November 02, 2020

Word Origin | Âfet, Zelzele, Deprem



A three-year-old girl was rescued from a collapsed building in the western Turkish city of İzmir on Monday, nearly three days after a powerful earthquake in the Aegean Sea that has killed at least 85 people.

Rescuers pulled the girl, Elif, out of the rubble, then took her on a stretcher to an ambulance as emergency crews searched for survivors in eight other buildings.



Mavi Boncuk |

Âfet: disaster[1], calamity[2], catastrophe [3]  EN fromAR āfa(t) آفة  bela, felaket, salgın hastalık depreşmek

oldTR tepre- hareket etmek, kımıldamak, tepiz oynak, muharrik oldTR tep- +Uz

1. Önlenmesi elde olmayan büyük felâket, belâ, musîbet, bâdire: Çoğu zaman yerde ve gökte bâzı âfetlerin oluşundan önce havada birtakım gizli, fakat tehdit edici alâmetler belirir (Yâkup K. Karaosmanoğlu).

2. Sakınılması gereken, tehlikeli, insana büyük zarar verecek olan kimse veya şey: Bu adam sarayın içinde herkes için bir belâ, bir âfettir (Yâkup K. Karaosmanoğlu).

3. İnsanın kendini kaptırıp kurtulamadığı durum: “Şöhret âfettir.” İçinde doğup büyüdüğü bu şehrin heyecânı âfetine yakalanmış samîmî bir İstanbul dîvânesiydi (Sâmiha Ayverdi).

4. İnsanı şaşkına çevirip aklını başından alacak kadar güzel kadın: Gül yüzlü bir âfetti ki her bûsesi lâle / Girdik zaferin koynuna kandık o visâle (Yahyâ Kemal). Sevmeyen bu âfeti / Sevenden bahtiyarmış (Orhan S. Orhon).

5. tıp. Hastalıkların dokularda meydana getirdiği bozukluk [Eskimiştir]: Operatör ciğerde bir âfetten korkuyor (Peyâmi Safâ).

Âfet-i can:

1. Iztırap çektiren, can yakıcı şey veya kimse: Dil verme gam-ı aşka ki aşk âfet-i candır (Fuzûlî). Âfet-i can dediler gamze-i cellâdın için (Nedim).

2. İnsana âfet gibi tesir eden güzel: Ne gördüm âh aman el-aman bir âfet-i can (Nedim). Âfet-i devran: Dünya güzeli denecek kadar güzel ve çekici kimse: Sen git gide bir âfet-i devrân olacaksın (Nedim).

Âfet-dîde (ﺁﻓﺖ ﺩﻳﺪﻩ) birl. sıf. (Fars. dіde “görmüş” ile) Âfete uğramış, âfet görmüş.

Âfet-resan (ﺁﻓﺖ ﺭﺳﺎﻥ) birl. sıf. (Fars. resān “eriştiren” ile) Belâ getiren, âfet eriştiren: Belki tûfâna dahi âfet-resandır giryemiz (Fehîm-i Kadim).

Zelzele: earthquake [4] EN  yer sarsıntısı: Bu zelzele bir ay sürdü. Kazâlarda o kadar büyük ve devamlı bir tahrîbat yapmıştı ki halk bir türlü evlerine girmek istemiyordu (Ahmet H. Tanpınar).

(onomatopoeic word) fromAR zalzala(t) زلزلة (ﺯﻟﺰﻟﻪ)) yer sarsıntısı; zalzala زلزل sarsıldı

Oldest use: [ Aşık Paşa, Garib-name, 1330]

defˁ ider bu dört ṣaf ol dört āfeti

[ anon., Tezkiretü'l-Evliya terc., 1341]

Sordular imāma: tevekkül nedür? Eytti: āmāl āfetüŋden χalāṣ olmakdır [arzular belasından kurtulmaktır].

[ Nasırüddin Rabguzi, Kısasü'l-Enbiya, 1310]

yeti tün kün [yedi gün gece] yér titredi zelzele boldı

similar: tezelzül

Zelzele-nümâ (-nüvis) ( ﺯﻟﺰﻟﻪ ﻧﻮﻳﺲﺯﻟﺰﻟﻪ ﻧﻤﺎ) birl. i. (Fars. numā “gösteren” ve nuvіs “yazan” ile) Sismograf.

Deprem: earthquake [4] EN newTR: "zelzele"

Oldest use:

[ Cumhuriyet - gazete, 1935]

Malatya (A.A.) - Dün gece saat 23'de beş altı dakika süren bir deprem olmuştur.

depremzede "deprem kurbanı" [ Milliyet - gazete, 1965]

Depremzedelerin sevincini görmeliydiniz.

See abstract: The Istanbul Earthquake of 1894 and Science in the Late Ottoman Empire[5] 

[1] disaster (n.)

"anything that befalls of ruinous or distressing nature; any unfortunate event," especially a sudden or great misfortune, 1590s, from Middle French désastre (1560s), from Italian disastro, literally "ill-starred," from dis-, here merely pejorative, equivalent to English mis- "ill" (see dis-) + astro "star, planet," from Latin astrum, from Greek astron "star" (from PIE root *ster- (2) "star").

The sense is astrological, of a calamity blamed on an unfavorable position of a planet, and "star" here is probably meant in the astrological sense of "destiny, fortune, fate." Compare Medieval Latin astrum sinistrum "misfortune," literally "unlucky star," and English ill-starred.

[2] calamity (n.) early 15c., "damage, state of adversity;" 1550s, "a great misfortune or cause of misery," from Old French calamite (14c.), from Latin calamitatem (nominative calamitas) "damage, loss, failure; disaster, misfortune, adversity," a word of obscure origin.

 [3] catastrophe (n.) 1530s, "reversal of what is expected" (especially a fatal turning point in a drama, the winding up of the plot), from Latin catastropha, from Greek katastrophe "an overturning; a sudden end," from katastrephein "to overturn, turn down, trample on; to come to an end," from kata "down" (see cata-) + strephein "turn" (from PIE root *streb(h)- "to wind, turn"). Extension to "sudden disaster" is first recorded 1748.

Early etymologists associated it with calamus "straw" (see shawm) on the notion of damage to crops, but this seems folk-etymology. Perhaps it is from a lost root also preserved in incolumis "uninjured," from PIE *kle-mo-, from *kel- "to strike, cut" (see holt). Calamity Jane was the nickname (attested by 1876) of U.S. frontierswoman, scout, and folk-hero Martha Jane Cannary (c. 1852-1903).

[4] earthquake (n.) "movement or vibration of a part of the earth's crust," late 13c., eorthequakynge, from earth + quake (n.). In this sense Old English had eorðdyn, eorðhrernes, eorðbeofung, eorðstyrung.

quake (v.) Old English cwacian "quake, tremble, chatter (of teeth)," related to cweccan "to shake, swing, move, vibrate," of unknown origin with no certain cognates outside English. Perhaps somehow imitative. In reference to earth tremors, probably by c. 1200. Related: Quaked; quaking.

quake (n.) early 14c., "a trembling in fear," from quake (v.). Rare except in combinations. Now usually as a shortening of earthquake, in which use it is attested from 1640s. Old English had the verbal noun cwacung "shaking, trembling."

[5] Istanbul Earthquake of 1894 and Science in the Late Ottoman Empire

Professor and Interim Department Chair, History, Clemson University

Books (Published)
Kemalist Turkey and the Middle East: International Relations in the Interwar Period (Cambridge University Press, 2017).
Osmanli Ulemasi ve Turkiye Cumhuriyeti (Kitap Yayinevi, 2013).
Ottoman Ulema, Turkish Republic: Agents of Change and Guardians of Tradition (Stanford University Press, 2011).


A devastating earthquake hit Istanbul and its environs shortly after noon on 10 July 1894. Although seismic disturbances were quite frequent in the long history of the Ottoman capital, the imperial city had not witnessed such violent tremors in more than a century. Hundreds of people died and thousands more were injured as a result of the complete or partial collapse of private dwellings, mosques, churches, synagogues and other public buildings. The earthquake of July 1894 hit the seat of the Ottoman government during a period of rapid socio-cultural change and shortly before the empire faced one of its worst crises in the late nineteenth century. As may be expected, many people in the Ottoman lands sought an explanation to the calamity that befell the inhabitants of the capital and neighboring regions. Some could draw on long-standing interpretive traditions that were primarily either theological in nature or based on classical naturalist theories. However, the Ottoman intelligentsia rejected such explanations out of hand. The Ottoman response to the earthquake mirrored the similar embrace of science's authority and adoption of scientific methods and tools in many other contemporary societies. The process of the expansion and globalization of scientific knowledge expanded beyond the boundaries of Europe and its colonies. Science and technology were widely perceived to be the measure of civilization and modernity. The Ottoman intelligentsia and political elite were therefore invested in helping the Ottoman Empire meet standards that were set in Europe and North America but also achieved quite successfully in Japan. They seized upon the earthquake of 1894 to disseminate knowledge of modern earth sciences and implement new methods of scientific study of seismic events in the Ottoman lands.


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