# Persian: whisper



## lerola

Hello. Can anyone tell me what the word "whisper" would be in Persian, when transliterated into the Roman alphabet? Thanks in advance!


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## colognial

Hi, lerola.
_Najvaa_ (or _najvȃ_) is a good word for 'whisper'. For a 'murmur' one might use _zemzemé_. However, the two words are used interchangeably, so you practically have a choice.


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## ebrahim

_Pech pech_ is more often used in daily conversation.


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## lerola

wonderful, thanks for your help!


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## kloie

To whisper -pech pech kardan


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## PersoLatin

Hi lerola, can you please provide some context for the use you have in mind?

The suggestion you have received are perfect, but only in the correct context.


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## Alfaaz

Is سرگوشی - _sargoshii _used in (modern) Persian?


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## PersoLatin

sarguŝi (sargushi) *سرگوشی *is in Dehkhoda and means the same, although I haven't heard it used for that purpose but *درگوشی* dargushi (darguŝi) is commonly used.


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## PersoLatin

We dont know the context of the question but, isn't 'pech pech' the description of sound when two people whisper, rather than whispering itself? You wouldn't say to someone: whisper in my ear - *‏**توی ‏گوشم ‏پچ ‏پچ ‏کن *


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## lerola

yes, what i wanted was more like pech pech, the sound. I am working on an art piece with many words in different languages and I want to include the Persian. Best wishes, lerola


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## OmidTavana

زمزمه، نجوا : whisper to yourself
پچ پچ: whisper to somebody

And here is a part of a song by Darush:
اگه شعرم زمزمه
 توی بازار صداست
 تپش قلبم اگه
 پچ پچ شاپرکاست
 تو رو فریاد می زنم
 ای که معجزه گری
 ای که این شب زده رو
 به سپیده می بری

Lyrics by: Iraj Janati Ataei
http://www.jasjoo.com/books/new-poems/iraj_janati_ataie/94/2881


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## PersoLatin

OmidTavana said:


> *پچ پچ شاپرکاست*


He is saying: if the beating of my heart is (like) the *sound* of butterfly's (fluttering) wings. Where's whisper?



OmidTavana said:


> پچ پچ: whisper to somebody


Surely you can't say to someone: *بیا توی گوشت پچ پچ کنم , *maybe you can these days.


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## colognial

OmidTavana said:


> زمزمه، نجوا : whisper to yourself
> پچ پچ: whisper to somebody


So in the couplet below the lesson is a soft, kindly whisper made in the ears of the teacher by the teacher?
درس معلم ار بود زمزمه ی محبتی
جمعه به مکتب آورد طفل گریزپا را


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## OmidTavana

PersoLatin said:


> He is saying: if the beating of my heart is (like) the *sound* of butterfly's (fluttering) wings. Where's whisper?
> 
> 
> Surely you can't say to someone: *بیا توی گوشت پچ پچ کنم , *maybe you can these days.



The poem says if my poem is like a whisper in the bazar of voices (means that it is too weak) and if my heart beats are as weak as the (loudnes of) whispering of butterfly's.
I am talking about current usage of these words not classic usages of them. If you see these sentences "Lotfan zemzemeh/pech peck nakonid" what will you understand?  The first one surely applies to a person who is whispering something to self, and the second one applies to a group that are whispering to each other.

What I am saying is that "Pech Pech kardan" definitely happens between a group of people, but "Zemzemeh kardan" doesn't need a listener. If you want to make it sounds like "Pech Pech kardan", you have to add an object, like, "Bia too gooshet zemzemeh konam". Like the difference between "Saying" and "Telling":
"He said ..." vs "He told me ...".


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## Alfaaz

PersoLatin: Thanks for answering!

I don't know if it is relevant to the discussion here, but _zamzama _also means _humming, melody, taraanah, naghmah, etc._ apart from the meaning mentioned above.


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## PersoLatin

Alfaaz said:


> _zamzama _also means _humming, melody, taraanah, naghmah, etc._ apart from the meaning mentioned above.


The actual meaning of zamzamé (*زَمزمه*) or zemzemé (*زِمزمه*), according to dehkhoda, is *خوانندگی و ترنم به آهستگی *and* نغمه و ترنم باشد که به آهستگی سرایند *and *نغمه و سرود *so it covers what you have included and 'whisper', in the correct context.

zamzamé is too poetic for day-to-day/informal use, e.g. if a mother wants to say to her child: "come & whisper it in my ear" she would say: *بیا در گوشم بگو *rather than * بیا در گوشم زمزمه کن, *a mother can utter in her child's ear "I love you", the child can then describe the mother's voice as zamzamé, definitely not as pech pech, unless it was incomprehensible to the child.



OmidTavana said:


> "Lotfan zemzemeh/pech peck nakonid" what will you understand?


"Lotfan zemzemeh nakonid" == "Please stop talking among yourself/reading aloud", although I wouldn't use zamzamé, but "Lotfan pech pech nakonid" is rude (& sarcastic) because of mixture of pech pech, lotfan. I don't believe *پچ ‏پچ *can be used in a formal situation. It is *not* whispering, it's the incomprehensible noise that is generated when by a number of people, read or talk to one another, and its called *پچ ‏پچ* for that reason, like *تق تق *(taq taq) or *وز وز *(vez vez) and many other such noise descriptions.


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