Historically the mother tongue of the majority of the population of the island of Korčula (in particularly the west end) is old Croatian.<ref>'''Editors note''': 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. The term Slav was first used by the Byzantines (i.e. Procopius-Byzantine scholar, Jordanes- 6th century Roman bureaucrat) and was recorded in the 6th century (c. 550) in Greek (Σκλαβῖνοι-Sklabenoi). Later in Latin it was written Sclaveni. 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. 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.</ref> The [[Korcula Dialect|Korčula dialect]] <ref>NOTE: The local dialect is sometimes referred to as ''Naski'' or more correctly ''Naški''. The '''š''' is pronounced '''sh'''. | Historically the mother tongue of the majority of the population of the island of Korčula (in particularly the west end) is old Croatian.<ref>'''Editors note''': 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. The term Slav was first used by the Byzantines (i.e. Procopius-Byzantine scholar, Jordanes- 6th century Roman bureaucrat) and was recorded in the 6th century (c. 550) in Greek (Σκλαβῖνοι-Sklabenoi). Later in Latin it was written Sclaveni. 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. 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.</ref> The [[Korcula Dialect|Korčula dialect]] <ref>NOTE: The local dialect is sometimes referred to as ''Naski'' or more correctly ''Naški''. The '''š''' is pronounced '''sh'''. |