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The Greek-Speaking Population of Southern Italy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

H. F. Tozer
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Extract

It will probably be a surprise, even to readers of the Journal of Hellenic Studies, to learn that there are at the present day twenty thousand persons in the south of Italy who speak Greek as their native tongue. These people form two separate groups, composed of a number of villages or townships, one of which is found in the heel of Italy or Terra d'Otranto, the other in the toe of that country, towards the extremity of the modern Calabria, in the neighbourhood of Cape Spartivento, and about twenty miles to the south-east of Reggio. The language which they speak, as might well be supposed, is not ancient Greek; nor is it in any sense a lineal descendant of that which was spoken in the colonies of Magna Graecia; but, though it is essentially modern Greek, it differs considerably from the Romaic of Greece, and these differences are of such a nature, that it must have required the lapse of many centuries to produce them. There can be no doubt that at one time it was spoken over a much wider area than at present; indeed, within the memory of man it has died out, and has been superseded by Italian, in places where it had previously been in use. Any traditions which may have existed with regard to the origin of this people and the fortunes of their ancestors they have now entirely lost; and their history, as far as it can be discovered at all, must be reconstructed from casual notices in historical documents and from intimations contained in the language.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 10 , November 1889 , pp. 11 - 42
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1889

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References

page 14 note 1 Niebuhr, , History of Rome (Eng. trans.), i. 62.Google Scholar In his note to this passage, the author refers to the Neapolitan minister, Count Zurlo, as his authority for the last statement.

page 15 note 1 The second volume of this work, which was to have contained the phonology, morphology, and general conclusions, has never appeared.

page 20 note 1 Mullach, , Grammatik der griechischen Vulgarsprache, p. 92.Google Scholar

page 20 note 2 Schmidt, Bernhard, Das Volksleben der Neugriechen, p. 11.Google Scholar

page 20 note 3 J. H. S. vol. iv. p. 206.

page 20 note 4 For a further account of the Romaic ballads I may refer to a chapter on that subject in my Highlands of Turkey, vol. ii. pp. 224 foll.

page 21 note 1 Studi, pp. 93, 94.

page 21 note 2 Chants Populaires de la Grèce, vol. i. p. cxxxvii.

page 21 note 3 The Cyclades, pp. 217 foll.

page 21 note 4 Morosi, , Studi, p. 54.Google Scholar No. 126. 1. 4.

page 23 note 1 See my remarks on this subject in Highlands of Turkey, vol. ii. p. 323.

page 24 note 1 Comparetti, , Saggi, Nos. 21, 18, 33.Google Scholar

page 36 note 1 See J. H. S. vol. iv. p. 205.

page 37 note 1 On these, my Highlands of Turkey, vol. ii. pp. 304 foll., may be consulted.

page 38 note 1 The difference between οἱ and ᾑ, τές and ταίς, is one of orthography, for the pronunciation in each case is the same; there is no need here to discuss the question, which of the two is preferable, though it is important in determining the origin of these forms.

page 38 note 2 Strabo, vi. 1. § 2, p. 253.

page 39 note 1 Zambelli, , Ἰταλοελληνικά, pp. 23, 202, and the authorities there given.Google Scholar

page 39 note 2 See Finlay, , History of Greece, vol. ii. p. 255.Google Scholar

page 39 note 3 Zambelli, pp. 56, 57. In this connexion we may notice a remarkable group of words, which from having had a military application have come to be used of agriculture. In Otr. the term for ‘tilling’ the fields is πολεμῶ, and agricultural implements are called ἅρματα, which is the regular word for ‘arms’ in mediaeval and modern Greek. Again, in Bov. the word for an agricultural labourer is πεζός ‘a foot-soldier,’ and that for ‘a person’ is θέμα, which also is said to have been previously used for ‘a cultivator of the soil.’ The last word is used in Byzantine Greek first for ‘a division of soldiers,’ and then for the district in which they were stationed; whence it was technically used for the Themes of the Empire, and ultimately was equivalent to a geographical administrative division like the Theme of Langobardia just mentioned. It has been suggested by Morosi and Pellegrini that the use of these expressions takes us back to the time of Byzantine military occupation; and the hypothesis is a tempting one, for nothing corresponding to this change of meaning is found elsewhere among Greek-speaking peoples, so that it would seem to have been caused by circumstances peculiar to the Italian colonies. When, however, it is applied to the words severally, it is difficult to see how it can be made to explain the change.

page 39 note 4 See J. H. S. vol. iv. pp. 179—181.

page 40 note 1 Spon, Voyage d'Italie &c., Amst. 1679 vol. i. p. 122; Wheler, , Journey into Greece, Lond. 1682, p. 47.Google Scholar Among the Bova songs there is one that turns on the subject of ‘the Greek girl’ (ἡ Ῥωμαιοποῦλα) who refuses the suit of a Turkish lover, notwithstanding her mother's solicitations (Comparetti Nos. 36, 37; Pellegrini, No. 62). This poem differs completely in metre and mode of treatment from all the rest that are found in Italy, and corresponds to two on the same subject which are sung in Greece, Nos. 574 and 574a in Passow's Carmina popularia Graeciae recentioris; there can be no doubt therefore that it has been imported from abroad. Morosi, (‘Bova,’ p. 74)Google Scholar, mentions a story which was current at Bova, to the effect that it had been introduced early in the present century by a native of that place who had lived abroad. If this was not the case, it is probable that it dates from the time of the migration of the Mainotes.

page 40 note 2 Rodotà, , Dell' origine del rito greco, vol. iii. p. 96.Google Scholar

page 40 note 3 Aar, , in Archivio storico italiano, 4th ser. vol. vi. p. 316.Google Scholar

page 40 note 4 Zambelli, p. 168. It is also noticeable, as illustrating the numerous points of correspondence which exist between modern and early mediaeval Greek, how many words and peculiarities of form which are familiar at the present day are found in these early documents. Thus ‘water’ is νερόν, the ‘nose’ μύτη, ‘a dog’ σκύλλος, ‘oil’ λάδι, ‘a goat’ γίδα, ‘the summer’ καλοκαίριν, ‘a forest’ λόγγος ‘silver’ ἀσήμι, ‘an ass’ γαΐδαρος: ‘white’ ἄσπρος, ‘black’ μαῦρος, ‘short’ κοντός, ‘lame’ κουτζός: and (to illustrate peculiarities of form) for ἀέρα, ‘wind’ we find ἀγέρας, for αἷμα γαῖμα, for κεκαυμένος καμμένος, for ἔφερον ἐφέρασιν, for ἔκαμον ἐκάμασιν. (Zambelli, pp. 154, 171, 184, 185). It may be added, that in the Greek of the Bova district at the present day there are words in use which exist in Greek MSS. of Calabria earlier than Cent. xiii., but do not belong to the language as spoken in Greece—βαθεῖα ‘valley,’ ἀρτυσία ‘seasoning,’ κεφάλωμα ‘extremity,’ στεννάτο (for στεγνάτον) ‘boiler,’ and others. (Morosi, , ‘Bova,’ p. 75.Google Scholar)

page 41 note 1 Zambelli, pp. 54, 55; cp. Morosi, , Studi, 206.Google Scholar

page 41 note 2 Zambelli, p. 68; cp. Morosi, , Studi, p. 206.Google Scholar

page 41 note 3 Proofs of the existence of a much more numerous Greek population are given in vol. vi. pp. 101, 102, and notes. For evidence on the same subject derived from the continuance of the Greek rite in Italy the reader is referred to an article in the Antiquary for 1888, pp. 195—197.

page 41 note 4 See the authorities in Morosi, , Studi, pp. 181, 207, and Pellegrini, pp. ix—xi.Google Scholar

page 42 note 1 Morosi, , ‘Bova,’ p. 76.Google Scholar

page 42 note 2 Barrius, , p. 228, quoted by Pott in Philologus, vol. xi. p. 247.Google Scholar