DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9840#0180
130 OK THREE MEN WHO ENTER THE CAVERN, [CHAP.
saying that "they were all dead71. The Mohammedans,
still distrustful of the effect produced by their fire, and
fearful of being entrapped if they entered the cavern,
sent the man back again, telling him to bring up some
arms as a proof of the truth of his account. He did so,
and three days afterwards the Mohammedans themselves
ventured into the cavern, and stripped the victims of
their ferocity of every thing of value which was on their
persons, at the same time appropriating to themselves
all the stores and other property which they found.
Soon after this, and while the head quarters of the
Beys were still at Melidhdni, six Christians, who had
all of them both relations and friends within the cavern,
impelled by a natural desire to ascertain the truth of
the report of their death, went up to see with their own
eyes what had happened. Three of them remained
outside, to give notice if any Mohammedans should ap-
proach, and the other three entered. One of them was
called Manulios Kermezakes'2: the other two were
Melidhdnians, whose wives and children had taken refuo-e
in the cavern. Who could describe the anguish of these
unhappy men, when they saw lying dead on the ground,
and despoiled even of their clothes, those whose safety
they had vainly imagined to have been secured when
they were once within the grotto ? The simple narra-
71 Rivai 0X01 a7re0a/xevot /xe'tra, a<£eW»;. On the ancient alidevTtjs {af-
thendi, according to modern Greek pronunciation), from which this word
dtpevTi] is derived, and which has been softened by the Turks into Effendi,
consult Lobeck, on Phrynichus, p. 120. Many of the Greeks of King
Otho's dominions, fancying that <l<pei>Tv is a Turkish word, studiously avoid
using it, now that each of them is become an " eXevdepos "E;VX.r;ya?." Kvpte
supplies its place, at all events in the vocabulary of the principal towns.
72 The name Kermezakes is derived from the Turkish word ^_$y<>jS
kermeze, red, and may therefore be compared with our English names,
Reddy, Redman, and Scarlet. Blunt too means blond, according to Skinxer,
in his Etymologicon Onomasticon. We have also derivatives of Yellow as
proper names, and the old synonym of the word itself in Blake. White,
Brown, Black, and Green, though very common with us, are, I think, as
little known in Greece as Blue and Purple are in England. They probably
all occur in compounded proper names among the Greeks, as in Mavromati,
Blackeye, and Mavroghe'ni, Blackbeard.
saying that "they were all dead71. The Mohammedans,
still distrustful of the effect produced by their fire, and
fearful of being entrapped if they entered the cavern,
sent the man back again, telling him to bring up some
arms as a proof of the truth of his account. He did so,
and three days afterwards the Mohammedans themselves
ventured into the cavern, and stripped the victims of
their ferocity of every thing of value which was on their
persons, at the same time appropriating to themselves
all the stores and other property which they found.
Soon after this, and while the head quarters of the
Beys were still at Melidhdni, six Christians, who had
all of them both relations and friends within the cavern,
impelled by a natural desire to ascertain the truth of
the report of their death, went up to see with their own
eyes what had happened. Three of them remained
outside, to give notice if any Mohammedans should ap-
proach, and the other three entered. One of them was
called Manulios Kermezakes'2: the other two were
Melidhdnians, whose wives and children had taken refuo-e
in the cavern. Who could describe the anguish of these
unhappy men, when they saw lying dead on the ground,
and despoiled even of their clothes, those whose safety
they had vainly imagined to have been secured when
they were once within the grotto ? The simple narra-
71 Rivai 0X01 a7re0a/xevot /xe'tra, a<£eW»;. On the ancient alidevTtjs {af-
thendi, according to modern Greek pronunciation), from which this word
dtpevTi] is derived, and which has been softened by the Turks into Effendi,
consult Lobeck, on Phrynichus, p. 120. Many of the Greeks of King
Otho's dominions, fancying that <l<pei>Tv is a Turkish word, studiously avoid
using it, now that each of them is become an " eXevdepos "E;VX.r;ya?." Kvpte
supplies its place, at all events in the vocabulary of the principal towns.
72 The name Kermezakes is derived from the Turkish word ^_$y<>jS
kermeze, red, and may therefore be compared with our English names,
Reddy, Redman, and Scarlet. Blunt too means blond, according to Skinxer,
in his Etymologicon Onomasticon. We have also derivatives of Yellow as
proper names, and the old synonym of the word itself in Blake. White,
Brown, Black, and Green, though very common with us, are, I think, as
little known in Greece as Blue and Purple are in England. They probably
all occur in compounded proper names among the Greeks, as in Mavromati,
Blackeye, and Mavroghe'ni, Blackbeard.