Tatar or Tartar?

[SunofVich]

I was looking through my highschool Russian language text book the other day, because I was bored from the power being out, and noticed that it was talking about the Tartars in the history part.  So in this game it spells it Tatar.

Is this a translation error or is it just a I say Tom-ay-to you say Tom-Ah-to sort of thing.

 

[Zilter]

I thought it was Tartar too, but I thought I might be wrong. Don't know the answer, though, sorry.

 

[Ceriy]

Tatar. They even have a region for them in Russia Tatarstan.

 

[somerandomname]

I present you the wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatars

"Tatars (Tatar: Tatarlar/Татарлар), sometimes spelled Tartars, are a Turkic ethnic group..."

 

[Ruben Thomas]

You know google could have answered this for you in like five seconds.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatars

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartar

Tartar may refer to: an alternative spelling of the name Mongol or their descendants Tatars, an ethnic group in present-day Russia (this term formerly extended to nearly all Central Asian, Turkic and Mongol ethnic groups)

 

[Zilter]

I'm pretty sure that in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, there is a scene where they are raided by tartars.

I remember somebody yelling:

"The tartars are coming! The tartars are coming!"

But then again, that movie is in Chinese, so I just might be wrong..

 

[Auldman]

My early 90's edition of "With Fire and Sword" has it rendered as "Tartar" however I have always heard "Tatar" was more correct.

 

[Skot the Sanguine]

Tatar is more correct.  Tartar is a European bastardization of the name during the Middle Ages, since it implies they were demons (came from Tartarus, the Greek underworld).  Tatar is the correct name, but Tartar is now synonymous.

 

[Dryvus]

Whoever they were, their sauce is delicious with fish and chips.

 

[wrc]

Whoever they were, their sauce is delicious with fish and chips.

Which one,tatar or tartar sauce?

 

[Nesto]

I belive the correct version is Tatar. I know from the Romanian history that the "Tatars" raided the region of Moldavia in the days of Stephen III of Moldavia (also known as Stephen the Great, Romanian: Ștefan cel Mare, pronounced [ʃteˈfan t͡ʃel ˈmare] or Ștefan cel Mare și Sfânt, "Stephen the Great and Holy"; 1433, Borzești – July 2, 1504).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_III_of_Moldavia (Read the "Ruler" section)

 

[TuranianGhazi]

Tatar. They even have a region for them in Russia Tatarstan.

Yeah, and it's not called Tartarstan for a reason. Even though Westerners think it's a synonym, it really is not. It's quite derogatory even if it is a synonym, it's very mal-received by Tatars or other Turkic-speaking peoples.

Tartar is almost, but not as quite, as bad as the N***** word in USA when referring to African-Americans. Only, I think for Turkic speakers, there are two words that are much more offensive than Tartar. One is the Russian gibberish word Kalbyt for Turks, which means dumb animal. Another word is mankurt, someone who forgets or loses his or her homeland, language, and culture in favor the foreign, modern, or global culture.

 

[TuranianGhazi]

Tatar is more correct.  Tartar is a European bastardization of the name during the Middle Ages, since it implies they were demons (came from Tartarus, the Greek underworld).  Tatar is the correct name, but Tartar is now synonymous.

Yes, what he said, right on!

 

[Aethelbert]

The Devil sauce!

 

[Temuzu]

Theres no such thing as Tatar sauce, but there is something called Tartar sauce.

 

[Dark Brotherhood]

Tatar is true.

 

[Schmon]

Tatars can be eaten but they're not as tasty as Tatartots or Tartarsauce. 

 

[TuranianGhazi]

I still find TaRtar offensive... I prefer Tatar, and I don't think I'm alone in that regard, my army of cousins and extended relatives would agree 

 

[TuranianGhazi]

And you, your army of cousins, and extended relatives are all equally pathetic and ignorant.

And now you had to go offending.

I see where you're coming from ... but so was the word N**** at one time a "synonym" for black or African-American in the USA. Actually to accentute this point, in quite a few languages, in Russian for example, it was "ok" to call an African or African-American that N**** word but not "black" actually "black" was considered much more rude, the N**** word was considered better somehow in Russian-speaking Soviet block countries. Oppositely, in the US and Western Europe, the N**** word was considered by far ruder and "black" actually fine.

What does that teach? That a word that is deemed offensive to its adressee population never IS a synonym and should not be used as a synonym


So, the point is that the reference of the adressee population of any word should be followed due to respect to that population, be it any population, for example the elderly don't like being called "geezers" or other such demeaning, even joking words. It's a matter of tact and respect, not political correctness. When you want to argue the semantics, like you're doing now, it's fine and makes for a nice discussion on how these terms came to be recognized or not recognized in certain contexts and not others.

 

[Mr. Jones]

60 pages of Tartar vs Tatar GO