This is the fifteenth lesson in our study of the Friulian language using the book Lis predicjis dal muini by Josef Marchet. To download the book and listen to the audio recordings, made available by the Societât Filologjiche Furlane, follow the links in Learn Friulian 1. The commentary below relates to that part of the second paragraph of La statistiche where Vigji names his comari (godmother) amongst the dead.
COMMENTARY ON THE FRIULIAN
La statistiche: paragraph 2, sentence 3c.
Vocabulary: la comari (godmother); restâ (to remain, to be left); la scugjele (bowl); in man (in hand, holding); intant che (whilst, as); lavâ la massarie (to do the washing up).
Comari is composed of co and mari, which is to say, co-mother; its masculine equivalent is copari (co-father): these are used in Friulian to mean godmother and godfather. Vigji says mê comari (my godmother), without the use of any definite article. Friulian must normally place the definite article before the possessive pronoun: il gno libri (my book); la mê machine (my car); but with words identifying family members in the singular, it is omitted: gno pari (my father); mê mari (my mother); gno fradi (my brother); mê sûr (my sister); gno fi (my son); mê fie (my daughter); gno nono (my grandfather); mê none (my grandmother); gno copari (my godfather); mê comari (my godmother). Exception: il gno om (my husband); la mê femine (my wife). Though omitted in the singular, the definite article reappears in the plural: i miei fradis (my brothers); lis mês sûrs (my sisters), and so on.
Vigji tells us that when his godmother Rose dal Puint died, she was left with a bowl in her hand as she was doing the washing up. Though it does not appear here in the text, the Friulian for kitchen is la cusine. Stress is on the second syllable: cu-sì-ne. Example: mê comari e jere in cusine (my godmother was in the kitchen). In a western style of Friulian, be prepared to hear: mê comari a era in cusina. Study now this use of restâ (to be left), where jessi must be used as auxiliary: al è restât (he was left); e je restade (she was left); a son restâts (they were left [masculine]); a son restadis (they were left [feminine]). The masculine plural restâts is pronounced restâs. Examples: gno copari al è restât cu la manarie in man (my godfather was left with the axe in his hand); mê none e je restade cu la cite in man (my grandmother was left holding the pot). Manarie has four syllables, with stress on the second: ma-nà-ri-e.
The Friulian for bowl is la scudiele or, as Vigji says it, la scugjele. Another example of variation between di and gj is in the word diestri (right), which some may instead say as gjestri. Example: la man diestre or la man gjestre (the right hand). Another example is with the masculine noun budiel (gut), which some may instead say as bugjel. Example: gjavâi i budiei al pes or gjavâi i bugjei al pes (to remove the guts from a fish, to gut a fish). In this last example, take note of the Friulian formation: gjavâ means to remove and i means unto it, so that gjavâi means to remove {from} unto it. Friulian is pleonastic, in that it includes {from} unto it despite the presence of {from} unto the fish later in the phrase: gjavâi (to remove {from} unto it) i budiei (the guts) al pes ({from} unto the fish). Vigji himself uses bugjei, an example of which you will read in the next lesson.
The feminine noun massarie, composed of four syllables and taking stress on the third (ma-ssa-rì-e), refers to the entire array of kitchen materials used for cooking and eating: pots and pans (citis e padielis), glasses and cups (tacis e cjicaris), plates and bowls (plats e scudielis), cutlery (possadis), and so on. Cjicare is pronounced with stress on the first syllable: cjì-ca-re. The act of doing the washing up in the kitchen after a meal is: lavâ la massarie. Study the following: e lave la massarie (she is doing the washing up); e lavave la massarie (she was doing the washing up); e lavarà la massarie (she will do the washing up). Another example: o ài dome voie di butâmi tal jet ma e je la massarie ancjemò di lavâ (I just want to go off to bed but the washing up is still to be done).
Review: To say he died or he has died in Friulian, use: al è muart; the feminine equivalent is e je muarte (she died, she has died). Example: il gno vieli al è muart cul martiel in man (my old man died with the hammer in his hand). These also function as the Friulian equivalents for he is dead and she is dead. Examples: mê comari e je muarte (my godmother is dead); mê comari e je muarte di plui di cinc mês (my godmother has been dead for more than five months). In a western style of Friulian, this last example may be encountered as: mê comari a ei muarta di pi di sinc meis.
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