Dalmatian language

Dalmatian /dælˈmeɪʃən/[1][2] or Dalmatic /dælˈmætɪk/[1] (Dalmatian: langa dalmata, dalmato; Italian: lingua dalmatica, dalmatico; Croatian: dalmatski) is an extinct Romance language that was spoken in the Dalmatia region of present-day Croatia, and as far south as Kotor in Montenegro. The name refers to a tribe of the Illyrian linguistic group, Dalmatae. The Ragusan dialect of Dalmatian, the most studied prestige dialect, was the official language of the Republic of Ragusa for much of its medieval history until it was gradually supplanted by other local languages.

This article is about the extinct Romance language. For the ancient language, see Illyrian languages. For the language of the modern region of Dalmatia, see Serbo-Croatian.

Dalmatian
dalmato, langa dalmata
RegionEastern Adriatic coast, Croatian islands, Bay of Kotor
Extinct10 June 1898 (death of Tuone Udaina)
Language codes
ISO 639-3dlm
dlm
Glottologdalm1243
Linguasphere51-AAA-t

Dalmatian speakers lived in the coastal towns of Zadar (Jadera), Trogir (Tragur, Traù), Spalato (Split; Spalato), Ragusa (Dubrovnik; Raugia, Ragusa), and Kotor (Cattaro), each of these cities having a local dialect, and on the islands of Krk (Vikla, Veglia), Cres (Crepsa), and Rab (Arba).

Dialects

Almost every city developed its own dialect. Most of these became extinct before they were recorded, so the only trace of these ancient dialects is some words borrowed into local dialects of today's Croatia and Montenegro.[3]

Ragusan dialect
Republic of Ragusa before 1808

Ragusan is the Southern dialect, whose name is derived from the Romance name of Dubrovnik, Ragusa. It came to the attention of modern scholars in two letters, from 1325 and 1397, and other mediaeval texts, which show a language influenced heavily by Venetian. The available sources include some 260 Ragusan words including pen 'bread', teta 'father', chesa 'house', and fachir 'to do', which were quoted by the Italian Filippo Diversi, the rector of the Ragusan grammar school in the 1430s.

The Maritime Republic of Ragusa had a large and important fleet, by the 15th century numbering about 300 ships.[4] The language was threatened by the Slav expansion, as the Ragusan Senate decided that all debates had to be held in the lingua veteri ragusea (ancient Ragusan language) and the use of the Slav was forbidden. Nevertheless, during the 16th century, the Ragusan Romance language fell out of use and became extinct.

Vegliot dialect

Vegliot or Vegliote (the native name being Viklasun)[5] is the Northern dialect. Its name is derived from the Italian name of Krk, Veglia, an island in Kvarner, called Vikla in Vegliot. On an inscription dating from the beginning of the 4th century CE, Krk is named as Splendissima civitas Curictarum. The Serbo-Croatian name derives from the Roman name (Curicum, Curicta), whereas the younger name Vecla, Vegla, Veglia (meaning "Old Town") was created in the mediaeval Romanesque period.

History
Areas of Dalmatian dialects.

Dalmatian evolved from the vulgar Latin of the Illyro-Romans. It was spoken on the Dalmatian coast from Fiume (now Rijeka) as far south as Cottora (Kotor) in Montenegro. Speakers lived mainly in the coastal towns of Jadera (Zadar), Tragurium (Trogir), Spalatum[6] (Split), Ragusa (Dubrovnik) and Acruvium (Kotor), and also on the islands of Curicta (Krk), Crepsa (Cres) and Arba (Rab). Almost every city developed its own dialect, but the most important dialects we know of were Vegliot, a northern dialect spoken on the island of Curicta, and Ragusan, a southern dialect spoken in and around Ragusa (Dubrovnik).

The oldest preserved documents written in Dalmatian are 13th century inventories in Ragusa (Dubrovnik). Dalmatian is also known from two Ragusan letters, dated 1325 and 1397. The available sources include roughly 260 Ragusan words. Surviving words include pen 'bread', teta 'father', chesa 'house', and fachir 'to do', which were quoted by the Dalmatian, Filippo Diversi, Rector of the republic of Ragusa in the 1430s. The earliest reference to the Dalmatian language dates from the tenth century and it has been estimated that about 50,000 people spoke it at that time, though the main source of this information, the Italian linguist Matteo Bartoli, may have exaggerated his figures.

Dalmatian was influenced particularly heavily by Venetian and Serbo-Croatian (despite the latter, the Latin roots of Dalmatian remained prominent). A 14th-century letter from Zadar (origin of the Iadera dialect) shows strong influence from Venetian, the language that after years under Venetian rule superseded Iadera and other dialects of Dalmatian. Other dialects met their demise with the settlement of populations of Slavic speakers.

Extinction
Tuone Udaina, the last speaker of Dalmatian

In 1897, the scholar Matteo Bartoli, himself a native of nearby Istria, visited a burbur ('barber' in Dalmatian) Tuone Udaina (Italian: Antonio Udina), the last speaker of any Dalmatian dialect, to study his language, writing down approximately 2,800 words, stories, and accounts of his life, which were published in a book that has provided much information on the vocabulary, phonology, and grammar of the language. Bartoli wrote in Italian and published a translation in German (Das Dalmatische) in 1906. The Italian language manuscripts were reportedly lost, and the work was not re-translated into Italian until 2001.

Just one year later, on 10 June 1898, Tuone Udaina was accidentally killed at 74 in a roadwork explosion.[7][8]

Classification

In the most recent classification from 2017 it was classified by the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History with the Istriot language in the Dalmatian Romance subgroup.[9]

It was once thought to be a language that bridged the gap between Romanian and Italian, but it was only distantly related to the nearby Romanian dialects, such as the nearly extinct Istro-Romanian spoken in nearby Istria, Croatia.

Some of its features are quite archaic. Dalmatian is the only Romance language that has palatalised /k/ and /ɡ/ before /i/, but not before /e/ (others have palatalised them in both situations, except Sardinian, which has not palatalised them at all): Latin: civitate > Vegliot: cituot ("city"), Latin: cenare > Vegliot: kenur ("to dine").

Some Dalmatian words have been preserved as borrowings in South Slavic languages, in Chakavian and the Dubrovnik dialect of Shtokavian.

Similarities to Romanian

Among the similarities with Romanian, some phonemic shifts can be found among the Romance languages only in Dalmatian and Romanian:

Origin Result Latin Vegliot Romanian Italian English
/kt/ /pt/ octo guapto opt otto eight
/ŋn/ /mn/ cognatus comnut cumnat cognato brother-in-law
/ks/ /ps/ coxa copsa coapsă coscia thigh
/e/ /a/ septem sapto șapte sette seven

Vlachs/Morlachs from Dalmatia and their language

Vlachs (Aromanians) from Herzegovina and Dalmatia were known as "Caravlachs" during Turkish occupation. "Cara" means black in Turkish and North in Turkish geography. Translated into Greek, the name became Morlachs (from Mauro Vlachs).[10] Vlachs or Morlachs spoke a language close to Romanian.[11] Vlachs or Morlachs spread into all Dalmatian areas including Adriatic isles and towns. The majority were Slavicized and many of them were Islamized or Catholicized.[12] Today there are only a dozen Morlachs in Croatia and they have lost their maternal Romance spoken language.

Grammar
Main article: Dalmatian grammar

An analytic trend can be observed in Dalmatian: nouns and adjectives began to lose their gender and number inflexions, the noun declension disappeared completely, and the verb conjugations began to follow the same path, but the verb maintained a person and number distinction except in the third person (in common with Romanian and several dialects of Italy).

The definite article precedes the noun, unlike in the Eastern Romance languages like Romanian, which have it postposed to the noun.

Vocabulary

Dalmatian kept Latin words related to urban life, lost (or if preserved, not with the original sense) in Romanian, such as cituot "city" (in old Romanian cetate means "city"; in modern Romanian "fort"; compare also Albanian qytet, borrowed from Latin, which, too, means "city"). The Dalmatians retained an active urban society in their city-states, whereas most Romanians were driven into small mountain settlements during the Great Migrations of 400 to 800 AD.[13]

Venetian became a major influence on the language as Venetian commercial influence grew. The Chakavian dialect and Dubrovnik Shtokavian dialect of Serbo-Croatian, which were spoken outside the cities since the immigration of the Slavs, gained importance in the cities by the 16th century, and it eventually replaced Dalmatian as the day-to-day language. Nevertheless, some words were loaned into coastal Serbo-Croatian varieties:

  • Dubrovnik: CL antemna > otijemna "sail pole"; columna > kelomna "pillar, column"; ficatum > pìkat "liver"; lucerna > lùk(i)jerna "oil lamp"; lixivum > lìksija "lye"; oculata > úkljata "black-tail sparus, Sparus melanurus"; recessa > rèkesa "ebb tide";
  • Standard Croatian: arbor(em) > jȃrbor, jarbol (Slovenian jambor) "mast"; aurata > òvrata, obrata "gilt-head bream"; canaba > kònoba "(wine) cellar, cellar bar"; lolligo, -inem > òliganj, lȉganj, lȉgnja "squid"; margo, -inem > mr̀gin(j), mrganj "furrow or ditch marking a border"; tracta > trakta "dragnet, trawl", etc.[14]

Swadesh list
No. English Dalmatian
1 I ju
2 you (singular) te
3 he jal
4 we nu, noi
5 you (plural) vu, voi
6 they jali, jale
7 this cost
8 that cost
9 here kauk
10 there luk
11 who ko
12 what ce
13 where jo
14 when kand
15 how kal
16 not na, naun
17 all tot
18 many un maur
19 some certioin
20 few un pauk
21 other jultro, jiltri
22 one join
23 two doi
24 three tra
25 four kuatro
26 five cenk
27 big maur, luarg
28 long luang
29 wide luarg
30 thick dais
31 heavy pesunt
32 small pedlo
33 short kort
34 narrow *strant
35 thin *subtir
36 woman femia
37 man (adult male) jomno, vair
38 man (human being) jomno
39 child kratoir
40 wife mulier
41 husband marait
42 mother njena
43 father tuota
44 animal *namail
45 fish pask
46 bird paserain
47 dog kun
48 louse pedoklo
49 snake *sarpa
50 worm viarm
51 tree jarbul
52 forest buask
53 stick stal
54 fruit froit
55 seed grun
56 leaf fualja
57 root radaika
58 bark (of a tree) *scorta
59 flower fiaur
60 grass jarba
61 rope kanapial
62 skin pial
63 meat kuarne
64 blood suang
65 bone vuas
66 fat (noun) gruas
67 egg juf, juv
68 horn kuarno
69 tail kauda
70 feather *puana
71 hair kapei
72 head kup
73 ear orakla
74 eye vaklo
75 nose nuas
76 mouth buka
77 tooth diant
78 tongue (organ) langa
79 fingernail jongla
80 foot pi
81 leg *jamba
82 knee denaklo
83 hand mun
84 wing jal
85 belly viantro
86 guts alaite
87 neck kual
88 back duas
89 breast *san
90 heart kuor
91 liver fekuat
92 to drink bar
93 to eat mancuor
94 to bite moscuar
95 to suck *suger
96 to spit spoit
97 to vomit gomituor
98 to blow sublar
99 to breathe *respirar
100 to laugh redro
101 to see vedar
102 to hear senter
103 to know sapar
104 to think imisuarmer
105 to smell *urdoarer
106 to fear taimo
107 to sleep dormer
108 to live *vivar
109 to die morer
110 to kill *ucider
111 to fight *luptar
112 to hunt *vaunar
113 to hit botur
114 to cut taljur
115 to split spartar
116 to stab *oinguar
117 to scratch *scarpinur
118 to dig pasnur
119 to swim *nuotar
120 to fly blairer
121 to walk kaminur
122 to come venir
123 to lie (as in a bed) *jaurer
124 to sit stur
125 to stand stur
126 to turn (intransitive) *girar
127 to fall kadar
128 to give duor
129 to hold tenar
130 to squeeze shtrengar
131 to rub jongar
132 to wash *lavar
133 to wipe *sterger
134 to pull truar
135 to push *pingar
136 to throw *trubar
137 to tie lijuar
138 to sew koser
139 to count embruar
140 to say dekro
141 to sing kantur
142 to play jukur
143 to float *plutir
144 to flow *scarer
145 to freeze glazir
146 to swell craseror
147 sun saul
148 moon loina
149 star stala
150 water jakva
151 rain pluaja
152 river fluaim
153 lake lak
154 sea mur
155 salt suol
156 stone pitra
157 sand sablaun, salbaun
158 dust pulvro
159 earth tiara
160 cloud *nueba
161 fog *cieta
162 sky cil
163 wind viant
164 snow nai
165 ice glaz
166 smoke *fuma
167 fire fuok
168 ash kanaisa
169 to burn ardar
170 road kale
171 mountain muant
172 red ruas
173 green viart
174 yellow zuola
175 white jualb
176 black fosk, niar
177 night nuat
178 day dai
179 year jan
180 warm cuold
181 cold gheluat
182 full plain
183 new nuv
184 old vieklo
185 good bun
186 bad mul, ri
187 rotten muas, ri
188 dirty spuark
189 straight drat
190 round *runt
191 sharp (as a knife) *acu
192 dull (as a knife) *obtus
193 smooth *gliscio
194 wet joit
195 dry sak
196 correct drat, jost
197 near alic
198 far distuont
199 right diastro
200 left *sanest
201 at saupra
202 in in
203 with kon
204 and e
205 if *sa
206 because perko
207 name naum

[15]

Literature

As Dalmatian was mainly an oral language, there is not much literature preserved in it; only some fragments collected in a book by Antonio Ive and a few unpublished texts in archives still unknown to the public. But there are some works written in revived Dalmatian, as, for example, the short poetry book "Adi la raipa de mi jeuntut".

Sample

The following are examples of the Lord's Prayer in Latin, Dalmatian, Serbo-Croatian, Friulian, Italian, Istro-Romanian and Romanian:

Latin Dalmatian Serbo-Croatian Friulian Italian Istro-Romanian Romanian English Spanish
Pater noster, qui es in caelis, Tuota nuester, che te sante intel sil, Oče naš, koji jesi na nebesima, Pari nestri, che tu sês in cîl, Padre nostro, che sei nei cieli, Ciace nostru car le ști en cer, Tatăl nostru care ești în ceruri, Our Father, who art in heaven, Padre nuestro, que estás en los cielos,
sanctificetur Nomen Tuum. sait santificuot el naun to. sveti se ime tvoje. che al sedi santifiât il to nom. sia santificato il tuo nome. neca se sveta nomelu teu. sfințească-se numele tău. hallowed be thy name. santificado sea tu nombre.
Adveniat Regnum Tuum. Vigna el raigno to. dođi kraljevstvo Tvoje. Che al vegni il to ream. Venga il tuo regno. Neca venire craliestvo to. Vie împărăția ta. Thy kingdom come. Venga a nosotros tu reino.
Fiat voluntas Tua, sicut in caelo, et in terra. Sait fuot la voluntuot toa, coisa in sil, coisa in tiara. budi volja Tvoja, kako na nebu tako i na zemlji. Che e sedi fate la tô volontât sicu in cîl cussì ancje in tiere. Sia fatta la tua volontà, come in cielo così in terra. Neca fie volia ta, cum en cer, așa și pre pemânt. Facă-se voia ta, precum în cer, așa și pe pământ. Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven. Hágase tu voluntad, en la tierra como en el cielo.
Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie. Duote costa dai el pun nuester cotidiun. Kruh naš svagdanji daj nam danas. Danus vuê il nestri pan cotidian. Dacci oggi il nostro pane quotidiano. Pera nostre saca zi de nam astez. Pâinea noastră cea de toate zilele, dă-ne-o nouă astăzi. Give us this day our daily bread. Danos hoy nuestro pan de cada día.
Et dimitte nobis debita nostra, E remetiaj le nuestre debete, I otpusti nam duge naše, E pardoninus i nestris debits, E rimetti a noi i nostri debiti, Odproste nam dutzan, Și ne iartă nouă păcatele noastre, And forgive us our trespasses, Perdona nuestras ofensas.
Sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Coisa nojiltri remetiaime a i nuestri debetuar. Kako i mi otpuštamo dužnicima našim. Sicu ancje nô ur ai pardonìn ai nestris debitôrs. Come noi li rimettiamo ai nostri debitori. Ca și noi odprostim a lu nostri dutznici. Precum și noi le iertăm greșiților noștri. As we forgive those who trespass against us. Como también nosotros perdonamos a los que nos ofenden.
Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, E naun ne menur in tentatiaun, I ne uvedi nas u napast, E no stâ menânus in tentazion, E non ci indurre in tentazione, Neca nu na tu vezi en napastovanie, Și nu ne duce pe noi în ispită, And lead us not into temptation, No nos dejes caer en tentación.
sed libera nos a Malo. miu deleberiajne dal mal. nego izbavi nas od zla. ma liberinus dal mâl. ma liberaci dal male. neca na zbăvește de zvaca slabe. ci ne izbăvește de cel rău. but deliver us from evil. y líbranos del mal.
Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amin! Amen! ¡Amén!

Parable of the Prodigal Son
Dalmatian: E el daic: Jon ciairt jomno ci avaja doi feil, e el plé pedlo de louro daic a soa tuota: Tuota duoteme la puarte de moi luc, che me toca, e jul spartait tra louro la sostuanza e dapù pauch dai, mais toich indajoi el feil ple pedlo andait a la luorga, e luoc el dissipuat toich el soo, viviand malamiant. Muà el ju venait in se stiass, daic: quinci jomni de journata Cn cuassa da me tuota i ju bonduanza de puan e cua ju muor de fum.
English: And He said: There was a man who had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father: "Father give me the share of his property that will belong to me." So he divided the property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and travelled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. But when he came to himself he said: "How many of my father's hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger."

See also

References
  1. Wells, John C. (2008), Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.), Longman, ISBN 9781405881180
  2. Roach, Peter (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (18th ed.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521152532
  3. "Encyclopedia Britannica". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  4. Appendini, Francesco Maria (1803). Notizie Istorico-Critiche Sulla Antichita, Storia, e Letteratura de' Ragusei [Historico-critical news on antiquity, history and literature of Ragusei] (in Italian). Ragusa: Martecchini.
  5. Bartoli, 2000
  6. Colloquia Maruliana, Vol. 12 Travanj 2003. Zarko Muljacic — On the Dalmato-Romance in Marulić's Works (hrcak.srce.hr). Split Romance (Spalatin) are extant by the author. Zarko Muljacic has set off in the only way possible, the indirect way of attempting to trace the secrets of its historical phonology by analysing any lexemes of possible Dalmato-Romance origin that have been preserved in Marulić's Croatian works.
  7. Roegiest, Eugeen (2006). Vers les sources des langues romanes: un itinéraire linguistique à travers la Romania [Towards the Sources of the Romance Languages: A Linguistic Route Through Romania] (in French). ACCO. p. 138. ISBN 90-334-6094-7.
  8. Brahms, William B. (2005). Notable Last Facts: A Compendium of Endings, Conclusions, Terminations and Final Events Throughout History. Reference Desk Press. p. 183. ISBN 978-0-9765325-0-7.
  9. "Dalmatian Romance". Glottolog.
  10. Cicerone Poghirc, Romanizarea lingvistică și culturală în Balcani. In: Aromânii, istorie, limbă, destin. Coord. Neagu Giuvara, București, Editura Humanitas, 2012, p.17, ISBN 978-973-50-3460-3
  11. Fine, John V. A. (1994). The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. p. 19.
  12. Silviu Dragomir, Vlahii și morlacii. Studiu din istoria românismului balcanic, Ed. Imprimeria Bornemisa, 1924, p.64
  13. Florin Curta (2006). Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500–1250. Cambridge medieval textbooks. Cambridge University Press. p. 100. ISBN 978-0-521-81539-0. Retrieved 20 November 2009.
  14. Manfred Trummer, “Südosteuropäische Sprachen und Romanisch”, Lexikon der Romanistischen Linguistik, vol. 7: Kontakt, Migration und Kunstsprachen. Kontrastivität, Klassifikation und Typologie, eds. Günter Holtus, Michael Metzeltin & Christian Schmitt (Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1998), 162.
  15. l antico dialetto di veglia - l antico dialetto di veglia.pdf

Bibliography
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