Istro-Romanian language
Encyclopedia
Istro-Romanian is an Eastern Romance language
that is still spoken today in a few villages and hamlets in the peninsula of Istria
, on the northern part of the Adriatic Sea
, in what is now Croatia
as well as in other countries around the world where the Istro-Romanian people settled after the two world wars, most notably in Italy, the U.S.A. Canada, Argentina, Australia, Sweden, Germany, and other countries. Before the 20th century, it was spoken in a substantially broader part of northeastern Istria surrounding the Ćićarija
mountain range (ancient Mons Carusadius) all the way up to Trieste. Its remaining speakers call themselves Vlahi (a name given to them by Slavs), as well as Rumunski, Rumeni, Rumeri, Rumunji, as well as Ćići and Ćiribiri (this last being a nickname that was previously used disparagingly to identify the Istro-Romanian language, not its speakers).
The Istro-Romanians today are labeled today into two groups: the Ćići around Žejane (denoting the people on the north side of Mt. Učka) and the Vlahi around Šušnjevica (denoting the people on the south side of Mt. Učka (Monte Maggiore). However, despite distinctions and interjection of words from other languages which varies from village to village, their language is otherwise linguistically identical.
The number of Istro-Romanian speakers is very loosely estimated to be less than 500, the "smallest ethnic group in Europe" and listed among languages that are "seriously endangered" in the UNESCO
Red Book of Endangered Languages. Due to its very small number of speakers living in about eight minor hamlets and two considerable villages, notably Žejane and Šušnjevica, there is no public education or news media in their native Istro-Romanian language. There are also several hundred native speakers who live not only in Queens, New York (as is mistakenly believed by newcomers to the study of the language) "http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/29/nyregion/29lost.html?pagewanted=2&ref=homepage&src=me", but throughout the five boroughs of New York City, as well as in upstate New York and the neighboring states of New Jersey and Connecticut; there are also still native speakers in California. There are native speakers of Istro-Romanian in Italy, Canada, Argentina, Sweden, and Australia.
Since 2010, the Croatian constitution recognizes Romanians ("Rumunji") as one of 22 national minorities"http://www.novilist.hr/Vijesti/Novosti/sabor-izglasao-novi-ustav.aspx". However, there have been many significant challenges facing Istro-Romanians in preserving their language, culture and ethnic identity, including emigration from communism and migration to nearby cities and towns after World War II
, when the Paris Peace Treaty with Italy that was signed on February 10, 1947 took Istria away from Italy (which had previously gained Istria after World War I) and awarded it to Yugoslavia
, the parent country of present-day Croatia and Slovenia, who split Istria in two parts amongst themselves, while Italy retained the small portion near Trieste.
census, there were 1,644 declared Istro-Romanian speakers in the area, while in 1926 Romania
n scholar Sextil Puşcariu estimated their number to be closer to 3,000. In the 1991 census of Yugoslavia
, only 811 Romanians were registered, and in the 2001 Croatia
n census only 137 inhabitants of the region declared Romanian as their mother tongue. Studies conducted in Istria in 1998 (?) by the Croatian linguist A. Kovačec revealed only 170 active speakers (but those counted presumably are only those still residing in the original villages where the language was actively spoken, thereby excluding those who moved to larger towns in Istria), most of them being bilingual (or trilingual), except for 27 children.
In 1922, the Italian regime of Benito Mussolini
declared the village of Susnieviza - which they renamed to Valdarsa after the Arsa Valley (valle d'Arsa) region (it has since reverted to the pre-Italian name but written in Croatian as Šušnjevica) - to be the seat for the Istro-Romanians
, with a designated school in the Istro-Romanian language. This was achieved through the efforts of Andrea Glavina (whose name is believed to have been Italianized from Glavich), one of the town's native sons who had been university educated in Romania. The town of Šušnjevica (with adjacent villages) reached a population of 3,000 in 1942. After World War II and the ceding of Istria to Yugoslanvia, the population of Sušnjevica alone was subsequently reduced to 200 inhabitants.
On the other hand, the major northern village Žejane and nearby hamlets at the Slovenian border are less italianized and more slavicized. Many villages in the area have names that are of Romanian origin, such as Jeian, Buzet ("lips"), Katun ("hamlet"), Letaj, Sucodru
("under a forest"), Costirceanu (a Romanian
name). Some of these names are official (recognized by Croatia as their only names), while others are used only by Istro-Romanian speakers (ex. Nova Vas|Noselo).
The actual fate of the Istro-Rumanian language is very uncertain, because in Istria only about 350 people partly understand it; its active bilingual speakers are fewer than 200 (that is, those who openly admit they speak it, the actual number may be greater), and fewer than 30 children know it now. Without an urgent, effective and active international support, the unique Istro-Romanian language will probably become extinct in the next generation or two. Istro-Romanian is considered an endangered language
.
Some linguists believe that the Istro-Romanian
s migrated
to their present region of Istria
and all the way up to the city
of Trieste
about 1,000 years ago from Transylvania
. The first possible historical record of Romanians
in the Istria region, however, dates back to 940
when Constantine VII
recorded the Romance-language speakers in this area in De Administrando Imperio
, saying that they called themselves Romans
, but this could also refer to speakers of Istriot
or one of the Dalmatian dialects. In 1329, when Serbian
chronicle
s mention that a Vlach population was living in Istria
, although there was an earlier mention from the 12th century of a leader in Istria called Radul (likely a Romanian name). There have been recent findings to suggest that the Istro-Romanian people (more probably Vlachs in general) were already present in certain regions of nearby Friuli
going back to the 13th century. Pavle Ivić
, a Serbian linguist, cited the hypothesis that a sizeable Roman population inhabited the Balkans
from west to east across the former Yugoslavia before the 10th century. The hypothesis is that these populations, reduced by epidemics of the plague and wars, mixed with the first Istro-Romanians who moved into Istria, but there are no known historical records to support it.
Some loanwords suggest that before coming to Istria, Istro-Romanians lived for a period of time on the Dalmatian coast at the Cetina river, where names ending in "-ul" are observed from medieval times. In any case, it is linguistically evident that Istro-Romanian split from the widely spoken (Daco-)Romanian
later than did the other Romanian (=Eastern Romance) languages, Aromanian language
and Megleno-Romanian
.
The Italian writer and historian Giuseppe Lazzarini believes that there are more than 5,000 Istro-Romanian descendants in Istria
today, but most of them identify themselves (census 1991: only 811 Istro-Romanians) with other ethnic groups in the revolving door of foreign rulers of this region. He believes that the Istro-Romanians are the descendants of the "melting pot" of the Roman legionnairs (moved by Augustus
to eastern Istria
to colonize the borders of Italy
) and the Aromanian shepherds who escaped from the Ottoman
invasions to settle in a plague-depopulated Istria
in the 14th century. However, he does not relate to the fact that Istro-Romanian is linguistically closer to Daco-Romanian than to Aromanian (also called Macedo-Romanian)..jpg)
A. Kovačec (1998) hypothesizes that the Istro-Romanians migrated to their present region about 600 years ago from Romania, after the Bubonic plague depopulated Istria
. This hypothesis is based on chronicles of the Frangipani princes that state that in the 15th century they accepted the migrating Vlachs from the nearby mainland and from the northern part of Krk
(Veglia) island, and settled them in isolated villages at Poljica and Dubašnica and at the port Malinska
. The term "vlach", however, refers to all Eastern-Romance-language speakers and cannot be associated exclusively with Istro-Romanians. In fact, pockets of Romanian-language speakers persisted in Malinska up to the mid 19th century, they gradually assimilated and their language disappeared with the last speaker, Mate Bajčić-Gašparović. Today, few Romance-language toponymns remain in Malinska. (Tekavčić 1959, Kovačec 1998)
The Transylvanian connection is emphasized by most linguists and is alive in the memory and folk songs of some of the Rumeni (Rumêri) themselves. They put themselves into either of two groups - the northern upland ćići (It. cicci), and vlahi of the Arsa Valley (historical name is Arsia, now called Raša) region. Interestingly enough, Iosif Popovici entitled his book Dialectele române din Istria (Halle, 1909) - that is, "The Dialects..." not "The Dialect..." - so indirectly he suggested that there were (and still are) several Istro-Romanian dialects in Istria. The linguistic differences, however, can be easily explained: a language evolves separately when there is a geographical border between the individual groups - in this case, the Ciceria mountain range. Indeed, there are even variations that are distinct from town to town.
Insofar as Romanian linguists are concerned, the opinions are divided: Prof. Dr. Iosif Popovici (1876–1928), who had traveled extensively in Istria, promoted the hypothesis that the Istro-Romanians were natives of Ţara Moţilor
(Western Transylvania) who emigrated to Istria in the Middle Ages
. ("Dialectele române din Istria", I, Halle a.d.S., 1914, p. 122 and following). This opinion was shared by Ovid Densusianu
(1873–1938), a Romanian folklorist, philologist, and poet who introduced trends of European modernism into Romanian literature. He did not hold the belief that Istro-Romanians were native to Istria where found today (or where found in the 1930s when he did the research for his book Histoire de la langue roumaine, I, p. 337): "Un premier fait que nous devons mettre en evidence, c'est que l'istro-roumain n'a pu se développer à l'origine là où nous le trouvons aujourd'hui" (The primary issue is that Istro-Romanian, because of its close similarity to other dialects spoken in isolated areas of present-day Romania, as well as its close resemblance to Daco-Romanian, simply could not have originated in isolation where it is found today).
Presumed to be the Istro-Romanians' relatives, the Morlachs
in what is now in the Croatia
n region of Morlachia inhabited a wide range of Dalmatia in the past, but are now a small ethnic group whose numbers are likewise decreasing. The common error that has been made is in confusing the "ćići" and "vlahi" with the "morlacchi" (Slavic: Murlaki; English: Morlachs) who are an entirely different ethnic and linguistic group on the Dalmatian mainland and Herzegovina. The Morlachian language, which became extinct in the early 20th century, belongs to an entirely different sub-group of the Eastern Romance languages
, distinct from the Romanian and Italian languages.
, the other seriously endangered language of southern Istria which is considered either a descendant of or closely related to one of the Dalmatian dialects.
One peculiarity of Istro-Romanian (IR) compared with Romanian dialects is the use of rhotacism
(with the intervocalic /n/ becoming /r/, for instance lumină (meaning "light" in Romanian) becoming lumira). This is one of the reasons that some Romanian linguists think that Istro-Romanian evolved from the Romanian language spoken in the Apuseni or Maramureş
area of Transylvania
, which has some similar traits. It could also be a coincidental development, due to influence of surrounding languages. According to Popovici this characteristic is very old as it is found in very few words of Slavic
origin which entered Daco-Romanian
(DR) before the 12th century. Other Slavic elements in Istro-Romanian, i.e. Croatian
and, more significantly, Slovene, as well as the Western Romance languages that have been historically prevalent in Istria, various Istrian dialects of Venetian
and Italian
—show no signs of rhotacism, except for its partial presence in the Chakavian dialect
and in nearby islands which may have derived from a common root.
Other characteristics of Istro-Romanian include (note: the lexicon used below is not universally recognized):
The results of these changes in IR can be outlined in the following:
pi > kľ, ć
bi > bľ
fi > fľ
vi > (g)ľ
mi > mľ
However, the similar words zgoda (happening) and prigoda (business) are widespread in Serbo-Croatian
, and may also be Slavic loanwords; also, Istro-Romanian mľelu is similar to Chakavian
mjelić (lamb) of some Adriatic islands. Lomi is a Slavic loanword, coming from "lomiti" (to break) in Serbo-Croatian. There are Slavic loanwords in other Eastern Romance languages, too, including Daco-Romanian.
When Andrea Glavina created the first Istro-Rumanian school in Valdarsa (where he was the first mayor) in 1922, he composed the following "Imnul Istro-romanilor" (it was partly influenced by recent Romanian language):
Romance languages
The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...
that is still spoken today in a few villages and hamlets in the peninsula of Istria
Istria
Istria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...
, on the northern part of the Adriatic Sea
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...
, in what is now Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
as well as in other countries around the world where the Istro-Romanian people settled after the two world wars, most notably in Italy, the U.S.A. Canada, Argentina, Australia, Sweden, Germany, and other countries. Before the 20th century, it was spoken in a substantially broader part of northeastern Istria surrounding the Ćićarija
Ćićarija
Ćićarija is a mountainous plateau in the northern and north-eastern part of Istria peninsula, 45 km long and 10–15 km wide. It mostly lies in Croatia, while its northern part lies in Slovenia...
mountain range (ancient Mons Carusadius) all the way up to Trieste. Its remaining speakers call themselves Vlahi (a name given to them by Slavs), as well as Rumunski, Rumeni, Rumeri, Rumunji, as well as Ćići and Ćiribiri (this last being a nickname that was previously used disparagingly to identify the Istro-Romanian language, not its speakers).
The Istro-Romanians today are labeled today into two groups: the Ćići around Žejane (denoting the people on the north side of Mt. Učka) and the Vlahi around Šušnjevica (denoting the people on the south side of Mt. Učka (Monte Maggiore). However, despite distinctions and interjection of words from other languages which varies from village to village, their language is otherwise linguistically identical.
The number of Istro-Romanian speakers is very loosely estimated to be less than 500, the "smallest ethnic group in Europe" and listed among languages that are "seriously endangered" in the UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
Red Book of Endangered Languages. Due to its very small number of speakers living in about eight minor hamlets and two considerable villages, notably Žejane and Šušnjevica, there is no public education or news media in their native Istro-Romanian language. There are also several hundred native speakers who live not only in Queens, New York (as is mistakenly believed by newcomers to the study of the language) "http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/29/nyregion/29lost.html?pagewanted=2&ref=homepage&src=me", but throughout the five boroughs of New York City, as well as in upstate New York and the neighboring states of New Jersey and Connecticut; there are also still native speakers in California. There are native speakers of Istro-Romanian in Italy, Canada, Argentina, Sweden, and Australia.
Since 2010, the Croatian constitution recognizes Romanians ("Rumunji") as one of 22 national minorities"http://www.novilist.hr/Vijesti/Novosti/sabor-izglasao-novi-ustav.aspx". However, there have been many significant challenges facing Istro-Romanians in preserving their language, culture and ethnic identity, including emigration from communism and migration to nearby cities and towns after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, when the Paris Peace Treaty with Italy that was signed on February 10, 1947 took Istria away from Italy (which had previously gained Istria after World War I) and awarded it to Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
, the parent country of present-day Croatia and Slovenia, who split Istria in two parts amongst themselves, while Italy retained the small portion near Trieste.
Recent history
The number of Istro-Romanian speakers has been reduced due to their assimilation into other linguistic groups that were either already present or introducted by their respective new rulers of Istria: in the 1921 ItalianItaly
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
census, there were 1,644 declared Istro-Romanian speakers in the area, while in 1926 Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n scholar Sextil Puşcariu estimated their number to be closer to 3,000. In the 1991 census of Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
, only 811 Romanians were registered, and in the 2001 Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n census only 137 inhabitants of the region declared Romanian as their mother tongue. Studies conducted in Istria in 1998 (?) by the Croatian linguist A. Kovačec revealed only 170 active speakers (but those counted presumably are only those still residing in the original villages where the language was actively spoken, thereby excluding those who moved to larger towns in Istria), most of them being bilingual (or trilingual), except for 27 children.
In 1922, the Italian regime of Benito Mussolini
Italian Fascism
Italian Fascism also known as Fascism with a capital "F" refers to the original fascist ideology in Italy. This ideology is associated with the National Fascist Party which under Benito Mussolini ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943, the Republican Fascist Party which ruled the Italian...
declared the village of Susnieviza - which they renamed to Valdarsa after the Arsa Valley (valle d'Arsa) region (it has since reverted to the pre-Italian name but written in Croatian as Šušnjevica) - to be the seat for the Istro-Romanians
Istro-Romanians
Istro-Romanians / Istrorumeni are an ethnic group living in northeastern Istria, currently spanning over a small area of Croatia and a...
, with a designated school in the Istro-Romanian language. This was achieved through the efforts of Andrea Glavina (whose name is believed to have been Italianized from Glavich), one of the town's native sons who had been university educated in Romania. The town of Šušnjevica (with adjacent villages) reached a population of 3,000 in 1942. After World War II and the ceding of Istria to Yugoslanvia, the population of Sušnjevica alone was subsequently reduced to 200 inhabitants.
On the other hand, the major northern village Žejane and nearby hamlets at the Slovenian border are less italianized and more slavicized. Many villages in the area have names that are of Romanian origin, such as Jeian, Buzet ("lips"), Katun ("hamlet"), Letaj, Sucodru
Jesenovik
Jesenovik is a village in Istria, Croatia enhabited mostly by Istro-Romanians. The village is located close to the local road Susnjevica - Plomin and the railroad Susnjevica - Labin, in the Cepicko field, on the western slopes of Učka, below the Brgud peak, with an elevation of 24 metres...
("under a forest"), Costirceanu (a Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
name). Some of these names are official (recognized by Croatia as their only names), while others are used only by Istro-Romanian speakers (ex. Nova Vas|Noselo).
The actual fate of the Istro-Rumanian language is very uncertain, because in Istria only about 350 people partly understand it; its active bilingual speakers are fewer than 200 (that is, those who openly admit they speak it, the actual number may be greater), and fewer than 30 children know it now. Without an urgent, effective and active international support, the unique Istro-Romanian language will probably become extinct in the next generation or two. Istro-Romanian is considered an endangered language
Endangered language
An endangered language is a language that is at risk of falling out of use. If it loses all its native speakers, it becomes a dead language. If eventually no one speaks the language at all it becomes an "extinct language"....
.
Origin
Some linguists believe that the Istro-Romanian
Istro-Romanian
Istro-Romanian may refer to:*Istro-Romanians*Istro-Romanian language*Istro-Romanian grammar...
s migrated
Human migration
Human migration is physical movement by humans from one area to another, sometimes over long distances or in large groups. Historically this movement was nomadic, often causing significant conflict with the indigenous population and their displacement or cultural assimilation. Only a few nomadic...
to their present region of Istria
Istria
Istria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...
and all the way up to the city
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
of Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
about 1,000 years ago from Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
. The first possible historical record of Romanians
Romanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....
in the Istria region, however, dates back to 940
940
Year 940 was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar.- Asia :* Saadia Gaon compiles his siddur in Iraq.* Narita-san Temple is founded in Chiba, Japan....
when Constantine VII
Constantine VII
Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos or Porphyrogenitus, "the Purple-born" was the fourth Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, reigning from 913 to 959...
recorded the Romance-language speakers in this area in De Administrando Imperio
De Administrando Imperio
De Administrando Imperio is the Latin title of a Greek work written by the 10th-century Eastern Roman Emperor Constantine VII. The Greek title of the work is...
, saying that they called themselves Romans
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, but this could also refer to speakers of Istriot
Istriot language
Istriot is a Romance language spoken in the Western Region on the coast of the Istrian Peninsula, especially in the towns of Rovinj and Vodnjan , on the upper northern part of the Adriatic Sea, in Croatia.-Classification:...
or one of the Dalmatian dialects. In 1329, when Serbian
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
chronicle
Chronicle
Generally a chronicle is a historical account of facts and events ranged in chronological order, as in a time line. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events, the purpose being the recording of events that occurred, seen from the perspective of the...
s mention that a Vlach population was living in Istria
Istria
Istria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...
, although there was an earlier mention from the 12th century of a leader in Istria called Radul (likely a Romanian name). There have been recent findings to suggest that the Istro-Romanian people (more probably Vlachs in general) were already present in certain regions of nearby Friuli
Friuli
Friuli is an area of northeastern Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, i.e. the province of Udine, Pordenone, Gorizia, excluding Trieste...
going back to the 13th century. Pavle Ivić
Pavle Ivic
-Biography:Professor Pavle Ivić was a leading South Slavic and general dialectologist and phonologist. Both his field work and his synthesizing studies were extensive and authoritative...
, a Serbian linguist, cited the hypothesis that a sizeable Roman population inhabited the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
from west to east across the former Yugoslavia before the 10th century. The hypothesis is that these populations, reduced by epidemics of the plague and wars, mixed with the first Istro-Romanians who moved into Istria, but there are no known historical records to support it.
Some loanwords suggest that before coming to Istria, Istro-Romanians lived for a period of time on the Dalmatian coast at the Cetina river, where names ending in "-ul" are observed from medieval times. In any case, it is linguistically evident that Istro-Romanian split from the widely spoken (Daco-)Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
later than did the other Romanian (=Eastern Romance) languages, Aromanian language
Aromanian language
Aromanian , also known as Macedo-Romanian, Arumanian or Vlach is an Eastern Romance language spoken in Southeastern Europe...
and Megleno-Romanian
Megleno-Romanian language
Megleno-Romanian is a Romance language, similar to Aromanian and Romanian, or a dialect of the Romanian language...
.
The Italian writer and historian Giuseppe Lazzarini believes that there are more than 5,000 Istro-Romanian descendants in Istria
Istria
Istria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...
today, but most of them identify themselves (census 1991: only 811 Istro-Romanians) with other ethnic groups in the revolving door of foreign rulers of this region. He believes that the Istro-Romanians are the descendants of the "melting pot" of the Roman legionnairs (moved by Augustus
Augustus
Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
to eastern Istria
Istria
Istria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...
to colonize the borders of Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
) and the Aromanian shepherds who escaped from the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
invasions to settle in a plague-depopulated Istria
Istria
Istria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...
in the 14th century. However, he does not relate to the fact that Istro-Romanian is linguistically closer to Daco-Romanian than to Aromanian (also called Macedo-Romanian).
Istria
Istria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...
. This hypothesis is based on chronicles of the Frangipani princes that state that in the 15th century they accepted the migrating Vlachs from the nearby mainland and from the northern part of Krk
Krk
Krk is a Croatian island in the northern Adriatic Sea, located near Rijeka in the Bay of Kvarner and part of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar county....
(Veglia) island, and settled them in isolated villages at Poljica and Dubašnica and at the port Malinska
Malinska
Malinska is a settlement in the northwestern part of the island Krk in Croatia and an important tourist town. It lies on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, in the picturesque bay facing Opatija and Rijeka....
. The term "vlach", however, refers to all Eastern-Romance-language speakers and cannot be associated exclusively with Istro-Romanians. In fact, pockets of Romanian-language speakers persisted in Malinska up to the mid 19th century, they gradually assimilated and their language disappeared with the last speaker, Mate Bajčić-Gašparović. Today, few Romance-language toponymns remain in Malinska. (Tekavčić 1959, Kovačec 1998)
The Transylvanian connection is emphasized by most linguists and is alive in the memory and folk songs of some of the Rumeni (Rumêri) themselves. They put themselves into either of two groups - the northern upland ćići (It. cicci), and vlahi of the Arsa Valley (historical name is Arsia, now called Raša) region. Interestingly enough, Iosif Popovici entitled his book Dialectele române din Istria (Halle, 1909) - that is, "The Dialects..." not "The Dialect..." - so indirectly he suggested that there were (and still are) several Istro-Romanian dialects in Istria. The linguistic differences, however, can be easily explained: a language evolves separately when there is a geographical border between the individual groups - in this case, the Ciceria mountain range. Indeed, there are even variations that are distinct from town to town.
Insofar as Romanian linguists are concerned, the opinions are divided: Prof. Dr. Iosif Popovici (1876–1928), who had traveled extensively in Istria, promoted the hypothesis that the Istro-Romanians were natives of Ţara Moţilor
Tara Motilor
Țara Moților , also known as Țara de Piatră is an ethnogeographical region of Romania in the Apuseni Mountains, on the superior basin of the Arieș and Crişul Alb River rivers...
(Western Transylvania) who emigrated to Istria in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
. ("Dialectele române din Istria", I, Halle a.d.S., 1914, p. 122 and following). This opinion was shared by Ovid Densusianu
Ovid Densusianu
Ovid Densusianu was a Romanian poet, philologist, linguist and folklorist. He is known for introducing new trends of European modernism into Romanian literature.He was a professor at the University of Bucharest, and a member of the Romanian Academy....
(1873–1938), a Romanian folklorist, philologist, and poet who introduced trends of European modernism into Romanian literature. He did not hold the belief that Istro-Romanians were native to Istria where found today (or where found in the 1930s when he did the research for his book Histoire de la langue roumaine, I, p. 337): "Un premier fait que nous devons mettre en evidence, c'est que l'istro-roumain n'a pu se développer à l'origine là où nous le trouvons aujourd'hui" (The primary issue is that Istro-Romanian, because of its close similarity to other dialects spoken in isolated areas of present-day Romania, as well as its close resemblance to Daco-Romanian, simply could not have originated in isolation where it is found today).
Presumed to be the Istro-Romanians' relatives, the Morlachs
Morlachs
Morlachs were a population of Vlachs. In another version their name comes from the slavic terms of "morski-Vlasi" or Sea Vlachs...
in what is now in the Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n region of Morlachia inhabited a wide range of Dalmatia in the past, but are now a small ethnic group whose numbers are likewise decreasing. The common error that has been made is in confusing the "ćići" and "vlahi" with the "morlacchi" (Slavic: Murlaki; English: Morlachs) who are an entirely different ethnic and linguistic group on the Dalmatian mainland and Herzegovina. The Morlachian language, which became extinct in the early 20th century, belongs to an entirely different sub-group of the Eastern Romance languages
Eastern Romance languages
The Eastern Romance languages in their narrow conception, sometimes known as the Vlach languages, are a group of Romance languages that developed in Southeastern Europe from the local eastern variant of Vulgar Latin. Some classifications include the Italo-Dalmatian languages; when Italian is...
, distinct from the Romanian and Italian languages.
Language
The Istro-Romanian language bears close resemblance to Daco-Romanian, and most Romanian linguists consider it to be a dialect rather than a separate language. Istro-Romanian is sometimes confused with IstriotIstriot language
Istriot is a Romance language spoken in the Western Region on the coast of the Istrian Peninsula, especially in the towns of Rovinj and Vodnjan , on the upper northern part of the Adriatic Sea, in Croatia.-Classification:...
, the other seriously endangered language of southern Istria which is considered either a descendant of or closely related to one of the Dalmatian dialects.
One peculiarity of Istro-Romanian (IR) compared with Romanian dialects is the use of rhotacism
Rhotacism
Rhotacism refers to several phenomena related to the usage of the consonant r :*the excessive or idiosyncratic use of the r;...
(with the intervocalic /n/ becoming /r/, for instance lumină (meaning "light" in Romanian) becoming lumira). This is one of the reasons that some Romanian linguists think that Istro-Romanian evolved from the Romanian language spoken in the Apuseni or Maramureş
Maramures
Maramureș may refer to the following:*Maramureș, a geographical, historical, and ethno-cultural region in present-day Romania and Ukraine, that occupies the Maramureș Depression and Maramureș Mountains, a mountain range in North East Carpathians...
area of Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
, which has some similar traits. It could also be a coincidental development, due to influence of surrounding languages. According to Popovici this characteristic is very old as it is found in very few words of Slavic
Slavic languages
The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...
origin which entered Daco-Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
(DR) before the 12th century. Other Slavic elements in Istro-Romanian, i.e. Croatian
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
and, more significantly, Slovene, as well as the Western Romance languages that have been historically prevalent in Istria, various Istrian dialects of Venetian
Venetian language
Venetian or Venetan is a Romance language spoken as a native language by over two million people, mostly in the Veneto region of Italy, where of five million inhabitants almost all can understand it. It is sometimes spoken and often well understood outside Veneto, in Trentino, Friuli, Venezia...
and Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
—show no signs of rhotacism, except for its partial presence in the Chakavian dialect
Chakavian dialect
Chakavian or Čakavian is a dialect of the Croatian language. The name stems from the word for "what?", which is "ča" in Čakavian...
and in nearby islands which may have derived from a common root.
Other characteristics of Istro-Romanian include (note: the lexicon used below is not universally recognized):
- Prosthetic a- as in Aromanian (AR) aruşine < DR ruşine does not exist, however by false analogy an organic a- may disappear e.g. (a)prope, (a)ratå, (a)ve;
- stressed á may become å /ɔ/ which can also be found in the BanatBanatThe Banat is a geographical and historical region in Central Europe currently divided between three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania , the western part in northeastern Serbia , and a small...
region of Romania; - ă-á becomes a-å, e.g. DR măritá > IR maritå (to marry), DR arătá > IR (a)ratå (to show);
- au becomes åv, a similar change appears in Aromanian, e.g. DR aud > AR avdu, IR åvdu (I hear); likewise DR preot > AR/IR preftu (priest);
- -e preceded by labialLabial consonantLabial consonants are consonants in which one or both lips are the active articulator. This precludes linguolabials, in which the tip of the tongue reaches for the posterior side of the upper lip and which are considered coronals...
s remains unaltered, whereas in DR it becomes -ă, e.g. IR per < DR păr (hair/pear tree), IR pemint < DR pămînt (ground); - stressed DR -eá- becomes stressed -é-, e.g. DR leac > IR lec (remedy), DR leagăn > IR legăr (cradle/swing), DR fată > IR fetĕ (girl);
- The consonant groups cľ and gľ are only found in IR, AR and Megleno-RomanianMegleno-Romanian languageMegleno-Romanian is a Romance language, similar to Aromanian and Romanian, or a dialect of the Romanian language...
(MR). These groups show that the Romanian dialects in Istria separated from DR before the 13th century, when cľ and gľ tended towards k' and g', e.g. Latin inclūdēre > IR cľide, MR ancľide > DR închide (to close), Latin glacia > IR gľåţĕ, AR/MR gľeţ > DR gheaţă (ice);
- The labials p, b, f, v and m show the following evolutions in the Eastern Romance languagesEastern Romance languagesThe Eastern Romance languages in their narrow conception, sometimes known as the Vlach languages, are a group of Romance languages that developed in Southeastern Europe from the local eastern variant of Vulgar Latin. Some classifications include the Italo-Dalmatian languages; when Italian is...
:
| Istro-Romanian | Aromanian | Megleno-Romanian | Romanian | Italian | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pićor = foot | cicior | picior | picior | gamba | leg |
| kľeptu | cheptu | kľeptu | piept | petto | chest |
| bire | ghine | bini | bine | bene | well, good |
| bľerå | azghirari | zber | zbiera | ruggire | to roar |
| fiľu | hilj | iľu | fiu | figlio | son |
| fiľa | hilje | iľe | fiică | figlia | daughter |
| ficåt | hicat | ficat | fegato | liver | |
| fi | hire | ire | fi | essere | to be |
| fľer | heru | ieru | fier | ferro | iron |
| viţelu | yitsãl | viţål | viţel | vitello | calf |
| (g)ľerm | iermu | ghiarmi | vierme | verme | worm |
| viu | yiu | ghiu | viu | vivo | alive |
| vipt | yiptu | vipt | cibo (vitto) | food, grain | |
| mľe(lu) | njel | m'iel | miel | agnello | lamb |
| mľåre | njare | m'ari | miere | miele | honey |
The results of these changes in IR can be outlined in the following:
pi > kľ, ć
bi > bľ
fi > fľ
vi > (g)ľ
mi > mľ
- Words only found in Istro-Romanian and the Daco-Romanian dialects of the Banat and Oltenia:
| Istro-Romanian | Banat/Oltenia | Daco-Romanian | Italian | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| amănåt) | amînat/amînat | amănat | rinviata | postponed |
| (a)stårĕ | astară/asară | astăseară | stasera | tonight |
| bericåtĕ | beregată/beregată | gât | gola | throat |
| lomi | lomui | a rupe | rompere | to break |
| prigodĕ | prigoadă/afacere | afacere | commercio | business |
| zgodi | zgođi/întâmpla | a se întâmpla | succedere/accadere | to happen |
However, the similar words zgoda (happening) and prigoda (business) are widespread in Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat, less commonly Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian , is a South Slavic language with multiple standards and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro...
, and may also be Slavic loanwords; also, Istro-Romanian mľelu is similar to Chakavian
Chakavian dialect
Chakavian or Čakavian is a dialect of the Croatian language. The name stems from the word for "what?", which is "ča" in Čakavian...
mjelić (lamb) of some Adriatic islands. Lomi is a Slavic loanword, coming from "lomiti" (to break) in Serbo-Croatian. There are Slavic loanwords in other Eastern Romance languages, too, including Daco-Romanian.
Literature
There is no local literary tradition; however, Andrea Glavina, an Istro-Romanian who was educated in Romania, wrote in 1905 Calendaru lu rumeri din Istrie ("The Calendar of the Romanians of Istria"). In this book he wrote many folkloristic tales of his people. A series of actual Istro-Romanian tales and original folk songs recently is noted also by A. Kovačec (1998).When Andrea Glavina created the first Istro-Rumanian school in Valdarsa (where he was the first mayor) in 1922, he composed the following "Imnul Istro-romanilor" (it was partly influenced by recent Romanian language):
| Imnul Istro-romanilor | Inno Istrorumeno |
|---|---|
| Roma, Roma i mama noastra noi Romani ramanem Romania i sara noastra tot un sang-avem nu suntem siguri pe lume si'nea avem frati Italiani cu mare lume mana cu noi dati ca sa fim frate si frate cum a dat Dumnezeu sa traim pana la moarte eu si tu si tu si au |
Roma, Roma è nostra madre noi rimaniamo Romani la Romania è nostra sorella abbiamo tutti un sangue non siamo soli al mondo se abbiamo fratelli Italiani dal nome illustre ci hanno dato una mano siamo fratelli e sorelle come l'ha stabilito il Signore così lo sosterremo fino alla morte io con te e tu con me |
See also
- IstriaIstriaIstria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...
- Istro-RomaniansIstro-RomaniansIstro-Romanians / Istrorumeni are an ethnic group living in northeastern Istria, currently spanning over a small area of Croatia and a...
- Istro-Romanian grammarIstro-Romanian grammarThe grammar of the Istro-Romanian language shares similar grammar with other Eastern Romance languages.-Morphology:The theorized evolution of Istro-Romanian from Daco-Romanian, a language that may have evolved independently, shows two distinct features:...
- Thraco-RomanThraco-RomanThe terms Thraco-Roman and Daco-Roman refer to the culture and language of the Thracian and Dacian peoples who were incorporated into the Roman Empire and ultimately fell under the Roman and Latin sphere of influence.-Meaning and usage:...
- Eastern Romance substratumEastern Romance substratumThe Eastern Romance languages developed from the Proto-Romanian language, which in turn developed from the Vulgar Latin spoken in a region of the Balkans which has not yet been exactly determined, but is generally agreed to have been a region north of the Jireček Line.That there was...
- Romanian languageRomanian languageRomanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
- Origin of the Romanians
- Romance languagesRomance languagesThe Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...
- Legacy of the Roman EmpireLegacy of the Roman EmpireThe legacy of the Roman Empire refers to the set of cultural values, religious beliefs, as well as technological and other achievements of Ancient Rome which were passed on after the demise of the empire itself and continued to shape other civilizations, a process which continues to this day.-...
- The Balkan linguistic unionBalkan linguistic unionThe Balkan sprachbund or linguistic area is the ensemble of areal features—similarity in grammar, syntax, vocabulary and phonology—among the languages of the Balkans. Several features are found across these languages though not all need apply to every single language...
External links
- Istro-Romanian Community Worldwide - a site created by and for the Istro-Romanian people scattered around the world
- Decebal.it - Associazione di amicizia Italo-Romena
- UNESCO Red Book on Endangered Languages - entry for Istro-Romanian
- Ethnologue report for Istro-Romanian
- Listening to (and Saving) the World’s Languages - a New York Times article focusing on a small segment of a much larger and untapped Istro-Romanian community residing throughout the five boroughs of New York City, as well as elsewhere in the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut tri-state area and other parts of the U.S.A.
- The IstroRomanians in Croatia
- Istro-Romanian Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words (from Wiktionary's http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Swadesh_lists - Swadesh list appendix)
- The Lost Languages, Found in New York - NYTimes.com