دربند 14:17 Aug 20, 2010
Thank you all so much for the excellent help.
I worked for many years as a Greek and Turkish specialist with the Foreign Office. There were a number of Greek and Turkish words I developed a fascination for, and, amazingly, almost all of them turn out to be Persian!
One of these words was your دربند. Now, in Greek, in the form δερβένι ðervéni (the Ð/ð I use in transcription is like TH in THIS – this letter actually existed in Old English and still exists in Icelandic), it means “mountain pass”. The Turkish word ‘derbent’ means the same thing.
However, how could the meaning of ‘mountain pass’ have developed from دربند, which would seem to mean ‘door-closer’ i.e. ‘bolt for a door’? |