Giaour

[GoreBag]

I'm looking for information regarding this word, apparently a Turkish word for 'kafir'. How is it pronounced? What is its etymology? Any help would be much appreciated.

[L'Impresario]

That's a european spelling, probably passed derived the greek phonological version. In Turkish, it's properly written as gâvur. Wikipedia seems to have a short entry about it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giaour).
Further etymology here (http://www.answers.com/topic/giaour).

Its pronounciation: gya-ur, gya as in Magyar and u as in, ermm, Ulm, yes, or as in the german Urteil. Stress on the second syllable.

[GoreBag]

You are a good mang.

[LeftEyeNine]

L'Impresario is knowledgable as always, but I'd like to add this in case it can make it clearer.

Try reading this: Jah-Vuhr.

Edit: "Cavur" does not mean infidel (kafir). It is used for non-Muslims. "Kafir" is used for those that don't believe in three religions, Islam, Christianism and Judaism.

[L'Impresario]

Thanks for the comments, though I complexed the issue somehow by not trying to provide the english pronounciation, but rather the historical (and in many cases contemporery) version in the Balkan states. For example in Romanian its ghiaur and in Greek γκιαούρης, whose initial syllable is either a softly aspirated g (sometimes close to the turkish ğ) or a more harsh g (depends on location).
That, ofcourse, is quite different than the english take on the word, which is like "sour" but with a "j".

So, sorry again for any possible misunderstandings.
:bow:

EDIT: Well, "infidel" is among its meanings, as well as "anti-muslim" and "heterodox". Alhtough it isn't negative at all times, expressions like gâvur icadı or gâvur eziyeti underline its other connotations. But it's true that it refers to Christians, and mostly Greeks.