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Archiver > Melungeon > 2000-11 > 0973439554


From: "Johnsons" <>
Subject: [Melungeon] Melungeon & French&Turkish
Date: Sun, 5 Nov 2000 07:52:34 -0800
In-Reply-To: <69.c7df491.273561a7@aol.com>


Thought I would throw a twist into this discussion...

I was visiting the region of Incirlik, Turkey in 1993. During a side trips
(from the shopping areas) one of the things I "vaguely" remember being told,
is that the modern turkish language was written by a French linguist. There
was a war or something, and the new ruler decided he wanted to develop a new
language... I 'think' because the old language was too difficult to learn.
This ruler hired the French linguist. There is a lot more to this and it
"was" very interesting... but I was really much more interested in Turkish
Rugs and Turkish Gold ;-) I know... I was weak... but the rugs were soooo
pretty!

Unfortunately, I don't know when this happened, and what modern means in
Turkey... could be within the last 100 years, or could be within the last
1000 years... OH... it was also said that the older people in the mountains
of Turkey still speak the old language, and everyone is amazed at that...
apparently it was passed down from generation to generation. I was visiting
someone who was stationed there in the military. He is one of those die-hard
hunters, and somehow met some Turk's who took him to the highest regions of
Turkey... to hunt! This guy met some of the mountaineers who speak the 'old'
Turkish.

PLEASE NOTE: I am not saying that the people in Turkey speak French... only
that the language they currently are using is like a root of French, kinda
like Italian is to Latin, but not so obvious... or even English is to Latin.

I know I just butchered part of the history of Turkey... Maybe one of the
better versed Historians on this list can 'remind' me of what period in
history this took place. I was a little overwhelmed with the history that
was thrown at me during my 4 day trip... and honestly... I really was more
interested in the gold and rugs ;-) (food was good too!) However, if someone
doesn't readily know this information, I'll do some research to see what I
find...

Twanda, aren't you in communication with some Turkish students... maybe they
will know. One of the other things I really liked about Turkey... the
people there are incredibly friendly! I didn't meet a rude person there...
unless you count the numerous traffic encounters.. ;-)

Sharon
Yuba City



-----Original Message-----
From: [mailto:]
Sent: Saturday, November 04, 2000 4:57 AM
To:
Subject: [Melungeon] Melungeon & French


Hi List,
I find this fascinating. It could very well be a twist of the
French word Melange. Giving that there was alot of French in the area. With
a
accent it could easily be sounded out as Melungeon. When people ask me "What
are you", I always smile first and say "Well I'm mixed."
I do have French decent also. One point is how holler and hollow are
pronounced would be the best example of how a word could be turned around.

Cynthia


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