This is the thirtieth lesson in our study of the Friulian language using the book Lis predicjis dal muini, written by Josef Marchet. Follow the links in Friulian 1 to read the book and listen to its full audio version, available online courtesy of the Societât Filologjiche Furlane. The commentary below relates to the second half of the first paragraph of Il pignarûl, which begins with e la zoventût and ends with al sune la bulziche.
COMMENTARY ON THE FRIULIAN
Il pignarûl: paragraph 1, sentence 5.
Vocabulary: la zoventût (youth); jessi ator (to be out and about); il brascjam (firewood branches); un vincei (bundle of kindling sticks); un fassut di soreâl (sheaf of cornstalk); savê (to know); po (then, well).
E la zoventût e sarà ator: and the youth will be out and about. Ator means around; it is better taken here as out and about. Regarding the pronunciation of zoventût, see the notes below in relation to the supplementary video. Jessi ator a brascjam, a vinceis, a fassuts di soreâl: to be out and about collecting firewood branches, bundles of kindling sticks, sheaves of cornstalks. Note the use of the preposition a in the foregoing; it is also used with lâ, such as in: lâ a brascjam (to go collect firewood branches); lâ a foncs (to go mushroom hunting) and so on. The masculine plural fassuts is pronounced fassùs. Si sa po: well, you know how it is; you know how it is, then. The impersonal si sa is equivalent to one knows.
Il pignarûl: paragraph 1, sentence 6.
Vocabulary: une tradizion (tradition); rispietâ (to respect, to observe); massime (especially); disturbâ (to disturb, to trouble); la cussience (conscience); obleâ (to obligate, to force); scrusignâ (to rummage about); une scovacere (rubbish heap); la animate (wretched soul).
Lis tradizions a van rispietadis: traditions are to be observed. A van: literally, {they} go; that traditions go respected in Friulian means that they ought to be observed. Massime chês che no disturbin la cussience: especially those that do not trouble the conscience. Massime is pronounced with its tonic stress on the first syllable. E che no oblein a scrusignâ te scovacere da la animate: and that do not force you to rummage about in the rubbish heap of your wretched soul. Though written da la animate, this is pronounced da l'animate. In the variant of Friulian used by Vigji, di and la contract to form de, but before a noun beginning with a vowel, the preference is for da la.
Il pignarûl: paragraph 1, sentence 7.
Vocabulary: fâ (to make, to do); il presepi (nativity scene); il seglâr (sink).
Vêso fat il presepi sot il seglâr?: have you set up the nativity scene under the sink? Vêso fat (have you made) is the interrogative counterpart to o vês fat (you have made), second-person plural. Study: aio fat? (have I made?); âstu fat? (have you [second-person singular] made?); aial fat? (has he made?); aie fat? (has she made?); vino fat? (have we made?); vêso fat? (have you [second-person plural] made?); àno fat? (have they made?). In the second-person singular, âstu is commonly heard pronounced àtu. A proverb using the masculine noun seglâr (sink) appears in the Dizionari de lenghe furlane: I cjacarons a son tant che seglârs: no tegnin dentri nuie (blabbermouths are like sinks: they cannot hold anything in).
Il pignarûl: paragraph 1, sentence 8.
Vocabulary: meti (to put); chel tâl (that fellow); fâ la polente (to make polenta); chel altri (the other one); menâ (to work, to drive); la pigne ({butter} churn); la femenute (little woman); lâ a aurî aghe (to go draw water); il buinç (shoulder yoke); rustî (to roast); la buerie (chestnut); il vieli (old man); sunâ la bulziche (to play the bagpipe).
Vêso metût: have you put; see notes above regarding vêso fat. Chel tâl che al fâs la polente: that fellow making polenta. Un tâl refers to an unnamed man, such a one. Chel altri che al mene la pigne: the other one churning butter; literally, that other {one} who works the churn. The butter churn (la pigne) was a tall wooden container with a staff that was used to beat cream into butter. Chê femenute che e va a aurî aghe cul buinç: that little woman going to draw water with the shoulder yoke. The shoulder yoke (il buinç) was a curved wooden pole worn across the shoulders to balance pails of water. Chel che al rustìs lis bueriis: the one roasting chestnuts. Chel vieli che al sune la bulziche: that old man playing the bagpipe.
Supplementary video: Vigji pronounces the first letter of zoventût like the first letter of the English name Jack; however, other Friulians, such as western speakers, pronounce it like the first letter of Zack. In the video below, we have a good supplementary example using the masculine noun zûc (game). Whereas Vigji, in his central variant of Friulian, pronounces the first letter of zûc to match that of Jack, western speakers will pronounce it to match that of Zack, along with this further difference that the vowel will be diphthongised to ou, to produce 'souc. (The apostrophed s at the beginning of a word represents the sound made by the first letter of Zack.) In the video below, listen at 17.42 where the girl says: jo i fasevi come lour, come un 'souc, equivalent to central jo o fasevi come lôr, come un zûc (and I used to do as they would do, as though it were a game). Note also her western use of i as the atonic subject pronoun of the first-person singular, rather that the o of central speakers. Finally, returning to zoventût, know that the û never diphthongises to ou, even amongst those who pronounce an initial 's.