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[Opinions] Re: Sibel
My theory on Sibel is that the "goddess" mentioned might have been Cybele - the view of her by the ancient Anatolians was probably different from how the Greeks portrayed her.If that's the case, then it shows the fact that Turkey borrows a lot of its names from other languages - mostly Arabic and Persian, but sometimes other sources (the Turkish name Defne is indeed borrowed from the Greek Daphne).Sometimes names of pre-Christian/pre-Islamic deities are still used. For example, I heard the name Ninsun on a modern Assyrian Christian. Ninsun was the name of a Mesopotamian goddess - she was the mother of Gilgamesh. Names may be still considered part of a culture even after conversion to Christianity or Islam.
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Would you believe me if I told you that I actually was thinking Cybele might be the goddess in question? ;-)
Unfortunately, the book didn't give any further information and as I'm far from being an expert on Turkish names, I figured for once I'd rather not stick my neck out and mention Cybele.
I'm still trying to find out if the Turkish Suzan really is derived from a Persian word for "fiery; ardent; burning". You don't happen to have any information on that name by any chance?
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