Arpa Posted March 26, 2002 Report Share Posted March 26, 2002 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy A spy thriller by John LeCarre. Lets tinker with "tailor" a bit.It does mean dressmaker from the French "tailler", to "cut" which in turn- from the Latin "taliare", to cut. The Websters doe not even mention "taylor" (spelled with the Y) which seems to be the Scottish form of spelling. It seems "taylor" has lost its original meaning of "tailor". It is now just a family name. If Ms. Taylor has even a drop of Armenian blood it must be from her being a highlander just as Armenians are from the Highlands.Eliz being Armenian is a silly old parlor game that Armenians play when they have had a few shots and have nothing better to do. Speaking of tongue in cheek and sarcasm here are a few more. Elizabeth may not be Armenian but Herbert Von Karajan, Hans Guderian and the most celebrated of all, Bach were Armenian. His original name was Hovannes Sebastatsi Bachian:) Not to forget that Hitler was Turkish, his birth name was Adel Itler:) Now, "with all seriousness aside", as Steve Allen used to say... hello i was reading some on-line stuff by ara baliozian, where he mentioned casually that elisabeth taylor was of armenian heritage and that her real name was yeghishapet terzakian (the surname sounds like the turkish for tailor, terzi). could anyone post more info on that please?regards,--------------------ali suat Yes Ali, terzi and derdzak are the same, they both mean tailor, dressmaker. Many people of the region use the word in some form or other such as "darzak" in Persian. As is the custom of the average Armenian the word has been dismissed as being from the Turkish, (terzi) or the Persian. The jury may still be out but from all indications it seems the word is native Armenian based on "derz", or "derzan" which means thread. There are many provincial variations of the word one of which "derzik" where the Turkish may have originated. There are also are many words based on the root such as "daraz" to mean robe, uniform etc. In its loose application sometimes "derzak" have been used to also mean cobbler, shoe maker. This leads us into another temptation. Another misconception is that "koshker/koshkar", cobbler, shoemaker etc. is also from the Turkish. This may not be further from the truth. The word is based on "koshik"-shoe and "kar/karel" to sew. The original form was "koshk-a-kar", "sewer of shoes" which in time lost some letters, namely the a and the k in the middle and was contracted to "koshkar". Even now in proper Armenian a shoemaker is referred as "koshkakar" while "koshkar" is used to mean "shoe repairer" of old worn out shoes. Alternately, some people would use "hnakarkat" (baed on "hin"-old" to mean the latter just as the Turkish word "eskiji" which more often than not may be used as a "rpairer of old clothes". Elizabeth may not be Armenian, I can't see how she would bring ay honor or dignity anyway, but many Armenians have the surname Terzian the most famous of them may be Thomas Terzian, poet writer who wrote the libretto to Chukhajian's Verdiesque Opera Arshak II. He wrote it both in Armenian and Italian as he was educated in Venice at the Mkhitarist institute. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harut Posted March 26, 2002 Report Share Posted March 26, 2002 Dear Arpa, indeed, among Eastern Armenian speakers, "koshkakar" is the widest used form for both shoemaker and shoerepairer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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