The Istro-Romanians ( or ) are a Romance ethnic group native to or associated with the Istrian Peninsula. Historically, they inhabited vast parts of it, as well as the western side of the island of Krk until 1875. However, due to several factors such as the industrialization and modernization of Istria during the socialist regime of Yugoslavia, many Istro-Romanians emigrated to other places, be they Croatian cities such as Pula and Rijeka or places such as New York City, Trieste and Western Australia. The Istro-Romanians dwindled severely in number, being reduced to eight settlements on the Croatian side of Istria in which they do not represent the majority.
It is known that the Istro-Romanians are not descendants of a historical Roman population native to Istria, since the differences between the Istro-Romanian language and the geographically close, now extinct Dalmatian language, are notable. Additionally, similarities to Transylvanian Romanians and Timok Vlachs suggest that Istro-Romanians may originate from areas west of Romania or Serbia. Although it is not known exactly how and when, the Istro-Romanians settled in Istria, where they would remain for centuries until they began to assimilate. Even now, with several associations and projects aiming to preserve their culture and with the support from both the Croatian and Romanian governments, the Istro-Romanians are not officially recognized as a national minority.
Although it has become widely popular and is now used almost exclusively, the term "Istro-Romanian" is a somewhat controversial scientific invention, which is not used by them to self-identify. The Istro-Romanians prefer to use names derived from their native villages, which are Jesenovik, Kostrčani, Letaj, Nova Vas, Šušnjevica, Zankovci, the Brdo area and the isolated Žejane. Others also use "Vlach", but to refer to the entire Istro-Romanian population, the names and are often employed. Their language is highly similar to Romanian, both being part of the Eastern Romance languages family alongside Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian, all descending from Proto-Romanian. However, Romania regards these ethnic groups as part of a "broad definition" of what a Romanian is, which is debatable and does not have a widely accepted view.
The Istro-Romanian culture has costumes, dances and songs with many similarities to those of Romania. Literature in Istro-Romanian is small, with the first book published in 1905. Historically, they were peasants and shepherds, with many of them being poor and without having received education until the 20th century. Today, the Istro-Romanian language has little use in education, media and religion, with Croatian imposing itself in these and other domains. They are so few that they have been described as "the smallest ethnolinguistic group in Europe". It is thought that if their situation does not change, the Istro-Romanians will disappear in the following decades.
Names Endonym
The term "Istro-Romanian" is commonly used among researchers and linguists to identify this Eastern Romance people from the Istrian Peninsula. However, it is a relatively recent creation from the middle of the 19th century based on geographic rather than scientific criteria. This denomination was used for the first time by the Romanian writer and historian Gheorghe Asachi (as ), and then by the Slovene philologist Franz Miklosich, (as and ), from which the name of the Istro-Romanian language and its speakers would be generalized. Nowadays, it is almost exclusively employed, and highlights the similarity of this language with the Romanian one. However, the Istro-Romanians do not identify with this name, and the use of "Istro-Romanian" outside the context of linguistics can be controversial until a certain point. Some people use the more recent name "Vlashki and Zheyanski language".
To refer to themselves as a whole, the Istro-Romanians may use , derived from the Latin . The similar is also used since the 17th century, but this endonym (internal name, used by the ethnic group in question) does not appear in documents until its reuse by the Istro-Romanian writer and professor Andrei Glavina and the Romanian historian Constantin Diculescu and then by the Romanian journalist and professor Alexandru Leca Morariu in the 20th century. Due to the influence of Romanian researchers, Istro-Romanians also use the Croatian word , especially in contact with foreigners. Given the weakness of Istro-Romanian national sentiment, some elder people call themselves Romanians or Romanian-speaking Croats or even Italians (except in Žejane) to differentiate themselves from the surrounding Croats.
Many Istro-Romanians prefer to use a demonym derived from the name of their native village. For example, those from Šušnjevica use and or for their language, those from Nova Vas use and or for their language, those from Kostrčani use and those from the Brdo area use for their language. Generally, the Istro-Romanians from the villages south of the Učka mountain range also use the name (singular ) and or for their language, taken from the South Slavic word "Vlach". On the other hand, in the northern village of Žejane, the only other one in which Istro-Romanian is spoken, or is used for the people and , or for the language. Croats also call them or , but the inhabitants of Žejane do not identify as Vlachs.
Exonym The Istro-Romanians have been called in many ways by the peoples that lived alongside them or in their surroundings. One of the earliest exonyms (external names) used for Istro-Romanians is Ćići, given by the Croats. It appears in Latin documents in the form of , in Italian ones first in the form of and later as or , and in German ones as , , , , and .
There exist several theories on its etymological origin. It has been suggested that it could come from the Italian word , derived from the verb , meaning "insistent and confused (indistinct) talking", since Slavs could not understand the Istro-Romanians. The Croatian linguist Petar Šimunović similarly proposed as the possible origin the Croatian verb variations or , and , all of which mean "speak". The Croatian linguist Josip Ribarić noted that Croats in Istria meant "speaking Istro-Romanian" when using the term , and the term (from , "dragon", "devil") was used in the villages of Male Mune and Vele Mune for the Istro-Romanian speech of Žejane. Šimunović also proposed the interrogative pronoun in the meaning "what?", while Ribarić proposed that the syllable či appeared in all the mentioned words that the Romance-speaking Vlachs often used and was unusual to the Slavs. In Istro-Romanian, as a result of secondary palatalization, t becomes ț ("c") in Šušnjevica and č in Nova Vas and Žejane, hence the term cincari or tsinstari could come from Vulgar Latin tsintsi (compare to Megleno-Romanian ), meaning "five" and deriving as tsintsi-ținți-cinci-činči-(n)-čiči-ćići. The also proposed derivation from the Slavic word čičā ("old man", "uncle") is improbable.
Today, the ethnonym (name given to an ethnic group, be it internal or external) Ćići is imprecise, because it also refers to the Croats and Slovenes of the region of Ćićarija. Another name used by the Croats is , believed to come from Istro-Romanian words čire (lat. qui ne, ține-cine-țire-cire-čire, who/you) and bire from bine (lat. bene, good), meaning a greeting "hold well". Since it is usually said as a joke, it may be offensive for some native speakers. Those of the island of Krk were often called by the local Croats as "Vlachs", commonly in negative context.
Another name is "Vlach" (from Greek , in Latin documents , in Croatian and Serbian vlahi, later vlasi), used for the Istro-Romanians (including those in Krk) since the Middle Ages, but it has different meanings depending on the persons that used or use it and depending on the epoch. The Byzantines used it for all the Romance-speaking peoples in the Balkans, but in Croatian and Serbian documents it designated shepherds of any ethnicity from the territories inhabited by South Slavs. Today, in Greek, the term also denotes the Aromanians and the Megleno-Romanians, and in Serbian and Bulgarian, the Timok Vlachs. The term "Morlach" (in Greek , in Latin , in Croatian , in Italian ) was originally used for all the Western Vlachs, from which the Istro-Romanians may originate, but it also designated shepherds of other ethnicities, and is no longer used at present. More names have been used in the academic community for the Istro-Romanians. The erudite scientist Antonio Covaz called them or , rimljani being the term used by Croats and Serbs for Roman citizens.
History Origins and arrival
The first mention of a Romance-speaking population in Istria during the Middle Ages dates back to 940 when the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII reported in his De Administrando Imperio that there were Romance peoples in the peninsula which called themselves Romans although they did not come from Rome. Theories about the Istro-Romanians descending from a historical Roman population in Istria were initially supported by Italian and some Romanian researchers. However, this point of view is now refuted due to the similarities of the Istro-Romanians with the Romanians from the west of Romania and the Timok Valley and the differences with the geographically close Dalmatian language (now extinct).
Two other dominant theories are distinguished. According to the theory of the Romanian philologist and linguist Ovid Densusianu, the Istro-Romanians originate from the southwest of Transylvania and Banat, and would have emigrated from there between the years 1000 and 1400. He bases this theory on language traits, for example, the simple intervocalic rhotacism (sound change that converts one consonant into a "R-like" sound) of [n] ([n]> [r]) in the words of Latin origin, as in the Țara Moților dialect in Romania. In addition, there are Istro-Romanian popular stories about their arrival in Istria during the Middle Ages. According to local legends, there were seven caravans that came from Transylvania and settled in Istria, six south of the Učka and one north of it. This theory is also embraced by other scholars like Vasile Frățilă, Iosif Popovici and Goran Filipi. Other authors say that the Istro-Romanians migrated much earlier, in the second half of the first millennium, before the start of the Hungarian influence on Romanian, since the Istro-Romanian language does not have these influences.
Another theory, that of Romanian linguist and philologist Sextil Pușcariu, claimed a south Danubian origin for the Istro-Romanians, specifically in current Serbia, but with contact with the Romanians at the west of Romania. He placed their separation from the other Eastern Romance peoples in the 13th century. With distinctions as to the exact location, Pușcariu's theory is also adopted by several scholars. There is also an intermediate theory belonging to Elena Scărlătoiu suggesting that the "great mass of Istro-Romanians" came from several nuclei in the center, west and northwest of Transylvania, as well as from the south of the Danube, namely, the area between the Timok Valley and Prizren.