Monday, October 29, 2012

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

πρέζα


πρέζα < από το ιταλικό presa < prendere
preza, from the Italian participle of prendere.
πρέζα θηλυκό (πληθυντικός : πρέζες)
  1. μικρή ποσότητα από ένα υλικό σε σκόνη ή σε κόκκους που μπορεί να πιάσει κανείς με τα δάχτυλα
    ρίξε στο φαγητό μια πρέζα αλάτι
    μια πρέζα ταμπάκο
  2. η ηρωίνη

1. "pinch": small amount of any substance in  powder form, or granular, such that you can take a pinch of it, as of salt or tabacco
2. heroin

I actually learned it from  this song, in whose comments section someone apparently compares Vamvakaris's music to heroin (high praise, eh?).

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Monday, October 22, 2012

γειτνίαση

yeet--NEE--ah-see, proximity. Pretty obvious when you hear it because it sounds like yeetonas, γείτονας, neighbor, but it's not yet in my active vocabulary. Heard it on a radio spot about etymology.

προτεταμένος

pro-tet-ah-MEN-oss

pronounced, blaring, blazing, projecting (google translate gives a weird array--I think pronounced is best.) Heard it on a kind of current events discussion show, where some nationalists tend to send messages and the smart host corrected his usage, saying that he doesn't usually act pedantic but given the pedantic nature of the message  containing the incorrect usage...

not to be confused with παρατεταμένος, paratetamenos, which everyone knows means "long drawn out," prolonged, protracted.

The root tetamenos is the same as the 'tract' root in Latin, having to do with drawing, and the simple difference between the words is in the pro vs. para prefix.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

ενδελέχεια


ενδελέχεια < αρχαία ελληνική (ἐνδελέχεια) < αρχαία ελληνική ἐνδελεχής

[]Open book 01.svg Ουσιαστικό

ενδελέχεια θηλυκό
  1. η συνέχεια, η διάρκεια
  2. η συνεχής και αδιάλειπτη φροντίδα ή επιμέλεια

en-del-ECH-ee-uh: long-term-ness, etymology is from en- and a unit of distant measure in Ancient Greece, the dolichos, which I had never heard of before looking up this word, which has been in my head a while... it's the name of a band, and I bet they just chose it cuz it's a super-cool sounding word. 

Monday, October 15, 2012

χέρσος


χέρσος (khersos)
  1. dryfirm
  2. dry, hard, barren,
  3. (of woman) barren
  4. fallow (google translate)

I don't remember the context in which I read this, except that I was teaching my sixth grader. The real question is why is this compounded with the word for island (χερσόνησος) to produce the word for peninsula??

Sunday, October 14, 2012

κορνέ

Τσιπρας says that political change won't come from throwing yogurt or Korne, which apparently are the above pictured desserts.

αφικνούμαι

I arrive. Doesn't seem to be any different from φτάνω, just fancier

Saturday, October 13, 2012

προσάπτω


so many meanings! heard it when Lina Nikolakopoulou said that a "cinematographic" aspect is attributed/ascribed to her poetry.
NOTE: This dictionary is currently only English to Greek.
Here are the lines from the English to Greek side that include 'προσάπτω'.
WordReference English-Greek Dictionary © 2012:
Matching entries from other side of dictionary
charge vtr(accuse) κάποιον για κάτικατηγορώ ρ.μετ.
 κάτι σε κάποιονκαταλογίζω, προσάπτω, χρεώνω ρ.μετ.
Note: προσάπτω: αόρ. προσήψα, απαρ. προσάψει, παθ. μόνο στον ενεστώτα
 The police charged the man with a crime.
 Η αστυνομία κατηγόρησε τον άντρα για το έγκλημα.
 Η αστυνομία καταλόγισε (or: προσήψε, or: χρέωσε) το έγκλημα στον άντρα.
append vtr(add to ) προσθέτωεπισυνάπτω, προσάπτω ρ.μετ.
 καθομιλουμένηβάζω ρ.μετ.
ascribe vtr(assign, attribute)αποδίδω ρ.μετ.
 αρνητική έννοιαπροσάπτω, καταλογίζω ρ.μετ.
impute vtr(attribute)αποδίδω ρ.μετ.
 με αρνητική σημασίακαταλογίζω, προσάπτω ρ.μετ.
add on, add-onvtr(append)επισυνάπτω, προσάπτω, προσθέτω ρ.μετ.
charge with vtr(police: accuse of)καταγγέλω, κατηγορώ, προσάπτω κατηγορία

νοηματοδοτεί

το είπε η Λίνα Νικολακοπούλου σε συνεντευξη για το τραγούδι "Η Σωτηρία της Ψυχής ειναι πολύ μεγάλο πράγμα." Λέει δεκα χρονια μετα΄, αυτός ο στίχος ακόμα νοηματοδοτει.

no-ee--ma-to-tho-TEE. "gives meaning," said of a line of poetry. 

σιρίτι

chevron/fringe that denotes a military officer's rank.  From this song.

ευπαθής

frail, vulnerable. My great hero Lina Nikolakopoulou characterized her own soul this way. 

καρίνα -- τροπίδα

keel... I only knew the word kaREEnah for keel; apparently the older word troPEEtha is a synonym. I learned the word from the Andras Karkavitsas line that Greece lives με το ινί και την καρίνα, with the ploughshare and the keel, to indicate the importance of both land and sea to the Greek soul. It came to mind now actually because I was writing about ploughing in the old days in my carobs essay. 

INFERIOR ~ ROPEY

παρακατιανός ~ pa-ra-kat-ya-NOSS A writer, Mάρω Δούκα, on the radio says that her mother considered her novel-writing to be something lower. I had heard the word before but never looked it up. As for ROPEY, never heard it before. 

Friday, October 12, 2012

inherent

εγγενής,
συμφυής
inherent, coalescent, σύμφυτος, έμφυτος, ενυπάρχων... 
listening to a radio chat with a novelist Δημήτρης Στεφανάκης and somebody in 
Brussels, Τάσσος Παπαδόπουλος.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

αντισταθμιστικά μετρα

compensatory / countervailing measures, i.e. Any administrative or legislative action, procedure or enactment designed to redress disruptions of ecological integrity or damage to the supply of natural resources

μπαλαντέρ


μπαλαντέρ (baladér) m,   inv
  1. joker (playing card)
  2. (sports) an all-rounder
heard this on the news, something about negotiations--I guess the whole Troika thing is compared to a game of cards, and someone has a joker. 

spurs

σπιρούνια... came up in a discussion of the names of American sports teams!

make a distinction ~ αντιδιαστέλλω


αντιδιαστέλλω--antithiastELLoh


NOTE: This dictionary is currently only English to Greek.
Here are the lines from the English to Greek side that include 'αντιδιαστέλλω'.
WordReference English-Greek Dictionary © 2012:
Matching entries from other side of dictionary
differentiate vi(make distinction)διαφοροποιώ, αντιδιαστέλλω ρ.μετ.
καθομιλουμένηξεχωρίζω ρ.μετ.
differentiate vtr(see difference between)διαφοροποιώ, αντιδιαστέλλω ρ.μετ.
καθομιλουμένηξεχωρίζω ρ.μετ.
discriminate vi(make a distinction)αντιδιαστέλλω, διακρίνω, ξεχωρίζω ρ.μετ.
discriminate vtr(distinguish, differentiate)αντιδιαστέλλω, διακρίνω, ξεχωρίζω ρ.μετ.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

οβίδα ~ bomb shell

from a song about OCt 28

εναγκαλισμός ~ fancy word for "embrace"

embrace - an--gall--yA

formally, on the news, in the sense that the "IMF wants to get out of its embrace with Greece" en-an-gall--eez-MOSS

Monday, October 1, 2012

Μπρούκλης -- Brook--leess


Derived from the word Brooklyn (Greek Americans had wealth), a Brookleess is a someone with a lot of money, willing to share with his friends. 


μπρούκλης


Ο φραγκάτος, ο ματσωμένος. Στο θηλυκό παίρνει την κατάληξη -ισσα (μπρούκλισσα).

Σημείωση από τη Συντακτική Ομάδα
Συνώνυμα του πλούσιοςλεφτάςματσόμπρούκληςφραγκάτος
- Παιδιά, απόψε κερνάω εγώ!
- Έλα ρε μπρούκλη!


Came up in a discussion of this very blog!