Istro-Romanians: The legacy of a culture

AuthorMihai Burlacu
PositionDepartment of Social Assistance and Communication, <I>Transilvania</I> University of Bra&#x015f;ov.
Pages15-22

Page 15

1. Introduction

In this paper I present a study about one of Europe's smallest ethnic groups: the Istro-Romanians. They inhabit several villages from the North-Eastern corner of the Istria Peninsula, Croatia. Currently, the Istro-Romanians are to be found in two pockets. To the North of the Ćićarija Mountains, the village of Zejane (i.e. Jeiani) is mostly inhabited by Istro-Romanians. To the South-Western side of Mount Uĉka (i.e. Monte Maggiore), there are several Istro-Romanian villages and hamlets surrounding the former shores of the now drained Lake Ĉepić in which the Istro-Romanian language is still alive: Šušnjevica (i.e. Suşnieviţa), Brdo (i.e. Bârdo), Jasenovik (i.e. Sucodru), Kostrĉani (i.e. Costârcean), Letaj (i.e. Letai) and Nova Vas (i.e. Noselo). In the last decades of the XXth century, large numbers of Istro-Romanian inhabitants from the inland villages migrated towards the costal cities of Rjeka (it. Fiume), Opatja (it. Abbazia), Rovinj (it. Rovigno), Pula (it. Pola), Pazin (it. Pisino) etc. Furthermore, an important number of Istro-Romanians have migrated from their natal villages to foreign countries like United States, Australia, Canada, Italy and France. It resulted that there are more Istro-Romanian speakers in the Diaspora than in their original villages [5].

In Medieval times, the Istro-Romanians' historical ethnonym was Rumêri. Depending on the village of origin, they also called themselves Rumeni and rarely Rumâri. Basically, Istro-Romanians are an ethnic group living in the north-eastern and central parts of the Istria Peninsula, Croatia. The region in which they inhabit is called in Croatian Ćićarija (i.e. Ciceria). Depending on the region the Istro-Romanians live in, the Croatian and Slovenian inhabitants of Istria differentiate between:Page 16

    (1) The Ćići/ Ciribiri - Designate the Istro-Romanians from and around the village of Zejane (i.e. Jeiani). In my field trip of 2009 I have found that they use a specific expression for their dialect: "pa jeianski".

    (2) The Vlahi - Represent the Istro-Romanians around Šušnjevica (i.e. Suşnieviţa), a village situated on the south side of Mt. Uĉka (i.e. Monte Maggiore) [1], [5].

This article is based on an ongoing team research project in which I participate as a member. Basically, I am presenting here some of the results of the first research stage from the summer of 2009. Several of the Istro-Romanian communities were studied: the villages of Šušnjevica (i.e. Suşnieviţa), Zejane (i.e. Jeiani), Brdo (i.e. Bârdo), Jasenovik (i.e. Sucodru), Letaj (i.e. Letai) and Nova Vas (i.e. Noselo).

2. Objectives

In this article I address several objectives. First, I examine the Istro-Romanians' past and current status, and the politics that address them; I begin by investigating the debates surrounding their origins, history and identity. Secondly, I continue by describing their present situation from anthropological and demographic points of view. Finally, I suggest a few solutions for preserving the culture of Istro-Romanians and I also approach the way Istro-Romanians are supported by the Diaspora.

In order to emphasize the Istro-Romanians current status, I am presenting a map (Figure 1) that I have developed by corroborating data from Sextil Puşcariu's map [7], maps available on several websites created by Istro-Romanians [8-9], maps based on recent empiric data [2-5] and also on the information that I was able to gather regarding the Istro-Romanian communities from Istria in 2009.

3. The Istro-Romanians: Origins, History and Identity

The first reference to a romance speaking population in the Istria Peninsula in Medieval times was made in 940 A.D. by the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) emperor Constantin VII in his Πρς τν διον σἱὸν Ρωμανόν, conventionally called De Administrando Imperio (engl. On the governance of the Empire). He mentions that there were Latin-speakers in the Istria Peninsula who called themselves Romans but did not come from Rome. Afterwards, in the XIIth century, there was a mention of an Istrian leader called Radul, a name that is very frequent in Romania in our days. Both of these references are used to fuel several debates regarding the Istro-Romanians' origins and identity [8].

There are several perspectives concerning the Istro-Romanians' origin. Some historians, anthropologists and linguists consider that the Istro-Romanians migrated from Transylvania to their present region between 1000-1400 A.D. Other linguists would suggest a local origin of Istro-Romanians, based either on an ancient Roman origin, or in a possible correlation with the Black Romanians (i.e. Morovlachi or Morlaci/ Morlachs), which were a very distinct ethnic group that settled in great numbers in Dalmatia at the turn of the second millennium [5]. Another perspective advocates for Istro-Romanians a dual emigrational and local origin.

Based on the language peculiarities and on the Istro-Romanians perspective regarding their arrival to the Istria Peninsula, I argue along the lines of Iosif Popovici [6]. According to him, the Istro- Romanians are actually originating from Transylvania, from a region called Ţara Moţilor (i.e Moţilor County). They started to arrive in the Istria Peninsula in the XIVth and the XVth centuries. The main arguments in favour of this thesis are:Page 17

    1) The presence of rhotacism in the case of specific words found both in Ţara Moţilor (i.e Moţilor County) and in the Istro-Romanian dialect. The rhotacism represents the transformation of some consonants into r, especially of the consonant n from the middle syllables of...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT