Mum (Candle)

Barev and Merhaba Serhat,

After spending two years in Armenia and off-and-on learning Turkish (sometimes with other Armenians), I have found a few more cognates or common words.

The food of the region will always have common vocabulary - like the ones you already mentioned, with dolma and zeytun (olives) as other examples. In the latter case, zeytun, there is actually another "real" Armenian word to use for olives, but I have not once heard a shopkeeper use it.

Other notable similarities:

mum - (candle)
shis(e) - (bottle)

But many more Turkish words are used in the regions, where different types of dialects are found. I live in a region in the south called Syunik, in a town called Sisian, which before 1988 had 12 of 36 villages either fully or partially Azeri. Although, this dialect (barbar) is heard around Sisian, it seems to be understood all over the country.

For example:

to master something (as a language) - dort u besh anel Hayeren - translated into English: to do 4 and 5 Armenian
(Personally, I use this for fun with the people in Sisian and it often ellicits much laughter).

Another, when people in the region play nardi (backgammon), they use terms like iki and bir.

In the classroom, you often hear teachers say, "Sus!" or "Sus mnatsek!" in order to quiet their students.

Perhaps the worst thing you can say to someone, which means in English, "Go Away," but probably more appropriately, "F. off" . (I will write hear only for linguistic comparison): "siktir." Pardon my French...I mean Turkish.

And finally, for a much nicer term, "sagh." I think in Turkish it has a variety of meanings, but in the regions, I have mostly heard it used as the English, "everything." For instance, one will hear, "Sagh lav a," which means "Everything is good."

I hope this helps. I would like to know of any more as I think these commonalities - though small - can somehow show a common humanity.

Ben