This is an old revision of this page, as edited by SmackBot (talk | contribs) at 08:24, 2 July 2007 (Date/fix the maintenance tags or gen fixes). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 08:24, 2 July 2007 by SmackBot (talk | contribs) (Date/fix the maintenance tags or gen fixes)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) | This article does not cite any sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Giaour" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (July 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Giaour, written gavur in modern Turkish, is a word used by Turkish people to describe all who are non Muslims, with particular reference to Christians and at times to Greeks.
The word is a Turkish adaptation of the Persian gdwr or gbr, an infidel. The term was first employed as a term of contempt and reproach, but has become so general that in most cases no insult is intended in its use. A similar fate happened to the Arabic equivalent kaffir, or unbeliever, which was so widespread that it became the proper name of various peoples and countries (see Kaffir).
The word is borrowed into some languages in the Balkans, like "Гяур" in Bulgarian, "Ghiaur" in Romanian, "kaurin" in Serbian and Croatian and "kaurr" in Albanian.
See also
- The Giaour, a poem by Lord Byron
References
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty|title=(help)
