THE SILENT SCREAMS OF THE KEFERE[1]
Article by Sedat Kaya [2]
The year was 1955.
September 6th.[3]
It was a chilly autumn evening in Istanbul.
Vural Öger was just 13 years old.
He was walking down İstiklal Street, holding his uncle's
hand.
They were going to buy lemon cologne from Rebul Pharmacy.
The main street and side streets were very crowded that day.
Hundreds of people were standing idly by.
Suddenly, they pulled thick sticks from under their coats.
They scattered along the street and began hitting first the
shop windows and then the shopkeepers who had rushed out in anger.
A Greek Cypriot was screaming, covered in blood, after being
hit in the head.
Vural Öger recounts what happened next.
"From Taksim to Tünel, all the shops were destroyed.
One and a half meters of fabric, refrigerators, appliances, socks,
sandwiches... They were breaking into the shops with sticks, breaking
everything, and then wandering around asking, 'Where are the Greeks, where are
the Greeks?' Friends told me that they had caught the priest of the church in
Taksim and circumcised him. All the Greek churches were attacked. 17-18 priests
were lynched... Thousands of thugs tried to beat the Greeks with sticks."
Anastasis Yordanoğlu was a Greek citizen living in Beyoğlu.
That day, as usual, he went to his neighborhood coffeehouse.
The owner of the coffeehouse was very fond of him.
He approached him slowly and whispered in his ear.
"My dear Anton, it would be better if you went home
today."
"Why?" asked Anastasis.
The coffeehouse owner repeated.
"You listen to me... Hurry up and go home now."
Anastasis Yordanoğlu recounts what happened next.
"After we had gone a few streets, I realized what was
happening. They were breaking the shutters of the shops and the doors of the
houses with axes. Pianos and cabinets were being thrown from the windows, and
they were shouting, 'Today is your property, tomorrow is your life!'"
İsabella Öztaşçıyan was 7 years old.
She was the daughter of Kefere(*) Misak.
That evening, they were at her uncle's house, a priest on
Büyükada.
It had darkened.
There was a commotion in the street.
People on top of a garbage truck were shouting, "We
want the priest, we want the priest."
İsabella Öztaşçıyan recounts what happened next.
"They were shining a spotlight on the houses with a
projector they'd placed on top of the car. We all lay down on the floor of the
house, turning off the lights, but we were terrified. The car came to a stop
right at our door. Then, suddenly, they started throwing stones at the house
across from us, smashing the doors and windows. When they realized there was no
one inside, they left. The house belonged to our Turkish pharmacist neighbor.
We later realized that they had come to the island that day. The whole island
knew us and where our house was. So, the outsiders hadn't been able to get a
precise description of our house." Lefter Küçükandonyadis lived on Hamam
Street, right next to İsabella Öztaşçıyan's house.
Lefter was the son of a very poor sewer worker.
But he was also the star striker of the national team and
Fenerbahçe.Ay Yıldızlı forma ile nice goller atmıştı.
He even shook the Greek network in Athens.
The Greeks chanted "Turko, Turko!"
The attackers, driving around in a garbage truck, came to his house too.
They got out of the vehicle and started throwing stones.
They were shouting, "Hit that infidel!"
Lefter Küçükandonyadis recounts what happened next.
"Fifteen days ago, when I scored a goal, I was on the shoulders. That day, I was met with rocks and paint cans... Worst of all, the kids I gave pocket money to attacked my house. There were no windows or doors left in the house. My daughters were young, and they tried to kill them. The police chief from Istanbul came to my house. He exclaimed, 'Oh my God,' when he saw what he saw that night."
Brigadier General Yılmaz Tezkan entered the Military Academy
in 1950. From the very first day, he, like everyone else, began singing the
Military March.
"We are descendants of a race that created lightning,
We are the reminders of floods, the relics of history,
We founded this Republic with blood and wisdom,
Even if hell rages, we are its immortal warriors."
While they sang this march at the Military Academy, American lieutenant colonels were advising the Turkish generals in the same building.
Following looting and lynching attempts, martial law was
declared.
Yılmaz Tezkan was one of the soldiers working to calm the
situation.
He was ashamed of his humanity when he saw what he saw.
The homes of Greek Cypriots were raided without a single one
being missed.
Their belongings were thrown onto the street.
Brigadier General Yılmaz Tezkan recounts what happened next.
"The people living in their homes were trying to collect useful items from the rubble. A little girl found a doll with a missing arm and leg, crying out to her mother, 'Mama, Mama, I found it, I found it!' What we saw was a shameful and unforgettable sight."
The events continued for two days.
All the neighborhoods and districts where minorities lived
were looted.
All the attackers had sticks made from the same lathe.
They were brought to the target areas by bus.
They were organized.
For two days, the soldiers and police did not intervene
against the attackers.
15 non-Muslims were killed.
300 people were injured.
More than 30 women were raped.
4,214 homes, 1,004 businesses, 73 churches, one synagogue, two monasteries, 26 schools, and 5,317 other properties, including factories, hotels, and bars, were looted.
Sacred images, crosses, icons, and other sacred objects inside the churches were destroyed.
All 73 Greek Orthodox churches in Istanbul were set on fire.
Greek, Jewish, and Armenian cemeteries were attacked.
Of the destroyed and looted businesses, 59 percent belonged
to Greeks, 17 percent to Armenians, and 12 percent to Jews.
Even properties belonging to Belarusians who had converted to Islam were attacked.
Material damage totaled 100 million lira, in contemporary currency.
After two days, Brigadier General Nurettin Aknoz was
appointed to the Istanbul Martial Law Command.
Aknoz Pasha first summoned the editors of all newspapers to
the Martial Law Command in Harbiye.
It was announced that the newspapers of those who failed to
appear would be shut down.
Aknoz officially issued the order to the media at the meeting.
“Gentlemen, we've been through tense days. Now, nerves need to calm down. You must be very careful. I ask the following of you: If the debates in the Grand National Assembly are of a nature to excite the public, you will not write. All news of poverty and famine is prohibited. For example, pictures of people queuing in front of bakeries to buy bread cannot be published. Such news will create panic in the country. Criticizing the government is prohibited. If you do such a thing, I will close your newspaper. Articles and comments claiming that anyone other than communists were responsible for the events of September 6-7 are prohibited; I will close them down. You cannot write articles that express the demands of those harmed in the events. News broadcasting that will arouse excitement is prohibited. Writing articles that will influence the government's actions is prohibited. News such as insulting Turkishness or tearing the flag cannot enter the newspapers; I will close them down. You cannot publish second or third editions; I will confiscate them. I will not impose censorship on the press. I leave publishing to your discretion. If you cannot use it correctly, I will use the powers given to me. You have a bad habit of writing whatever comes to mind, but you cannot write. You can obtain everything Anadolu Agency and Radio broadcast. I will not allow it. I declare. What happened to us is an event directly orchestrated by the communists. Don't overlook this in your writings. Come to your senses accordingly. Don't complicate our work.”
The military's baton had taken effect.
The Turkish media was now blind and deaf.
Newspapers reported that the Menderes government, which
ruled the country at the time, had no involvement in the events and was
completely innocent.
The then-CHP Chairman İsmet İnönü supported the Menderes
government in his parliamentary speech.
"We have determined that the Democrat Party group
seriously discussed the events. The government's understanding that the
homeland is in grave danger has prevailed over the rivalry between the
parties."
In the end, the military's words came true, and the
communists were held responsible.
Dozens of communists, including Aziz Nesin, Nihat Sargın,
Kemal Tahir, Asım Bezirci, Hasan İzzettin Dinamo, and Hulusi Dosdoğru, were
arrested. Those arrested were released three months later after proving their
innocence in court. The case was closed shortly thereafter.
The Greek population in Istanbul, which numbered 100,000 in
1955, is now only counted in the hundreds.
Who orchestrated this dark stain on our history and who
seized the property of the fleeing Greeks remains a mystery.
Years later, Brigadier General Sabri Yirmibeşoğlu, who was then in charge of the Special Warfare Department (Mobilization Investigation Board), later appointed head of the department, and later served as Secretary General of the National Security Council, made this statement, never forgotten:
"September 6-7 was a Special Warfare operation. It was
a magnificent organization. It achieved its goal."
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See also: What Happened to the Istanbul Armenians on September 6, 1955: A Memoir | By Sonia Ebruhi Derman Harlan
"Then followed a mass exodus of the minorities. The Greeks
went to Greece. Many of us Armenians immigrated to Canada, the US, Australia,
Europe and Argentia. For the most part, the Jews stayed put but in subsequent
years, they would find their way to Israel. In all 100,000 minority citizens
got out of Turkey. Our Armenian community lost over 25,000 of the 60,000
Armenians in total."
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Days of Disgrace in our History: September 6-7, 1955 |
by Bahar AKPINAR Şalom
Gazetesi
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Kuzguncuk is a small, popular village in Istanbul near the Bosphorus. According to most official and unofficial written and oral documents, Kuzguncuk was a village of mostly Jews, Greeks, and Armenians rather than Muslim Turks up until the mid-twentieth century. In other words, the neighborhood is usually described by residents and in local and official discourses as a village of peace, harmony, and tolerance. These narratives create the identity of Kuzguncuk as a happy, peaceful and harmonic village. Kuzguncuk’s non-Muslim population started to decrease following the Turkification and homogenization practices of the Turkish nation-state such as Turkifying street names (the 1930s), the Capital Tax (1942), 6-7 September Pogrom (1955), the deportation of Greeks (1964), and Cyprus military operation (1974). Most of the Greeks and Jews were forcibly or voluntarily migrated to Greece and Israel. Specifically, the events of 6-7 September directly damaged Kuzguncuk’s non-Muslims because looters attacked several non-Muslim houses and shops. Unfortunately, recent statistics reveal that the current non-Muslim population of Kuzguncuk is only 1 percent of the total population of the village. Kuzguncuk lost its multicultural characteristic though Muslim Kuzguncuk residents hold up the multiethnic characteristic of the village in their nostalgic discourses. The general objective of this book is to unpack the historical facts of the Turkish Republic’s homogenization and Turkification practices via an analysis of the case of Kuzguncuk. In other words, this study is a memory work of one of the well-known villages of Istanbul.
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NOTES EDITED BY MAVI BONCUK
(1) KEFERE: Heathen [MORE]. Non muslim. Usually a person who does not belong to a widely held religion (especially one who is not a Christian, Jew, or Muslim) as regarded by those who do.
An Arabic word meaning infidel, used to degrade non-Muslims during the Ottoman period. In slang, it means "playful, untrustworthy, rude, shameless dog, bad man." | Osmanlı döneminde müslüman olmayanları aşağılamak için kullanılan, kafir anlamındaki Arapça kelime.. Argo dilde "Oynak, güven vermeyen, terbiyesiz, arsız köpek, kötü adam" anlamına geliyor..
[3] The September 6–7 Events or the Istanbul Pogrom (Greek: Σεπτεμβριανά Septemvriana, "September Events") were an organized mass attack against the Greek minority in Istanbul that took place on September 6–7, 1955.
It was alleged to have been planned and supported by the Mobilization Investigation Board, the Turkish arm of Gladio, as well as the Counter-Guerrilla and the National Security Service, the predecessor of today's National Intelligence Organization.[6] The events were triggered by false reports in the Turkish press the previous day claiming that the birthplace of Türkiye's founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, in Thessaloniki, Greece, had been bombed. A Turkish consulate official, later apprehended, admitted that they had planted the bomb to provoke the events, but the Turkish press ignored this, claiming the bomb was planted by the Greeks.
Events
From 1955 onward, the Democrat Party government faced an increasingly difficult economic situation and lost the trust of those whose standard of living had fallen, particularly due to high inflation. Efforts to silence the opposition through questionable methods also alienated the press, intellectuals, and students from the Democrat Party.[9] For example, according to a report by the German Foreign Office, just 15 days before the events, martial law was declared in Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir on September 7, 1955, to control the opposition.[9] The restrictions imposed on the Press and Assembly Law in 1956 to suppress the opposition were largely justified by the events of September 6-7.The Menderes government's initially liberal policy towards minorities shifted with increasingly difficult economic conditions, and relations became strained.
The oppression of Turkish Cypriots dominated the Turkish public agenda in 1955. The headline in Hürriyet, Türkiye's best-selling newspaper at the time, stated that the Greek minority in Istanbul was collecting donations and sending them to Greek Cypriot ENOSIS gangs. While Foreign Affairs officials were continuing their Cyprus contacts in London, the news of a bomb explosion at Atatürk's home in Thessaloniki was first broadcast on the radio during the 1:00 PM news on September 6, 1955. (Oktay Engin, a Political Science student at the University of Thessaloniki who allegedly threw a bomb at Atatürk's home in Thessaloniki, was later convicted in absentia.
Oktay Engin served as Governor of Nevşehir between February 22, 1992, and September 18, 1993.
Thereupon, the pro-DP newspaper İstanbul Ekspres, owned by Mithat Perin and editor-in-chief Gökşin Sipahioğlu, published a second edition with the headline "Atatürk's house bombed."[4] Although its circulation was usually around 20,000, it printed 290,000 copies on September 6. Members of the Cyprus Turkish Association, established at the time, began selling the newspaper throughout Istanbul and using it to incite public outrage.
In the same edition, Kamil Önal, general secretary of the Cyprus Turkish Association, wrote, "We will make those who encroach on sacred values pay dearly, and we see no harm in publicly declaring that we will."
With the initiative of the Cyprus Turkish Association and the instigation and encouragement of other youth organizations, professional organizations, the Democratic Party (DP), and certain official and unofficial authorities, local crowds and groups brought from outside the city carried out an act of looting and destruction unprecedented in the history of the Republic on the evening of September 6th.
The first attack was carried out around 7:00 PM on the Haylayf Patisserie in Şişli. The growing crowd then moved on to Kumkapı, Samatya, Yedikule, and Beyoğlu, attacking and looting shops in many neighborhoods where non-Muslims lived together, first those belonging to Greeks, then Armenians, Jews, and even, by chance, some Turks. The police maintained a passive stance during these attacks on the homes, businesses, and places of worship of the Greek minority in Istanbul. Organized units of twenty to thirty people, with prior knowledge of the addresses of Greek Cypriots, provided transportation within the city using private cars, taxis, trucks, buses, ferries, and other vehicles. The attacks, which continued until the morning of September 7, resulted in the destruction of more than 5,000 properties, including churches and synagogues, and millions of dollars' worth of goods were scattered on the streets and looted.
It was alleged that the events were planned and supported by the Mobilization Investigation Board, the Turkish branch of Gladio, as well as the Counter-Guerrilla and the National Security Service, the predecessor of today's National Intelligence Organization. The events were triggered by false news reports in the Turkish press the previous day claiming that the birthplace of Türkiye's founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, in Thessaloniki, Greece, had been bombed. A Turkish consular official, later apprehended, admitted to planting the bomb to provoke the events, but the Turkish press ignored this and claimed that the bomb was planted by the Greeks.[***]
Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, who was in Istanbul at the time the events began, was summoned from Sapanca when the attacks became uncontrollable, and martial law was declared. Initially, 3,151 people were arrested in connection with the events. This number later rose to 5,104.
On September 10, 1955, Namık Gedik, then Minister of the Interior, resigned. Initial investigations and trials focused on the Cyprus Turkish Society and youth organizations. Prosecutors under martial law, initially declared at the time, later indicted communists. Following the suppression by the DP government, charges were brought against living, blacklisted communists, including Aziz Nesin, Nihat Sargın, Kemal Tahir, Asım Bezirci, Hasan İzzettin Dinamo, and Hulusi Dosdoğru, as well as four deceased communists. The case resulted in acquittals, and most of the detainees were released in December 1955. Shortly thereafter, the Cyprus Turkish Society was also shut down.
After the 1960 coup, these events became a hot topic during the Yassıada trials. Following the May 27 coup, the junta orchestrated the Yassıada trials, where it was alleged that the events spiraled out of control due to provocation by the DP government's Prime Minister, Adnan Menderes. The junta court also punished the Democrat Party leadership for the September 6-7 events.
According to Dr. Dilek Güven[*]:
Hikmet Bil, President of the Cyprus Turkish Society, and his members were imprisoned. However, they were released after being told, "Either you release us, or we will reveal certain things." The events were blamed on the public. The court stated, "The Turkish nation was agitated and carried out the events." No one was punished. The second case was Yassıada. Menderes and members of the government were tried. In this case, the events were blamed solely on the government members. Menderes repeatedly requested that the head of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) be summoned to court. But this was always denied. The events were not clarified.
[*]"The September 6-7 looting events were organized by the National Intelligence Organization." Sabah. February 2, 2009
[**] Oktay Engin, a Western Thrace Turk and a Political Science student at the University of Thessaloniki, was arrested and tried by Greek authorities on charges of being the perpetrator and instigator of the bombing of Atatürk's house, which triggered the September 6-7 Incidents. After his release, Engin fled to Turkey. Later convicted in absentia, Engin began his education in Greece and completed it at Istanbul University. He later served as the district governor of Çankaya, the Director of Political Affairs at the General Directorate of Security, and the Governor of Nevşehir.
Oktay Engin, accused of playing a role in the bombing of Atatürk's house, denied the allegations:
"What kind of investigation led to your accusation and arrest? Let's elaborate on that a bit.
First, we hear that Hasan Uçar, a staff member at our embassy, was captured shortly after the events, on September 12, 1955. A week later, on September 18, they arrested me. Initially, the accusation began, 'You threw the bomb.' Thank God, I was far from the scene that day, with many people. When I finally proved this after much difficulty, the accusation began, "You didn't throw the bomb, but you instigated it." So, we were actually victims of the feelings of revenge that surged after the events of September 6-7. Among those interrogating me, some even asked, "I have relatives in Istanbul. Do you know what happened to them?"
46 years have passed. Let's ask again: Did you have any direct or indirect involvement in this incident?
Absolutely not, never.
A thought, youthful excitement, or, I don't know, a reaction to the pressure you were under?
No, never.
So why were you also captured after Hasan Uçar's statement was taken?
Hasan Uçar was a poor man who didn't even have a proper education. Their connection with me was because I facilitated Hasan Uçar's employment at the embassy. There was no other reason.
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In Popular Culture
A 2003 drama film co-produced by Greece and Turkey, A Pinch of Spice [***], focused on Greek individuals in Istanbul affected by the events. The 2008 film Autumn Pains addressed the events and sparked intense debate in Türkiye. The 2013 film Exile addressed the 1964 Greek Deportation as well as the September 6-7 Events. The 2021 Netflix series Club, in its second season, explored the impact of the events on minority individuals in Istanbul, and its treatment of the subject brought the September 6-7 events back into the Turkish public agenda.
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[***] A Pinch of Spice (original title: Πολίτικη Κουζίνα / Politiki kouzina) is a 2003 Greek-Turkish co-production of dramatic films directed and written by Tassos Boulmetis.
Fanis Iakovidis, who grows up to be a chef while recalling
his childhood with his father in Istanbul before he and his parents were
deported during the Istanbul Pogrom while his grandfather remained in Turkey.
This movie touches upon themes such as identity, influence, history and
cultural preservation, and the ways we communicate to the world who we are
through what we create. This is a sensible story of how you become who you are,
and how your past plays a role in shaping your future.
It is filled with nostalgia as well as warmth as the chef is
keeping parts of his heritage and identity alive through his cooking. Not only
does this movie showcase dishes that will educate you about Greek-Turkish
culture and gastronomy, it has an interesting premise because it uses food as a
window to many other social aspects such as politics, love, and family as Fanis
goes back to Istanbul to reconnect with a part of himself he had lost.
The film was submitted as Greece's entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 77th Academy Awards, held on February 27, 2005.
Synopsis: Forced to emigrate from Istanbul to Greece with his family as a child, Fanis was raised to be a brilliant chef. For years, he used this talent to spice up the lives of those around him. When he returns from Athens to his hometown of Istanbul after 35 years to reconnect with his grandfather and his first love, he realizes that he has neglected the spice of his own life for all these years.
Books
Son Eylül
Salkım Salkım Asılacak Adamlar
Beyoğlu'nun En Güzel Abisi
Bir Yerde Bir Gül Ağlar
Elenika
Kurtarılmış Haziran
Haymatlos
İstanbullu Elefteria
En Hüzünlü Eylül[24]
Hulki Bey ve Arkadaşları
Güvercinler
Aşkın Samatya'sı Selanik'te Kaldı
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NOTES BY Mesut UYAR, Ph.D., PD
General Ahmet Nurettin Aknoz (1898-1964) was a Libyan originated officer. He retired as the commander of Turkish Army. See his attached photo.
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WORD ORIGINS
[MORE] heathen Old English hæðen "not Christian or Jewish," also as a noun, "heathen man, one of a race or nation which does not acknowledge the God of the Bible" (especially of the Danes), merged with Old Norse heiðinn (adj.) "heathen, pagan," from Proto-Germanic *haithana- (source also of Old Saxon hedhin, Old Frisian hethen, Dutch heiden, Old High German heidan, German Heiden), which is of uncertain origin.
Perhaps literally "dweller on the heath, one inhabiting uncultivated land;" see heath + -en (2). Historically assumed to be ultimately from Gothic haiþno "gentile, heathen woman," used by Ulfilas in the first translation of the Bible into a Germanic language (as in Mark vii.26, for "Greek"); like other basic words for exclusively Christian ideas (such as church) it likely would have come first into Gothic and then spread to other Germanic languages. If so it could be a noun use of an unrelated Gothic adjective (compare Gothic haiþi "dwelling on the heath," but a religious sense is not recorded for this).
Whether native or Gothic, it might have been chosen on model of Latin paganus, with its root sense of "rural" (see pagan), but that word appears relatively late in the religious sense. Or the Germanic word might have been chosen for its resemblance to Greek ethne (see gentile), or it may be a literal borrowing of that Greek word, perhaps via Armenian hethanos [Sophus Bugge]. Boutkan (2005) presents another theory:
It is most probable that the Gmc. word *haiþana- referred to a person living on the heath, i.e. on common land, i.e. a person of one's own community. It would then be a neutral word used by heathen people in order to refer to each other rather than a Christian, negative word denoting non-Christians.heathenism(n.)
c. 1600, from heathen + -ism. Old English words for it included hæðennes, hæðendom, and a later ones were heathenship (late Old English), heathenhood (late 13c.), heathenry
hoyden(n.) "ill-bred, boisterous young female," 1670s; earlier "rude, boorish fellow" (1590s), of uncertain origin; perhaps from Dutch heiden "rustic, uncivilized man," from Middle Dutch heiden "heathen," from Proto-Germanic *haithinaz- (see heathen). OED points to Elizabethan hoit "indulge in riotous and noisy mirth" in Nares.
paynim(n.) early 13c., painime, paynyme, "heathen lands collectively," from Old French paienime, paienisme "heathen, pagan; Saracen lands or culture or faith," from Late Latin paganismus "heathendom" (Augustine), from paganus "heathen" (see pagan). The original sense is obsolete; the mistaken meaning "a heathen person" (c. 1300, also in Old French) is via phrases such as paynim lands. As an adjective, "non-Christian, pagan," c. 1300, from Old French.
heathenish(adj.) Old English hæðenisc; see heathen + -ish. Related: Heathenishly; heathenishness. Similar formation in Dutch heidensch, Old High German hiedanisc, German heidenisch.
pagan(n.)c. 1400, perhaps mid-14c., "person of non-Christian or non-Jewish faith," from Late Latin paganus "pagan," in classical Latin "villager, rustic; civilian, non-combatant" noun use of adjective meaning "of the country, of a village," from pagus "country people; province, rural district," originally "district limited by markers," thus related to pangere "to fix, fasten" (from PIE root *pag- "to fasten"). As an adjective from early 15c.
The religious sense often was said in 19c. [e.g. Trench] to derive from conservative rural adherence to the old gods after the Christianization of Roman towns and cities; but the Latin word in this sense predates that period in Church history, and it is more likely derived from the use of paganus in Roman military jargon for "civilian, incompetent soldier," which Christians (Tertullian, c. 202; Augustine) picked up with the military imagery of the early Church (such as milites "soldier of Christ," etc.).
The English word was used later in a narrower sense of "one not a Christian, Jew, or Muslim." As "person of heathenish character or habits," by 1841. Applied to modern pantheists and nature-worshippers from 1908.
The English surname Paine, Payne, etc., appears by old records to be from Latin paganus, but whether in the sense "villager," "rustic," or "heathen" is disputed. It also was a common Christian name in 13c., "and was, no doubt, given without any thought of its meaning" ["Dictionary of English Surnames"].
Philistine one of the Old Testament people of coastal Palestine who made war on the Israelites, early 14c., from Old French Philistin, from Late Latin Philistinus, from Late Greek Philistinoi (plural), from Hebrew P'lishtim, "people of P'lesheth" ("Philistia"); compare Akkadian Palastu, Egyptian Palusata; the word probably is the people's name for themselves. Hence, "a heathen enemy, an unfeeling foe" (c. 1600).
sarsen(n.) a name given in the southwest of England to a large sandstone boulder, by 1743, properly sarsen stone, that is, "Saracen stone," from Saracen in the old, broad sense of "pagan, heathen" and thus used generally in the popular mind for the former (pre-Christian) inhabitants of the region.
The same word was applied to the ancient leavings outside Cornish tin mines, also known as Jews' pits, those being the other people formerly credited in Western Europe with any ancient structure of forgotten origin, based vaguely on Biblical chronologies.
proselyte(n.) "one who changes from one sect, creed, etc. to another," late 14c., proselite, "a convert, especially "a heathen convert to Judaism" (in Biblical writings, e.g. Matthew xxiii.15, Ezekiel xiv.7), from Old French proselite (13c., Modern French prosélyte), from Late Latin proselytus, from Greek prosēlytos "convert (to Judaism), stranger," literally "one who has come over."
It is a noun use of an adjective meaning "having arrived," from pros "from, forth, toward" (see pros-) + eleusomai "to go, come" (from PIE *elu-to-, from root *leudh- "to grow up, come out" (see liberal (adj.)).
Martinmas early 12c., sancte Martines mæsse, the church festival formerly held on Nov. 11 in honor of the patron saint of France, St. Martin, late 4c. bishop of Tours noted for destroying the remaining heathen altars.
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