List of Serbo-Croatian words of Turkish origin


Serbo-Croatian vernacular has over time borrowed and adopted a lot of words of Turkish origin. The Ottoman conquest of the Balkans began a linguistical contact between Ottoman Turkish and South Slavic languages, a period of influence since at least the late 14th up until the 20th century, when large territories of Shtokavian-speaking areas became conquered and made into provinces of the Ottoman Empire, into what was collectively known as Rumelia. As the Ottoman Turkish language itself extensively borrowed from Arabic, Persian and Central Asian Turkic languages other than itself, many words of such origins also entered Serbo-Croatian via Turkish. Numerous migrations in the war-torn Western Balkans helped spread Shtokavian and its enriched vernacular. Some Turkisms in Serbo-Croatian have entered the language through other languages, such as Italian, while some words of Greek origin have been adopted in their Turkish forms.
Over the passage of time, many Turkish loanwords were completely adopted into standardized varieties of Serbo-Croatian and are no longer considered loanwords, if not for lack of true synonyms. Numerous such Turkisms are often preferred to later introduced Germanisms and Latinisms. This is mostly the case with the Croatian variety of Serbo-Croatian, which has historically been more stringent to internationalisms. Out of all four varieties of the language, Bosnian has by far introduced and retained the most of Turkisms, largely due to its cultural Islamic ties. Turkish loanwords underwent pronunciation changes, principally on gender suffixes and adaptations of ö, ü, ı that are non-existent in Serbo-Croatian. Turkisms are also commonly called "Orientalisms".

Characteristics

Turkisms often end in one of the following suffixes: –luk, –ci, –li, which come from the original –lik, –çi, –lı. Other suffixes include –ak, –hana, –ija, –suz and –uk. Persian –dār is also a common suffix. Many Serbo-Croatian words that are not of Turkish, Arabic or Persian origin have adopted these suffixes, showing that influence of Turkish onto Serbo-Croatian extends past loanwords, into morphology and other linguistic characteristics.

Number of Turkish loanwords

There is an uncertainly high number of Turkish loanwords in the modern Serbo-Croatian language, mostly contained within the prestige Shtokavian dialect, and fewer in Kajkavian and Chakavian. The first edition of Srpski rječnik from 1818 listed around 2,500 Turkisms among 26,270 total words, while the second edition from 1852 listed around 3,700 out of 40,000.
Orientalist expert Olga Zirojević deems that a lot more Turkish loanwords have been used in Serbia's distant past - around 8,000 - than in the present, which is estimated to be around 3,000. First dictionary of Turkisms in Serbia was written by Djordje Popović-Daničar in 1884, called Turkish and other Eastern words in our language. The book contains around 6,000 words. Another academic, Dušan Marjanović, compiled a corpus of 5,000 Turkisms in early 1930s.
A prominent Sharia and jurist writer spent several years at the Institute for the study of folklore of University of Sarajevo thoroughly documenting Turkisms in the folk literature of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He subsequently created the most comprehensive dictionary of Turkisms, first published in 1957 in two volumes, then called Turkisms in the vernacular and folk literature of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Encouraged by great interest among domestic and international scientists and the demand for the dictionary, Škaljić expanded his research to the entirety of Serbo-Croatian-speaking area. In 1965 he published the dictionary named Turkisms in the Serbo-Croatian language, which after several additions and revisions ended up having 8,742 words and 6,878 terms.
An academic research in the Croatian dialectological field was done by Silvana Vranić and Sanja Zubčić at the University of Rijeka. They analyzed a corpus of 443 Shtokavian, 122 Chakavian and 95 Kajkavian phrasemes typical of Croatian speech, in which they found 118, 45 and 29 Turkisms respectively. The ratio of phrasemes per Turkisms was found to be 4.1, 2.7 and 3.3 respectively, showing that Shtokavian contains the most Turkisms, although not equally distributed along regions where it is spoken - the most were found in Dalmatian Hinterland at 39%, then Slavonia at 36%, and Lika at 25%.

List of loanwords

Only a number of Turkish loanwords are common to all four standardized varieties of Serbo-Croatian. Many more Turkisms lie in the vernacular speeches, which vary across regions and cultures. A large number of such loanwords are mainly found in the Bosnian standard, and are considered colloquial or non-existent in other varieties. The following is a non-exhaustive list thereof.
Serbo-CroatianTurkishOriginEnglish meaning
alataletarab. ʔālatool
amidžaamcaturk. Amca uncle
aršinarşınarşın
avlijaavlucourtyard
babobabaturk. babafather, grandfather
badavabedavapers. bādihäwāgratis, free
bajagi, kobajagibayaǧıas if, apparently, quasi
bakarbakırcopper
baksuzbahtsızjinx
bakšišbahşişpers. bahšīštip, fee
barem, barbariat least
barjak, bajrakbayrakturk. batrak, batrukbanner, flag
baškabaşkaaside
bašta, bašćabahçepers. bāǧçegarden
bećar, bećaracbekarturk. short version of bekaret derived from arab. bikr بكرbachelor, reveler
bedembedenarab. badandefensive wall
bekrijabekriyapers. bakravi from arab. bikrtippler, drunkard
belajbelaarab. balāʔtrouble
bešikabeşikbladder
bilmezbilmezdimwit, goof
bojaboyacolor
brebremore (interjection)
bubregböbrekkidney
budalabudalaarab. budalāʔfool
bumbarbumbarpers. būnbār, būmbār̕bumblebee
bunarpınara well
burazerbiraderpers. birāderbrother in law
burmaburmawedding ring
čakçakturk. çak or çokeven
čalabrknuti, čalabrcnutiçalafast + bite
čamacçamacsmall boat
čarapaçoraparab. cawrab جورب or cūrāb جورابsock
čaršijaçarşıbazaar
čekićçekiçhammer
čelikçeliksteel
česmaçeşmefountain, faucet
čiča, čika, čikoçiçeuncle
čičakçiçekburdock
čizmaçizmeboot
čoban, čobanacçobanpers. šubānshepherd, shepherd's stew
čukun-, šukun-köküngreat-great-
ćelavkelbald
ćenifakenef, tuvaletarab. kanaftoilet
ćoravkör, körlükpers. kūrblind
ćošakköşepers. kūšecorner
ćupküpturk. kūpjar
ćuprijaköprüturk. köprügbridge
dadiljadadıpers. dādānanny, babysitter
darmartarumarpers. tār-u mārhiggledy-piggledy
dernekdernekfair, festivity
devadevecamel
dućandükkanarab. dukkānshop
dugmedüğmeturk. tukme,düğümbutton
duhan, duvanduhan, nargilearab. duḵān / duḵḵāntobacco
dušekdöşekmattress
dušmandüşmanpers. dušmenenemy
džabaçabafree, for nothing
džepceparab. jaybpocket
džincinarab. jinngiant
džukelacahil,cühelaarab. juhalāʔmutt, big dog
džumbuscümbüşpers. ǧunbišuproar, disorder
đongönsole
đubregübregarbage
eksereksernail
fišekfişekice cream cone
fitiljfitilarab. fatīlfuse
galamaağlamanoisiness
hajde, ajdehaydigo ahead, come on
hajdukhayduthajduk
hajvan, ajvanhayvanarab. ḥaywānanimal
halka, alkahalkaarab. ḥalqa / ḥalqaquoit, alka
hašišhaşiş, esrararab. ḥašīšhashish
inatinatarab. ʕinādspite, defiance
jarakyaraktrench
jastukyastıkpillow
jokyoknope, no
jorganyorganquilt
jorgovanergüvanpers. ergevwnlilac
jurišyürüyüşrush, onslaught, storm
kajiš, kaiškayışbelt, strap
kaldrmakaldırımturk. kaldırmak-kaldırımcobblestone
kandžakancaclaw
kapakkapakeyelid
kapijakapıgateway, gate
karaulakaravulhane, saat kulesiwatchtower
karavankaravancaravan
katkatstorey
kavezkafesarab. qafaṣcage
kazankazanturk. kazğan-kazancauldron, kettle
kesakesepers. kīsebag, sack
kestenkestanegreek. kástanachestnut
kioskköşkpers. kūškkiosk
komšijakomşuneighbor
kopčakopçabuckle
krevetkerevet, yatakgreek. krevátibed
kulakulearab. kolehtower
kusurkuruşgerm. Groschchange
kutijakutugreek. koutibox
lakrdijalakırdıa variety of farce
lepezayelpazehandheld fan
lešleşpers. läšecorpse
lulalülepers. lūletobacco pipe
makazemakasarab. maqaṣṣscissors
majmunmaymunarab. maymūnmonkey
mamuranmahmurarab. maḵmūrhungover
maramamahrama, başörtüsüarab. maḥramascarf
mušterijamüşteriarab. muštaricustomer
nanulenalin, sandalarab. naʕlaynwooden sandals
nišannişanpers. nišāngunpoint
odžak, odžačarocakchimney, chimney sweep
oroz, horozhorozpers. hurūzrooster
ortakortakpartner
pamukpamukpers. pambehcotton
pandžapençepers. penǧeclaw
papučapabuç, ayakkabıpers. pāpūšslipper
pareparapers. pāremoney
pazarpazarpers. bāzārbazaar, piazza, marketplace
pendžerpencerepers. penǧerewindow
peškirpeşkir, havlupers. pīšgīrtowel
rajaraya, kalabalıkarab. raʕiyyarayah, commoners, crowd
raskalašankalleşpers. qalāšprofligate
sačmarica, sačmasaçmashotgun, shot pellets
saksijasaksıflowerpot
sanduksandıkarab. sandūq / sundūqchest, crate, box
sapunsabunlat. saposoap
satsaatarab. sâtclock
sevdalinkasevdalısevdalinka
sokaksokakarab. zuqāqalley
sunđersüngersponge
surlazurnapers. sūrnātrunk
šamarşamarslap, smack
šahşahpers. šahchess
šator, čadorçadırturk. çatır,çaşırtent
šugaşugapers. šūgscabies
tabantabansole
tamantamamarab. tamāmjust right
tambura, tamburicatamburtamboura, tamburica
tavatavapers. tābepan
tavantavanattic
testeratesterepers. desteresaw
toptopcannon
trampatrampaital. tramutabarter, exchange
tulipantülbent, lalepers. dülbendtulip
tulumtulum, partiparty
turpijatörpüfile
zanatsanatarab. ṣanʕatrade, occupation, profession
zumbulsümbülpers. sunbulhyacinth