Vallegrande Speak from Vela Luka
Vallegrande Speak (in Croatian, Luški) [1] is a old Korcula Dialect from the town of Vela Luka. The town is on the west end of the island of Korčula.[2] The island of Korčula lies just off the Dalmatian coast in Croatia.[3] The language base of this Korčula dialect is Chakavian Croatian [4] (it is also intermixed with Shtokavian).[5] It has a strong elements of Italian Venetian and it also has remnants of the extinct Latin Romance language, Dalmatian. The Dalmatian remnants within the dialect have been sometimes referred to as Corzulot.
The local dialect is sometimes referred to as Naski or more correctly Naški.[6] The š is pronounced sh. Sir John Gardner Wilkinson, [7] a 19 century English historian, referred to the Dalmatian Slavic dialect as Illirskee.[8]
One of Korčula's old names was Curzola. The island was from 1420 to 1797 part of the Republic of Venice. The Old-Slavic term was Krkar. According to Antun (Antonio) Rosanovic (Defence of Korcula in 1571) the Greeks named it Kórkyra Melaena meaning Black Corfu after their homeland and the dense woods on the island. [9] Vela Luka in the past was called Vallegrande.
Chronology-Korcula Island Languages
- Illyrian (Delmatae)
- Greek
- Latin (Romans)
- Romance Dalmatian
- Slavic (Old Croatian-Chakavian)
- Venetian
- Slavic - Shtokavian
- Italian (standardise language arrived)
- Serbo-Croatian (standardise language)
Modern times
- Croatian (standardise language)[10]
Additional History
Trying to re-tell the history of this part of the world (old Dalmatia part of Croatia) is fraught with problems. The Yugoslav Communist party was the main driving force in all social matters within the former Yugoslavia. It created historic falsehoods to promote its own aggressive political authoritarian agenda.
We can definitely confirm that from the 13th century onwards there were two ethnic communities living on the island in the middle ages, one being descendants of the Roman Empire and the other being of Slavic descent. [11][12] Two languages, the Romance Latin language called Dalmatian and the old Slavic Chakavian language became the norm on the island. With time these languages started to overlap. The written language was Latin. The fact that Slavs from the then neighbouring Kingdom of Croatia also spoke old Slavic Chakavian could indicate that this group of Slavs came from the same or similar tribal group.
When the Serbian forces were annihilated in the Battle of Kosovo by the Ottoman Empire in 1389 a large group of peoples stated to migrate westward. Venetian Dalmatia started to acquire new people in its region (i.e., new Croatians, Serbs, Albanians & others). When the Black Plague [13][14] depleted the island's population the Venetian authorities saw a need to bring new families to the island of Korčula. Amongst these were Shtokavian Slavic speakers. With these new added migrations the Slavic speakers became a majority (this applies more to west end of the island).
If the translation of the Defence of Korčula from Ottoman Turkish attack in 1571, originally written by Antun (Antonio) Rozanovic is untainted, we can see that the majority of the defenders of the island were by 1571 of Slavic decent. If we use this as a reference then from the mid 16th century onwards the majority of Korčula's population was indeed of Slavic origins.
The Vallegrande Speak evolved in the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century. Vela Luka's early beginnings, from the late 17th century, started with the population of the neighbouring Blato [15] setting up a town in the large bay of Vallegrande (modern: Vela Luka). Zvonko Maričić states in the late 1500s there where five buildings (one being a church) in the bay. The buildings belong to Ismaelli, Gabrielli, Canavelli[16] and Kolovic. Then around the 1690s [17] there were twelve households: Draginić, Tulić, Nalošić, Kostričić, Cetinić, Mirovšević, Žuvela, Prižmić, Marinović, Dragojević, Barčot and Surjan.
Vallegrande Speak is an off shoot of the language spoken in 18th century town of Blato. Etymology of Vallegrande would translate as large bay. From Latin grandis means large, big whilst ' valle ' in local dialect means bays. Valle (plural) is most probably of Romance (Latin) Dalmatian origin which was spoken by Roman Dalmatians.
One could easily say that the old Vallegrande Speak is becoming extinct. Successive Yugoslavian governments, be it the Communist Yugoslavian regime (1945-92) or the earlier Kingdom of Yugoslavia, pushed a Pan-Slavic and Croatian Nationalistic political rule. One of their policies in Dalmatia was Slavicisation of the culture, language and history. Before Yugoslavia came into being the policy was first started to be implemented by Austro-Hungarian Empire, so Mr Gabrielli became Gabrijeliċ. It takes only one generation to change a language, two generations for it to cease to exist. Today's dialect in Vela Luka (Luški) is different and has incorporated much of the standardised modern Croatian language.
Note: From the late 19th century onwards the old Dalmatian culture has been all but disappearing from the region. The last Italian-language government school was abolished in Korčula on the 13th of September 1876.[18][19]
- Information below taken from Beginnings of Formal Education - Vela Luka:
Words from the Vallegrande Speak (Luški) - Korcula dialect of Croatia
(Vallegrande Speak - English - Croatian)
Template:Col-break- adio - goodbye - doviđenja
- afitat - rent (Venetian:afìt)
- aimemeni or ai me meni - poor me or oh dear!
- alavia - done properly or it's Ok! - u redu
- apoteka - pharmacy (Venetian: apoteca, Greek: Apotheke)
- arbol - ship's mast (In Venetian it means tree)
- aria - air - zdrak (Venetian: aria)
- arma - armed (Venetian: arma)
- ašeta - a type of tool
- avižat [21] - to arrive - došao
- bala - dance - plesati (Venetian: baleto)
- balanca - balance, weighing scale
- baleta - bullet - metak (Venetian: bal)
- banda - side - strana (In Venetian it means side & flank)
- balun - football (Venetian: balón)
- banak - bench (Venetian: banca) [22]
- baraka - shed or shack (Venetian: baràca)
- barba - uncle - stric (Venetian: barba)
- bareta - cap, hat (Venetian: baret)
- barilo - barrel (Venetian: barìla)
- barka - type of local boat (Venetian: bàrca)
- bašje - lower
- bat - a type of hammer (Venetian: batu meaning to strike)
- bevanda - wine with water - vino sa vodom (Venetian: bevànda "watery wine")
- beštija - animal - životinja (Latin: bestia also beast)
- beštimat - swear (Venetian: bestiemàr)
- bičve - socks - čarape
- bićerin - small glass (Venetian: bicér "glass")
- bilo - white - Bjelo
- bira - beer - pivo (Venetian: bira)
- bluza - female shirt - ženska košulja
- Brigela - local nickname (Venetian: brighela joker)
- brokva - nail
- bobon - lolly
- boca - bottle - flaša (Venetian: boca)
- bonaca - the sea is dead calm (Venetian: bonàça)
- botilja - bottle (Romance Dalmatian: botaila)
- botun - button (Romance Dalmatian: botaun)
- bravo - well done
- buka - noisy (Romance Dalmatian: mouth)
- bukva - herring
- bura - local wind (Venetian: bora)
- burlsa - bag
- butiga - shop
- buža - hole - rupa (Venetian: bus or buxa)
- cilo - wine without water - vino bez vode
- cukar - sugar - šečer (Venetian: sucaro)
- čakule - gossip
- čagalj - jackal
- čejad - people - ljudi
- ćìkara - small cup - šalica (Venetian: chicara)
- čorav - blind (Venetian: ciòro "blind person")
- damižana - a netted bottle
- daska - small plank
- daž - rain - kiša
- Defora in old Venetian means "from the outside".
- dobota - nearly - (Venetian: dedoto or doboto)
- dreto - straight (Romance Dalmatian: drat)
- Di - where - gdje
- dite - child - djete
- Di greš?- Where are you going?
- ižejat - to work out or improvise
- ipo - half
- iza - after or above
- izija - ate
- izvrtit - to undo a screw
- faca - face - lice (Venetian: faca)
- fabrika - factory - tvornica (Latin: fabrica- manufacture or to craft, trade, art, trick, device)
- fabrikat - to trick
- falso - fake (Venetian: falso "liar")
- fatiga - work - radi
- febra - fever
- feral - a gas or petroleum lamp for attracting fish (night fishing). Also in Venetian feral means "lamp".
- fermai - stop - stani
- feta - slice (Venetian: feta)
- feca - wine sludge
- figura - figure (Venetian: figura)
- fjaka - When one feels sleepy on a lazy summer day afternoon.
- forma - shape (Venetian: forma)
- fraja - to go out and have a good time (Venetian: fraja-happy company or happy bunch)
- frigati - to fry (Romance Dalmatian: fregur)
- frižul - a spot to have a chat (within the town)
- forca - power (apply with strength)
- fortuna - strong wind
- fratar - priest (Latin: frater meaning brother)
- fuga - gap (Latin: flight, escape)
- fumar - chimney (Venetian: fuma meaning smoke)
- fumati - smoking - pušiti
- furešti - foreigner - stranac
- gače - pants
- gira - a fish from Croatia.
- gradele - grill - roštilj; sprava za pečenje na žaru (Venetian:graèla)
- gre - I'm going
- grintav - they are in a bad mood
- griža - a form of very hard stone
- gundula - type of boat
- gusti - enjoyment (Venetian: gusto-pleasurable)
- gusto - thick
- gustrina - underground rainwater reservoir
- guzica - bottom
- hoča - lets go
- kacavida - screwdriver
- kadena - chain (Romance Dalmatian:kataina)
- kajić - type of local boat
- kajiš - belt
- Kalafat - means masters (shipyard workers) who filled the fissures between boards on a wooden boat.
- kamara - bedroom - soba (Latin: camera-vault, vaulted room)
- kantat - to sing - pjevati (Latin: canto)
- kapelīn - small female hat - maleni ženski šešir (Venetian: capelìn or piccolo cappello)
- kapula - onion - luk (Romance Dalmatian: kapula)
- karoca - small carriage (Venetian: carosa)
- kašeta - small wooden box
- kašun - large box
- katrida - chair - stolica (Romance Dalmatian: katraida)
- katun - corner (Latin: cantus)
- klapa - an a cappella form of music [23] (Venetian:clapa "singing crowd")
- keleh - the floor
- kolbuk - hat
- koltrine - curtains (Venetian: coltrina)
- konoba - cellar
- kontra - against - protiv (Latin: contra)
- korač - hammer
- koraj - full of himself - (Venetian: coràjo means courage)
- kormilo - rudder
- krepa - died - umro (Venetian: crepar meaning die also means crack)
- kuntra - bump into
- kušin - pillow - uzglavlje or jastuk (Venetian: cussin)
- kužina - kitchen - kuhinja (Venetian: cuxìna)
- kužin - cousin - rođak (Venetian: cuxìn)
- lacun - bed sheets
- lamin - sheetmetal bucket
- lanterna - lighthouse - svjetionik (Venetian: lanterna)
- lapis - pencil - olovka (Venetian: apis)
- lata - tin (Venetian: lata)
- lavadin - washbasin (Venetian: lavandin)
- leć - sleep - spavati
- lešada - a type of fish soup (boiled)/ Lesada in Venetian means boil.
- leut - type of local boat
- levant - local wind
- libro - book - knjiga
- licenca - licence - dozvola (Venetian: icenca)
- lipo - nice or beautiful - ljepo
- očetavat - to unhook, sort out
- mahnit - crazy, unstable, nuts
- maistral - local coastal wind
- makina - machine
- makina od pranja- washing machine
- Malandrin - Local nickname. In Venetian it means: dishonest or crook
- mapa - map (Venetian: mapa)
- Maragun - wood worker (Venetian: Marangòn)
- maza - to be spoiled, the spoiled one (Venetian: maza)
- Ma or mat - mother - majka
- mećat - to throw
- meja - a stone wall in the field (stone fence)
- mezo - in between (Venetian: mèzo "half")
- mlinko - milk
- mola - let go
- motika - local agricultural tool
- mudante - underwear (Venetian: mudande)
- munka - flour - brašno
- noštromo - boatswain
- ofinditi - to insult
- parlaš - talking - govoriti (Venetian: he speaks)
- parti - leaving
- pamidora - tomato (Italian pamidore)
- pandur - policemen - policija (Venetian: panduro)
- panja - bread - kruh
- papit - this word is used when feeding a child - jedi djete (Venetian: papa-means baby food)
- patalone - pants
- perun - fork (Venetian: pirón from Greek: pirouni)
- piat or pijat - plate
- pikolo - small, little (Venetian: picolo)
- Pelišac - Pelješac (other names used: Stonski Rat, Puncta Stagni, Ponta di Stagno and Sabioncello)
- pirula - pill - tableta (Venetian: pirola)
- pistun - piston (Venetian: piston)
- priša - in a hurry - (Venetian: presá - meaning hast)
- pitura - paint (Venetian: pitura-painting)
- piz - weight (Latin origin, Venetian: pexa meaning weighing)
- poć na ribe - going fishing - ići na ribanje
- pod - upper floor (Venetian: podolo - meaning balcony)
- popričat - lets discus
- postelja - bed - krevet
- postoli - shoes - cipele
- pripovidat - to tell a story
- probi - penetrate
- provaj - give it a try, to test it out (Venetian: pròva - meaning test)
- prskat - mini shower
- prat- wash
- pule - baby donkey
- punte - pionts
- punistra - window (Latin: fenestra)
- puntižel - plak
- roba - clothes - odjeća
- reful - a small strong wind
- regeta - light sheet metal
- rič - word
- ritko - not often
- sak - bag (Venetian: saco)
- senjat - to mark
- setemana - week - tijedan (Venetian: setemana)
- skula - school - škola
- skuža - understood, work it out
- snig - snow - snjeg
- spim - I'm sleeping
- spirit - ghost -
- spiza - food - hrana
- soldi - money - novac (Latin: solidus)
- soto - underneath - ispod (Venetian: sot or soto)
- sritan - happy or lucky - sretan
- stezi - tighten
- šegac - saw
- šestan - attractive or good looking (Venetian:sesto-grace, well mannered)
- šija - reverse - natrag
- šiloko - local wind (Venetian: siròco)
- škoj - island - otok
- škver - shipyard - brodgradilište
- špina - tap (Venetian: spina)
- špirit - ghost - duh (Venetian: spirito. In local Vallegrande Speak it can mean strong alcohol)
- šporko - dirty (Venetian: spórco)
- štivo - book - Knjiga
- štrada - street - ulica (Italian: strada)
- šufit - attic or loft (Venetian: sofìta)
- šugaman - beach towel
- šujat - to trick
- tanac - dance - ples
- tastamenat - confession or a will
- tata - father - otac
- tavajola - tablecloth (Venetian: toaja)
- teće - leaking
- tereina or teća - metal bowl (Venetian: tereina)
- terpeza - table - stol
- tira - pull
- timul - driving wheel, ships or boats wheel, rudder (Venetian: timon)
- torta - a type of cake
- traversa - apron - pregača (Venetian: traversa)
- tudin - small round steel bar
- ura - hour - jedan sat
- umideca - damp - vlaga (Venetian: umidic)
- vagun - ten tones
- vala - bay (vale - bays)
- vapor - ferry - trajekt (Venetian: Bapor meaning steamship)
- vara vamo - move on or move over there
- vedro - clear sky
- vesta - dress - ženska haljina (Venetian: garment, vestir: dress)
- vela - big - veliko
- vida - screw
- Vi ga niste vidili - You did not see him.
- zeje - local dish
- zamuti - to stir
- zrcalo - mirror - ogledalo
- žeja - thirsty (the ž is pronounced zh)
- želizo - axe - sjekira
Names of Bays, Fields and Parts of the Town
- Guvno
- Bobovišċa (once not part of Vela Luka)
- Bad
- Kale
- Vranac
- Gradina (bay)
- Bradat (field)
See also
External Links
- Photo link for a aerial view of Korcula Town
- Korcula Info
- Wikipedia: Battle of Curzola
- Venetian Language - www.omniglot.com
Notes & References
- ^ The š is pronounced sh.
- ^ The č is pronounced ch.
- ^ John Everett-Healu. "Dalmatia." Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names. Oxford University Press. 2005. Encyclopedia.com
- ^ Editors note: Slavic tribes invaded the region of Roman Dalmatia in the early Middle Ages. Prior to the arrival of the Slavs, Roman Dalmatia was mainly inhabited by a Roman Latin-Illyrian population. Recent DNA studies have stated that more than three quarters of today's Croatian men are the descendants of Europeans who inhabited Europe 13 000-20 000 years ago (prior to the arrival of the Slavs). The first primary source (factual-that its authenticity isn't disputed) to mention the Croatian-Hrvat identity in the Balkans was Duke Branimir (Latin: "Branimiro comite dux cruatorum cogitavit" c. 880 AD). Branimir was a Slav from Dalmatia.
- ^ The Land of 1000 Islands by Igor Rudan
- "However, the clashes between the Ottoman Empire and Venetian Republic produced extensive migrations from the mainland areas, especially from today's Bosnia and Herzegovina, to the eastern parts of the islands of Brač, Hvar, Korčula, and Pag. The newcomers brought their gene pool and a variety of cultural specificities, including the “Shtokavian” dialect of the Croatian language to the predominantly “Chakavian” area. The most extensive migrations to these islands occurred during the Cypriote (1571-1573), Candian (1645-1669), and Morean wars (1684-1699). The newcomers were given land and awarded special privileges “The Paštrović Privileges”."
- ^ Note: Naški means "ours" thus meaning "our language" in Croatian.
- ^ Dalmatia and Montenegro: With a Journey to Mostar in Herzegovina by Sir John Gardner Wilkinson. (p33)
- Sir John Gardner Wilkinson (October 5, 1797 – October 29, 1875) was an English traveller, writer and pioneer Egyptologist of the 19th century. He is often referred to as "the Father of British Egyptology".
- ^ Illyricum was a Roman province named after one of the Indigenous groups in the region.
- ^ Corcira Melaena (Greek:Kórkyra Melaena)
- ^ Language and Identity in the Balkans: Serbo-Croatian and Its Disintegration ... By Robert D. Greenberg
- ^ When Ethnicity Did not Matter in the Balkans: by John Van Antwerp Fine. (p103)
- ^ Smiciklas, CD V, (p237); N. Klaic, Povijest Hrvata u Razvijenom, (p130)
- Encyclopædia Britannica: " A plague devastated the town in 1529, depleting the population. The burned houses of infected persons, called kućišta..."
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