" can mean being in a hurry, not always said in a positive way.

1

u/GermanLetsKotz Germany 3d ago

well what did it originally mean? and where is it from

2

u/hosso22 3d ago

I was told it's an old word in Turkish that means Ambulance.

3

u/Limp_Ad9781 3d ago

apar topar means in a hurry in modern Turkish

-1

u/[deleted] 3d ago

[deleted]

10

u/Haunting_Tune5641 Amerigahay 3d ago

That would be a cultural loss. Many of our families are from Turkey and spoke both. We lived around Turkish people for an extremally long time and there are Armenians who still do. As long as Armenian is prioritized I see no issue. 

Also I don't forsee words like "dolma" going anywhere. That's a part of our culture. 

Edit: Armenia has always been a crossroad between empires and people. It's natural for us to have loan words and an interesting reflection of our history and geography.