Here is an interesting, short radio-essay on the deer - a subject which I'm perhaps egotistically interested in because of my surname, Hart. In the programme Ruth Padel mentions Sir Thomas Wyatt's sonnet 'Whoso List to Hunt', which we looked at in the Outlines course last semester (there is a good newspaper article about the poem here). Because of two homophones in particular (deer/dear; hart/heart), deer are often a significant symbol in English poetry - but there are lots of other reasons, too. Have a listen - the programme begins one minute in.
And on a different, but connected note - do Turkish surnames usually have meanings? I'm guessing that they do. Anyone got a surname with an interesting meaning? Anyone called 'Hart' in Turkish? And does Turkey have a significant deer population?
And on a different, but connected note - do Turkish surnames usually have meanings? I'm guessing that they do. Anyone got a surname with an interesting meaning? Anyone called 'Hart' in Turkish? And does Turkey have a significant deer population?
Turkish surnames usually have meanings. Especially the old ones signify one's place in the society or one's job. I do not think that we have someone called Hart in Turkish. "Hart" in Turkish could be the sound when you bite an apple i don't know :) and Turkey probably does not have many deers.
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting! So what does your surname mean, if I can ask?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletewell i asked my dad and he has no idea :) if i make a translation öz-çelik means pure-steel. it does not make any sense now maybe it used to do.
ReplyDeletewell with the surname law each family had to make up a surname for themselves. so it was mostly their jobs, or some adjective that they felt means too much to themselves. hence, the turkish surnames do have a meaning. the funny thing is when people rushed to the government offices, probably because of the time's technological lacks, there happened some funny misunderstandings between the people and the officers -everybody would make a line to get theirs one by one, and when it is your turn, you would 'say' your brand-new surname, and this oral communication led to several misunderstandings - and most people got their surnames written wrongly :] so there may be some funny and non-sense surnames :] and as some adjectives lose their meaning in the course of time we can also get it wrong or laugh at it :] one example is that the turkish word 'yosma' meant beautiful and young woman then, yet today it means a woman who fidgets around or is behaving like a whore :] consider someone picking this one as a surname :]
ReplyDeleteshapeshifter_ an.eye.in.me.soup!