First Turkish-Romany dictionary to be completed soon
A historian in the Aegean Turkish province of İzmir has almost completed preparing the first Turkish-Romany dictionary, Doğan news agency reported Saturday.
Necat Çetin, who is also the principal of the Özbey Primary School in İzmir’s Torbalı district, has thus far identified the Romany equivalent of 4,500 Turkish words by interviewing Roma residents of the district’s Çaybaşı, Pamukyazı and Kuşçuburun neighborhoods. He is currently researching words beginning with the letter “Y.”
Aided by a team of 10 Roma people, Çetin has been working four hours a day for almost two months on the project, in addition to his job at the elementary school. He said the dictionary would include more than 5,000 words once the team’s work is completed.