This is the twenty-fifth 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 its audio recordings, made available by the Societât Filologjiche Furlane, follow the links in Friulian 1. The commentary below relates to the second paragraph of Lis litaniis, which begins with e je simpri stade cussì and ends with une parsore chê altre.
COMMENTARY ON THE FRIULIAN
Lis litaniis: paragraph 2, sentence 1a.
Vocabulary: simpri (always); cussì (so, thus); la int (people); un paisut (little village); chenti (here); ator (around); chenti ator (around here); la cjase (house, home); a cjase (at home); un frut (little boy); rispuindi (to respond, to answer); la messe (Mass); un frutat (young lad); cjantâ (to sing); il coro (choir).
E je simpri stade cussì: it has always been so, that is how it has always been. Friulian frequently uses the feminine to form neutral constructions of the sort. Another example: e je vere che... (it is true that...). Cu la int di Gargagnà: with the people of Gargagnà. Contracted forms of cun (with) to be learnt: cul (=cun + il); cui (=cun + i); cu la (=cun + la); cu lis (=cun + lis); cuntun (=cun + un); cuntune (=cun + une). Whereas paîs means village, the diminutive paisut means little village. The plural paisuts is pronounced paisùs. There are various ways of saying here in Friulian, the main ones being: ca, chi, achì (or uchì in western Friulian), but another is chenti. Chenti ator: around here. Un frut is younger than un frutat; these can be understood in the text as little boy and young lad, respectively. Di fruts, a rispuindi messe: as little boys, by answering the Mass; which is to say, by serving as altar boys, where they learnt the proper Latin responses to be recited. Di frutats, a cjantâ in coro: as young lads, by singing in the choir. The masculine plural fruts and fantats are pronounced frus and fantàs.
Lis litaniis: paragraph 2, sentence 1b.
Vocabulary: fûr di (out{side} of); la cjase (house, home); massime (mostly, especially, above all); il talian (Italian); dome (only, just); une eresie (heresy {blasphemy, foul language}); une sporcjetât (filth); daûr (behind {after}); altri (other); parsore (over, above, on top).
Fûr di cjase: outside the home. Massime tal talian: especially in Italian, which is to say that when the lads are out and about, they are speaking above all in Italian to one another. The feminine noun eresie translates literally as heresy; by this, Vigji does not mean to suggest that the lads are teaching anti-Catholic doctrine, but rather that they are using foul language, speaking but blasphemies and but filth (dome eresiis e dome sporcjetâts). The feminine plural sporcjetâts is pronounced sporcjetâs; it is related to the adjective sporc, meaning dirty, filthy. Une daûr chê altre: the one after the other. Une parsore chê altre: the one on top of the other. In these latter two phrases, the feminine forms une and chê altre are used because they modify the feminine nouns eresie and sporcjetât.
Information on western Friulian. Four di çasa is a western equivalent to central fûr di cjase. Recall now from a previous lesson that, in the west, to go is expressed as 'sî, where the 's sounds like the first letter of the English word zeal, and not like the first letter of the English word seal. In central Friulian, to go is rather lâ. The past participle of western 'sî is 'sût, whereas the past participle of central lâ is lât. Take an example sentence in western Friulian: i soi 'sût four di çasa (I went out [literally, I went out of house]). This is equivalent to central o soi lât fûr di cjase. If it were rather a female saying this, then: i soi 'suda four di çasa (western Friulian) and o soi lade fûr di cjase (central Friulian). There is no standardised spelling for western Friulian. Should you happen to read something written in a western variant, be prepared to find: 'sî spelt alternatively as zî, which also affects all declined forms (zût, zuda...); four spelt alternatively as fôr, though four is more accurate because it is pronounced with an ou diphthong and not a long ô; and çasa spelt alternatively as ciasa. For instance, the alternatively spelt i soi zût fôr di ciasa is perfectly equivalent to i soi 'sût four di çasa, and takes the very same pronunciation as the latter.
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