Meshterski () 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, age group, or other social group. Sociolects involve both passive acquisit ...

, of the south Bulgarian builders,

bricklayer A bricklayer, which is related to but different from a mason, is a craftsperson and tradesperson who lays bricks to construct brickwork. The terms also refer to personnel who use blocks to construct blockwork walls and other forms of maso ...

s and masons. The name comes from the word мещра ''meshtra'', "master", from

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''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 former administr ...

, adjacent to the

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

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: 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 of all kno ...

(e.g. лашма ''lashma'', "mud", from λάσπη ''laspi''; карекла ''karekla'', "chair", from καρέκλα ''karékla'') and Turkish (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), the

Rhodope Mountains The Rhodopes (; , ; , ''Rodopi''; ) 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 in Greece. Golyam Perelik is its highest peak ...

around

Smolyan Smolyan () is a List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, town and ski resort in the south of Bulgaria near the border with Greece. It is the administrative and industrial centre of the Smolyan Province. The town is built along the narrow valley of t ...

, and the areas of Asenovgrad,

Kazanlak Kazanlak ( , known as Seuthopolis () in ancient times, is a List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, town in Stara Zagora Province, Bulgaria. It is located in the middle of the plain of the same name, at the foot of the Balkan Mountains, Balkan mo ...

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 usually meant to cr ...

metonym Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something associated with that thing or concept. For example, the word "wikt:suit, suit" may refer to a person from groups commonly wearing business attire, such ...

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 belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

or a

saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

. Meshterski also spread to other social areas: it was borrowed by

tinsmith A tinsmith is a historical term for a skilled craftsperson who makes and repairs things made of tin or other light metals. The profession was also known as a tinner, tinker, tinman, or tinplate worker; whitesmith may also refer to this profe ...

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

Footnotes

References

External links

Short dictionary of Meshterski
{{in lang, bg Cant languages Occupational cryptolects Bulgarian language Dialects of the Bulgarian language

Distribution and vocabulary

Examples

See also

Footnotes

References

External links