Glossary entry

Turkish term or phrase:

.

English translation:

.

Added to glossary by Özden Arıkan
Oct 18, 2006 09:23
17 yrs ago
1 viewer *
Turkish term

chéray

Turkish to English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature weights & measures
I found this term in a 1800 french text. No context as words are listed alphabetically.
I believe it is a turkish weight.
I believe the turkish romanisation would be cérai with a tilde above the 'c' [to make the 'ch' sound]. So I guess
chérai would be the english romanisation.

Discussion

blavatsky (asker) Oct 20, 2006:
Batman I found another reference,

Chahy, a weight; see Cheray.
Batman , or Man, is also a Persian weight. It give its likewise two different kinds. One, which is the royal weight, is called Batman de Chahi, or Cheray; and the other one is called Batman of Taurie.
blavatsky (asker) Oct 19, 2006:
I think I have answer at
http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eski_Türk_ölçü_birimleri

I would guess
chai is kyye [1.257 kilograms]
cheky is ceki [225.8 kilograms]
cheray is kirat [0.07985 kilograms]
does that sound right ?
Özden Arıkan Oct 19, 2006:
Like, 1 cheray = 10 kg, for instance. Perhaps that could take us somewhere...
Özden Arıkan Oct 19, 2006:
Then I'm wrong about my assumption that ch=sh. The 2nd one is certainly "çeki", in Ebru's answer. The others are not recognizable to me. (The 1st one looks like "çay", but that means tea.) OK, one last question: any figures next to the entries? Like,
blavatsky (asker) Oct 18, 2006:
GROUPING the three words in this group are...
chai, chéky, chéray
blavatsky (asker) Oct 18, 2006:
CONTEXT Yes that's right the column for these words "poids de tous les pays"
weights from all the countries.
Özden Arıkan Oct 18, 2006:
similar to *şere* (not that this makes any sense) = sheré in Eng.?
Özden Arıkan Oct 18, 2006:
OK, no context, but the list belongs on somewhere I guess, what made you think it should be a weight, are other items related to weight measurement? And if it's French, *ch* should give the sound *sh*, no? It's Turkish transliteration should be similar
Faruk Atabeyli Oct 18, 2006:
These may be helpful:
1. cérai=saray=palace (also beginning and/or end of many district names, Ayvansaray, Saray Burnu)
2. Cherai=Cheri=infantryman, short form of Yeniceri = Janissary
again, use caution (and contex) they are merely guesses.

Proposed translations

+1
23 hrs
Selected

Writing here for convenience only: I don't have the answer

1) Kıyye, is another name for Okka. See: http://tinyurl.com/yhhox5
The link you gave also confirms this, search for either Okka or Kıyye in that page.
And here's the English Wiki page for Okka=Oka: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oka_(measure)
I don't think Chai is the same thing, but cannot be sure, of course.


2) Cheky=Çeki seems right to me.


3) Cheray: Kırat=carat or karat, see this dictionary link:
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=carat
if you scroll down the page, you'll see that the English carat/karat is a derivation of the Arabic "kırat" - and so is the Turkish "kırat", which probably served as the bridge of this derivation. Besides, even if the *t* at the end of the Arabic word is the silent t, I don't think it would've been transliterated as a *y*.


I am not convinced that either of the two below could be your Cherai, but still it might help to take a look:
http://tinyurl.com/ycowed


There is Zerre, the smallest unit of weight (which looks and sounds -to me at least- more similar to Cherai than Kırat)

And there's Dirhem-i Şer'i, which means the canonical dirhem used for religious sort of measurement (as opposed to Dirhem-i Örfi, the secular dirhem), like for instance, used in measuring the weight of wheat to be allocated as Zekât (money or goods given out for charity, considered a religious duty). Perhaps your Cherai is a transliteration of this Şer'i, but a remote possibility, I admit.








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Note added at 3 days22 hrs (2006-10-22 08:20:32 GMT)
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Re. "Batman de Chahi, or Cheray"

If the "chahi" and "cheray" are synonymous here, and if "chahi" means royal, then it somehow makes sense. Because "chahi" in the sense of royal is obviously the same as "shahi", related to "shah"; and "cherai" *may be* a slightly corrupt transliteration of "saray", which means a royal court. In various Western European languages, this word has been transliterated in forms like "serai", "cerai", etc. (The "seraglio" in Mozart's opera is again the same word.)

1 batman = 6 okkas = 7,692 kg.
according to this link: http://www.denizce.com/hafta0529.asp
Peer comment(s):

agree Serkan Doğan
1 day 7 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
29 mins

çeki

It is really sounds like Çeki (ch combination makes Ç sound) and it is very old Turkish weight measure which is equivalent to 250 kgs. If that weight does not fit to the text than I do not know realy, although I read and write Ottomanish Turkish.
Peer comment(s):

neutral Faruk Atabeyli : if you determine that this indeed is the answer, it may be helpful to know that "cheki" was most commonly used in firewood trade
1 hr
yes, I know it is for firewood but since I haven't seen the text it was only matching with çeki. On the other hand it is more logic to say the word is almost equivalent to "çeri" meaning of asker which may take place in poetry, literature. But, thanks.
Something went wrong...
+3
2 hrs

çerağ

It means, in Ottoman Turkish, "light, candle or kerosone lamp"

Example:
Dilim bezm-i hakikatte çerağ-ı ruşen olmuştur
Peer comment(s):

agree Emine Fougner
2 hrs
teşekkürler
agree mutter
2 days 4 hrs
teşekkürler
agree Taner Göde
16 days
teşekkürler,cevap hem decline edilebiliyor hem puan alabiliyormuş
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