# ghioc



## Luder

Hello, 

I'm translating into English a book written in French by a Romanian. He uses some Romanian words, but spells them French-style, a style I want to avoid in the English translation, since it doesn't really make sense in English. 

At one point he refers to "voituriers (carters) dites *ghiotchars* because of "leur voiture à un cheval appelée *ghiotch*." I found "ghioc," cowrie shell, online, and I suppose these horsecarts could be named after this shell, but how would you spell the driver, the "ghiotchar"? Ghiociar? Ghiocar? I know no Romanian, by the way.

The writer is from Braila, the time the early twentieth century.


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## rozmarin

I'm afraid I cannot give a definite answer. I think you should find a spelling that sounds as close at it is possible to the romanian word. The word ghiocar has three syllables ghi - o - car. The first sounds like gee in geese. The second is o (without an u or r sound after it). Probably like o in hot, but I'm not sure. The third sounds like "car" in english.

Edit: maybe you could use geeoak, geeoakars. It's not perfect, but I think may be close enough.


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## farscape

*rozmarin* is right, as far as the spelling is concerned, however, * ghiocar* is not a word that I know nor is it found in any of the  "official" dictionaries. (I came across this form in the stock market  slang).

I suppose you're talking about one of Panait Istrati's works. Let us  know which one it is and we might be able to get you the right Romanian  word and its translation. Right now I have no idea what kind of horse  and cart you're referring to.

Later,


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## Luder

Thank you, Rozmarin and Farscape. And, yes, it's Istrati. _La Maison Thüringer_. 

Since "tch" in French--as in Istrati's "ghiotchar"--is pronounced like a "ch" (church) in English, I suppose I need a Romanian spelling that would preserve that sound. What would that be? Of course, I could just Anglicize the word, too.


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## farscape

I stand corrected*: *the  word you're looking for is *ghiociar* - the driver of an  extendible horse-drawn cart *ghioci* (derived from Turkish)
*
ghióci (ghióciuri),* s.n. – Căruță care poate fi lungită.  Tc. _göç_ „transport” (DAR; Lokotsch 729; Graur, _GS_, VI,  331). – Der. _ghiociar_, s.m. (căruțaș). [from  _http://dexonline.ro/definitie/ghioci_]

According to the existing spelling for "*ci*" - _tch_ (Tchaikovsky) - the  English spelling would be indeed _ghiotch_ (for the cart) and _ghiotchar_  (for the driver).

Best,


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## Luder

Thanks again, farscape. I'll probably just use the Romanian word and spelling in my translation, so I'm glad you found it for me!


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