In my learning one-word-a-day routine I came across this yesterday: ‘Buss’ (v. t.) To kiss; esp. to kiss with a smack, or rudely. [Spanish root] … the word is not Farsi! I didn’t know. I couldn’t sleep last night learning that the word is not Farsi.
This is embarrassing, and disturbing in so many levels for all Farsi speaking folks. It was not enough to know that our country was invaded by Arabs and Moguls in the history, and they slaved our women – and now this?! You understand what it means, don’t you? I don’t know where to begin. It is not a Farsi word which means our ancestors did not have a word for kissing themselves. And if they didn’t have a word for it then there is a big chance that they did not know about it alltogether either. You can’t possibly do something that you don’t have a name for it, do you? This means that back then at some point in our history, a stranger [probably a Spanish playboy] had stepped forward, embraced our grandma and kissed her in front of our grandpa, and said: “See? This is called ‘buss’ and you go from there.” … and that is how our ancestors learned kissing.
It made me curious to look after other stuff but now I am afraid to look them up. What if they are foreign words too. If the start [buss] is not Farsi then there is a very good chance that other things are not Farsi either, which means our parents had to learn those from strangers too. They learned kissing, then probably turned to the stranger and said: “now what?!”
Man, I don’t think I can get over this!
