Meshterski ( bg, мещерски) or Meshtrenski (мещренски) was a
cant, or secret
sociolect
In sociolinguistics, a sociolect is a form of language ( non-standard dialect, restricted register) or a set of lexical items used by a socioeconomic class, profession, an age group, or other social group.
Sociolects involve both passive acquisi ...
, of the south
Bulgarian builder
Builder may refer to:
* Construction worker, who specializes in building work
* Carpenter, a skilled craftsman who works with wood
* General contractor, that specializes in building work
** Subcontractor
* Builder (detergent), a component of moder ...
s,
bricklayers and
masons. The name comes from the word мещра ''meshtra'', "master", from
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...
''magister''. Meshterski served a linguistically isolating purpose, enabling the builders to communicate in secrecy, and a socially isolating purpose, emphasizing the builders' perceived supremacy over their contractors.
[Николов,]
Глава I
.
Distribution and vocabulary
The sociolect emerged among the Bulgarian masons in southwestern
Macedonia
Macedonia most commonly refers to:
* North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia
* Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity
* Macedonia (Greece), a traditional geographic reg ...
, adjacent to the
Albanian lands. As a result, it includes a large number of Albanian loanwords, e.g. бука ''buka'', "bread", from ''bukё''; гяхта ''gyahta'', "cheese", from ''djathë''; мерам ''meram'', "to take", from ''marr''. There are much fewer loans from
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 ...
(e.g. лашма ''lashma'', "mud", from λάσπη ''laspi''; карекла ''karekla'', "chair", from καρέκλα ''karékla'') and
Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkish communities and mi ...
(e.g. пиринч ''pirinch'', "rice", from ''pirinç''; сакал ''sakal'', "beard", from ''sakal'').
[Николов,]
Глава II
. Later, the language spread through migration to northeastern Macedonia (the region of
Gotse Delchev
Georgi Nikolov Delchev ( Bulgarian/Macedonian: Георги/Ѓорѓи Николов Делчев; 4 February 1872 – 4 May 1903), known as Gotse Delchev or Goce Delčev (''Гоце Делчев'', originally spelled in older Bulgari ...
), the
Rhodope Mountains
The Rhodopes (; bg, Родопи, ; el, Ροδόπη, ''Rodopi''; tr, Rodoplar) are a mountain range in Southeastern Europe, and the largest by area in Bulgaria, with over 83% of its area in the southern part of the country and the remainder i ...
around
Smolyan
Smolyan ( bg, Смолян) is a town and ski resort in the south of Bulgaria near the border with Greece. It is the administrative and industrial centre of the homonymous Smolyan Province. The town is built along the valley of Cherna ("Black") ...
, and the areas of
Asenovgrad
Asenovgrad ( bg, Асеновград ) is a town in central southern Bulgaria, part of Plovdiv Province. It is the largest town in Bulgaria that is not a province center. Previously known as ''Stanimaka'' (; el, Στενήμαχος), it was ...
,
Kazanlak
Kazanlak ( bg, Казанлък , Thracian and Greek Σευθόπολις (''Seuthopolis''), tr, Kazanlık) is a Bulgarian town in Stara Zagora Province, located in the middle of the plain of the same name, at the foot of the Balkan mountai ...
and the
sub-Balkan valleys.
[
Although loanwords often remained semantically unchanged, the Bulgarian vocabulary in the sociolect was substituted with native ]metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wit ...
s, metonym
Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with that thing or concept.
Etymology
The words ''metonymy'' and ''metonym'' come from grc, μετωνυμία, 'a change of name' ...
s and words from different roots, so as to conceal the true meaning to outsiders, e.g. мокра ''mokra'' ("wet", fem.) for вода ''voda'', "water"; гледач ''gledach'' ("looker") for око ''oko'', "eye", обло ''oblo'' ("round", neut.) for яйце ''yaytse'', "egg".[ The lexis of Meshterski included not only professional terms and basic vocabulary, but also other words, including religious terms, such as Светлив ''Svetliv'', "Luminous", referring to ]God
In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...
or a saint.
Meshterski also spread to other social areas: it was borrowed by tinsmith
A tinsmith is a person who makes and repairs things made of tin or other light metals. The profession may sometimes also be known as a tinner, tinker, tinman, or tinplate worker; whitesmith may also refer to this profession, though the same w ...
s in at least one village in the Rhodopes, although with a much reduced vocabulary and renamed to ''Ganamarski''.[Николов,]
Глава III
. Albanian words mediated through Meshterski have also entered informal Bulgarian; these included кекав ''kekav'', "weak, sickly" (from ''keq''); кинти ''kinti'', "money, dough" (from ''qind'', "hundred"), скивам ''skivam'', "to see, to take a look" (from ''shqyrtoj''), келеш ''kelesh'', "squirt, mangy fellow" (from ''qelesh'').
Examples
See also
* Banjački Banjački is a secret language used by bricklayers from Podrinje region (eastern Bosnia and western Serbia).
The language was invented by brickworkers from Osat in eastern Bosnia and later spread to surrounding regions. Brickworkers use it when th ...
, the cant of bricklayers in Podrinje
Podrinje (Serbian Cyrillic: Подриње) is the Slavic name of the Drina river basin, known in English as the Drina Valley. The Drina basin is shared between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, with majority of its territory being located in ...
, western Balkans
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
* Purishte Purishte ( sq-definite, Purishtja) is a sociolect of the Albanian language spoken by the masons of the Opar region in Western Korçë District, Albania.
Location
The former commune of Lekas in Western Korçë District consists of mainly speakers ...
, Albanian language sociolect spoken by masons of the Opar region
Footnotes
References
*
External links
Short dictionary of Meshterski
{{in lang, bg
Cant languages
Occupational cryptolects
Bulgarian language
Dialects of the Bulgarian language