Those of us in the diaspora who do not speak the literary language write it like this.

Ergya (rust) = 'rgya
Dervo (wood) = d'rvo
Ermba (walk about) 'rmba
Gus (bum) = g's
Patele (the village) = P'tele
Terga (pull) = T'rga


It's not plural, it's just a way of talking. Zevaiti is singular (take) and the opposite is Davaiti (give). For plural it would be zevaite and davaite.

As for r'nka, that sounds almost Kosturchanski. My dentist was from Kostur and instead of saying zabi or z'bi, for teeth, he used to say z'mbi.


This is fairly common, shifting the o to u and the d to t. Also shifting the v to f.

Dyado for dedo is also found in other Slavonic languages, e.g., Polish for example.

Suhin,

Your proverb:

"На чуст гус*, сто чумаки."

Is most probably:

„На чужд г’с, сто чумаки“

Which means, a hudread beatings on someone others back does not hurt all that much.

But it can also be something completely different:

„На чист гас, сто чумаки“.

Meaning: I was punished, although I was innocent.

Чумаки is an interesting word. I can't find a parallel in other dialects. It can be a very local word, or a loan word from turkish, greek, jewish, vlach... A more common words are: стап, ластегарка, камшик.

The short у is common and very similar to the half-vowel marked as '. In the dialectal literature they have several different ways of marking it, and they do use у or a with some ligatures above or below it.

Suho is very close to the "jot" border, so you can surely find both examples of using "jat" and "e", like дјадо and тета. As far as I know, the first case should be more common, since the border is a little bit to the west of Suho.

Ут in the place of од is common for all south-eastern Macedonian dialects, including my native Strumicki. Same for у or уф, in the place of во.

I don't quite understand what phrases were you asking me about?

If it was for the

"зевај ти р'нка"

It can be Kosturski, as maknews already wrote, since they still keep the old nazal dark vowel, very typical in the Church Slavonic (some other western dialects in R. Macedonia and Albania also have remnants of it). But it can be Suho too, since, as far as I know, in Suho the nazal dark vowel is also well preserved.

Поздрав

Other various greetings:

Да си жив и здрав

Господ здравје да ти даде

Голем да пораснеш (за дете)

Ај останете со здравје

Лека ноќ (meaning Good night)

I was talking about what you' ve also answered, but also about"

1) The use of Што праваш instead of stanadard Macedonian Што правиш or Шо праиш that is used in Voden or Lerin.

2)The use of Кучјада (plural of Кучја) instead of Кучиња (plural of куче).

3)The use of хубаво instead of убаво.

Where else the above could be found?

PS1. I think you're wright about the proverb. The first version is the meaning that my dad gave for it. It actually is "На чужд г’с, сто чумаки".
PS2. As of "зевајти р'нка" my dad told me it is plural. Thus if it was written it would be "зевајтe р'нка". But they sometimes pronounce final -e in 2nd person plural as -и.

Thanks for your help and patience.

One more bear is мечка in Suho.

1. Што праваш is common in eastern macedonian dialects. More often as: Шо праваш. They are all variations of the same thing. It is only that the vowels are either ommited or modified.

2. Кучјада sounds much like: кучета (кучјата). It is found in Maleshevo, Pirin Macedonia and most likely Dojran, Kukush, Seres, Drama and Kavala. In other dialects it would be кучиња.

3. The use of хубаво instead of убаво - this is the matter of the silent х sound. In most macedonian dialects the initial х is silent. But in some western ones, like Ohrid or posibly Kostur too, it is not. So in ohrid dialect is is also hubavo, instead of ubavo. Lately this initial х is diminishing, so I'm not sure if you can still hear it in the current Ohrid speaking.

Meчка is bear in all macedonian dialects. And in most slavic languages for that matter. There are two words for bear in Slavic languages: мечка and медвед. Both have mean the same thing: honey eater: мед is honey.

By the way the recently ellected russian president is Мечкаров in macedonian (Медведев in russian). lol

Нема на што (You are very welcome)

Слободно прашувај си (don't hessitate to ask)

Ако можам, задоволство ќе ми биде да ти помогнам (It would be my pleasure to help wherever I can)

You see the same thing with other characters as well. For example, wheat, is pronounced as 'chenitsa' or 'cheintsa' whereas some dialect still retain the 'p' at the front and pronounce it 'pchenitsa'.

The verb want is иштам in Suho.

A saying my dad told me:
"Другуш котка, другуш мачка."
I can translate it bat I can't get its meaning. Котка are мачка are 2 words for cat aren't they.

Иштам or искам one of the four words that mean: want, like or love in the south slavic dialectal continuum. The four words are:

1. сака (the main word in the standard Macedonian)
2. иска (found as изискува - to require, in the standard Macedonian)
3. љуби (meaning mostly to love, to like or to lust)
4. жели (found as желба in the standard Macedonian)

Искам is used in Maleshevo (Berovo area) where my mother is from, as the main verb for want. Иште, exactly in that form, is found in many croatioan and slovenian dialects. It is also the standard slovenian word for want.



This is harder to guess. Kotka and machka are both cat, but kotka is usually used for a small cat, kitten. Koti means: to give birth, but only for an animal.

1. Човекот се раѓа
2. Животните се котат

So kotka may simply mean: kitten. Друг means other, different.

So the saying may mean: Kittens are different than cats. It can refer to a reaction of an immature person, versus a reaction of a mature one. Much like the english saying: to make out boys from the men.

But if kotka in your dialect does not mean a kitten, but is a clear synonim for a cat, than the saying can mean something compleletly different:

Не по врат, туку по шија.

Both vrat and shija mean neck, and this saying is used when an anternate affliction hits you, that is no better than the original one that you just avoided. I've also heard the following:

Не вол, туку теле.

Meaning that you have just avoided a bigger danger, but a smaller, of the same kind, you were not able to avoid.

Keep them comming. We can all learn a thing or two about our beautiful macedonian language, and rich and diverse dialects.

Wow, very impressive.

Другуш is widely used in pirinsko and rodopsko.It means drug p`t .I dont know how accurately to translate it in English though.IN this song its like next time dont lie to me


Пила съм вода студена
на Роженскана планино,
люта съм змийка изпила,
та ма на корем заеде...

Иди ми, майчо, порукай
даръдеренски дохторе -
змийкаса да ми извадят -
на корем да ми олекне!

Дощеро моя, майчина,
ту не е змийка усойна,
ту не е змийка усойна,
ами е дете летошно!

Ами е дете летошно
от дерековски овчерин!
Сега ти кабул е правен
и другуш да ма не ложиш!

kotka and macka are both synonims and mean exactly the same
As for istam in Pirin its iskam but what are looking for would be што иштиш so it could mean that as well

Nicola,

Nice song. The mother was able to identify the father, without any DNA tests.



Two things: here другуш means simply again, or never again.

The language of the song is also very interesting. Most features of the dialect resemble south-eastern Macedonian dialects. I was confused with the last word though: ложиш. I would expect it to be: лaжиш. If it was a western Macedonian dialect ложиш would be normal. On the other hand, I've heard that the rodope dialects also say: мож, рока, instead of маж, рака. So this would place this song into rodope dialectal area.

pojata is use by my grandfather in bosnia for the place above stable where hay is kept.

bara is the same in serbian/croatian

krma is the same in serbian/croatian

for the huzelnut tree my granfather used to say ljeska

its zakrastaviaha, means late. it goes from word krasta. in the past in thrakia used to say for the man that sits in one place for a long time: hvana go krasta, zakrastaviaha...

ište as well as iska is still used in here. my colege often ask me "da poiskam nešto" (to ask for something)..but today its more archaic i would say...

All seven south slavic languages exist in a dialectal continuum, meaning there are no natural borders between any of the languages. Many words, like this iska (ishte) exist in all or most south slavic langauges, in different positions (as main words, or as archaisms, or as roots for other words).

It is true that in Bulgaria iska is far more common than in Macedonia, but saka and even zheli are also present, so the bulgarian languages is not an exception, being one of the seven south slavic langauges.

I just deleted a bunch of irrelevant posts. If people want to have arguments, do so elsewhere and leave this thread alone.

I think these are the books you are reading.
Dwie gwary macedońskie(Suhe i Wysoka w Soluńskiem) – Teksty
Dwie gwary macedońskie(Suhe i Wysoka w Soluńskiem) - Słownik
Mieczysław Małecki
http://damj.manu.edu.mk/materijali.html
Thanks to Deki for finding them.

Suhin,

I was actually reading from an online book by a Bulgarian dialectologist. He makes way too many political conclusions of what is a purely linguistic material, so that's way I was reluctant to send you the link.

Now that I (for the first time in my life) have Myaceslav Malecki's book, I can see that the bulgarian dialectologist was basically using his examples and giving them a different spin.

Thank you and Deki for the link. It has several books that are extremenly important for the study of our language.

I'll brifely transcribe phonetically one of Malecki's examples, and give the same text in the standard language, just to compare how close the dialect is to the standard langauge:

Как се сај лозе

Ја урат нивата четир, пет урала, станува хубаф надас и сетне зевами лозита и те са удбирани пујна, пујна, се равни лози, зевами и фитифтирита, утивами на нивата, утегнувами ина хортума, правими ина кука и идин чувек сас куката и два лјуди држат хортумата, идин от идину крај, другју от другју крај; и ној сас куката заска пу хортумата, прави чизија.

Битисува чизијата ја удмастуват хортумата ину метру пунататак и така мастистем хортумата ја чизилидисуват сас куката шичката нива и сетне са убрнуват пак инак ја утегнуват хортумата, за да дојдат чизијиту крстума и така сетне зеват двамина душа пуина фитифтура и ут крсхча на крсхча прувалјат ропки и идин чувек наполјат клава лози на ропкита и двамина душа напослјат имат пу пуино колча и ги фтискат лозите и така са сај лозету.

(now the same text in the standard Macedonian language)

Како се сади лозје

Ја ораат нивата четири пет рала (пати), станува убав надас (рамно изорана нива) и сетне ги земаме лозите, а тие се одбирани една по една, се рамни лози, ги земаме фитфирита (во снопчиња), отидуваме на нивата, оптегнуваме една ортома, правиме една кука, еден човек со куката и двајца луѓе ја држат ортомата, еден од едниот крај, другиот од другиот крај; и оној со куката ја лизга по ортомата, прави чизија (шарка, гребнатина по нивата).

Кога ќе се заврши чизијата ја поместуваат ортомата едно метро понатака и така со ортомата ја чизилдисуваат (шараат) со куката сета нива и сетне се обрнуваат инаку и ја оптегнуваат ортомата, за да дојдат чизиите крстома (накрст) и така сетне земаат двамина души по една фитифтура (снопче од лозанки) и од крвче на крвче прават дупки, а еден човек по нив клава лози во дупките и двамина души најнакрај имаат по едно колче и ги втиснуваат лозите и така се сади лозјето.

За* пани теслата, за удри Костандата.
The adze will fall and it will hit Kostanda (Kostantina).
It is told when someone is waiting for something bad to happen, without making any effort to prevent it from happening.
There's as short story along with this proverb. There was Kostanda and she was sleeping in her bed. When someone noticed that the rope that helt an adze on its position on the wall, and above Kostanda's head, was about to break everybody started crying and saying: "За пани теслата, за удри Костандата.", instead of taking the adze from above Kostanda's head.

*за = will (future tense)

Happy new year.

Happy New Year, Suhin!

Среќна Нова Година Сухин и од мене,

I've heard the same saying from my Kukush neighbors:

Ки падне теслата, ки утепа Костандата.

It seems to be related with a similar saying that is very common all over Macedonia, and has an oposite meaning:

На нероден Петко капа му кројат.
(They are tailoring a hat for an unborn baby Petko).

This is used when people plan and fear too far ahead. The story behind the saying is quite similar and possibly related with the one you just told us.

Две јатрви штотуку останале бремени, па седнале да им кројат капи на бебињата. Збореле што збореле па решиле едното бебе да го крстат Митко, другото Петко. Откога ја завршиле таа работа, почнале да се договараат каде ќе спијата бебињата. Едната јатрва рекла: еве на мој Митко колепката ќе му ја ставиме ваму, а на твој Петко таму. Другата јатрва веднаш се побунила: ами твојот маж таму ја обесува теслата. Што ако се скине ортомата, и теслата падне врз Петко и го отепа.

Two sisters in law just became pregnant, so they sat down to tailor hats for their babies. They quickly agreed on the names of the future babies to be Mitko and Petko. Once they accomplished that, they started to negotiate where will they put the babies's cribs. The first sister-in-law said: let my Mitko's crib be here, and your's Petko's over there. The other siste-in-law immediately protested: your hustband hangs his adze overthere. What is the rope breaks, the adze fells on Petko and kills him.