Griko, sometimes spelled Grico, is the dialect of
Italiot Greek spoken by
Griko people
The Griko people ( el, Γκρίκο), also known as Grecanici in Calabria, are an ethnic Greek community of Southern Italy. They are found principally in regions of Calabria and Apulia (peninsula of Salento). The Griko are believed to be remnants ...
in
Salento
Salento (Salentino: ''Salentu'', Salentino Griko: ''Σαλέντο'') is a cultural, historical and geographic region at the southern end of the administrative region of Apulia in Southern Italy. It is a sub-peninsula of the Italian Peninsula, ...
(province of Lecce) and (also called Grecanic) in
Calabria
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. Some Greek linguists consider it to be a
Modern Greek
Modern Greek (, , or , ''Kiní Neoellinikí Glóssa''), generally referred to by speakers simply as Greek (, ), refers collectively to the dialects of the Greek language spoken in the modern era, including the official standardized form of the ...
dialect and often call it ( el, Κατωιταλιώτικα, "Southern Italian") or (), whereas its own speakers call it ( or Calabrian Greek, in Calabria) or (, in Salento). is spoken in Salento while is spoken in Calabria. Griko and
Standard Modern Greek are partially
mutually intelligible
In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. It is sometimes used as an ...
.
Classification
The most popular hypothesis on the origin of Griko is the one by
Gerhard Rohlfs
Gerhard Rohlfs (July 14, 1892 – September 12, 1986) was a German linguist. He taught Romance languages and literature at the universities of Tübingen and Munich. He was described as an "archeologist of words".
Biography
Rohlfs was born in B ...
and
Georgios Hatzidakis
Georgios Nicolaou Hatzidakis, aka Georgios Nikolaou Chatzidakis ( el, Γεώργιος Νικολάου Χατζιδάκις; , in Myrthios, Ottoman Crete – 28 June 1941, in Athens) was a Greek philologist, who is regarded as the father of ...
, that Griko's roots go as far back in history as the time of the
ancient Greek colonies
Greek colonization was an organised colonial expansion by the Archaic Greeks into the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea in the period of the 8th–6th centuries BC.
This colonization differed from the migrations of the Greek Dark Ages in that i ...
in
Southern Italy
Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half.
The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the peop ...
and
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
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, demographi ...
in the eighth century BC. The Southern Italian dialect is thus considered to be the last living trace of the Greek elements that once formed
Magna Graecia
Magna Graecia (, ; , , grc, Μεγάλη Ἑλλάς, ', it, Magna Grecia) was the name given by the Romans to the coastal areas of Southern Italy in the present-day Italian regions of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania and Sicily; these re ...
.
There are, however, competing hypotheses according to which Griko may have preserved some
Doric Doric may refer to:
* Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece
** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians
* Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture
* Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode
* Doric dialect (Scotland)
* Doric ...
elements, but its structure is otherwise mostly based on
Koine Greek
Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...
, like almost all other Modern Greek dialects. Thus, Griko should rather be described as a Doric-influenced descendant of
Medieval Greek
Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the Fall of Co ...
spoken by those who fled the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
to Italy trying to escape the
Turks
Turk or Turks may refer to:
Communities and ethnic groups
* Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages
* Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
* Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic ...
. The idea of Southern Italy's Greek dialects being historically derived from Medieval Greek was proposed for the first time in the 19th century by Giuseppe Morosi.
Geographic distribution
Two small Italiot Greek-speaking communities survive today in the Italian regions of
Calabria
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(
Metropolitan city of Reggio Calabria
Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria ( it, Città metropolitana di Reggio Calabria) is an area of local government at the level of metropolitan city in the Calabria region of the Republic of Italy. It comprises the territory of the city of Reggi ...
) and
Apulia
it, Pugliese
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 =
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographics1_title1 =
, demographics1_info1 =
, demographic ...
(
Province of Lecce
The Province of Lecce ( it, Provincia di Lecce; Salentino: ) is a province in the Apulia region of Italy whose capital is the city of Lecce. The province is called the "Heel of Italy". Located on the Salento peninsula, it is the second most-p ...
). The Italiot Greek-speaking area of Apulia comprises nine small towns in the
Grecìa Salentina
Grecìa Salentina (Griko for " Salentine Greece") is an area in the peninsula of Salento in southern Italy, near the town of Lecce which is inhabited by the Griko people, an ethnic Greek minority in southern Italy who speak Griko, a variant of ...
region (
Calimera
Calimera (Griko: lit. 'good morning'), is a small town of 6,753 inhabitants (2021) in the Grecìa Salentina area of the Salento peninsula in Italy, located between Gallipoli and Otranto. It belongs to the province of Lecce.
The inhabitants o ...
,
Martano
Martano (Griko: , translit. ; Salentino: ) is a town and ''comune'' of 9,573 inhabitants in the province of Lecce in Apulia, Italy, from Lecce and from Otranto. It is the biggest town of Grecìa Salentina, a Greek-speaking area where some i ...
,
Castrignano de' Greci
Castrignano de' Greci (Griko: , ''Kascignàna''; Salentino: ) is a small town and ''comune'' of 4,107 inhabitants in the province of Lecce in Apulia, southern Italy. It is one of the nine towns of Grecìa Salentina.
The inhabitants of Castrignan ...
,
Corigliano d'Otranto,
Melpignano
Melpignano (Griko: ; Salentino: ) is a small town and ''comune'' in the province of Lecce in Apulia, Italy. It is one of the nine towns of Grecìa Salentina. Melpignano has a population of 2,209 inhabitants (called Melpignanesi) and an area ...
,
Soleto
Soleto (Griko: ; Salentino: ; la, Soletum) is a small Griko-speaking city located in the province of Lecce in Apulia, Italy. The town has a total population of 5,542 and is one of the nine towns of Grecìa Salentina where the greek dialect Griko ...
,
Sternatia
Sternatia (Griko: , translit. ) is a small town and ''comune'' in the province of Lecce, Apulia, southern Italy. It is one of the nine towns of Grecìa Salentina where the greek dialect Griko
Griko, sometimes spelled Grico, is the dialect of It ...
,
Zollino
Zollino (Griko: , translit. ; Salentino: ) is a small town and ''comune'' of 2,194 inhabitants in the province of Lecce in Apulia, Italy. It is one of the nine towns of Grecìa Salentina, which still keeps Greek language and traditions.
History
...
,
Martignano), with a total of 40,000 inhabitants. The
Calabrian Greek
The Calabrian dialect of Greek, or [Bovesia
Bovesia, otherwise known as Grecìa Calabra (Calabrian Greece), is one of the two remaining Griko-speaking areas in southern Italy, the other being Grecìa Salentina. It is located at the tip of Calabria, near Reggio, and consists of nine villag ...](_blank)
, (including Bova Superiore,
Roghudi
Roghudi ( el, label=Calabrian Greek, Ροχούδι, Richùdi, or ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria in the Italian region Calabria, located about southwest of Catanzaro and about southeast of Reggio C ...
,
Gallicianò
Gallicianò (Γκαλιτσιανό, transliterated Gaḍḍicianò in Greek of Calabria) is a village of about 60 inhabitants, frazione of the comune of Condofuri, of the Città Metropolitana di Reggio Calabria, Calabria, Italy.
Territory
T ...
, Chorìo di Roghudi and
Bova Marina
Bova Marina (Calabrian Greek: , ''Jalò tu Vunà''; Calabrian: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria in the Italian region Calabria, located about southwest of Catanzaro and about southeast of Reggio Calabr ...
) and four districts in the city of
Reggio Calabria
Reggio di Calabria ( scn, label= Southern Calabrian, Riggiu; el, label= Calabrian Greek, Ρήγι, Rìji), usually referred to as Reggio Calabria, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, is the largest city in Calabria. It has an estimated popul ...
, but its population is significantly smaller, with around only 2000 inhabitants.
Official status
By Law 482 of 1999, the
Italian parliament
The Italian Parliament ( it, Parlamento italiano) is the national parliament of the Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1943), the transitiona ...
recognized the Griko communities of Reggio Calabria and Salento as a
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
ethnic
An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
and
linguistic
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
minority. It states that the Republic protects the language and culture of its
Albanian,
Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
,
Germanic,
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
,
Slovene and
Croat
The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic, Ge ...
populations and of those who speak
French,
Franco-Provençal
Franco-Provençal (also Francoprovençal, Patois or Arpitan) is a language within Gallo-Romance originally spoken in east-central France, western Switzerland and northwestern Italy.
Franco-Provençal has several distinct dialects and is separ ...
,
Friulian,
Ladin
Ladin may refer to:
* Ladin language, a language in northern Italy, often classified as a Rhaeto-Romance language
*Ladin people, the inhabitants of the Dolomite Alps region of northern Italy
See also
*Laden (disambiguation)
* Ladino (disambigua ...
,
Occitan Occitan may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain.
* Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France.
* Occitan language
Occitan (; o ...
and
Sardinian. According to
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
data from 2011, the two dialects of Griko are classified as severely endangered languages.
Culture
There is rich oral tradition and Griko
folklore
Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...
. Griko songs,
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
and
poetry
Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...
are particularly popular in Italy and
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
. Famous music groups from Salento include
Ghetonia Ghetonia (Griko: Γειτονία, ''neighborhood'') is a cultural group based in Calimera, Grecìa Salentina in southern Italy, which exists to preserve the music, poetry, language and folklore of the Griko-speaking people of Salento by documentin ...
and
Aramirè
Aramirè is music group from Salento, Italy, specializing in various forms of local traditional music:
* The ''pizzica'' version of the Tarantella,
* songs of the Grecìa Salentina region,
* traditional love songs,
* and polyphonic songs of love ...
. Also, influential Greek artists such as
Dionysis Savvopoulos
Dionysis Savvopoulos ( el, Διονύσης Σαββόπουλος) (born 2 December 1944) is a prominent Greek singer-songwriter.
Career
Savvopoulos was born in the city of Thessaloniki, Greece (December 1944) in a middle-class family. He pass ...
and
Maria Farantouri
Maria Farantouri or Farandouri ( el, Μαρία Φαραντούρη; born 28 November 1947 in Athens) is a Greek singer and also a political and cultural activist. She has collaborated with Greek composers such as Mikis Theodorakis, who wrote the ...
have performed in Griko. The Greek musical ensemble
Encardia focuses on Griko songs as well as on the musical tradition of Southern Italy at large.
Samples
Sample text from – ("Good night") and , popular Griko songs:
Phonology
See also
*
Hellenic languages
Hellenic is the branch of the Indo-European language family whose principal member is Greek. In most classifications, Hellenic consists of Greek alone,Browning (1983), ''Medieval and Modern Greek'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Josep ...
*
Calabrian Greek dialect
The Calabrian dialect of Greek, or [Griko people
The Griko people ( el, Γκρίκο), also known as Grecanici in Calabria, are an ethnic Greek community of Southern Italy. They are found principally in regions of Calabria and Apulia (peninsula of Salento). The Griko are believed to be remnants ...](_blank)
Notes and references
Further reading
*
H. F. Tozer. "The Greek-Speaking Population of Southern Italy." ''
The Journal of Hellenic Studies
''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'' is an annual peer-reviewed academic journal covering research in Hellenic studies. It also publishes reviews of recent books of importance to Hellenic studies. It was established in 1880 and is published by Camb ...
.'' Vol. 10 (1889), pp. 11–42.
External links
On the Brink: Griko; A Language of Resistance and Celebration - Cultural SurvivalFranco st'AnguriaLo "Schiacúddhi"Two plays performed in the local
Greek dialect of Choriána (Corigliano d'Otranto)
Glossa Grikao Griko Derentinò (in Griko, Italian, Standard-Greek and French)
Enosi Griko Coordination of Grecìa Salentina Associations (Italian, Greek and English)
Pos Matome Griko(in Italian, Greek and English)
Grecìa Salentina official site (in Italian)
Gaze On The SeaSalentine Peninsula, Greece and Greater Greece (in Italian, Greek and English)
Kalinifta by
Ghetonia Ghetonia (Griko: Γειτονία, ''neighborhood'') is a cultural group based in Calimera, Grecìa Salentina in southern Italy, which exists to preserve the music, poetry, language and folklore of the Griko-speaking people of Salento by documentin ...
Oria mou rodinedda folk song of the Griko-speaking communities of southern Italy, by Eleni & Souzana Vougioukli
{{Authority control
Varieties of Modern Greek
Magna Graecia
Languages of Apulia
Endangered diaspora languages
Endangered Indo-European languages
Greece–Italy relations