Farsi/Dari: پله‌های ارسی

[G_mut]

Hi everybody. I hope you are all well in these trying times for humanity!

I'm currently reading a book entitled "کتابفروش دیوانه: داستان‌های امروز افغانستان", where I came across a sentence describing a type of window, the so-called ارسی. The sentence goes like this:


از جا برخاست مثل اینکه چیزی یادش آمده باشد پله‌های اورسی را یکی بعد دیگر با سر و صدا پایین کرد


According to Wikipedia, اورسی is a type of sash window. My question is about the word پله. In Aryanpur's dictionary the only thing I could find under پله was step, stair, degree. Does anybody have any idea what this could be and how it is pronounced.

Thanks a lot in advance!

 

[PersoLatin]

Does anybody have any idea what this could be and how it is pronounced.

پله/pellé is a step on stairs or on a ladder (rung), it is also applied to stage/level/mark (plural پلکان).

The pronunciation is Iranian Persian is pel-lé where 'l' forms the end of the 1st syllable and start of the 2nd, so not pelé.

 

[G_mut]

پله/pellé is a step on stairs or on a ladder (rung), it is also applied to stage/level/mark (plural پلکان).

The pronunciation is Iranian Persian is pel-lé where 'l' forms the end of the 1st syllable and start of the 2nd, so not pelé.

Thanks a lot for your answer! So, how would you visualize the پله‌ها (the plural form the writer uses) of the اورسی windows?

 

[mannoushka]

Hello, guys. Just guessing here. Maybe the tall glass panels - there were usually three or more panels - slid up and down a series of, likely, wooden frames divided horizontally by wooden slots, such that to bring each panel all the way down one had to disengage it from two or more horizontal parts of the framework, one horizontal part at a time, perhaps by pulling out some pegs. So then each horizontal stop was maybe called a 'step'? Dear Afghan neighbours, please help!

 

[G_mut]

Dear Afghan neighbours, please help!

Thanks a lot for the detailed description of the orsi windows! Yes, the opinion of an Afghan would definitely shed more light

 

[PersoLatin]

I’d never heard of اورسی/ارسی as a window type:
اورسی
[ گویش مازنی ] /oorsi/ اورسی – پنجره های مشبک قدیمی که به صورت عمودی باز و بسته می شوند & نوعی کفش

So in Mazandaran (northern Iran) it is also used for a window type:

I found some more info on this site:
ارسی. [ اُ رُ ] (ص نسبی ) روسی. اهل روسیه. از روسیه : قند اُرُسی. || (اِ) کفش. پاپوش. چَموش. قسمی کفش پاشنه دار. نوعی از کفش که از چرم دوزند. || قسمی در که عمودی باز شود. قسمی در که گشودن و بستن آن به بربردن و فرودآوردن است برخلاف درهای عادی که بیک سوی بدو سوی یمین و شمال باز و فراز شود. در که وقت گشادن بسوی بالا کشند و گاه بستن فرودآرند. دری از اطاق که درگاه آن رو بصحن باشد و دارای چارچوبی بود که این در در جوف آن حرکت کرده بالا و پائین رود

 

[G_mut]

I’d never heard of اورسی/ارسی as a window type:
اورسی
[ گویش مازنی ] /oorsi/ اورسی – پنجره های مشبک قدیمی که به صورت عمودی باز و بسته می شوند & نوعی کفش

So in Mazandaran (northern Iran) it is also used for a window type:

I found some more info on this site:
ارسی. [ اُ رُ ] (ص نسبی ) روسی. اهل روسیه. از روسیه : قند اُرُسی. || (اِ) کفش. پاپوش. چَموش. قسمی کفش پاشنه دار. نوعی از کفش که از چرم دوزند. || قسمی در که عمودی باز شود. قسمی در که گشودن و بستن آن به بربردن و فرودآوردن است برخلاف درهای عادی که بیک سوی بدو سوی یمین و شمال باز و فراز شود. در که وقت گشادن بسوی بالا کشند و گاه بستن فرودآرند. دری از اطاق که درگاه آن رو بصحن باشد و دارای چارچوبی بود که این در در جوف آن حرکت کرده بالا و پائین رود

Exactly. I found the same information, although in the book I'm reading there's a footnote that reads پنجره‌های اتاق. What I couldn't understand was how پله could be associated with this type of window. I think mannoushka's answer has helped a great lot, although a native speaker of Afghan Persian would really help clear this up. By the way, looking around on the Internet, I found several references to traditional اورسی windows in Iran.

 

[PersoLatin]

As mannoushka has mentioned also, پله‌های اورسی could be the fixed vertical mechanism (teethed) that a cog fixed to the window moves up and down. Also my first reference says, the term is also used in northern Iran so someone from Mazandaran may also be able to help.