r/hayeren • u/yvestrad • Apr 08 '26

What does hele hele (or halay) mean ?

Barev,

i'm trying to learn the songs "done yar" and "hele hele" and i can't find a translation for the word "hele"

Here are the lyrics :

"donik donik donik yara, hele done, done yar" for the first song

in the second one, they can stop "hele hele ninaye"

what does that mean ? 😅

Besides, in some versions, the say "hele", in others, it look like "halaye". I suppose this is the some word but maybe they have different meanings.

Thanks again, this reddit channel is so useful for my understanding of armenian langage 🙏

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6

u/Andruschkikov Apr 09 '26

"Hele hele" is used as an expression of joy and celebration. Apart from that, we also use "Hele" instead of "Ter" (ես հելե բամմը չըրի). I don’t know if it’s used in Standard WA but this probably roots in Arabic influences (My dialect is Iraqi Armenian)

5

u/PuzzleheadedAnt8906 Apr 08 '26

I don't think hele is a word in standard Eastern Armenian. Most likely it's a Western dialect word.

2

u/finewalecorduroy Apr 09 '26

This is probably the Onnik Dinkjian song - he often sings in the Diyarbakir dialect (of Western Armenian) which is probably why it's so unfamiliar to you.

1

u/yvestrad Apr 09 '26

That's correct, halaye is more Onnik style's :)

1

u/Vsemtelents Apr 09 '26

May be it's just an rythmic interjection

1

u/vlexsta Apr 09 '26

I knew these lyrics from Sirushos Donik but I never knew what they meant 🙏