J.K. Pikkujämsä

Ekzofonik sözlüğüme hoş geldiniz! Yeni bir yazı okumak üzeresiniz.

Bülbül.

Luscinia megarhynchos, from the nightingale family, known for the beauty of its voice.

This word surprised me at first because I had heard it in Wolof as well. Then, when I started learning Turkish, I decided to write a short story about a nightingale that would not sing, inspired by Bülbül kafeste şarkı söylemez, or ‘A Caged Nightingale Does Not Sing’ by Nâzım Hikmet. Since then, the word has continued to appear, most recently in traditional songs and as a street name in Istanbul. I decided that Bülbül deserved to be an address in my novel. I just wonder if the name of this street existed in the 1920s, in which the story is set.

I love those moments in the late summer evenings when the street is quiet and the nightingale takes over from the noises of the day and entertains us with its impressive song. If you stop and look carefully, you can even see them in the trees.

You have just read a new entry in my exophonic lexicon.