Çorumca: The Çorum Dialect and Dictionary
Çorumca is the popular name for the local dialect spoken in Çorum and its districts. It is not a separate language but a regional dialect within the Anatolian dialects of Turkey Turkish, known for its distinctive sounds and remarkably rich vocabulary. In this dialect, stairs are called badal, windows toplu, turkeys culuk and boys gobel — and a sentence like"Gel heeri! Ecik oturalık" ("Come on! Let's sit for a bit") can baffle first-time visitors.
Which dialect group does Çorum belong to?
Classifications of Anatolian dialects place Çorum in two ways. Ahmet Caferoğlu, who divides Anatolian dialects into nine clusters, puts the Çorum dialects in the Amasya-Ankara (partly Yozgat) region. Leyla Karahan counts them among the Western Group of dialects, separating the centre with İskilip, Bayat, Kargı and Osmancık from the districts south of the centre. So there is no single uniform Çorumca — sub-dialects vary from district to district, even from village to village.
Sound features of Çorumca
Phonetically, the Çorum dialect differs markedly from standard Istanbul Turkish. The main changes listed with examples in İbrahim Gösterir's Çorum Yöresi Ağızları Sözlüğüinclude:
| Feature | Examples |
|---|---|
| a turning into e | tane → dene (piece), kiraz → kirez (cherry) |
| i and e swapping | ninni → nenni (lullaby) |
| u turning into o | memnun → memnon (pleased) |
| consonant metathesis | çömlek → çölmek (pot), kibrit → kirbit (match) |
| initial k becoming g | kapı → gapı (door), kız → gız (girl), koyun → goyun (sheep) |
| initial s becoming z | sopa → zopa (stick), sabah → zabah (morning) |
| dropping of r | bir → bi (one), sonra → sona (then) |
| prosthetic i before l and r | renk → irenk (color), lazım → ilazım (necessary) |
| t softening to d | tane → dene |
| k replaced by h | okumak → ohumak (to read) |
| d turning into z | merdiven → merzivan (stairs) |
| v becoming f | alev → alaf (flame) |
| first-person plural suffix -ık/-ik | geliriz → gelirik (we come), yaparız → yaparık (we do) |
Sample sentences
- "Gel heeri! Ecik oturalık." — Come on! Let's sit for a bit.
- "Abışı, emmimlere mi gidiyon? — Yogk heri, daha damı kürümedim." — Auntie, are you going to my uncle's? — No, I haven't swept the roof terrace yet.
- "Eşşek çamıra çokünce yol gösteren çok olur." — (Proverb) When the donkey gets stuck in the mud, everyone becomes an advisor.
- "Kork abrilin beşinden, öküzü ayırır eşinden." — (Proverb) Fear the fifth of April; it parts the ox from its mate (late spring frost).
The Çorum dictionary
The selection below is drawn from the Çorum Yöresi Ağızları Sözlüğü (İbrahim Gösterir, Çorum Municipality, 2022) and from popular compilations published over the years. Some words are used elsewhere in Anatolia too; others are largely unique to Çorum.
Home and daily life
| Çorumca | Meaning |
|---|---|
| badal | stairs, staircase step |
| toplu | window |
| helke | plastic bucket |
| ilaen | basin |
| guşhane | large metal cooking pot |
| cıncık | marble (toy); broken glass pieces, glass ornaments |
| cınnak | fingernail |
| çödürüm çüş | seesaw |
| pevrede | fruit marmalade |
| ilistir | sieve, strainer |
| oklağaç | rolling pin |
| makat | wooden divan |
| seki | stairs, stoop |
People, character and behaviour
| Çorumca | Meaning |
|---|---|
| gobel / göbel | boy, male child |
| elevay | someone who works slowly |
| mazarat | mischievous child |
| alakise | a swindler |
| costar | scatterbrained |
| öpçe | a know-it-all |
| sıracalı | frail or chronically ill person |
| çoynak | one-armed, crippled |
| abuhun / abızambak | fool, simpleton |
| abışı | aunt (uncle's or brother's wife) |
| aba | older sister; in some villages, mother |
| topalak yüzlü | plump-faced |
Animals, plants and nature
| Çorumca | Meaning |
|---|---|
| culuk | turkey |
| gölbez | puppy |
| dobak | pigeon |
| pinnik | chicken coop |
| gidek | kid (young goat) |
| zuval | cornelian cherry fruit |
| cılga | narrow path just wide enough for one person |
| sellağ | a stream carrying dirty water |
| soğukluk | purslane |
| börgüce | beans (especially around Osmancık) |
| ağartı | dairy products in general (milk, yogurt, ayran) |
| ağız | colostrum, an animal's first milk after giving birth |
Verbs, idioms and exclamations
| Çorumca | Meaning |
|---|---|
| heri | emphatic particle: "iyi heri, geliyorum" — fine, I'm coming |
| ellame | as if |
| gunnamak | for an animal to give birth |
| şinnemek | to act up, be naughty |
| yelikme | children misbehaving |
| heşlemek | to go bad enough to be thrown away |
| börtmek / börttürmek | to boil, to parboil |
| tengdirmek | to get rid of something |
| tuyumuna | doing something by heart, without measuring |
| azmak | to lose one's way, get lost |
| afur tafur | airs and graces, showing off |
| foldur foş | ample, roomy |
| capcuk | getting all thumbs while doing something |
| şapırtısına yelmek | to believe a hard-to-keep promise will be kept |
| şilepe | sticky juice smeared from fruit or sweets |
Research on the Çorum dialect
Dialect collection in Turkey began in the 1930s. For the Turkish Language Association's second great collection campaign (1952-1959), ten collectors from Çorum submitted a total of 6,261 word cards; 3,126 of these came from Eşref Ertekin alone, making him the third most prolific contributor nationwide. TheÇorumlu magazine, published by the Çorum Community Centre between 1938 and 1946, and Ertekin's Çorum'da Derlenen Maniler (1971) are among the earliest written sources on the dialect.
The most comprehensive work is İbrahim Gösterir's Çorum Yöresi Ağızları Sözlüğü, published by the Çorum Municipality. Starting with 10,930 headwords in its first edition (2009), the dictionary reached 16,101 headwords in its fourth edition (2022). It draws on written sources such as Tayyar Kerman's Çorum Ağzından Derlemeler (1997), the novels Kemal Tahir wrote after his time in Çorum Prison, Mehmet Seyda's İhtiyar Gençlik, and the poems of Çorum folk bards such as Âşık Haydar, Hüseyin Çırakman and Borani. A popular online "Çorumca-Turkish dictionary" published in 2001 by Lütfü Özyüzer of İzmir Institute of Technology introduced these words to a countrywide audience.
With migration and a more educated urban population, dialect features are eroding in the city centre, yet Çorumca remains a natural part of everyday speech in villages and districts. These compilations are all the more valuable for recording a vocabulary that risks being forgotten.
Frequently asked questions
Is Çorumca a separate language?
No. Çorumca is not a separate language; it is the popular name for the local dialect of Çorum, part of the Anatolian dialects of Turkey Turkish. It has distinctive sound features and a rich vocabulary.
Which dialect group does the Çorum dialect belong to?
In Leyla Karahan's classification, Çorum dialects fall within the Western Group of Anatolian dialects; Ahmet Caferoğlu places Çorum in the Amasya-Ankara (partly Yozgat) dialect region. There are also sub-dialects that differ from district to district.
What are the best-known Çorumca words?
Badal (stairs), toplu (window), culuk (turkey), gobel (boy), cıncık (marble), cınnak (fingernail), gölbez (puppy), helke (plastic bucket) and the exclamation heri are among the best known.
Is there a dictionary of the Çorum dialect?
Yes. The Çorum Yöresi Ağızları Sözlüğü (Dictionary of Çorum Regional Dialects), compiled by İbrahim Gösterir and published by the Çorum Municipality, contains 16,101 headwords in its fourth edition (2022).
Sources
- İbrahim Gösterir, Çorum Yöresi Ağızları Sözlüğü, Çorum Municipality Cultural Publications, 4th ed., 2022.
- Tayyar Kerman, Çorum Ağzından Derlemeler, 1997.
- "Çorumca-Türkçe sözlük", Hürriyet, 25 August 2001.
Related: Proverbs and idioms of Çorum ·Blessings, curses and oaths ·About Çorum ·Çorum folk songs ·Çorum cuisine ·History