Cremish or Cremasque, (Cremish Lombard: ) is an
Eastern Lombard
Eastern Lombard is a group of closely related variants of Lombard, a Gallo-Italic language
spoken in Lombardy, mainly in the provinces of Bergamo, Brescia and Mantua, in the area around Cremona and in parts of Trentino. Its main variants are ...
dialect spoken in the
Cremasque Territory of the
Province of Cremona
The province of Cremona (; Cremunés dialect, Cremunés: ; ; Emilian dialects, Casalasco-Viadanese: ) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital city is Cremona.
The province occupies the central section of Pa ...
, where
Cremonese
Cremona ( , , ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po (river), Po river in the middle of the Po Valley. It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local city a ...
is spoken in the rest of the land except for
Soresina
Soresina ( Soresinese: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Cremona in the Italian region Lombardy, located about southeast of Milan and about northwest of Cremona.
It received the honorary title of city with a presidential decree ...
and the aforementioned land.
The dialect is slowly dying, as younger people don't use it as much anymore.
Classification
Cremish is an
Eastern Lombard dialect
Eastern Lombard is a group of closely related variants of Lombard, a Gallo-Italic language
spoken in Lombardy, mainly in the provinces of Bergamo, Brescia and Mantua, in the area around Cremona and in parts of Trentino. Its main variants are ...
belonging to the
Gallo-Italic
The Gallo-Italic, Gallo-Italian, Gallo-Cisalpine or simply Cisalpine languages constitute the majority of the Romance languages of northern Italy: Piedmontese, Lombard, Emilian, Ligurian, and Romagnol. In central Italy they are spoken in the ...
branch of the
Romance languages
The Romance languages, also known as the Latin or Neo-Latin languages, are the languages that are Language family, directly descended from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-E ...
. It is more closely related to the
Langues d'oïl
The ''langues d'oïl'' are a dialect continuum that includes standard French and its closest relatives historically spoken in the northern half of France, southern Belgium, and the Channel Islands. They belong to the larger category of Gallo- ...
,
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, spoken in parts o ...
,
Catalan, the
Rhaeto-Romance languages
Rhaeto-Romance, Rheto-Romance, Rhaeto-Italian, or Rhaetian, is a purported subfamily of the Romance languages that is spoken in south-eastern Switzerland and north-eastern Italy. The name "Rhaeto-Romance" refers to the former Roman province of ...
, and the
Iberian Romance languages
The Iberian Romance, Ibero-Romance or sometimes Iberian languages Iberian languages is also used as a more inclusive term for all languages spoken on the Iberian Peninsula, which in antiquity included the non-Indo-European Iberian language. are ...
, than
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
. It is similar to the dialects of
Bergamo
Bergamo ( , ; ) is a city in the Alps, alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from the alpine lakes Lake Como, Como and Lake Iseo, Iseo and 70 km (43 mi) from Lake Garda, Garda and Lake ...
(
Bergamasque
The Bergamasque dialect is the western variant of the Eastern Lombard group of the Lombard language. It is mainly spoken in the province of Bergamo and in the area around Crema, in central Lombardy.
Bergamasque has official status in the p ...
) and
Brescia
Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...
(
Brescian
Eastern Lombard is a group of closely related variants of Lombard, a Gallo-Italic language
spoken in Lombardy, mainly in the provinces of Bergamo, Brescia and Mantua, in the area around Cremona and in parts of Trentino. Its main variants are ...
).
Distribution
The dialect is mostly spoken in the
Cremasque Territory, which is the area adjacent to
Crema and surroundings. It extends from the area of
Rivolta d'Adda
Rivolta d'Adda () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Cremona in the Italian region Lombardy, located about east of Milan and about northwest of Cremona
Cremona ( , , ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northern Italy, situat ...
to
Gombito and
Castelleone
Castelleone (; Cremonese dialect, locally ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Cremona in the Italy, Italian region of Lombardy, located about southeast of Milan and about northwest of Cremona.
Castelleone borders the following m ...
.
Orthography
The dialect is traditionally written in the Classical Cremish Orthography, which is shown in Bonifacio Samarani's book ''Vocabulario cremasco-italiano''.
Rules
The following are rules in the Classical Cremish Orthography.
* The vowels ''a'', ''e'', and ''i'' have an acute accent when they are long vowels.
* ''E'' and ''o'' are without accent when they are short and closed and .
* È and ò make an open sound, short or long and .
* ''É'' and ''ó'' are a longer closed sounds and respectably.
* ''Ö'' is the letter of , like the German .
* ''Ü'' is the written form of as in German .
Literature
The Cremish dialect began thriving in literature in the 18th century. A notable poet that wrote in the dialect was Federico Pesadori,
who wrote works such as ''A Crèma'', ''Ai casòt d'ingürie'', and ''L'ucarina''.
Bibliography
* Geroldi Luciano, ''Vocabolario del dialetto di Crema'', Edizioni Tipolito Uggè, 2004
* Francesco Piantelli, Folclore Cremasco, ristampa, Arti Grafiche Cremasche, 1985, pag. 422 e seguenti.
* Bonifacio Samarani, ''Vocabolario cremasco-italiano'', 1852
References
External links
Nature of Cremasque (with names of animals and plants in Cremish) (
scormagna or ''scurmagna'')
{{Languages of Italy
Eastern Lombard language
Languages of Lombardy