جهری

Ottoman Turkish

Rhamnus lycioides subsp. graeca

Etymology

An Iranian borrowing. Compare Arabic جَلْهَم (jalham) of like meaning. The same word as جهره (cehre, “yarn-reel”), from Persian چهره (čahra, čehra, “wheel; yarn-reel”), modernly known as چرخه (‍čarxa, “wheel; spinning wheel”), even in Swahili cherehani (“sewing machine”).

Noun

جهری • (cehri)

1. any Rhamnus species or the genus or fruits thereof or particularly yellowberries for dye
   • 1914, Harun Reşit Kocacan, Muhtasar ilm-i kımya: Darülmuallimin ve Darülfünun ile mekâtib-i iʼdadiye sınıflarına mahsustur, İstanbul: Kitaphane-yi İslâm ve Askerı̂, page 254:

     طبیعی بویالرك اك مهملری كوك بویا ، بقام اغاجی ، چیوید ، زغفران جهرى وقرمزدر .

     tabiʼi boyalarıñ eñ mühimleri kök boya, bakkam ağacı, ‍çivid, zağferan[,] cehri ve kırmızdır.

     The most important natural dyes are madder, bloodwood, indigo, saffron, yellowberry, and kermes.

Derived terms

• آلاجهری (ala cehri)

Descendants

• Turkish: cehri, cehre, both meaning Rhamnus genus and species

Further reading

• “Persian berries”, in CAMEO: Conservation & Art Materials Encyclopedia Online‎^[1], 2013
• “Buckthorn berries”, in CAMEO: Conservation & Art Materials Encyclopedia Online‎^[2], 2013
• Alkayış, Fatih (2007) “cehri”, in Türkiye Türkçesinde bitki adları [Plant Names in Turkish of Turkey] (in Turkish), doctoral thesis, Kayseri: T.C. Erciyes Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, page 243
• Kélékian, Diran (1911) “جهری”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎^[3], Constantinople: Mihran, page 452