Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
GLOSSARY
batyr (Kyr, Kaz) - warrior hero
in epics
beg (T) - landlord, gentleman;
also spelt bay or bek
berkutchi (Kyr) - eagle hunter
Bi (Kaz) - honorific Kazakh title
given to clan elders
bishkek (Kaz, Kyrg) - see
pishpek
bosuy (Kyr) - see yurt
bufet (R) - snack bar selling
cheap cold meats, boiled eggs,
salads, breads, pastries etc
bulvar (R) - boulevard
bulvary (Kyr) - boulevard
buzkashi (T) - traditional polo-
like game played with a headless
calf, goat or sheep carcass (buz)
dutar (T) - two-stringed guitar
ABBREVIATIONS
A - Arabic
Kaz - Kazakh
Kyr - Kyrgyz
R - Russian
Taj - Tajik
T - general Turkic
Tur - Turkmen
U - Uzbek
-abad (T) - suffix meaning
'town of'
ak (T) - white
akkalpak (Kyr) - felt hat worn
by Kyrgyz men
akimat (T) - regional govern-
ment office or city hall, also
aqimat
aksakal (T) - revered elder
akyn (Kyr) - minstrel, bard
ala-kiyiz (Kyr) - felt rug with
coloured panels pressed on
alany (Kaz) - square
alplager (R) - mountaineers
camp, short for alpinistskiy lager
apparatchik (R) - bureaucrat
apteka (R) - pharmacy
arashan (T) - springs
asalamaleykum (A) - tradi-
tional Muslim greeting, meaning
'peace be with you'
ASSR - Autonomous Soviet
Socialist Republic
askhana (Kaz, Kyr) - local
restaurant
aul (T) - yurt or herders' camp
aviakassa (R) - air ticket office
avtobus (R) - bus
avtostantsia (R) - bus stop or
bus stand
azan (A) - Muslim call to prayer
eshon (A) - Sufi leader, also
spelt ishan
GAI (R) - traffic police
geoglyph - geometric pattern of
stones, often used in astrological
observations
gillam (T) - carpet, also gilim
glasnost (R) - 'openness' in
government that was one aspect
of the Gorbachev reforms
gorod (R) - town
Graeco-Bactrian - Hellenistic
kingdom and culture centred on
northern Afghanistan, southern
Uzbekistan and Tajikistan follow-
ing the conquests of Alexander
the Great
GreatGame - the geopolitical
'Cold War' of territorial expan-
sion between the Russian and
British empires in the 19th and
early 20th centuries in Central
Asia
caravanserai - travellers inn
chabana (Kyr, Kaz) - cowboy
chaikhana (T) - teahouse
chapan (U, Taj) - traditional
stripy Uzbek/Tajik cloak
chaykhana (T) - see chaikhana
chong (T) - big
choyhona (T) - see chaikhana
chuchuk (Kaz) - see kazy (in
food glossary)
chuchvara (T) - dumplings
CIS - Commonwealth of
Independent States; the loose
political and economic alliance
of most former member repub-
lics of the USSR (except the
Baltic states and Georgia)
CPK - Communist Party of
Kazakhstan
Hadith (A) - collected acts
and sayings of the Prophet
Mohammed
haj (A) - the pilgrimage to
Mecca, one of the five pillars
of Islam, to be made by devout
Muslims at least once during
their lifetime
hakimat (T) - see hakimyat
hakimyat (Kyr) - municipal
administration building
hammam (A) - bathhouse
hammomi (U) - baths
hazrat (A) - honorific title
meaning 'majesty' or 'holy'
Hejira (A) - flight of the Prophet
Mohammed and his followers to
Medina in AD 622
hijab (A) - Muslim woman's veil
or headscarf (literally 'modest
dress')
hoja (U) - lord, master, gentle-
man (honorific title)
dacha (R) - a holiday bungalow
dangyly (Kaz) - avenue
darikhana (Kaz) - pharmacy
darya (T) - river
dastarkhan (T) - literally
'tablecloth'; feast
depe (Tur) - see tepe
dezhurnaya (R) - floor-lady;
the female attendant on duty on
each floor of a Soviet-style hotel
dom (R) - building
domotdykha (R) - rest home
doppe (U) - black, four-sided
skullcap embroidered in white
and worn by men; also dopi ,
doppa , dopy or doppilar
babushka (R) - old woman;
headscarf worn by Russian
peasant women
bagh (Taj, D) - garden
balbal (T) - totemlike stone
marker
banya (R) - public bath
basmachi (R) - literally 'bandits';
Muslim guerrilla fighters who
resisted the Bolshevik takeover
in Central Asia
ikat (U) - tie-dyed silk
IMU - Islamic Movement of
Uzbekistan
IRP - Islamic Renaissance Party;
grouping of radical
 
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