Sait Abasiyanik - A Useless Man

Alexander Dawe and Maureen Freely

Ağa: a landlord; also used to address a man of status or power

Balgami: chalcedony, a semitransparent or translucent quartz

Bedesten: a covered bazaar

Beyefendi: esteemed gentleman

Bohça: a bundle made of rough cloth

Çüpra: a more colloquial term for bream

δεν εíναι: “isn’t it” in Greek vernacular

Dramaduna: also Tramontana; northern wind

Dülger: john dory, a fish native to the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean

Efendi: sir, master or lord

Efendim: sir; literally “my lord”

Eskici: a peddler of old clothes and furniture

Günbatısı: western wind

Gündoğusu: easterly wind

Han: a former Ottoman inn; many today still remain as they were hundreds of years ago

Haram: an action, thought, food etc. forbidden by the tenets of Islam

Hasapiko: A Greek folk dance; literally the “butcher’s dance”

Helva: a sweet dish made of semolina and flour

Kalinikta: “goodnight” in Greek

Karayel: northwest wind; the mistral

Keşişleme: southeasterly wind

Kuruş: a cent of a Turkish lira

Külhanbeyi: a hoodlum or ruffian with a unique way of dressing; historically a young man who tended the fires of a Turkish hamam

Lodos: a southern wind

Maestro: Northwestern wind

Mastika: a type of rakı made with mastic

Mavrodaphn: a black wine grape indigenous to Northern Greece

Meyhane: a Turkish tavern

Meze: an appetizer usually made with olive oil

Panaya mou: Mother Mary

Poyraz: a northern wind; Boreas, the Latin God of the north wind

Sakız rakı: rakı made with mastic; mastika in Turkish

Salep: a hot drink made with milk and orchard roots, traditionally served in winter

Simit: a ring-shaped pretzel covered in sesame seeds; also a life-buoy

Sinağrit: sea bream

Suma: the grape pomace used to make rakı

Tünel: a short, one-stop funicular in Beyoğlu, Istanbul

Usta: master or artisan; also used as a term of affection

Viresi: “Hey you” in Greek vernacular

Yassı and Sivri: two smaller uninhabited islands in the Marmara Sea, part of the archipelago known as the Princes’ Islands