This is the nineteenth 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 lists amongst the dead of his village Zuan Menizze.
COMMENTARY ON THE FRIULIAN
La statistiche: paragraph 2, sentence 3, part e.
Vocabulary: un biadat (poor thing); visâsi (to figure, to reckon); jessi (to be); il mont (world); nome (only, solely); par intric (for no good reason, in vain); tant (many, so much); fâ (to do, to make); la vite (life); nissun (none, not one); dret (right); cjatâ (to find); trê (three); un toc (piece, bit); lis sinis de ferade (railway tracks); scugnî (must, to have to); puartâ vie (to carry away); cence (without); la lûs (light); la crôs (cross); tant che (as, like); une bestie (beast); par gno cont (in my opinion, in my view); la zornade (day); plui (most); neri (black, dark); dut (all, whole); la anade (year).
Zuan Menizze figured that he had no reason to be in this world: si è visât di jessi (he reckoned that he was) in chest mont (in this world) nome par intric (solely as a nuisance). Visâsi, here taken as to reckon, is more frequently used in the sense of to remember or to realise. Examples: ti visistu di me? (do you remember me?); mi visi di te (I remember you); lu ài dit cence visâmi (I said it without realising it). The Friulian word mont exists as both a masculine and feminine noun; when masculine, it means world; when feminine, it means mountain. Consider: in chest mont (in this world); fâ il zîr dal mont (to go round the world); parsore de mont (over the mountain); lis spicis des monts (the peaks of the mountains, the mountaintops). Both dome and nome mean only, solely; Vigji uses both in his predicjis. Par intric: for no good reason, in vain; by extension, as a nuisance.
A new example of a contraction of indi (thereof) is encountered when Vigji says: cun tantis che a 'nd à fatis in vite sô (with all the things that he got up to in his life). Taken literally: cun tantis (with so many) che a 'nd à fatis (whereof he did) in vite sô (in his life). To express whereof, Friulian employs the equivalent of that thereof: che a 'nd, which is the contraction of che + al + indi. Che a 'nd à sounds like cànda. Tantis and fatis are feminine plural in form to agree in number and gender with the unstated but understood robis (things), which is to say: cun tantis robis (with so many things). Not one of those many things that he got up to were good: e nissune di drete (and not a one right).
Vigji tells us where the poor man was found: su lis sinis de ferade (on the train tracks). First, consider more examples of cjatâ (to find), noting agreements: lu ài cjatât (I found him); le ài cjatade (I found her); lu vin cjatât (we found him); le vin cjatade (we found her); ju àn cjatâts (they found them); lis àn cjatadis (they found them). A train track is une sine in Friulian; two sinis together form une ferade, which is to say, a railway. Lis sinis de ferade: railway tracks, train tracks. Review: The Friulian for two takes both a masculine and feminine form, so that two trains is doi trens, but two tracks is dôs sinis.
The man was found in three pieces (in trê tocs) and, because of the circumstances of his death, he had to be carried away without any liturgical accompaniment: cence lûs (without light) e cence crôs (and without cross), tant che une bestie (like a beast). Scugnî is equivalent to vê di; both mean must, to have to. Examples: o scugnìn puartâlu vie, o vin di puartâlu vie (we must carry him away, we have to carry him away); o vin scugnût puartâlu vie, o vin vût di puartâlu vie (we had to carry him away); o scugnarìn puartâlu vie, o varìn di puartâlu vie (we shall have to carry him away). Reminder: In western variants of Friulian, i replaces o in the first-person plural. Example: i vin scugnût partâlu via (we had to carry him away). Moreover, be prepared to hear partâ and via in western Friulian, rather than puartâ and vie.
Two words for day in Friulian: dì (masculine or feminine; see below) and zornade (feminine). Likewise, two words for year in Friulian: an (masculine) and anade (feminine). The latter forms zornade and anade are used by Vigji to talk about the experience of the day and of the year, the quality of the duration thereof: chê e je stade (that was) la zornade plui nere (the darkest day) di dute la anade (of the whole year). The different forms of neri (black, dark) are: neri (masculine singular); nere (feminine singular); neris (masculine and feminine plural). As for par gno cont (in my opinion, in my view), the masculine noun cont means account, reckoning, so that par gno cont translates literally as by my account, by my reckoning. As to whether dì is masculine or feminine: in the singular, it occurs as both; in the plural, it is masculine. Examples: une dì o chê altre (someday or other); chê altre dì (the other day); vie pal dì (during the day); il dì di Pasche (Easter day); chei doi dîs (those two days); in chescj dîs (these days).
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