Istro-Romanians

Istro-Romanians
Vlaşi or Rumâri

Total population
unknown
Languages
Istro-Romanian; also Croatian, Italian
Religion
Roman Catholic
Related ethnic groups
Aromanians, Romanians, Morlachs

Istro-Romanians / Istrorumeni (ethnonym: Rumeni and occasionally also Rumâri and Rumêri; are called Ćići and "Vlahi" (Istrian Vlachs) by the local Croatian and Slovenian population, Istro-Romanians by linguists) are an ethnic group living in northeastern Istria, currently spanning over a small area of Croatia mostly in a region called Ćićarija (Croatian) or Čičarija (Slovene) (historical name: Ciceria) and in a region west of Mt. Učka (Monte Maggiore). There is no data on Istro-Romanians as a separate ethnicity in the 2001 Croatian census; there are 475 registered Romanians. There were 170 acknowledged speakers of the Istro-Romanian language in 1998 in Croatia, including 27 children.^{[citation needed]} In 2010, the Croatian Constitution granted Romanians ("Rumunji") status as one of 22 national minorities.

There are no recorded speakers of Istro-Romanian language in Slovenian part of Ćićarija (Croatian) or Čičarija (Slovene). Inhabitants of villages and hamlets speak Chakavian dialect (Chakavian-ikavian) which clearly indicates there origin from southern Dalmatia. However, there are traces of Istro-Romanian words in the vocabular, indicating either their close contact with the Istro-Romanian inhabitants of the land, their former bilingualism (Croatian chakavian and Istro-Romanian) or existence of certain number of Istro-Romanian speakers among the Chakavian speakers in the past.^{[citation needed]}

History

The first historical record of Romanians in the Istrian region purportedly dates back to 940 A.D. when scholarly Roman Emperor Constantine VII recorded in De Administrando Imperio" that there were Latin-language speakers in this area who called themselves Romans but who did not come from Rome. A later historical record of Romanians in Istria (not necessarily the "Cici", and possibly the "Morlacchi") dates back to 1329, when Serbian chronicles mention that a Vlach population was living in the area, although there was an earlier mention from the 12th century of a leader in Istria called Radul which may have been a Romanian name.

In his monumental book, Historia antica, e moderna sacra, e profana, della città di Trieste, published in his native town of Trieste in 1698, Fra Ireneo della Croce (1625–1713) wrote:

"Un'altra memoria antica, degna d'osservatione non minore della già addotte Antichità Romane, osservo in alcuni Popoli addimandati comunemente Chichi habitanti nelle Ville d'Opchiena, Tribichiano, e Gropada situate nel Territorio di Trieste, sopra il Monte cinque miglia distante dalla Città verso Greco: Et in molti altri Villaggi, aspettanti à Castel nuovo, nel Carso Giurisditione de gl'Illustrissimi Signori Conti Petazzi, quali, oltre l'Idioma I Sclavo comune à tutto il Carso, usano un proprio, e particolare consimile al Valacco, intracciato con diverse parole, e vocaboli Latini, come scorgesi dall'ingiunti, & à bel Studio qui da me riferiti. Non deve meravigliarsi chi legge, fe questi Popoli, quali proffessano l'origine loro da Carni, e suoi discendenti, venuti dalla Toscana à fondare la Nostra antica Provincia de' Carni, habbiano sempre conservato l'uso antico della lingua Romana, ò Latina, idioma comune de' loro Antenati, come constumano hoggidì pure al sentire [335] di Gio:Lucio (a) i Popoli nella Valacchia: Valachi autem hedierni quicunque lingua Valacha loquuntur, se ipsos non dicunt Vlahos, aut Valachos, sed Romanos, & à Romanis ortos gloriuntur; Romanaque lingua loqui prositentur, quiod sicut sermo ipsorum comprobat: ita mores quoque crum Italis quam Slavis similiores conveniunt, Che perciò anco i nostri Chichi, addimandansi nel proprio linguaggio Rumeri: Essendo sentimento del mentovato Lucio, (b) che l'uso della lingua latina, fiorì anticamente non solo nell'Italia, ma anco nella Dalmatia, nell'Illirico, & altre parti: Lingua romana, sive Latina Dalmatas usos ad ann. 1200. VVilliemus Tyrius testatur. lib. 2. cap. 17."

He mentions a people who, "beside the Slavic idiom common for all the Karst area, speak also their own and particular language, which is similar to Wallachian and contains many different Latin words." He was referring to the language of the Chichi - Cici (the Istro-Romanians) who, in his own time, were known to inhabit an extensive part of Istria up to and perhaps beyond Trieste.

Some linguists believe that the Istro-Romanians migrated to their present location about 600 years ago from Transylvania, after the Black Death depopulated Istria, as was told to generations of Istro-Romanians who handed down this story from parent to child by word of mouth. Some loan words also suggest that before reaching Istria, the Istro-Romanians lived for a longer period of time in Dalmatia near the Cetina river, but this is mere speculation as the loan words could easily have come from other Slavic peoples' who emigrated to Istria, and such loan words also exist in Daco-Romanian, the official language of Romania. Another unsupported theory is that they came from Serbia. What cannot be disputed, however, is that the Istro-Romanian dialect splits from that of Daco-Romanian speakers later than the other Romanian dialects (Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian), thus further discounting credibility in the Serbian theory.^{[citation needed]} This of course would hinge on definitions of such terms as "Serbia", since there are some Daco-Romanian speakers in modern Serbia (see Romanians of Serbia), although the majority of Romanians there speak Aromunian (a.k.a. Macedo-Romanian), a distinctly different dialect from Istro-Romanian.

The Transylvanian connection is emphasized by linguists, but more importantly, is alive in the memory of some of the Istrorumeni themselves who break themselves into two distinct groups - the cici or cicci surrounding the Mune and Žejane area and the vlahi of the southern Šušnjevica region even though their speech is identical save for a few local distinctions. Interestingly enough, Iosif Popovici entitled his book Dialectele române din Istria (Halle, 1909) - that is, "The Dialects..." not "The Dialect..." - indirectly suggesting there were several types of Istro-Romanian dialects in Istria.

Regions inhabited by vlachs. Istroromanians in yellow.

Romanian linguists are divided in their opinions: Prof. Dr. Iosif Popovici (1876–1928), who had travelled extensively in Istria, endorsed the theory the Istro-Romanians were natives of Ţara Moţilor (Western Transylvania) who "descended" into Istria sometimes during 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, and therefore not a recognized linguistic authority) stated that Istro-Romanians were not native to Istria (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 Serbian dialectologist and phonologist Pavle Ivić, respected for his work toward the standardization of the Serbian language, speculated that at the beginning of the Middle Ages a sizable Roman population inhabited all of the Balkans, from west to east, across the former Yugoslavia.

In the 15th century, a purportedly similar population of Rumeri from the near mainland, as noted by Frankopan (Frangipani) princes in their chronicles, in northernmost Krk (Veglia) island, villages Poljica and Dubašnica at actual Makarska. In the mid-19th century they were gradually assimilated, and only some of their toponyms and plant names persist; also their Paternoster (Cace nostru) was noted there.

When Istria was part of the Austrian Empire, the Istro-Rumanians were the majority of a small "comune" near the Arsa river, as shown in the 1910 Austrian census In 1922, after the union of Istria to Italy, the Italian government allowed the creation of the city of "Valdarsa" for the istroromanian community: under the leadership of Andrea Glavina they obtained even a school in Istro-Romanian language. This town of Valdarsa (now reduced to the 200 inhabitants of the village of Šušnjevica) reached a population of 3,000 in 1942.

After World War II, many Istro-Romanians left their ancestral homes, as did many other Istrian refugees throughout the peninsula, due to discrimination, violence and threats by the incoming Communist regime. A small number remained in Istria while others emigrated to various countries of Europe, most notably Italy, the U.S.A., and throughout the world. Those who stayed under Yugoslav rule underwent forced assimilation as much as, if not more than, they had under the prior brief Italian rule.^{[citation needed]} The Italian writer and historian Giuseppe Lazzarini believes that there are more than 5,000 Istro-Romanian descendants in Istria, but most of them identified themselves (1991 Census: 811 Istro-Romanians) with other ethnic groups instead of as Istro-Romanian. Lazzarini believes that the Istro-Romanians are the descendants of the Roman legionnaires (brought in by Augustus to eastern Istria to colonize the borders of Roman Empire) and Aromanian shepherds, who escaped the Ottoman invasions and moved to a plague depopulated Istria in the 15th century. Other historians and linguists, however, disagree with this theory inasmuch as the Aromanian and Istro-Romanian languages are very different and distinguishable from each other.

Also significant is that unlike most of other Romanian speakers, who are Eastern Orthodox, the Istro-Romanians were and are Roman Catholic, likewise pointing to a different migratory pattern and historical evolution.[1] In 1998, a detailed monograph on Istro-Romanians, their population, culture, glossary, grammar (reflective only of the acknowledged speakers in Istria, not the majority of native speakers who left Istria after World War II), texts, and exhaustive bibliography was published by A. Kovačec (see references below). Other Romanian, Italian and Dalmatian linguists have published their own atlases, dictionaries and vocabularies before and since then.

Extant (Remaining) Settlements

• Area north of Mount Ćićarija
  • Žejani (Istro-Romanian: Jeiăn), 140 inhabitants
• Area west of Mount Učka (historical name: Monte Maggiore) and near Lake Čepić / Arsa
  • Šušnjevica (Şuşńieviţe, Susńieviţa, Istro-Romanian: Suseni)
  • Nova Vas (Noselo, Istro-Romanian: Sat Nou)
  • Jasenovik (Istro-Romanian: Sucodru, meaning "under woods")
  • Kostrčani (Istro-Romanian: Costârceân)
  • Letaj (Istro-Romanian: Letai)
  • Brdo (Berdo / Birdo, Istro-Romanian: Bârdo)

See also

• Istria
• Istro-Romanian language
• Istro-Romanian grammar
• Thraco-Roman
• Eastern Romance substratum
• Romanian language
• Origin of the Romanians
• Romance languages
• Legacy of the Roman Empire
• The Balkan linguistic union

References

• della Croce, Ireneo: Historia antica, e moderna sacra, e profana, della città di Trieste, (Trieste, 1698)
• Feresini, Nerina: Il Comune istro-romeno di Valdarsa. Edizioni Italo Svevo. Trieste: 1996
• Kovačec, August: Istrorumunjsko-hrvatski rječnik s gramatikom i tekstovima (Glosar Istroroman-Croat cu gramatica si texte). Verba moritura vol. I, 378 p. Mediteran, Pula 1998
• Podbersič, Renato: Čičke prekvanitce z Goca (Folklorni obrazci z Golca v Slovenski Čičariji). LIBRIS. Koper: 2007
• Tekavčić, Pavao: Due voci romene in un dialetto serbo-croato dell'Isola di Veglia (Krk). Studia Romanica 7: 35-38, Zagreb 1959

External links

• Istro-Romanian Community Worldwide, a site created by and for Istro-Romanians
• Difficult cultural situation of the Istro-Romanian minority particularly threatened
• La situation culturelle difficile de la minorité istro-roumaine particulièrement menacée
• Istro-Romanians in Croatia, a site created by a Romanian