bir varmış, bir yokmuş

== Turkish == === Etymology === Literally, “a something that existed, a something that did not exist”. Compare the similar semantics of Azerbaijani biri var idi, biri yox idi, Persian یکی بود یکی نبود (yeki bud yeki nabud, “once upon a time/there was, there was not”), Armenian լինում է, չի լինում (linum ē, čʻi linum) and կար-չկար (kar-čʻkar, “once upon a time/there was, there was not”), Georgian იყო და არა იყო რა (iq̇o da ara iq̇o ra, “once upon a time/there was, there was not”). === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /biɾ ˈvaɾ.mɯʃ biɾ ˈjok.muʃ/ === Phrase === bir varmış, bir yokmuş once upon a time... (traditional opening phrase of a fairy tale)