Harry Terhanian.com

Corruption illumines dark paths.

mehguh gahrogh eh hahzahreen ahnounuh ahvreh

One can spoil the good name of a thousand.

pehssehn kahssvadz dehrdehruh

The priest whose vestment was yanked

There was a priest who liked to preach. But he was so spaced out that even he did not understand what he preached. Understanding this shortcoming of his, he asked the alter boy to yank his vestment everytime he said something inappropriate
during his sermon.

One day the priest explained the story of Saint George and the dragon. He said, ” Saint George was one our our most powerful saints. He fought with a dragon-snake whose tail was 500 meters long, and ….. ” The alter boy yanked the priest’s vestment. The priest continued, ” If it wasn’t five hundred, it must have been 200….” The alter boy yanked his vestment again. “Ugh I think it was 100, ” said the priest. Again the alter boy yanked the priest’s vestment. “It must have been 25,” said the priest with visible signs of annoyance. One more time the alter boy yanked the priest’s vestment. In a rage of anger this time, the priest looked at the alter boy and growled.

Dzoh khaidahrag, guhsheh, hahbah ahyss veehsahb-ohtzuh puhnahv botch counehr….

“You idiot, ” he said, “you think the dragon didn’t have a tail.”

According to the Golden Legend the narrative episode of Saint George and the Dragon took place in a place he called “Silene,” in Libya. There was no such place, the name being perhaps a corruption of Cyrene. The Golden Legend is the first to place this legend in Libya, as a sufficiently exotic locale, where a dragon might be imagined. A translation of the original text of Jacobus de Voragine is linked below.
This town had a pond large as a lake where a plague-bearing dragon dwelled. To appease the dragon, the people of Silene used to feed it a sheep and a virgin every day, the virgin chosen by lottery.
It happened that the lot fell on the princess of Silene. The king, distraught with grief, told the people they could have all his gold and silver and half of his kingdom if his daughter were spared; the people refused. The daughter was sent out to the lake, decked out as a bride, to be fed to the dragon.
Saint George heard of this state of affairs, and rode to the lake. The princess, trembling, sought to send him away, but George vowed to remain and fortified himself with the Sign of the Cross. (In the earliest version, where the dragon is more clearly a representation of paganism, or at least infernal power, the sign of the Cross itself was sufficient to defeat the dragon.)
The dragon reared out of the lake while they were conversing. Saint George charged it on horseback with his lance and gave it a grievous wound. Then he called to the princess to throw him her girdle and put it around the dragon’s neck. When she did so, the dragon followed the girl like a dog on a leash. She and Saint George led the dragon back to the city of Silene, where it terrified the people at its approach. But Saint George killed the dragon before them. They would have rewarded him richly, but he asked only that they receive baptism; in some variants, he tells them before the death not to fear the dragon but to be baptized.
The king and the people of Silene converted to Christianity. On the site where the dragon died, the king built a church to the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint George, and from its altar a spring arose whose waters cured all disease.

zahrtahr meenchev zahrtahrvee, jahm bahdahrak gahdahrvee

Before Zahrtahr ( a lady’s name) finished her makeup, the church service finished.

This humorous proverb makes fun of the vanity of “Zahrtar” who takes so long to put on her make-up before going to church that she misses the church service.

A name for church in Armenian is “jahm,” which literally means hour or time. Traditionally, in the Armenian churches the “jahmakeerk” was continually read. This book was a devotional of prayers to be read at specific times during a 24 hour period. Therefore, the Armenians called their church “jahm” that referred to the fact that there were recitations of prayers for every minute of the day.

yehranee ahnor vor khehlohkeen hahrkuh jahnahnchelou seerd ouhnee
yehranee ahnor vor ahnmeedeen hahmpehrehrlou seerd ouhnee

Blessed is he who has the wisdom to recognize (or esteem) the value of a good soul
Blessed is he who can exercise patience with the ignorant

yehrp khehlkut hahssnee ouh tzerkut chee hahssnee mehdz dahrahbahnk

Literally, “when your mind understands, but your hand cannot make it happen, a great (cause of ) suffering.

More peotically, “when the mind can comprehend, but your hand cannot reach the end, you suffer terribly”

toun teh keedehss hazar pahn, mehg keedtzoghehn pahn hahrtzour, kouhtzeh arhnehss bahdaskhan, kouh hahzahret nohr yev suhr

You may know a thousand things, yet ask an expert about something,
perhaps the answer you will understand, will be new and more sharp (or more wise) than the thousand you comprehend

yehteh chuhlahr aghahman, yehteh chuhlahr hoghahman

If it can’t be a salt shaker and if it can’t be an earthen pot, (then it is useless)

This saying indicates in an indirect way that something is without purpose (or useless).

mehr douhnuh pohss, ouhr vor khenht gah hohss

Our house is a pit, when there are foolish people present (here).

Poetically: our house becomes a pit, wherein we let the foolish sit.

This saying indicates in an indirect way an assembly or meeting of wicked and foolish people.

He lifted the bull onto the shelves.

In other words, a man boasted and lied so much that he lifted a bull onto the shelves.
It is not possible to place a bull onto the kitchen shelves or onto the rafters of a house. So this
is an impossible conclusion reached by excessive boasting and lying.

yehrgahr lehzou gahrj guhneh giankuh

A long tongue makes life short.

One who talks and gossips alot will encounter many difficult and life threatening situations.

yehress duhveenk ahsdahruh ahl gouzeh

Literally this proverb says, “We gave him face, and now he wants the lining.

The meaning of this proverb is, “We spoiled and pampered him, and now he wants a “silver” lining.”

ahsdahr is the Armenian word for a lining meaning the inner lining of fine cloth for an expensive suit of clothes.
yehress duhveenk is an Armenian idiomatic phrase which means “we gave (him) face.” This is the way Armenians say that they have pampered and spoiled someone. They have been very respectful and attendant to the person’s desires and have generously tried satisfy the
person’s every wish. Even with all this special treatment the person is not satisfied and asks also for a “silver lining.”

vayh ahyn khorodeekeen zor goshgagarn eh yehpehr
vayh ahyn gosheegeen zor khohahrahn eh gahrehl

Alas for the gourmet dish that the cobbler cooked
Alas for the pair of shoes the cook sewed

Food is sour when one buys the cheapest quality.

gousht makeyeen tahruhn eh kahreen