Meyhane

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
People dancing in a Bulgarian mehana

A meyhane (from Persian: میخانه translit. meykhaneh) is a traditional restaurant or bar in Turkey, Balkans, Azerbaijan and Iran. It serves alcoholic beverages like wine, rakı, vodka, or beer, with meze and traditional foods.

Etymology

"Meyhane" means "wine house" and is composed of two Persian words: mey (wine) and khāneh (house).[1]

The word entered the Serbian and Bulgarian languages as mehana (механа) and in Macedonian as meana (меана). In Bosnian language the word "mejhana" is used. In Serbia, the word mehana is considered archaic, while in Bulgaria it refers to a restaurant with traditional food, decoration and music.[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ Meyhane, Etymological dictionary of modern Turkish