This is the eleventh lesson in our study of the Friulian language using the book Lis predicjis dal muini by Josef Marchet. To download a PDF of the book and to listen to the audio recordings, which are made available by the Societât Filologjiche Furlane, follow the links in Learn Friulian 1. The commentary below relates to the second half of the fifth paragraph of the Preambul, which begins with parcè che al va dit and ends with fâsi sintî a doprâlu.
COMMENTARY ON THE FRIULIAN
Preambul: paragraph 5, sentence 5.
Vocabulary: parcè che (because); al va dit che (it must be said that); i parevoi ({horse} blinders, blinkers); il smuars ({horse} bit); la bocje (mouth); il rivuart (deference, reserve); nissun (nobody); i zovins (young people); i viei (old people); i puars (poor people); i siôrs (rich people); i ignorants (ignorant people); i studiâts (educated people); nancje par (not even for); la parintât (relatives); la fie (daughter); il predi (priest).
In some variants of Friulian, such as western ones, parcè che is pronounced parsé che. Al va dit che translates word-for-word as it goes said that, where dit is the past participle of dî (to say); this is a Friulian manner of expressing it must be said that. That Vigji has neither parevoi (blinders) nor smuars (bit) in his mouth means that he does not refrain from saying what he thinks. Both i parevoi and il smuars are pieces of horse headgear. In bocje: in {his} mouth. In certain western variants of Friulian, the mouth is instead referred to as la boça. We read that Vigji has no deference towards anybody (nol à rivuart par nissun), meaning that he will criticise any and all, followed by examples of people about whom this is certainly true (see the vocabulary list above), each being separated by ni (nor), as in neither the young nor the old... Nancje par (or in certain western variants nença par) is used three times; note the contraction of par and la to form pe, and of par and i to form pai; but note also that there is no contraction of par with any definite article before sô fie (his daughter): with the names of family members in the singular, the definite article is omitted before the possessive pronoun: so pari (his/her father); sô mari (his/her mother); so fi (his/her son); sô fie (his/her daughter), amongst others. In the plural, it reappears: i siei fîs (his/her sons); lis sôs fiis (his/her daughters). This is why, in the singular, we should have nancje par sô fie, but in the plural, rather nancje pes sôs fiis. In certain western variants, these two latter examples may become nença par sô fia, nença pa li sôs fiis; in such variants, the four contractions of par are pal, pa la, pai, pa li, whereas in the central one used in this book, these are rather pal, pe, pai, pes.
Preambul: paragraph 5, sentence 6.
Vocabulary: co (when); parê (to seem, to appear); just (fair, just); une robe (thing, something); une robe cualunche (some or other thing); sunâ (to ring, to sound); sunâ par timp (to call time-out); cence nissune remission (without any mercy).
Both cuant che and co mean when as conjunctions, but the latter is never followed by che. For instance, cuant che al lavore and co al lavore both mean when he works. Whereas al pâr means it seems, i pâr means it seems to him, and no i pâr means it does not seem to him. The four forms of the adjective just (fair) are: just (masculine singular); juste (feminine singular); juscj (masculine plural); justis (feminine plural). Supplementary examples: no mi pâr just ce che tu disis (what you say does not seem fair to me); no i pâr juste cheste decision (this decision seems unfair to him); no ur parin justis chês decisions (those decisions seem unfair to them). Al sune par timp: he calls time-out, which is to say that he speaks up. Cence remission: without mercy, or with the adjective nissun added: cence nissune remission (without any mercy). As a subject pronoun, nissun means (nobody, not anybody), but as an adjective, it takes the sense of no, not any. Examples: nol ven nissun (nobody comes); nol è nissun probleme (there is no problem). Nissun has only two forms, both singular: nissun (masculine) and nissune (feminine). Note that probleme is indeed a masculine noun, despite ending in e, typical of feminine nouns.
Preambul: paragraph 5, sentence 7.
Vocabulary: bon (good); un cristian (Christian); la fede (faith); fer (firm); sclet (pure); cence (without); une complicazion (complication); une buerisine (breeze, whim); politic (political); un judizi (judgement); in fin dai conts (in the end); podê dîju (to be able to say them); il plevan (parish priest); la maniere (manner, way); presentâ (to present); une peraule (word); il lengaç (language, jargon); taiâ (to cut); sponzi (to sting); cualchi volte (sometimes); tant ordenari (so vulgar); fâsi sintî (to make oneself be heard); doprâ (to use).
Fer (firm) takes the following four forms: fer (masculine singular); ferme (feminine singular); fers (masculine plural); fermis (feminine plural). We read that Vigji is a good Christian of firm and pure faith. He is without buerisinis politichis, which is to say, political whims. The masculine plural direct object ju means them, so that dîju means to say them and presentâju means to present them; its singular equivalent is lu (it), so that doprâlu means to use it. Judizis che al podarès dîju il plevan: judgements that the parish priest could repeat (literally, could say them). The masculine noun lengaç means language in the sense of jargon; in the sense of national tongue, the feminine lenghe is used instead: la lenghe furlane (the Friulian language). Though the parish priest may in theory agree with Vigji's views, we read that the language used by the latter cuts (al taie) and stings (al sponç) and is so vulgar (tant ordenari) that the former could not allow himself to be heard using it. Al podarès (he could) and nol podarès (he could not) are both the masculine, third-person singular of the present conditional of podê (can, to be able).
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