Triestine dialect

The Triestine dialect (Italian: triestino, Triestine: triestin) is a dialect local to the Italian city of Trieste. It is a form of Venetian, strongly influenced by a Friulian substrate, mainly due to the existence of the now extinct Tergestine dialect, which was closely related to Friulian.

Many words in Triestine are taken from other languages. As Trieste borders with Slovenia and was under the Habsburg Monarchy for almost six centuries, many of the words are of German and Slovene origin. Due to extensive emigration to the city in the late 18th and 19th centuries, many words also came from other languages, such as Greek, Croatian, Bosnian and Serbian.

Development of Modern Triestine

After the expansion of the Republic of Venice, from the Middle Ages onwards, Venetian gradually asserted itself as a lingua franca in parts of the Eastern Mediterranean and in the Adriatic Sea, eventually replacing or strongly influencing several coastal languages such as the dialects of Trieste and Istria and also the Dalmatian dialects of Zara (Zadar) and Ragusa (Dubrovnik). In Trieste, this resulted in the gradual replacement of the former Tergestine dialect (related to Friulian within the Rhaetian subgroup of Romance languages) and of the neighbouring Slovene dialects by a Venetian-based language. This phenomenon began to take place first among fishermen and sailors, while the traditional bourgeoisie continued to speak Tergestine until the beginning of the 19th century. By that time, Tergestine was virtually a dead language, and the period of Modern Triestine had begun.

Sample Vocabulary of the Triestin Dialect

Triestine	Venetian	Dalmatian	Italian	English
piròn (from the Greek πιρούνι-piroúni)	piròn	pirun	forchetta	fork
carèga (from the Greek καρέκλα-karékla)	cadréga	katriga	sedia	chair
scovàze	scoàsse	škovace	immondizia	rubbish
mona, crazy person monàda, stupid-crazy act of one person	mona, crazy person monàda, stupid-crazy act of the person	mona, crazy person monàda, stupid-crazy act of one person	vagina (sost.) stupido (agg.)	vagina (n) silly (adj.)
impizàr	impissàr		accendere	to light
lugàniga	lugànega	luganige	salsiccia	sausage
spagnoléto	spagnoléto	španjulet	sigaretta	cigarette