Šatrovacki
Encyclopedia
Šatrovački is a feature of permuting syllables of words used in Serbian
, Croatian
, Bosnian
and Macedonian
. It is similar to verlan
and louchébem
in French
. The term is sometimes used to describe other slang in which words are deformed, as well.
Šatrovački was initially developed by criminals in Yugoslavia
, as it was incomprehensible to police. Today, it is spread among youth in informal speech and its variants are found in all languages that can be linguistically categorized as South Slavic
. It is more widespread in urban areas, such as Belgrade
, Zagreb
and Sarajevo
.
Some words are more commonly spoken in Šatrovački than others, but there is no specific rule. Examples of transformed sentences (although, most of the words in a single sentence are rarely transformed) are:
Alternative Utrovački is same as above, but without "ZA", e.g. pivo (beer) becomes uvopinje, or cigare (tobacco) becomes ugarecinje.
This is particularly characteristic of Novi Sad
youth subculture, and is very rarely spoken outside of Vojvodina
.
These diminutives can later be combined using the Šatrovački method, resulting in words like kajblo, or kićblo. However, this is a rare usage, confined to the area of Zemun
and New Belgrade.
Also there is another type of šatrovački, where the words are reconstructed by addition of letter P after each syllable:
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
, Croatian
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
, Bosnian
Bosnian language
Bosnian is a South Slavic language, spoken by Bosniaks. As a standardized form of the Shtokavian dialect, it is one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina....
and Macedonian
Macedonian language
Macedonian is a South Slavic language spoken as a first language by approximately 2–3 million people principally in the region of Macedonia but also in the Macedonian diaspora...
. It is similar to verlan
Verlan
Verlan is an argot in the French language, featuring inversion of syllables in a word, and is common in slang and youth language. It rests on a long French tradition of transposing syllables of individual words to create slang words...
and louchébem
Louchébem
Louchébem or loucherbem is Parisian and Lyonnaise butchers' slang, similar to Pig Latin and Verlan. It originated in the mid-19th century. Each word is transformed by moving the first consonant to the end; and suffixes such as -ème, -ji, -oc, -muche are added at the end; the letter "L" is placed...
in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
. The term is sometimes used to describe other slang in which words are deformed, as well.
Šatrovački was initially developed by criminals in Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
, as it was incomprehensible to police. Today, it is spread among youth in informal speech and its variants are found in all languages that can be linguistically categorized as South Slavic
South Slavic languages
The South Slavic languages comprise one of three branches of the Slavic languages. There are approximately 30 million speakers, mainly in the Balkans. These are separated geographically from speakers of the other two Slavic branches by a belt of German, Hungarian and Romanian speakers...
. It is more widespread in urban areas, such as Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
, Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
and Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
.
Standard šatrovački
Words are formed by replacing the syllable order. For example: pivo (beer), becomes vopi. The new word has the same meaning as the stem. Since the spelling is nearly phonetic it does not change. However, sometimes one of the vowels is changed to make the new word easier to pronounce, avoid ambiguity, or if the stem word is not in nominative. For example, trava (grass, often used for marijuana) would become vutra(travu in reverse) instead of vatra (harder to pronuounce, also meaning fire).Some words are more commonly spoken in Šatrovački than others, but there is no specific rule. Examples of transformed sentences (although, most of the words in a single sentence are rarely transformed) are:
-
- Brate, neću da igram fudbal. (Bro, I don't want to play football.)
- Tebra, ćune da ramig dbalfu.
- Zemun zakon brate (literally: ZemunZemunZemun is a historical town and one of the 17 municipalities which constitute the City of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia...
is the law bro - meaning: Zemun rules dude) - Munze konza tebra
- Pazi brate, murija! (Watch out mate - cops! murija is slang for police)
- Zipa tebra, rijamu!
Common examples
- zeldi - dizel (chavChavA chav is a term that is used in the United Kingdom to describe a stereotype of teenagers and young adults from an underclass background.-Etymology:...
) - ciba - baci (throw, throw it)
- mojne - nemoj (don't, imperative)
- loma - malo (some)
- tebra - brate (brother, vocative)
- Ganci - Cigan (Gypsy)
- ljakse - seljak (peasant, derogatory depending on usage)
- zipa - pazi (pay attention, imperative)
- tenkre - kreten (idiot)
- katabr naže - brkata žena (woman with moustaches, for example Frida KahloFrida KahloFrida Kahlo de Rivera was a Mexican painter, born in Coyoacán, and perhaps best known for her self-portraits....
) - zabr nahra - brza hrana (fast foodFast foodFast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a...
) - hopsi - psiho (PsychoPsychopathyPsychopathy is a mental disorder characterized primarily by a lack of empathy and remorse, shallow emotions, egocentricity, and deceptiveness. Psychopaths are highly prone to antisocial behavior and abusive treatment of others, and are very disproportionately responsible for violent crime...
) - vugla - glava (head)
- ljadro - drolja (ho')
- vutra - trava (weedWeedA weed in a general sense is a plant that is considered by the user of the term to be a nuisance, and normally applied to unwanted plants in human-controlled settings, especially farm fields and gardens, but also lawns, parks, woods, and other areas. More specifically, the term is often used to...
, slang for marijuana) - fuka - kafa (coffeeCoffeeCoffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
) - gudra - droga (drugs, narcotics in general)
- vopi - pivo (beer)
- suljpa - pasulj (beans)
- vozdra - zdravo (hello)
- čkapi or capi - pička or pica (cunt, also used as an insult)
- dismr - smrdi (it stinks!)
- žika - kaži (say, speak)
- konza - zakon (law, slang for excellent)
- balfud - fudbal (soccer)
- vuspra - sprava (tool or device, referring to spliff)
- cupi - pica (lit. pussy, referring to a pretty girl)
- rijamu - murija, from milicija (police)
- sajsi - sisaj (to suck, imperative)
- Šone - Nešo (male name or nickname)
- Šomi - Mišo (male name or nickname)
- Kiza - Zoki (male nickname)
- Rijama - Marija (female name)
- Kblo Konza - Blok Zakon (Blok rules}Blok of New Belgrade (Belgrade suburb)
- Munze Konza - ZemunZemunZemun is a historical town and one of the 17 municipalities which constitute the City of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia...
Zakon! (Zemun} rules - tozla - Zlato (gold)
- Rajvosa - SarajevoSarajevoSarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
- pakšu - Šupak (vulg. butthole, insult)
- racku - Kurac (vulg. dick, penis)
- žmu - Muž (husband)
- rise - Ne seri (no shit)
- d - Dinozaver
- sepra - Prase (pig)
Utrovački
Utrovački (Утровачки) is a more complex form of šatrovački. Words are formed using: U + last part + ZA + first part + NJE. E.g. vikipedija (Wikipedia) becomes ukipedijazavinje. Today, utrovački is not widely used.Alternative Utrovački is same as above, but without "ZA", e.g. pivo (beer) becomes uvopinje, or cigare (tobacco) becomes ugarecinje.
Leaving out syllables
A more simplified version of Šatrovački is using only parts of the word, while excluding the first syllable, and is most commonly used among young people in Serbia. For example, koncert (concert) would be shorthened to cert. The rules of creating a new word that can be used in nominative while the stem is not apply similarly to standard šatrovački. An example of a full sentence would be:-
- Drugari i ja idemo na koncert na Tvrđavi. (My friends and I are going to a concert on the Fortress)
- Gari i ja idemo na cert na Đavi.
This is particularly characteristic of Novi Sad
Novi Sad
Novi Sad is the capital of the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina, and the administrative centre of the South Bačka District. The city is located in the southern part of Pannonian Plain on the Danube river....
youth subculture, and is very rarely spoken outside of Vojvodina
Vojvodina
Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...
.
Common examples
- zika - muzika (music)
- cert - koncert (concert)
- đava - tvrđava (fortress, in Novi Sad often refers to PetrovaradinPetrovaradinPetrovaradin , is part of the agglomeration of Novi Sad in Serbia...
fortress) - gari - drugari (friends, while gari is usually used as singular)
- fika - trafika (news stand)
- kić - sokić (demunitive of juice)
- nica - stanica (station)
- šulja - košulja (shirt)
- lone - pantalone (trousers)
- tike - patike (sneakers)
- njačić - vinjačić (DiminutiveDiminutiveIn language structure, a diminutive, or diminutive form , is a formation of a word used to convey a slight degree of the root meaning, smallness of the object or quality named, encapsulation, intimacy, or endearment...
for VinjakVinjakVinjak is a brandy produced in Serbia by the Rubin Kruševac company. Previously known as Cognac, it was renamed Vinjak when stricter laws governing the what may be branded Cognac came into force...
, an alcoholic drink similar to CognacCognac (drink)Cognac , named after the town of Cognac in France, is a variety of brandy. It is produced in the wine-growing region surrounding the town from which it takes its name, in the French Departements of Charente and Charente-Maritime....
) - tija - kutija (box, cd case)
- ljara - pepeljara (ashtray)
- ljada - hiljada (thousand)
- bica - torbica (bag, handbag)
- čka - pička (vulg. girl, lady, bitch)
Adding syllables
A very rare but present form of expression found in the Belgrade projects (blokovi). Words are reconstructed by adding various suffixes so that the original word remains relatively intact. Usually, the basis is šatrovački. The resulting words have a generally diminutive meaning.Examples
- kajblo or kićblo - blok (Blok of suburb BlokoviBlokoviBlokovi is the semi-formal plural name for a group of urban neighborhoods in Belgrade's municipality of Novi Beograd....
or New Belgrade) - kićso or kajso - sok (juice)
- pajdo - dop (heroin)
These diminutives can later be combined using the Šatrovački method, resulting in words like kajblo, or kićblo. However, this is a rare usage, confined to the area of Zemun
Zemun
Zemun is a historical town and one of the 17 municipalities which constitute the City of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia...
and New Belgrade.
Also there is another type of šatrovački, where the words are reconstructed by addition of letter P after each syllable:
Examples
- dipizepel - dizel (chav)
- bapacipi - baci (throw)
- nepemopoj - nemoj (don't)
- mapalopo - malo (some)
- brapatepe - brate (brother)
- cipigapan - cigan (gypsy)
- pepedeper - peder (homosexual)
- sepeljapak - seljak (peasant)
- papazipi - pazi (pay attention)
- krepetepen - kreten (idiot)
See also
- Croatian languageCroatian languageCroatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
- Serbian languageSerbian languageSerbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
- Serbo-Croatian languageSerbo-Croatian languageSerbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat, less commonly Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian , is a South Slavic language with multiple standards and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro...
- Bosnian languageBosnian languageBosnian is a South Slavic language, spoken by Bosniaks. As a standardized form of the Shtokavian dialect, it is one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina....
- Macedonian languageMacedonian languageMacedonian is a South Slavic language spoken as a first language by approximately 2–3 million people principally in the region of Macedonia but also in the Macedonian diaspora...
- BanjačkiBanjackiBanjački is secret language of bricklayers from Podrinje region .The language was invented by brickworkers from Osat in eastern Bosnia and later spread to surrounding regions. Brickworkers are using when they want to hide something from their employers. Serbian author Dragan Panić classifies it as...
- MeshterskiMeshterskiMeshterski or Meshtrenski was the cant, or secret sociolect, of the south Bulgarian builders, bricklayers and masons. The name comes from the word мещра meshtra, "master", from Latin magister...
- VerlanVerlanVerlan is an argot in the French language, featuring inversion of syllables in a word, and is common in slang and youth language. It rests on a long French tradition of transposing syllables of individual words to create slang words...
- same principle as Šatrovački, in FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts... - VesreVesreVesre is one of the features of Rioplatense Spanish slang. Natives of Buenos Aires and Uruguay use vesre sparingly in colloquial speaking, and never in formal circumstances...
- ditto, in Argentine SpanishSpanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...