First sample of Aromanian language

Referring to this time period, of great debate and interest is the so called "Torna, Torna Fratre" episode. In Theophylactus Simocatta Histories, (c. 630), the author mentions the words "τóρνα, τóρνα". The context of this mention is a Byzantine expedition during Maurice's Balkan campaigns in the year 587, led by general Comentiolus, in the Haemus, against the Avars. The success of the campaign was compromised by an incident: during a night march...

"a beast of burden had shucked off his load. It happened as his master was marching in front of him. But the ones who were coming from behind and saw the animal dragging his burden after him, had shouted to the master to turn around and straighten the burden. Well, this event was the reason for a great agitation in the army, and started a flight to the rear, because the shout was known to the crowd: the same words were also a signal, and it seemed to mean “run”, as if the enemies had appeared nearby more rapidly than could be imagined. There was a great turmoil in the host, and a lot of noise; all were shouting loudly and goading each other to turn back, calling with great unrest in the language of the country “torna, torna”, as a battle had suddenly started in the middle of the night."

Nearly two centuries after Theophylactus, the same episode is retold by another Byzantine chronicler, Theophanes Confessor, in his Chronographia (c. 810–814). He mentions the words: "τόρνα, τόρνα, φράτρε" [torna, torna fratre]:

"A beast of burden had thrown off his load, and somebody yelled to his master to reset it, saying in the language of their parents/of the land: “torna, torna, fratre”. The master of the animal didn't hear the shout, but the people heard him, and believing that they are attacked by the enemy, started running, shouting loudly: “torna, torna”".[7]

Aromunian (dictionary of languages)

Information about the Aromanian language in the book Dictionary of languages.The form Aromunian is used here to name the language.

Dictionary of Languages

some famous Aromanians

Georgios Sinas,benefactor of Greece	Georgios Averoff,benefactor of Greece	Milton Manakis,pioneer photographer and filmmaker
Herbert Von Karajan,Austrian composer

basic aromanian vocabulary

No.	English	Aromanian armãneascã
1	I	mine,mini, io
2	you (singular)	tine,tini
3	he	nãs
4	we	noi
5	you (plural)	voi
6	they	nãsh
7	this	aistu
8	that	atsel
9	here	atsia, aoa
10	there	aclo
11	who	cari, cai
12	what	tsi
13	where	iu
14	when	cãndu
15	how	cum
16	not	nu
17	all	tut
18	many	multsã
19	some	nishti
20	few	putsãn
21	other	altu
22	one	unû
23	two	doi
24	three	trei
25	four	patru
26	five	tsintsi
27	big	mare
28	long	lungu
29	wide	largu
30	thick	grosû
31	heavy	greu
32	small	njicû
33	short	shcurtu
34	narrow	strãmtu
35	thin	subtsãre
36	woman	muljare
37	man (adult male)	bãrbat, mascur
38	man (human being)	omû
39	child	ficiorle
40	wife	ãnveastã
41	husband	bãrbat
42	mother	mamã
43	father	tatã
44	animal	pravda
45	fish	pescu
46	bird	puljû
47	dog	cãne
48	louse	piduclju
49	snake	sharpe
50	worm	yermu
51	tree	arbure
52	forest	pãdure
53	stick	virdzeao
54	fruit
55	seed	simintsã
56	leaf	frãndzã
57	root	zãrtsinã
58	bark (of a tree)
59	flower	floare
60	grass	iarbã
61	rope	fune
62	skin	chiale, coajã
63	meat	carne
64	blood	sãndze
65	bone	osû
66	fat (noun)	grosû
67	egg	ou
68	horn	cornu
69	tail	coadã
70	feather	peanã
71	hair	perû
72	head	capû
73	ear	ureaclje
74	eye	oclju
75	nose	nare
76	mouth	gurã
77	tooth	dinte
78	tongue (organ)	limbã
79	fingernail	unglje
80	foot	cicior
81	leg	cicior
82	knee	dzenuclju
83	hand	mãnã
84	wing	arpã
85	belly	buric, foale
86	guts	matsã
87	neck
88	back
89	breast	cheptu
90	heart	inimã
91	liver	hicat
92	to drink	beau
93	to eat	mãcû
94	to bite
95	to suck	sugû
96	to spit	ascuchiu
97	to vomit
98	to blow	suflu
99	to breathe
100	to laugh	arãdu
101	to see	vedû
102	to hear	avdu
103	to know	shciu
104	to think	minduiescu
105	to smell	anjurdzescu
106	to fear
107	to sleep	dormu
108	to live
109	to die	morû
110	to kill	nec, vatãm
111	to fight	mi-batu
112	to hunt
113	to hit	agudescu
114	to cut	talju
115	to split
116	to stab
117	to scratch	scarchinu
118	to dig	sapu
119	to swim
120	to fly	azboairã
121	to walk	imnu
122	to come	yinû
123	to lie (as in a bed)	mi-culcu (action), stau cãlcatã (state)
124	to sit	shedû
125	to stand	stau
126	to turn (intransitive)	me anvãrtescu
127	to fall	cadû
128	to give	dau
129	to hold	tsãn
130	to squeeze	stringu
131	to rub	frec
132	to wash	spel
133	to wipe	ashcergu
134	to pull	tragû
135	to push
136	to throw	arucû
137	to tie	legû
138	to sew	cosû
139	to count	numir
140	to say	spunû
141	to sing	cãntu
142	to play	(mi) giocû
143	to float
144	to flow	curû
145	to freeze	ãngljets
146	to swell	mi umflu
147	sun	soare
148	moon	lunã
149	star	steao
150	water	apã
151	rain	ploae
152	river	arãu
153	lake	lacû
154	sea	amare
155	salt	sare
156	stone	chiatrã
157	sand
158	dust
159	earth	pimintu
160	cloud	norû
161	fog
162	sky	tserû
163	wind	vimtu
164	snow	neau
165	ice	gljets
166	smoke	fumû
167	fire	focû
168	ash	cinushe
169	to burn	ardu
170	road	cale
171	mountain	munte
172	red	arosh
173	green	vearde
174	yellow	galbin
175	white	albu
176	black	negru
177	night	noapte
178	day	dzuã
179	year	anû
180	warm	caldu
181	cold	aratse, frigã
182	full	ãplinu
183	new	não
184	old	veclju
185	good	bunû
186	bad	arãu
187	rotten
188	dirty	murdarû
189	straight	ãdreptu
190	round	gurguljat
191	sharp (as a knife)	tãljatû
192	dull (as a knife)
193	smooth
194	wet	udû
195	dry
196	correct
197	near	prochiatã, aproape
198	far	diparte
199	right	nãndreptu
200	left	stãngu
201	at	la
202	in	ãn, tru
203	with	cu
204	and	shi
205	if	disi
206	because	cã
207	name	nume

The Aromanian language

Aromanian is a neolatin language,descendant of Balkan Romance that is spoken mainly in the Southern Balkans by aromanian populations.There is no standardized language and various forms of it exist.Generally,it can be divided into two major dialect groups called armineshti (southern) and rimineshti(northern).It is written either in the greek or the latin alphabet.In the aromanian symposium of 1997 in Bitola(ROM) a latin variant was standardized for the Aromanian language.

The Bitola aromanian alphabet
alfabetlu armãnescu

Unicode

a, ã, b, c, ch, d, dh, dz, e, f, 

g, gh, h, i, j, k, l, lj, m, n, nj, 

o, p, q, r, s, sh, t, th, ts, u, v,

w, x, y, z.

This alphabet does not distinguish between schwa(ə),the romanian ă, and â or î in Romanian which exists in southern dialects.It uses the ã symbol,a with a circumflex over it for both.It also does not make use of the û sound that is found at the end of the words and it is very common in Aromanian.

In this blog I will be using an extended version of the Bitola alphabet which includes the letters î and û.

the extended alphabet

Unicode

a, ã, b, c, ch, d, dh, dz, e, f, g, gh, h, i, î,j, k, l, lj, m, n, nj, 

o, p, q, r, s, sh, t, th, ts, u,û,v,w, x, y, z.

Aromanian speaking areas