Glossary entry

Persian (Farsi) term or phrase:

شهرفرنگ

English translation:

peep show

Added to glossary by Edward Plaisance Jr
Jun 1, 2009 11:27
14 yrs ago
Persian (Farsi) term

شهرفرنگ

Persian (Farsi) to English Other Other Vocab Item
Hi,

According to “Teach Yourself Modern Persian”, this word means “kaleidoscope”, but I can't find it in Aryanpour at all.

Doesn't it literally mean "European city" (فرنگ being a rather vague word for Europe, in particulary North-West Europe)?

Many thanks,

Simon
Change log

Jun 2, 2009 01:41: Farzad Akmali changed "Level" from "Non-PRO" to "PRO"

Jun 3, 2009 18:11: Edward Plaisance Jr Created KOG entry

Jun 3, 2009 18:28: Edward Plaisance Jr changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/600452">Edward Plaisance Jr's</a> old entry - "شهرفرنگ"" to ""peep show""

Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

PRO (3): Ali Beikian, Edward Plaisance Jr, Farzad Akmali

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Discussion

Behzad Molavi Jun 2, 2009:
Note on Farang: I read in Wiki a while ago that farang in Thai has the same meaning as in Persian. Could be the influence of Iranian merchants on the Far East during Medieval times. Both Persian and a number of East Asian languages have the proclivity to end localized words in -ang, in that way, a word like هاون (mortar) turns into هونگ in speaking. May be that's the reason why the word has remained pretty unchanged all the way to Thailand and Cambodia. Afrandj is the Arabicized form of the same.

Proposed translations

+6
4 hrs
Selected

peep show

The device referred to, and described by Dekhoda, is called a "peep show" in English. Aryanpour lists this along with kaleidoscope. However, it is not a kaleidoscope.

See http://www.acmi.net.au/AIC/PEEP_SHOW.html

The word "farang" derives from the Franks, the Germanic tribe for which France is named. For the older generations in Iran, "going abroad" for anyone who could afford it, was synomous with going to France, and by extension Europe.

(I have been told by a friend whose wife is from Thailand, that they use "farang" in Thai, in a similar way.)
Peer comment(s):

agree Reza Mohammadnia
1 hr
thanks!
agree Armineh Johannes : armineh johannes
1 hr
thanks!
agree Behzad Molavi : 100% correct.
13 hrs
thanks! interesting note from Wikipedia on farang in Thai--I was really surprised when I learned this from my colleague.
agree Salman Rostami : good!
13 hrs
thanks!
agree Hossein Abbasi Mohaghegh
17 hrs
thanks!
agree Mohammad Reza Razaghi
17 hrs
thanks!
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "many thanks marvellous"
4 mins

chequered world

.
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+2
13 mins

kaleidoscope

Your choice is correct and it litterally means "Foreign City"
Peer comment(s):

agree Kourosh Abdi
1 hr
Thanks Dear Cyrus!
agree Habib Alimardani
2 hrs
Thanks Dear!
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2 hrs

Modern/Weird city (Name of an old entertaining means)

"shahr e farang" is a big wooden or metal box which has many colorful glasses inside and when you look through the wholes into the box, you can see very simple moving images like running horses or some other things which are just reflexes of light from inside the box. Looking into "shahr e farang" had been very interesting many years ago in Iran. It was called "Shahr e Farang" ( the European city) because you could see something different from what you could see in the real city.
"فرنگ" (Farang) or Europe, here, was used to mean "Modern", "Stylish" and "Weird".
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3 hrs

European City

Kaleidoscope is quite different from "شهر فرنگ"!
Kaleidoscope means زیبابین in Persian.
And "شهر فرنگ" does not mean "foregin city", but it means "European City" in general or "French City" in particular.

Look at the following definitions.

Definition of Kaleidoscope for, Wikipedia:
A kaleidoscope is a tube of mirrors containing loose colored beads, pebbles or other small colored objects. The viewer looks in one end and light enters the other end, reflecting off the mirrors. Typically there are two rectangular lengthwise mirrors. Setting of the mirrors at 45° creates eight duplicate images of the objects, four at 60°, and four at 90°. As the tube is rotated, the tumbling of the colored objects presents the viewer with varying colors and patterns.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaleidoscope

Definition of شهر فرنگ from Dehkhoda:
نوعي سرگرمي کودکانه و آن چنانست که مقداري تصويرهاي گوناگون را طوماروار به يکديگر چسبانند و دو سر آن طومار را به دو چوب يا دو نورد بندند و محور را گرد خود گردانند، تصويرها از محوري بگشايد و گرد محور ديگر ببندد. آنگاه اين تصاوير را در محفظه اي جعبه مانند قرار دهند و بر ديواره جعبه عدسي ذره بيني تعبيه کنند که آنها را درشت و روشن به بيننده بنمايد، آنگاه کودکان در برابر عدسي نشينند و متصدي دستگاه گردانيدن محور را آغاز کند و تصاوير را يک يک از برابر ديدگان کودک بيننده بگذراند و با عباراتي که متناسب با تصوير است و آنها را قبلاً تکرار کرده است و از بر دارد، به شرح يکايک تصاوير پردازد و به تناسب پولي که دريافت ميدارد، تمام يا قسمتي از آن تصاوير را به بيننده عرضه ميدارد و وصف هر تصوير را با عبارت «شهر شهر فرنگه ...» آغاز ميکند. پس از پايان اين نمايش ، «شهرفرنگي » پرده اي را که از درون جعبه بر روي عدسي ذره بين تعبيه شده است (و هنگام نمايش تصاوير آنرا از روي ذره بين به کنار زده ) دوباره مي آويزد و مانع ديدن تصوير مي شود و پايان نمايش را با عبارت «سگ سياه نخوردت !» اعلام ميکند. در هنگامي که هنوز سينما و تلويزيون در ايران رواج و رونق نيافته بود بازار شهر فرنگ رونقي داشت و کودکان تماشاي اين تصويرهاي متحرک را که با توضيحات مسجع و مقفي و روان متصدي دستگاه همراه بود بسياردوست ميداشتند.
http://www.mibosearch.com/word.aspx?wName=شهر فرنگ

Definition of فرنگ form Mo'een Dictionary:
نام عمومي هر يك از كشورهاي اروپا و گاهي آمريكا. 2 ـ كشور فرانسه كه مسكن قوم فرانك (قبيله اي از نژاد ژرمن ) است .
ریشه : فر.
http://www.mibosearch.com/Dictionary.aspx?wId=23092&DicName=...
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