Hello peeps! @ailindigo here :)
For this 17th word of Untranslatable Words we're moving to Turkey! An interesting Eurasia country full of history, shown through this one-word poetry.
This week's word is the turkish: gumusservi.
Gif by Wordstuck
gumusservi
I think this is indeed a beautiful word, pure one-word poetry as I said, and when reading more about Turkey and all its possibilities it just made sense this word was born in their language.
gumusservi is the turkish for moonlight shinning on the water.
When reading about this country I found out it's bordered by 4 seas: the Black Sea, the Aegean Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and the Sea of Marmora, which, as a fan of the ocean and a person who couldn't live in a place with no connections to the sea, I find amazing! Also the eastern side of this country contains the sources of rivers such as the Euphrates, Tigris and Aras, and it is home to Lake Van. A country practically sorrounded by water, as the Peninsula it is. *
I wasn't expecting to find this, as my knowledge of Turkey was very basic, but taking this into account plus it's a transcontinental country with a lot of history just made me think and imagine all the tales and important moments involving the sea.
This a territory that has been home to several great civilizations such as the Hittites, Lydia, Urartu, Cimmerians, Assyrian Empire, Persian Empire, Ancient Greece, Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Seljuk Empire, Ottoman Empire and the place where many battles between those civilizations took place throughout history. * Can you imagine all those tragedy and even love tales born in there?
STUNNING MOONLIGHT OVER ISTANBUL TURKEY OIL PAINTING BY AMERICAN ORIENTALIST
I can't help but imagine all kind of stories with the beautiful background of a gumusservi on any of its four seas, this beautiful word is strong enough to let your imagination roll on a never-ending trip of creativity. When looking for stories that involved the sea and Turkey's long history, I found out a very interesting series called Yabancı Damat (The Foreign Groom), which I think could be a very nice proof of what I'm saying.
This Turkish sitcom-cum-soap opera, that builds a bridge across the Aegean Sea, is about the relationship of a Greek man and a Turkish woman, as well as the problems (and especially the prejudices) encountered in an intercultural marriage; its comedic tone and play on historic Greco-Turkish antagonism made it a huge hit in both Turkey and Greece. * When the show started to be broadcasted in Greece with the name of Ta Sinora tis Agapis (The Borders of Love) it became a cross-cultural phonemenom, as this pretty nice article from The Walrus says "It was in many ways the most significant exposure Greeks had had to Turks since they lived together as citizens of the Ottoman Empire."
This is a series I'm definitely looking forward to watch, no only because of the cultural charge of it as I'd really like to learn more from this part of the world cultures and history, but also, to find out if there's any cute gumusservi scene or glimpse on it of course!
What do you think? Are you a crazy fan of oceans and over-water moonlight reflections like me? Please feel free to let me know what you think in the comments!
Thank you very much for passing by! And if you have an Untranslatable Word you'd like to suggest, please don't hesitate to do so! :)
Previous Untranslatable Words:
#1: Torschlusspanik
#2: Mono no aware
#3: Rasāsvāda
#4: Cavoli riscaldati
#5: Nefelibata
#6: Sturmfrei
#7: Jootha
#8: bilita mpash
#9: resfeber
#10: Vāde mēcum
#11: sankofa
#12: annus mirabilis
#13: voorpret
#14: pikit mata
#15: ranorànilac
#16: gagung
This content is part of a new series to get more people interested on languages and how they, perception and culture are related!
Exclusively for the Hive Cross Culture Community, the community for language exchange and cross-cultural purposes.
If you'd like to be part of the discussion don't hesitate to hop into the Hive Language and Culture Exchange Discord server! As well as subscribing to the Hive Cross Culture Community so you don't miss any new word comming ;) We'll be sharing a new Untranslatable Word each week!
