sürmek

Turkish

Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish سورمك (sürmek, “to drive before one, to drive away, to banish, to advance, to sell in open market, to continue, to rub on or against, to shoot out, to protrude”), from Old Anatolian Turkish (sür-, “to drive away, to spend time, to go ahead, (for time) to elapse, to rub, to smear”), from Proto-Turkic *sǖr- (“to drive before one, to lead, to drive away”). Although, both senses "to drive, to banish" and "to rub" were originated from the same root, it was not until Old Anatolian Turkish era when the verb went through semantic expansion and took on the latter meaning and began to be used in the sense "to cast away disease or ugliness via balms, ointments or medicine".

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /syɾˈmec/
• Hyphenation: sür‧mek

Verb

sürmek (third-person singular simple present sürer)

1. (transitive, with dative) To operate a wheeled vehicle; to drive, to ride.

   Araba sürüyoruz. ― We are driving cars.

   Bisiklet süreceğim. ― I will ride a bike.

2. (intransitive) To continue to happen, to go on, to last, to take a certain amount of time.

   Bu sonsuza dek sürecek mi? ― Is this going to last forever?

3. (transitive, with dative) (of animals) To huddle before one and compel to move forward; to drive.

   Bir sıçrayışta arabaya atlayarak hayvanları sürdü. ― He jumped into the cart in one leap and drove the animals.

4. (transitive, with dative) To push forward, to send, to drive.

   Bu şartlar altında Rommel tüm tanklarını savaşa sürmek zorunda kaldı. ― Under these circumstances Rommel was forced to send all of his tanks onto the battlefield.

5. (transitive, with dative) (of a container or a cooking utensil) To hold over or to place on fire, a stove or in an oven.

   Matarayı ateşe sürdü, suyun kaynamasını bekledi. ― He held the canteen over the fire, waited for it to boil.

   Fırın ısınınca tepsiyi fırına sürün. ― Once the oven heats up, place the tray in the oven.

6. (transitive, with dative) To cause to touch, to make touch.

   Yüzümü saçlarına sürmek için başımı eğdim. ― I tilted my head to touch it to her hair.

   Elini ekrana sürme, iz oluyor. ― Don't touch the screen with your hand, it leaves a mark.

7. (transitive, with dative) To exile, send into exile, to expel, to cast out, to banish.

   Sultan IV. Murat, Hezarfen Ahmet Çelebi'yi uçuşundan sonra bir kese altın verip Cezayir'e sürdü. ― After giving Hezarfen Ahmet Çelebi a pouch of golden coins, Sultan Murat IV exiled him to Algeria.

8. (transitive, with dative) To spread something on a surface in a thin layer; to rub, to smear, to apply.

   Synonyms: yaymak, sıvamak

   Bir dilim ekmeğin üstüne tereyağ ile reçel sürdü ve afiyetle yedi. ― She spread butter and jam on a slice of bread and ate it with gusto.

9. (transitive, with dative) To put on the market; to put up for sale, to launch, to release, to make available for purchase.

   Albümün baharda piyasaya sürülmesi planlandı. ― The album was planned to be released to the market in spring.

10. (transitive, with dative) To release money into circulation illegally.

    Tutuklanan zanlı sahte para sürmekten yargılanıyor. ― The suspect arrested is being tried for releasing fake money.

11. (transitive) To remain in a certain state or situation; to lead, to maintain.

    göçebe hayatı sürmek ― to lead the life of a nomad

    saltanat sürmek ― to reign, to rule (literally, “to remain the ruler, to maintain (one's) sultanate”)

    sağlıklı bir ilişki sürmek ― to maintain a healthy relationship

12. (transitive) To turn over the soil to prepare a field for planting; to plough, to till.

    Çiftçi tarlasını sürüyordu. ― The farmer was ploughing his field.

13. (intransitive) (of time) To pass, to elapse.
14. (transitive, intransitive, with dative) (of plants) To sprout, to germinate, to grow in size, to shoot forth, to grow roots, to strike roots.

Conjugation

Derived terms

References

Further reading

• “sürmek”, in Turkish dictionaries, Türk Dil Kurumu
• Starostin, Sergei, Dybo, Anna, Mudrak, Oleg (2003) “*sū́ri”, in Etymological dictionary of the Altaic languages (Handbuch der Orientalistik; VIII.8), Leiden, New York, Köln: E.J. Brill
• Starostin, Sergei, Dybo, Anna, Mudrak, Oleg (2003) “*ši̯ŭ́re”, in Etymological dictionary of the Altaic languages (Handbuch der Orientalistik; VIII.8), Leiden, New York, Köln: E.J. Brill