After over a decade of work, my father, Georgios Papastefanou, has in, cooperation with his older sister Androniki Karekelidou, who left us in 2006, completed and published the world’s only Modern Greek-Pharasiot Dictionary .
The Lost Language – Pharasiot-Modern Greek Dictionary
Γεώργιος Παπαστεφάνου και Ανδρονίκη Καρακελίδου
Η χαμένη γλώσσα – ΒΑΡΑΣΟΤΙΚΟ ΝΕΟΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΟ ΛΕΞΙΚΟ
Georgios Papastefanou and Androniki Karekelidou
I am very glad that our ancestors’ villages still live in their descendents’ heart. That our grandparents’ hometown is our heart’s hometown. That is how it is with me.
I am the granddaughter of a Farasiotissa, Despina Karaousoglou. I visited Farasa two years ago and the 3 hours I spent there were not enough. I was numb with feelings. All I could do was cry walking in the narrow sokaks of the village and light a candle somewhere in the country side to honour the people who lived in that very special place.
I am very interested in your father’s and aunt’s work, because that dialect still sounds in my heart. I remember the musical sound of my yiayia talking it. Also I feel the need to do something about it, because I don’t want it to be forgotten. First generation refugees are almost impossible to find anymore. In the villages of Drama where I was born there are second generation Farasiotes who speak the language. I would very much like to have the book and I am going to order it. How much will it cost by the way, because I am unemployed for the past two years, you understand.
Thank you so much
Despina Vitouni