Talk:Circassian phrasebook

Is this right?

These edits strike me as very odd; they significantly change the text. Not knowing Circassian, I have no idea what's right, though. (WT-en) LtPowers 22:13, 8 August 2010 (EDT)

While I don't know a word of Circassian, some of the replaced text reads a lot like their Turkish counterparts, just a little phonetically corrupted in most cases. Wikipedia says there is not a single, unified Circassian language, and dialectical or geographical (i.e. Circassian spoken in Northern Caucasus/Russia vs. Circassian spoken in Turkey) differences may be the reason of such a mass altering of the phrasebook. Maybe we should divide this phrasebook into Adyghe phrasebook and Kabardian phrasebook. – (WT-en) Vidimian 02:06, 9 August 2010 (EDT)

More I dig into history of this phrasebook, more I am amazed. I've even come across one certain qanafane, which was provided as a translation for "toilet", and which likely derives from the very antiquated Turkish word of kenefhane which has fallen out of regular usage long ago and which literally means, yes, shit house. This is (was) almost a parody of a phrasebook, although the spellings are far enough from standard Turkish (and many of phrases are not Turkish-origin even in older versions anyway) that they may be legitimate. – (WT-en) Vidimian 04:50, 9 August 2010 (EDT)

I actually thought the only proper modern usage of "Circassian" was to refer to Circassians living in Turkey (having been driven out of Russia centuries ago). I'd be fine with making this a disambiguation for Adyge phrasebook (I don't understand why it would be Adyghe, as it is on Wikipedia) and Kabardian phrasebook. No idea on how to merge the existing content, though. --(WT-en) Peter ^Talk 19:10, 10 August 2010 (EDT)

Peter, can you grasp any influence from Russian on this current version of phrasebook? I see there is a shiyana (шияна), which is provided as the translation for "blue". That's likely derived from cyan (which I guess has a similar Russian equivalent?) and it's not used in Turkish unless speaking about some obscure scientific issues. In older versions, "blue" was mai (Мяги), which is very similar to its Turkish equivalent — mavi. So if my hunch is right, the phrasebook prior to edits started on Aug 9 was for Circassian spoken in Turkey and all versions after that are for Circassian spoken in Russia. I'm not sure how to divide this between Adyge and Kabardian, though, as Wikipedia articles on those languages state that both are spoken in both countries. – (WT-en) Vidimian 03:22, 11 August 2010 (EDT)