Hello Turkish and/or Greek speakers. I used to know the origins and meaning of this (now abbreviated Greek) Turkish/Ottoman surname. Alas, I forgot. I remember that this name was originally Turkish and had a suffix, something like Sevrikular (?). I also remember this surname was probably taken from a medieval Ottoman profession that certain (only Greek?) Ottomans may have held hundreds of years ago. That somewhat longer Turkish/Ottoman surname was later shortened to Sevris. Does anyone know what I have forgotten? And how that surname was actually spelled, and what it meant? Thanks so much.
1
vinnyd
My guess is that it is the same as the Greek family name Severis. If I had to guess at that, I would guess it was either from a Slavic word for north or from the Latin-Italian word for severe. There was apparently a Greek theologian called Severus of Antioch.
It doesn't look Turkish to me.
Any good googlers here? You used to be able to put a in front of word to say "This is the exact word, so spelled, that I am interested in." But when I searched for severis Greek I got lots of hits about the emperor Septimius Severus and about hours of services in Greek Orthodox churches. Is there some way of saying to google "Don't tell me about words that you think I meant; this is the word I mean" ?
2
nutraxfornerves
Google got rid of the + feature. Now, you have to use double quotes, just as you do to make Google look for a string of words or numbers.
"Severis"
"The Costas and Rita Severis Foundation" which is in Nicosia, Cyprus.
I'm not having much luck, although the name Severis does seem to be associated with Cyprus.
4
nutraxfornerves
No, and I thought we were BFF. I got annoyed because + didn't work and rummaged around their help files where I found it.
I wondered if the name was originally Şevris. That didn't get me anything. Shevris turned up a couple of Armenian bishops.
I think I'll wander off into that Turkophone thread on Eastern Europe & see if I an snare a native speaker.
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