Monday, June 19, 2006

"The evil eye" in various languages

In Hebrew and Arabic it is called עין הרע ayin ha'ra عين حارة (the evil eye, with ha'ra carrying the connotation of that which is unlawful or wicked);

in Yiddish this is variously spelled ayin horoh, ayin hora, or ayen hara.

In mainland Italian the term is malocchio (the evil eye or bad eye), in Neapolitan maluocchje, and in Sicilian jettatura (the casting or projection [of evil from the eye]).

In Spanish it is mal de ojo, ojeriza or el ojo (evil from the eye or just the eye),

In Brazilian Portuguese olho gordo, which literally means fat eye, an allusion to those who want more than what is really needed for their well-being.

In European Portuguese, it is called mau olhado (evil look).

In Bulgarian it is uroki (уроки) or zli ochi (зли очи).

Greek has baskania or matiasma, Turkish nazar, and Macedonian loshoto oko.

In Persian the expression is bla band (the eye of evil), nazar-e shaitaan (the eye of Satan)

In Urdu there is an expression chashm-e bad door meaning 'may the evil eye stay away'.

In Tagalog masamang mata.

In Romanian, it is called deochi (ochi meaning eye).

In Latvian, it is called ļauna acs.

In Hungarian, it is called szemmel verés (i.e. casting an evil eye, literally: beating with eyes).

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