طنطنه

Ottoman Turkish

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic طَنْطَنَة (ṭanṭana, “twang, ringing, drum roll”), a word of onomatopoeic origin related to طَنَّ (ṭanna, “to ring, to clang”) and طَنَّان (ṭannān, “ringing, buzzing”). Compare Azerbaijani təntənə and Bashkir тантана (tantana).

Noun

طنطنه • (tantana)

1. humming, buzzing, thrumming, the sound of something that hums

   Synonyms: اوغلدی (uğuldu), زر (zır)

2. pomp, parade, any ostentatious display or show of magnificence

   Synonym: دبدبه (debdebe)

Derived terms

• طنطنه‌لو (tantanalı, “pompous”)

Descendants

• Turkish: tantana
• → Armenian: թանթանա (tʻantʻana)
• → Romanian: dandana

Further reading

• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007) “tantana”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 1, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 4586
• Devellioğlu, Ferit (1962) “tantana”, in Osmanlıca-Türkçe Ansiklopedik Lûgat‎‎^[1] (in Turkish), Istanbul: Türk Dil Kurumu, page 1234
• Kélékian, Diran (1911) “طنطنه”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎^[2], Constantinople: Mihran, page 808
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1687) “Pompa”, in Complementum thesauri linguarum orientalium, seu onomasticum latino-turcico-arabico-persicum, simul idem index verborum lexici turcico-arabico-persici, quod latinâ, germanicâ, aliarumque linguarum adjectâ nomenclatione nuper in lucem editum‎^[3], Vienna, columns 1315-1316
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1680) “طنطنه”, in Thesaurus linguarum orientalium, Turcicae, Arabicae, Persicae, praecipuas earum opes à Turcis peculiariter usurpatas continens, nimirum Lexicon Turkico-Arabico-Persicum‎^[4], Vienna, column 3130
• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “tantana”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
• Redhouse, James W. (1890) “طنطنه”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎^[5], Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 1246