Since this past Thursday was Thanksgiving Day, I have had numerous inquiries from friends and relations back in the US regarding Turkish Thanksgivings and the typical menu – or more to the point – Is turkey on the menu? As a friend and colleague in Charleston wrote to me: “The average person would think that would be the number 1 meat in the country.” Aside from the fact that Thursday was a typical work day here in Turkey, there was a bit of excitement among us US expats here in Ankara for our first Thanksgiving. Is there turkey in Turkey? If so, where would we find one? Would it already have been defeathered, decapitated, and declawed? Now before we get to the answers and actual menu, I’ll digress momentarily to discuss word etymology.
- The word for the country Turkey (or Türkiye as it’s known to its natives) did not come from our word turkey and is not related to birds or fowl. It simply means “land of the Turks.”
- The word for turkey in Turkish is hind – which is related to the Turkish word for India, or Hindistan as they call it.
- The English word turkey is shortened from “turkey cock” or “turkey hen” which was originally used in the 1500s to designate a guinea fowl from Madagascar. Apparently because the bird arrived in England by way of Turkey, someone got mixed up as to its origins. The mistake was further compounded when someone started applying the same name to the big American bird.
- Bonus etymologic tip: the Turks’ word for Egypt is Mısır which means corn. To my knowledge, there are no countries other than Egypt and India with edible Turkish names.
Back to the menu… We were invited to have Thanksgiving with our American friends Alice and Carnot Nelson and their grandson Josh. We arrived at their apartment at 7pm not knowing if there would be a bird or any of the other usual fare that we associate with this holiday. Much to our surprise, Alice had located a rather large bird (which she needed in order to feed the 21 of us in attendance). Miraculously, she had gotten this bird in her petit Turkish oven (along with stuffing and everything else she had to cook). She had even brought cranberries from Berlin, someone else had located sweet potatoes, and there were various other contributions which made for a really fine Thanksgiving feast. By my count, there were only 7 Americans, but it was one of the best and most memorable Thanksgivings that I’ve ever attended. And the next day, for the first time since I’ve been here, there was turkey on the lunch menu at the faculty dining room. Yes, there is turkey in Turkey!
So rather than the country being named after the bird, the bird is named after the country? Said goodbye to Laura this afternoon, and literally within hours the temps plunged. Got our Christmas tree, gearing up to do a big house cleaning so we can decorate. Can't wait to hear about Turkish Christmas traditions!
ReplyDeleteInteresting... In Hebrew, Egypt is "Mitzrayim" (the '-yim' indicates plural (sort of like "people of Mitzrah" It's not that far of a stretch from Mitzrah to Misir (or vice-versa). I don't know the origin of the Hebrew (though I should).
ReplyDeleteWell...Interesting idea but not quite that simple. Best I can tell, Mitzrayim comes from the Hebrew word "metzar", meaning "narrow" or "constrained". Nachal Mitzrayim, or "River of Egypt", is thought by some to be a reference to the Nile, and together literally means something like "Narrow river" or probably more literally "Narrow Waters". We don't think of the Nile as narrow, but some of what I have read suggests it is thought to be a reference to branches that no longer exist. I suspect that if one were navigating the Mediterranean and came to the Nile, it would feel like "Constrained Waters".
DeleteSo that's what I know. Nothing about Corn, but interesting nonetheless!
May your Waters Remain Forever Unconstrained! (If I were a urologist, I might feel embarrassed to offer such a wish, but sometimes a cigar is just a cigar... :-)