Guests Eat What They Find, Not What They Expect

I wonder if we Turks have no history of visiting guests?

We are known as a hospitable nation.

Don't ask me where I got this from, I looked up the etymology of the word guest and got a little confused.

Like many words, guest is also Arabic!

We say we are on campaign, mobilisation. 

We also say that the traveller must be on his way. 

Here, the words "guest" and "expedition" come from the same root in Arabic. "Guest" means one who is on an expedition, in other words, "traveller" in Turkish.

"Hatice, quickly go and buy some dry cake from the bakery, both savoury and sweet. The travellers will come!"

Is that OK? 

Traveller! Guest! Doesn't quite fit, does it?

If you want it in Turkish, the exact translation of "guest" is "traveller"! In other words, when we say "guest" in daily use, we normally say "traveller". When we say "guests will come", we are actually saying "travellers will come".

"Come on girl Şebnem, get ready quickly, we're going to be late, you know we're going on a trip to Ayten's!"

Look, when you say it like this, if you confuse a single letter, it will almost be misunderstood, "traveller", "traveller". One letter can do so much.

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Look, there is also a visitor, actually this is a word like guest, although it has a slightly different meaning.

When we say visit, we usually go to visit the sick or something like that, just for a quick visit.

Sometimes the visit may not be that short, though!

"Ay lamb Ayla, please don't be offended, my mother-in-law came to visit us, she stayed for a month, she just left. That's why I haven't visited you for a long time."

In other words, her mother-in-law came for a visit, not permanently. But not just for three days, she stayed for a month.

Visit, or visitor, is also an Arabic word. It means to go to someone.

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But is there really no Turkish for that?

Actually, as mentioned above, there is also uğramak. Uğramak is Turkish!

You know how we say "a place to visit", the "uğrak" here is actually a noun. 

Uğrak? Can Uğrak be used instead of a guest?

No! 

When we say "uğrak", we are talking about any place. When we say "haunt", it is not the place where the guests stop by, but the place itself is a haunt!

In fact, the word "haunt" was coined in the republican period. İbrahim Alaattin Gövsa defined it in his New Turkish Dictionary published in 1930 as a place to stop by, a place to stop in, a place to stop while passing by.

In other words, the word "uğrak" has no historical meaning.

However, the word "uğrak" is derived from "uğramak". 

And stopping by is related to the word "good luck". In other words, it is actually a very good word!

I think we should derive a word related to "good luck" instead of the word "guest". Good luck bringers, guests, haunters!

***

Neighbour, konak, konaklamak, these words are also Turkish. Their roots come from the word "konmak". As a bird lands on a branch, it has the same meaning. 

Konmak is a very old word, it is even mentioned in Orkhon inscriptions. Orkhon inscriptions dating from 735 AD. This word probably has a much older history.

Maybe we can think of a word based on this instead of guest?

Oh, we already have this word! 

Guest! Don't we say guest instead of guest?

Guest is at least mentioned in Kashgarli Mahmut's Divan-ı Lügat'it Türk. It was used in 1073.

The neighbours have come to be guests! 

The guests have arrived!

"Run, Hatice, go and buy some dry cakes from the bakery, both savoury and sweet, the guests will come!"

Look, that's how it happened!

I think it is possible to speak in our beautiful Turkish if we want to.

We just need to make a little effort.

***

Does the word "talk" have anything to do with the word "host"? 

Mansion, neighbour, guest, talk? Very similar, actually. 

Yes, the word "talk" comes from the same root, derived from the verb "konmak" with the "accusative suffix, +iş, +uş". Maybe we started to talk out of boredom after we landed somewhere together. When I say konmak here, I am talking about settling down in the old usage.

Dedikodu is also Turkish, we Turks like to make rumours. "Dedikodu" means "said" and "kod" comes from "koymak". For koymak and konmak, the etymological dictionary writes that they may come from the same root. 

Dedikodu is a word derived from Ottoman times, dating from 1860.

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Anyway, we were talking about guests.

As we say, guests eat what they find, not what they expect, I think we should change this proverb.

Let's say the guest eats what he finds, not what he hopes for.

I wish you a good Sunday.

My love and respect to everyone from Moscow.