Puter (also spelled Putèr; ) is a variety of Romansh spoken in the

Engadin The Engadin or Engadine (;This is the name in the two Romansh idioms that are spoken in the Engadin, Vallader and Puter, as well as in Sursilvan and Rumantsch Grischun. In Surmiran, the name is ''Nagiadegna'', and in Sutsilvan, it is ''Gidegna'' ...

valley in Graubünden, which is in the southeastern part of

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. It is spoken in the central northwestern end of the valley between

S-chanf S-chanf (; ; ) is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Maloja Region in the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Graubünden. Localities in the municipality of include Susauna, Chapella and Cinuos-chel. Name is f ...

and

St. Moritz St. Moritz ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipality in the administrative region of Maloja in the Swiss ...

, as well as in the region of the

Bernina Pass The Bernina Pass (el. .) () is a high mountain pass in the Bernina Range of the Alps, in the canton of Graubünden (Grisons) in eastern Switzerland. It connects the famous resort town of St. Moritz in the Engadin valley with the Italian-spea ...

. Romansh was named by 5,497 people within the upper Engadine valley (30%) as a habitually spoken language in the census of 2000, which probably corresponds roughly to the total number of speakers. The term is probably originally a nickname derived from ''put'' 'porridge', meaning 'porridge-eaters'. Samedan_Proverbi_1

Classification

Puter and

Vallader Vallader (Vallader, Sursilvan, Puter, Surmiran, and Rumantsch Grischun: ''vallader'' ; Sutsilvan: ') is a variety of the Romansh language spoken in the Lower Engadine valley (''Engiadina Bassa'') of southeast Switzerland, between Martina, Swi ...

are sometimes referred to as one specific variety known as Ladin, as they have retained this word to mean Romansh. However, the term Ladin is primarily associated with the closely related language in Italy's Dolomite mountains also known as Ladin. Puter and Vallader are distinguished from the other Romansh dialects among other things by the retention of the rounded front vowels // and // (written ''ü'' and ''ö''), which have been derounded to // and // in the other dialects. Compare Putèr to Sursilvan ‘wall’ and Putèr to Sursilvan 'cheese'. Each village between S-chanf and St. Moritz has a slightly different accent, although the written form remains the same.

Literary development

Gian Travers Gian is a given name of Italian origin. It is a shortened version of Giovanni, another name of Italian origin. Notable people Notable people whose name is now typically expressed as Gian include: * Gian Paolo Lomazzo, Italian painter * Gian Loren ...

wrote the first surviving work in Romansh, the ''Chianzun dalla guerra dagl Chiaste da Müs'', in the Putèr dialect. This epic poem, written in 1527, describes the first Musso war, in which Travers himself had taken part. There is an individual dictionary for this dialect, as well as texts dealing with its grammar.

Sample

The fable The Fox and the Crow by

Jean de La Fontaine Jean de La Fontaine (, ; ; 8 July 162113 April 1695) was a French Fable, fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his ''La Fontaine's Fables, Fables'', which provided a model for subs ...

in Putèr Romansh, as well as a translation into English, the similar-looking but noticeably different-sounding dialect Vallader, and Rumantsch Grischun.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

Romansh-English dictionary, with different Romansh dialects including Puter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Puter Romansh dialects