Dalmato-Roman lexical items In Dalmatian dialects

Abstract

Dalmatian language which has developed from Latin and which was spoken in Dalmatian cities and islands in the Middle Ages is still living in our Dalmatian dialects due to some Dalmato-Roman lexical remains. In this article the author explained sdme forty Roman loanwords as used in humoristic literary texts in the Slobodna Dalmacija. These words are recorded in Petar Skok’s dictionary, Etymological dictionary of Croatian or Serbian language and are marked as of Dalmato-Roman origin. They are related to customs, instruments, folk dresses, flora and fauna and terminology connected to the sea, and some other. These words especially those connected to the sea are still present in everyday speech. However, most of them are getting out of use and are hard to understand even to those inhabitants who only speak the dialect. The reasons are extralinguistic.