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Istro-Romanian is by now
a language of memory
Italiano
Who were the Vlachs?
It is a fact that needs not to be repeated
that Istria was during the centuries a crossroad of various peoples,
cultures and languages. Still, if it were to be honest, little is known
about the presence in this region of an entity -a cultural and linguistical
one- that even to this day intactely preserves its peculiarities,
distinguishable idiom, and which, though absorbed and melted during the
times, is the proof of the existence in these parts of a population
established in Istria for the first time in the distant year 1329, when the
testimony of a Vlach habitat was recorded in the village of
Pinguente.
Who were these Vlachs? Etimologically, this
umbrella-term designates all the populations of Latin origin: for example
the Oriental and Occidental Romanians, who as a result of the fragmentation
of the Latin world and the ensuing barbaric invasions, were constrained to
carve out and secure for themselves and their survival safe havens in the
South-eastern areas of Europe. According to certain documents, the Romanian
presence in the area is attested already at the beginning of the milenium in
Dalmatia, and at 1181 as far as Friuli, where, after the population count
made by Badessa Ermelinda on the property of his monastery of the
Aquileia
eparchy, results that certain plots of lands were given to settlers named
Murunt, Radul, Singurel, names of clear Romanian stock. But, returning to
Istria, after the first documentary attestation of
Pinguente, there was
mentioned another settlementat
Buie in 1449, and in the same period,
according to the Annales of the Venetian Senate, results that the Venetians
openly favourized the settlement of Vlachs on their Dalmatian dependencies
known as "Morlachia".
"Morlachs, Wallachians and Uskoks.."
The depopulation of Istria, caused by the
invasions of 1412 and the pestilence
plague of 1427 and 1466, encouraged the
arrival in the Istrian peninsula of Morlachs, Wallachians, and Uskok peoples
who were inhabiting the inland and who started to be denominated
collectively as "Cici". Initially the name of Cici was restricted to those
inhabitants of Mune and
Žejane, two villages 30 km. off Abbazia/Opatija, but
eventually, those Vlachs of
Valdarsa,
Letaj,
Jasenovik,
Grobnik and
Brdo on
the foothill of
Monte Maggiore by the Valley of Arsa, were to be rebaptised
"Ciribiri".
In the second half of the 18th
century, the economy of the the Istro-Romanians was based on the trade with
vinegar, bought from various places and then resold. As Frane Belulović - a
venerable native of
Valdarsa - points out: "The Istro-Romanian is spoken
exclusively by the old ones who are anyway a minority. The young generation
understand Istro-Romanian but do not speak it, prefering instead to use
Croatian. Our sole survival "anchor" resides in determining the children to
study our language, at least by introducing at schools several hours of
teaching of our dialect"
Croatian 1991 census: The last 810
Romanians and 22 Morlachs left in Istria
How many Istro-Romanians are left in the
Istrian region? According to the census of 1991, results that only 810
persons declared themselves as Romanians and 22 as Morlachs. "In reality
this number is categorically higher" - is assuring us Dr. Ervino Curtis of
the recently reconstituted Association of the Romanians of Istria. "In many
a case, Istro-Romanians living in Fiume or in other cities of Croatia,
failed to declare their real national background hence their trace is lost.
In these last years, the interest of the Istro-Romanians is to make their
cultural plea heard in the scientific and academic ambience, so to make
themselves heard and within the reach of the political and public opinion
sight. We need to act concretely to save this moribund culture which is the
fruit of a centennial tradition. With the death of a culture, something
within all of us is dying as well, and it is indispensable to stop this
process to become irreversible".
Source:
- Giornale di Lingua Italiana di Parenzo, December 1, 1998
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