Tuesday, January 22, 2013

furia


φούρια < ιταλική λέξη furia

φούρια θηλυκό
  1. σπουδήβιασύνη

pronounced as it is in Italian pretty much, furia means haste. I heard it in this song:




επαχθές

cumbersome, burdensome (epachTHES).

επαχθής < αρχαία ελληνική ἐπαχθής < ἐπί + ἄχθος ("βάρος")

Learned it on the nightly news from NET. 

Friday, January 18, 2013

water lily

νούφαρo (NOU-far-oh). It appears in this song. I knew how to say lily (κρίνο / krino) but water lily is  a totally different word. Τhe Greek word desrives from the Arabic noufar.



This is the flower in question:



Thursday, January 17, 2013

πένσα

PENsa = pliers, crimping tool, pincers. In Cypriot it's PESsa. Slight difference! It is apparently a synonym of τανάλια... I'm not sure if there's a difference in connotation/ exact kind of tool.

Here is the amazing Savvopoulos song whence I learned it:


 

Χειμώνανθος

Chimonanthus praecox -- the word in Greek is gorgeous, winter flower, but somehow a million times more beautiful. According to wikipedia, "Chimonanthus praecox, also known as wintersweet or Japanese allspice, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Chimonanthus of the family Calycanthaceae, native to China."
Wintersweet isn't such a bad name, either. Here is the song in which I first heard the word:


 

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

σουλατσάρω

σουλατσάρω < from the Italian, sollazzare
I was looking up σεργιανώ (seryanO) and one of the synonyms is soulatsAro, both meaning "take for a stroll." I wonder if the Italian is from the word sole, sun (take a stroll in the sun?)