Bugarstici
Encyclopedia
Bugarštica is a form of epic
and ballad poetry
, which was popular among Serbs
and Croats
until the 18th century, sung in long verse
s of mostly fifteen and sixteen syllable
s with a caesura
after the seventh and eighth syllable, respectively. They include the oldest known recorded epic poems, written down in the fifteenth century.
It is considered to be older epic layer of South Slavic oral tradition
which existed probably before the 15th century, and disappeared by the middle of the 18th century. The earliest known poem classified as bugarštica was recorded in 1497 by Italian poet Rogeri de Pacienza di Nardò. He was present when it was sung by refugees from the Serbian Despotate
who had settled in the village of Gioia del Colle
, southern Italy.
During the 16–17th centuries they were collected in Dalmatia
and the Bay of Kotor
, on the Adriatic Coast and islands, by learned poets and priests (Petar Hektorović
, c. 1555; Juraj Baraković, Nikola Ohumućević, Jozo Betondić, Djuro Matijašević etc.), about 85 bugarštica songs in total. They were published in the late 19th century by Franz Miklosich, Alexander Hilferding, and most completely by Valtazar Bogišić (1878).
Although some bugarštica's content is closely related to historiography, especially to the history of Ludovik Crijević Tuberon and Mauro Orbini's Il regno degli Slavi (1601), they are generally deemed to be oral songs, transmitted orally. The bugarštica's themes vary not only in the scope of this type, but also in respect of decasyllabic songs. They sing about prominent battles (Kosovo 1389, 1448; Varna 1444 etc.) and Serbian, Hungarian, Croatian, Bosnian feudal lords 14th-16th centuries, and local battles in Perast and Boka Kotorska in the 17th ct. They conserved archaic customs, manners, etiquette, descriptions of attire, weapon, etc., and have specific composition, narration and poetics. They integrate different cultural and ethnic layers and represent significant monument of South Slavic folklore.
According to the ethnographer Krste Misirkov
the style of this songs is a result of the Bulgarian musical influence during the Middle Ages over the Serbian and Croatian epic songs. This hypothesis is hard to verify, as there are no records of medieval Bulgarian epic songs. Maurice Bowra
, however, argued that the sixteen-syllable line of bugarštica was of Bulgarian origin "since the Bulgarians still use eight-syllable lines, which may be the two halves of an old sixteen-syllable".
The term bugarštica was first recorded in 1566 by Petar Hektorović, in his reference to two songs he collected from Croatian fishermen from the Adriatic island of Hvar
. There are two predominant theories regarding the etymology of bugarštica. Researchers such as Vatroslav Jagić
, Tomo Maretić, and Matija Murko
, posit that it was derived from the root bugar "Bulgarian", indicating the direction of spread of bugarštica from a contact area between Bulgaria and Serbia towards the Adriatic coast. Other names, such as pjesan bugarska "Bulgarian song", were applied to these songs, also referred to as the "Serbian manner [of singing]".
According to scholars Ivan Slamnig
, Ilya Golenishchev-Kutuzov
, Nada Milošević-Đorđević
, and others, the term developed from the Latin vulgaricus or lingua vulgaris "common people's language", or carmen vulgare "folk song", denoting ballads composed in the spoken Slavic vernacular in Dalmatia, as opposed to those composed in the literary Latin. The change of the initial v into b could be due to folk etymology, associating vulgare with the similarly sounding Slavic root bugar. Slamnig also points out that vulgare was alternatively spelled as bulgare, when it referred to the Slavic language of the Adriatic Coast.
Epic poetry
An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form...
and ballad poetry
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
, which was popular among Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
and Croats
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
until the 18th century, sung in long verse
Verse (poetry)
A verse is formally a single line in a metrical composition, e.g. poetry. However, the word has come to represent any division or grouping of words in such a composition, which traditionally had been referred to as a stanza....
s of mostly fifteen and sixteen syllable
Syllable
A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus with optional initial and final margins .Syllables are often considered the phonological "building...
s with a caesura
Caesura
thumb|100px|An example of a caesura in modern western music notation.In meter, a caesura is a complete pause in a line of poetry or in a musical composition. The plural form of caesura is caesuras or caesurae...
after the seventh and eighth syllable, respectively. They include the oldest known recorded epic poems, written down in the fifteenth century.
It is considered to be older epic layer of South Slavic oral tradition
Oral tradition
Oral tradition and oral lore is cultural material and traditions transmitted orally from one generation to another. The messages or testimony are verbally transmitted in speech or song and may take the form, for example, of folktales, sayings, ballads, songs, or chants...
which existed probably before the 15th century, and disappeared by the middle of the 18th century. The earliest known poem classified as bugarštica was recorded in 1497 by Italian poet Rogeri de Pacienza di Nardò. He was present when it was sung by refugees from the Serbian Despotate
Serbian Despotate
The Serbian Despotate was a Serbian state, the last to be conquered by the Ottoman Empire. Although the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 is generally considered the end of the medieval Serbian state, the Despotate, a successor of the Serbian Empire and Moravian Serbia survived for 70 more years,...
who had settled in the village of Gioia del Colle
Gioia del Colle
Gioia del Colle is a town and comune in the province of Bari, Apulia, Italy. The town is located on the Murge plateau at 360 metres above sea level.- History :...
, southern Italy.
During the 16–17th centuries they were collected in Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
and the Bay of Kotor
Bay of Kotor
The Bay of Kotor in south-western Montenegro is a winding bay on the Adriatic Sea. The bay, sometimes called Europe's southernmost fjord, is in fact a submerged river canyon of the disintegrated Bokelj River which used to run from the high mountain plateaus of Mount Orjen...
, on the Adriatic Coast and islands, by learned poets and priests (Petar Hektorović
Petar Hektorovic
Petar Hektorović was a Croatian writer.Hektorović was born and died in Stari Grad, Hvar. He was a poet and collector of Hvar's fishermen songs, and an important figure of the Renaissance period in Croatian literature...
, c. 1555; Juraj Baraković, Nikola Ohumućević, Jozo Betondić, Djuro Matijašević etc.), about 85 bugarštica songs in total. They were published in the late 19th century by Franz Miklosich, Alexander Hilferding, and most completely by Valtazar Bogišić (1878).
Although some bugarštica's content is closely related to historiography, especially to the history of Ludovik Crijević Tuberon and Mauro Orbini's Il regno degli Slavi (1601), they are generally deemed to be oral songs, transmitted orally. The bugarštica's themes vary not only in the scope of this type, but also in respect of decasyllabic songs. They sing about prominent battles (Kosovo 1389, 1448; Varna 1444 etc.) and Serbian, Hungarian, Croatian, Bosnian feudal lords 14th-16th centuries, and local battles in Perast and Boka Kotorska in the 17th ct. They conserved archaic customs, manners, etiquette, descriptions of attire, weapon, etc., and have specific composition, narration and poetics. They integrate different cultural and ethnic layers and represent significant monument of South Slavic folklore.
According to the ethnographer Krste Misirkov
Krste Misirkov
Krste Petkov Misirkov was a philologist, slavist, historian, ethnographer, publicist author of the first book and scientific magazine in Macedonian, where he for the first time outlined the principles of the literary Macedonian language...
the style of this songs is a result of the Bulgarian musical influence during the Middle Ages over the Serbian and Croatian epic songs. This hypothesis is hard to verify, as there are no records of medieval Bulgarian epic songs. Maurice Bowra
Maurice Bowra
Sir Cecil Maurice Bowra was an English classical scholar and academic, known for his wit. He was Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, from 1938 to 1970, and served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford from 1951 to 1954.-Birth and boyhood:...
, however, argued that the sixteen-syllable line of bugarštica was of Bulgarian origin "since the Bulgarians still use eight-syllable lines, which may be the two halves of an old sixteen-syllable".
The term bugarštica was first recorded in 1566 by Petar Hektorović, in his reference to two songs he collected from Croatian fishermen from the Adriatic island of Hvar
Hvar
- Climate :The climate of Hvar is characterized by mild winters and warm summers. The yearly average air temperature is , 686 mm of precipitation fall on the town of Hvar on average every year and the town has a total of 2800 sunshine hours per year. For comparison Hvar has an average of 7.7...
. There are two predominant theories regarding the etymology of bugarštica. Researchers such as Vatroslav Jagić
Vatroslav Jagic
Vatroslav Jagić was a Croatian language researcher and a famous expert in Slavic languages in the second half of the 19th century.-Life:...
, Tomo Maretić, and Matija Murko
Matija Murko
Matija Murko also known as Mathias Murko was a Slovene scholar, known mostly for his work on oral epic traditions in the Serbo-Croatian language .- Life :...
, posit that it was derived from the root bugar "Bulgarian", indicating the direction of spread of bugarštica from a contact area between Bulgaria and Serbia towards the Adriatic coast. Other names, such as pjesan bugarska "Bulgarian song", were applied to these songs, also referred to as the "Serbian manner [of singing]".
According to scholars Ivan Slamnig
Ivan Slamnig
Ivan Slamnig was a Croatian poet, novelist, literary theorist and translator.Slamnig was born in Metković. He graduated from the University of Zagreb Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in 1955 and later taught at its Department of Comparative Literature.Slamnig is considered one of the most...
, Ilya Golenishchev-Kutuzov
Ilya Golenishchev-Kutuzov
Ilya Nikolaevich Golenishchev-Kutuzov was a Russian philologist, poet, and translator. He was an expert on Romanic and Slavic philology, and comparative literature. He authored works on Dante Alighieri and the Renaissance literature.-References:...
, Nada Milošević-Đorđević
Nada Milošević-Đorđević
Nada Milošević-Đorđević is a Serbian literary historian and professor at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Philology...
, and others, the term developed from the Latin vulgaricus or lingua vulgaris "common people's language", or carmen vulgare "folk song", denoting ballads composed in the spoken Slavic vernacular in Dalmatia, as opposed to those composed in the literary Latin. The change of the initial v into b could be due to folk etymology, associating vulgare with the similarly sounding Slavic root bugar. Slamnig also points out that vulgare was alternatively spelled as bulgare, when it referred to the Slavic language of the Adriatic Coast.