Apò posso cerò emilìete o griko?

Ekhi cini pu lene pu èstase m’u bizantini, ekhi addhu pu lene ti e griki stene ettù atto cerò tis “Magna Grecia”. Ena fse tutu ene o Gerhard Rohlfs, mea glottologo attò sèkulo diavemmeno, pu ekkìtefse tu griku, sòzome pi, ja oli ti zoì ttu, ce ègrafse kampossu libru apà sto griko.

Vàddhome ettukau kommatàcia attin introduziuna ttu apà sto “Vocabolario dei Dialetti Salentini” (Congedo, 1956-57), epù mas difni, milonta fse pràmata glossikà manekhà, jatì o griko dikò mma enn’ane poddhì pleo palèo pleppi cìo milimmeno attù bizantinu.

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E dialetti tis Grecìa ine iu demeni m’us dialettu italianu tosso na kami na pensefsi ti Greci ce Latini ezùane smimmeni apò poddhì paleo cerò.

Es tin glossa grika o cerò futuro den ìne nnorimmeno ce en ine norimmeno es tus dialettu tu Salentu; to na 'rti^* to na erti; το να έρθει, το μέλλον; il futuro; le futur; the future tense ce to àrtena^* το τώρα, το παρόν; il presente; le présent; the present tense èrkutte pimena mo iso modo.

ja difsi (j.d.= p.es.)
« domani andremo a Lecce » :
(crai sciamu a Lecce) - avri pame e' Luppìu

Sogeste ti o khasi tu “cerù tu futuru” ediàvike sto griko attùs dialettu tis ampisinì Katu Itàlia.

Addhi ene i situaziuna ja addhu fenòmenu grammatikù.
O khasi tu infinitu, fenòmeno siftà greko, vastà mìa ecceziuna manekhi ce ene cini mo verbo “sozo”, to stesso prama khrizi ja tus dialettu talianu.

j.d.
« andiamo a vedere » :
(sciamu cu bbidimu) - pame na torìsome
« non sa scrivere » :
(no ssape cu scrive) - en efseri na grafsi
« possiamo dire » : (potimu dire) – sònnome ipi [N.d.T. Puglia: sòzome pi]

Adhhi kostruziuna epù ole ce dìo e glosse vastìutte ìsa ene o periodo ipotetico, se mìa ce es tin addhi ole ce dìo e mmeree tis frase etèlune o “indicativo imperfetto”; tusi kostruziuna en ine taliana, en ine latina ce en ine neogreka, tusi kostruziuna mas perni sto paleo greko, sto greko probizantino^*‹ προβυζαντινός; prebizantino; prébyzantin; Pre-Byzantine.

j.d.
« se piovesse non verrei » :
(ci chiuva non venia) – an èvrekhe 'en èrkamo
« se avessi fame mangerei » :
(ci tenía fame mangiava) – an ikha pina ètrona

Sakundu e dialetti tu Salentu, o griko en ekhi tus avvèrbiu fse topo àtonu “ci” ce “vi” pos sto taliano”.

j.d.
« ci andremo domani » :
(sciamu crai) – epame avri
« vi ho dormito una volta » :
(aggiu durmutu nna fiata) – èbblosa mìa forà

Greci ce latini tu Salentu oli ce dìo meràzune occe to uso fse dìo “congiunzioni” ja tin “proposizione subordinata”. Sto taliano èkhome manekhà “che”, es to greko paleo usèato “oti {ὅτι}” na pi ena pensieri ce “ina {ἵνα}” ja ta telìmmata o na doki ena kumando. To iso prama ine kulisimmena sto neogreko (pos, na {πὼς, νὰ}), sto griko (ka, na), ce stus dialettu tu Salentu (ca, cu):

j.d.
« penso che piove » :
penséo ka vrekhi – (neogreco : νομίζω πως βρέχει)
« voglio che piova » :
telo na vressi - (neogreco : θέλω να βρέξει)

Olo tuo e’ sozi spiekeftì pistèonta ti e Grecìa eghennisi me to erti sto Salento fse alìu bizantinu. Tusi teorìa eghennisi jatì, minonta combomeni, epistèato ka e italogreci e’ milune o greko to paleo ma ena dialetto pu mmiàzete u neogreku.
Efsèrome àrtena ka tuo en ghennisi kùkkia sto X sèkulo, ma vastà tes rize ttu es ena "greko volgare" ce encìgnase na plasì es tus protinù sèkulu attì era dikì mma (iu o taliano en ghennisi simùddhia sto khìje, ma e rize ttu èrkutte attò cerò tu Cicerone.
Sòzome, toa, kratèsi ti tusi Greci tu Salentu (griki) èrkutte, pleon alìo ma pleo poddhì, attà protinà gheni tis Mali Grècia.
O griko en ene ena “greko bastardo” pose e’ to ene o dialetto pu Rodi, Cipro o to neo greko apù Atene; ce en ine “bastardi" to napuletano o to sicijano pleppi o toscano. Ine oli pedìa attì mali mana greka o pedìa tu latinu.

Fse addho mero e dialetti italogreci kratènnune tossa kòmmata fse mìa pleo palea grecità. Kulusune tria esempi: emine senza n’ addhafsi e palea fonì os gruppo “mp” ce “nt”, pu addhàfsane es to neogreko es “mb” ce “nd”. O griko khorizi occe sto pi “si” ce “no” (nai {ναί} ce okhi {όχι} sto neogreko). Sto griko èrkete “umme” ja to “si” ce “dènghie” ja to “no”: evrìskome ettù us paleu {οὖν μεν} ce {οὐδέν γε}.
E khora tu Lecce es grika kui Luppìu. Mes tus paleu Greku to noma ìone Λουππίαι; Sto IV sèkulo e Latini addhàfsane to noma ce i fonàsane Lipiae ce iu kulùsise na kusi ja olo to mesoevo, apò epù ssadia ssadia o noma àddhafse ros na ghettì Lecce. An e grecità salentina ikhe fsemeròsonta manekhà ma to ftasi os bizantino, tui en ikhan vrìkonta addho noma ka cino latino ce makata to noma pu ma èftase attò paleo greko, pu vastà o tono apà sti sukunda sillaba: Λουππίαι, sìmberi Luppìu.

Enas àddho argomento pu mas perni stus cerù paleu mas èrkete apò kamposse osservaziune filològike apà sto iso noma Griki - griko. Tua ine ta nòmata pu e griki dìnnune ja saftu ce j’in glossa tto, ma tua den apantune^* apantenno < απαντώ, συναντώ, αποκρίνομαι; incontrare, rispondere ; rencontrer, répondre; to meat, to answer sta isa pràmata atto “graecus” latino nde atto paleo greko “γραικός”. E Mali Grècia culusà, etnikà ce glossolojikà, stin ampisinì Katu Italia, Kalàbria ce Pùglia.

E dinatì Roma pu epire ti latinità stin Gàllia, occe stin Afrika, en anàrise na guali o greko ap’ossu ti?

E glosse pratune ambrò ce kratènnune on dikò tto mealìo^* ‹ μεγαλείο; grandezza; grandeur; greatness. To mealìo is glossa pu milùsane ce egràfane e Greci, pelekimmeni attus Romanu, ìane poddhì fsilò. Iu e latinità, ja possi kukkia, en ìsose vali rize stin Grècia ce e palei Greci tis katalimmeni Mali Grècia kratìsane ja makreo cerò ti glossa tto.

O griko, kundu ampisinò pedai tu paleu ellenismu, ekhi ola ta dìgghia n’ane kratemmeno a kalò redo fse mia kalì famìja.

How long has Griko been spoken?

Some believe that Griko arrived in Salento with the Byzantines and others believe it first arrived in these territories at the time of Ancient Greece. One of these is the great linguist Gerhard Rohlfs, who devoted himself to Griko, we can say, for all his life and wrote a lot on this language.

Here below we present a summary on the introduction to his "Vocabulary of Salentine Dialects", where with convincing linguistic arguments he demonstrates why Griko is supposed to be much more ancient than Byzantine Greek.

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The dialects of Grecìa Salentina are intimately linked with Neolatin dialects through interesting linguistic phenomena, which suggest a long coexistence in a situation of bilingual symbiosis between Greeks and Latins ever since very ancient times.

The future tense is not known in Griko, as neither is in Neolatin dialects of Salento: future and present share one single form.

e.g.
«tomorrow we shall go to Lecce»:
(crai sciamu a Lecce) - avri pame e' Luppìu

It is possible that the loss of the future tense was propagated to Grecìa Salentina from the dialects of Italy's Far South. Quite different is the situation with regard to other grammatical phenomena.
The loss of the infinite, a typically Greek phenomenon, only has one exception, an absolute one: it refers to the verb "can", in full accordance with Neolatin dialects.

e.g.
«let’s go and see»:
(sciamu cu bbidimu) - pame na torìsome
«he can’t write»:
(no ssape cu scrive) - en efseri na grafsi
«we can say»: (putimu dire) – sònnome ipi* [N.d.T. Apulia: sòzome pì]

Another sequence concerns the hypothetical period: both parts of the sentence are only composed by the indicative imperfect; this construction is not Italian nor Latin, nor does it match modern Greek, it brings us back to ancient Greek, certainly to pre-Byzantine Greek.

e.g.
«if it rained, I would not come» :
(ci chiuìa no bbinìa) – an èvrekhe 'en èrkamo
«if I were hungry, I would eat» :
(ci tinìa fame mangiava) – an ikha pina ètrona

Just like Neolatin dialects of Salento, in Griko there are no adverbs of place equivalent to Italian forms “ci” e “vi”.

e.g.
«we will go there tomorrow» :
(sciamu crai) – epame avri
«I have slept there once» :
(aggiu durmutu nna fiata addhai) – èbblosa mia forà

Greeks and Latins of Salento also agree in the use of two different conjunctions to introduce a subordinate clause, whereas in Italian, you would only use the conjunction “che” ("that"). In ancient Greek, “ὅτι” was used to express a statement or a thought, “ἵνα” for a command or intent. The same distinction has continued in modern Greek (πὼς / νὰ), in Griko (ka / no) and Neolatin dialects of Salento (ca / cu).

e.g.
«I think that it will rain» :
penséo ka vrekhi – (modern Greek: νομίζω πως βρέχει)
«I want it to rain» :
telo na vressi - (modern Greek: θέλω να βρέξει)

These matches cannot be explained if you roll back the origin of Grecìa Salentina to a very limited immigration in the Byzantine era. This theory was based on a linguistic criterion: one was misled by the fact that Italy’s Greeks do not speak Ancient Greek but a dialect close to modern Greek.
We now know that modern Greek was not born around the X Century AD, but it has its roots in a demotic Greek, which was evolving since the first centuries of the Christian era (such as Italian was not born around year 1000 but dates back its origin to Cicero’s times). We can therefore conclude that these Greeks of Salento originate, to a certain extent, from the ancient peoples of Magna Graecia.

Griko is no "contaminated Greek", just like the dialects of Crete, of Rhodes, of Cyprus and Athens' modern Greek are not; Neapolitan dialect or Sicilian dialect are no “contaminated Italian”, certainly no more than Tuscan dialect is. They are all natural derivations of classic Greek and of Latin.

On the other hand Italy’s Greek dialects do retain many elements of an older Greekness.
Here are three examples. The old pronunciation for consonant clusters “mp” and “nt” has stayed the same since Ancient Greek, whereas modern Greek pronunciation has evolved into “mb” and “nd”. The Greek language of Salento also differs in the way of answering “yes” or “no” (“ναί” and “όχι” in modern Greek). In Griko yes is translated with “úmme”, no is translated with “dégghie”: there we rediscover the ancient expressions “οὖν μεν” and “οὐδέν γε”.
The city of Lecce is called in Griko “Luppíu”. Among ancient Greeks the name was “Λουππίαι”; from the fourth century on, the Latins replaced it with the name “Lipiae”, its official name for all the Middle Ages, from which, because of normal phonetic evolution, the modern pronunciation “Lecce” has resulted. If Hellenism of Salento had only arisen as a result of Byzantine rule, the new settlers would not have been able to find another name than the Latin one and in no way a name that ascends to the ancient Greek name, which bore the stress on the second syllable: “Λουππίαι”, today “Luppìu”.

Another topic that brings us back to ancient times is provided by certain observations on the philological name “Griki” – “Griko” that locals give to themselves and to their language, and that does not fully correspond to Latin “graecus” or to ancient Greek “γραικός”.

Magna Graecia therefore continues ethnically and linguistically in the extreme south of Italy, in Calabria and in Apulia.

Powerful Rome that brought Latinity to Gaul and even to Africa would not be able to overcome Greek at home?

Languages ​​spread and stay alive thanks to their renown. The renown of the language that the Greeks, conquered by the Romans, spoke and wrote was very high, so Latinity could not take root in very near Greece, and ancient Greeks of destroyed Magna Graecia have long kept their language in use.

Griko, as the last descendant of Hellenism, has every right to be treated as a legitimate heir of a noble family.

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