This is the twenty-second lesson in our study of the Friulian language using the book Lis predicjis dal muini by Josef Marchet. Follow the links in Learn Friulian 1 to read the book and listen to the audio, available online courtesy of the Societât Filologjiche Furlane. The commentary below relates to the fifth paragraph of La statistiche, which begins with di chês che a son ladis and ends with nissun si è mai impensât di vaîle.
COMMENTARY ON THE FRIULIAN
La statistiche: paragraph 5, sentence 1.
Vocabulary: lâ a marît ({of a woman} to get married); fûr di (out of); il paîs (village); un bombon di frute (a sweetheart of a girl); plen di (full of); il sintiment (wisdom); plui che no (more than); la mari (mother); pecjât che (it is a shame that); svolâ vie (to fly away {to move away, to take off}); lontan (far away).
Di chês che: of those who. Given that it is question of females, the form chês must be used; for males, chei is used, for instance: di chei che a son lâts fûr di paîs (of those who left the village). Vigji speaks of those females who got married and left town: di chês che a son ladis a marît fûr di paîs (of those who got married out of village). He names Mariute di Safit as having been one of them; in his words, she was a sweetheart of a girl (un bombon di frute), who was full of wisdom (plene di sintiment). Not only was she smart, but she was smarter than her mother (plui che no sô mari). Another example of this usage: al jere vuarp plui che no un gnotul (he was blinder than a bat). In gnotul, stress falls on the first syllable: gnò-tul. As for svolâ vie, this translates literally as to fly away, for instance: la pavee e svole vie (the butterfly flies away). Vigji uses it to convey that Mariute di Safit moved far away: e je svolade vie lontan. He describes her leaving as having been a shame: pecjât che e sei svolade vie lontan. The use of pecjât che (it is a shame that) forces e je into the subjunctive: e sei or e sedi. Other examples: (a) al è lât vie (he has left); pecjât che al sei lât vie or pecjât che al sedi lât vie (it is a shame that he has left); (b) al à vendût il cjamp (he has sold the field); pecjât che al vebi vendût il cjamp or pecjât che al vedi vendût il cjamp (it is a shame that he has sold the field).
La statistiche: paragraph 5, sentence 2.
Vocabulary: un altri (another); dome (only, just); biel (beautiful, pretty); savê (to know); tant (so much, so well); dibot (almost, nearly, practically); sclopâ (to burst); la braùre (pride).
Une altre e jere dome biele: another one was only pretty; which is to say that she had nothing else going for her other than her looks. She was pretty and knew it so full well (lu saveve tant) that she was practically bursting with pride (che dibot e sclopave di braùre). With regard to the pronunciation of braure, note that it takes three syllables, with stress on the second: bra-ù-re. The grave accent is written over the u to show that a and u do not form the diphthong au and must be pronounced separately. Some central Friulians may instead use bravure (bra-vù-re). Three imperfect indicative verbs appear here: e jere (she was); e saveve (she was knowing); e sclopave (she was bursting). If we were to take this entire sentence and render it into just one possible western Friulian style, we obtain: un'atra a era dome biela, e a lu saveva tant, che scuasin a sclopava di braùra.
La statistiche: paragraph 5, sentence 3.
Vocabulary: il tierç (third); no.. ni... ni... (neither... nor...); biel (beautiful, pretty); bon (good, kind, sweet); nissun (nobody, no one); impensâsi (to think of, to remember); mai (never, not ever); vaî (to cry, to weep, to lament).
As for the third (la tierce), she was neither pretty nor sweet (no jere ni biele ni buine). The four forms of tierç (third) are: tierç (masculine singular); tierçs (masculine plural); tierce (feminine singular); tiercis (feminine plural). To pronounce the masculine plural tierçs, omit the ç in speech and say tiers. In some central variants of Friulian, er becomes ar, so that tierç, tierçs, tierce, tiercis will sound like tiarç, tiarçs, tiarce, tiarcis. Nissun si è mai impensât di vaîle: nobody ever thought to lament her; which is to say that her absence saddened none at all for she had no endearing qualities. Recall from a previous lesson that nissun can be moved to the end of the sentence, but in this case no must be added: no si è mai impensât di vaîle nissun.
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