(pp. 293-300) w. m. ramsay - a romaic ballad

8/9/2019 (Pp. 293-300) W. M. Ramsay - A Romaic Ballad

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A ROMAIC BALLAD. 293

A ROMAIC BALLAD.

THE following popular song was shown me by M. Fontrier,one of the directors of the museum belonging to the EvangelicalSchool in Smyrna, who had heard it during a visit to Icaria inthe year 1874. As the song is interesting from its referenceto mediaeval history, I urged M. Fontrier to publish it, but hepreferred to put it at my disposal. With his kind help, which

is always most generously given in everything that concernsthe study of Greek, the following pages have been written. Aslight account of the historical circumstances to which theballad refers would form a fitting commentary; but materialsfor this are not at hand. The account given by Ross (Reisenaaf den griech. Inseln, ii. 6, 156 ff.) of his visit to the islandforms an excellent geographical commentary. M. Fontriervisited most parts of the island, and from his notes I give some

additionsand corrections to Ross on

points connected with theballad.

[The event referred to in the ballad seems to belong to theoccupation of Icaria by the Genoese in the middle of thefourteenth century, when thb island of Chios was conquered bythat people, and became the property of a Maona or tradingcompany, who held it for 220 years, from 1346-1566. Thiscompany soon annexed some of the neighbouring islands, andamong them Icaria, as we learn from an agreement madebetween them and the Byzantine court in 1363, according towhich the Genoese were to retain possession of Chios, Samos,Icaria, and some other places, in return for the payment of ayearly tribute. (Finlay, History of Greece, v., pp. 70-79;

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294 A ROMAIC BALLAD.

Hertzberg, Geschichte Griechenlands seit demn Absterben desantiken Lebens, i., p. 294.-ED.]

'P•pa r

6XoiTrEwo

Tô dpxalov4opovplov

81Xov KdoTrpov7ri 'IKapLa ELS Tr

KoO-KLvt Orv ^Tlparos M?c7o-apLasv.

'Avdlepua ryF&oyo3a ToErdve Kpvcopa'dTr•,floi wi7ryav vZ 7arTGo-ovU& 7T0 Ntcaptai rb Kado-rpo,

'Oroirov ica'o'rps aKcovo'rov, 'ravrroG aicovoe'yo.layv ypraot, dpdao, p•rrpoara ei 7ro DIavdapt,5 Zeppa P~X o0Vvr ayG0iovpe, la T raXa/ipta,KV' ctrrdvaY l 7V C)0'rpta l[XvouvraTa o-tyovpdV'rateT.'Ec'

q•lpaaotV v 7r6orTa 6rovi KaXa ryvcopet.

Tlv vteTra..

o'-or icraoa- Kt' 6Xovicrs c(iX a.Kai Floa

TOaa /aleea a

vya 'TrAXaye&5uav

10 Kai ca'v ryXvxoxapara-, er av 'A1a7 a LKaioTrav jvedavao- Trbv Kadtwrro 70 PtX'lrrr'rov,'ElceE bovv 3TaydXao't

v' acoVtcrovv 4' Tb Kaorrpo.

Kavwvas&v e3pOil~Ice a6r6fcpeorev

vv 7v'+4,M6vaXa caxd,8povXol 6oryepov d 'AroaS•is:--15 'M8rca Kcal 6appet, o Frye•vop3a, cat o5, Jo Kpvcopadcrl,'HW9 ev' TtL &o8eica v2Uah o7ro

78'aXlpaXoaWrea•,' Ka\i Xa 7al TXe/tdarpa lrOX•• al,

a lbXa 7ra Xcdpag rw'pve' ;''E8(tvat icarpo oop/epo, 7ravrov

^

axcov1vo.'

~T7p1 IlXtvKai aT

\

BEYET•6

oxovva)YpabLO O

20 ' 270ro aao-eteT 1TrKc• epat rx'XoV ao-ralkr-ap-topevo.' eFt v ipOovv o0l v ae• a~X oil, ol /ao-rporoXep/Trauv,'T6re sAWrOXeJ./tJlee vaVTt7raparaX-rq-E.''

Kal 7ro-v' rovv, oL vvYLta8e'•ooo vav7rtraparaxroD.e '' Meav •4seX 7ravypevovt aEravo a-'r)vy Aacyrcca.'25 T7'e6 rti' avTro7 tuoa-a•cT • rToaryX yopdaa,

Fvupr ovv, 7'ptyvpi~ovv to 7rapaio/LvU' xt'v ,Ke' rvav (p7rio 7v7 ' 6Xov yTOv ravalOeFartoiaE'voV'HTOv 7rplaoa aTr' avrov9 7roXXa 8Gaoc-aXE/Lp'ovoKa'ptydXXLeL rd paxaipa pyt vTocaly Katce Ta O-KaXadlta

30 Kal o XoToOiovXovOjo'aac va Icdova- Paao-d'ra.K-6'VW lOpi`TOt icaOra t adravwo8t

a70-icdo-Tpov,

Kai aTeKeCt 4ca raparaXeZ 6 A~l 7rl KcapStal rov.




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Aryle pov Fewpeyi Aopyava^, A.eya'Xov ' 'voyd o-ov,' MerydX

,eX•70 rov7

Xatptcov icaL rT 7rpoa•DVr1lyd cov.

35 ' Na oapco TPV 7rXalic'oa Ftov calrKa Ppw o&ca KaToCO.Ka t PlXre/ Tv 7rXai•tr7a ~T7,ical 7raipel 8'ica

icdarwoKai ?avasev7epovetPT7V xai~IcaLVE•t 70tov 7ptavT7aKa'b avasevTepdve et

7Vcal,'E

c, Two70-.e7revJV7a

Ka?n'raXt avarpirwoa-e

cal rdoaav evyV7a.40 Eva andr

'avotilv a drb?, obv XaXtdc8aLv

Abv'Tv 7 I7'K65plv aya7ral, yd iceiv28 6'V v0 'erEvOV,

av7o'EdTrpodpaXXv

arravw

aco aOre/ rOvE :-

' Eva /KoplTt KIdO(7Tadtr1 avwot 701oKIcdo'7poU

'Av'ovad pov xaplaye icail '3/yo v

acatf .'

45 Ki' a'To ro 70V Vroa7x-0l7oav ra 701 •0o XapltoovvKt aXX 7roXXaoXX8p.rpara T)o-'re vd TrOVy voIryKal Ta cKXet d 7rov ppteO ~ow a're 7/Tob rev•r•TE.TOTe9 vb'rol rJwcKao-t Xot

ap/.amra&6vot.1' 7'V7e rytol 7 9 Kc o-ratva9, o1Kao-rpo'nrohXarats,0 'Aprdfav T7Ov /tavovXao v 70vw' be'o' rb Lptodvt raTtw.

Anathema on the Genoese and on the Weaver-of-deceits,Who went to surprise the castle of Icaria,Which was a famous castle, everywhere renowned.When they came, they anchored in front of Phanari:On the left they throw the anchors, the cables behind,And up to the South they throw the safest anchors.There they found the guide who well knows.In the

night theyreconnoitred

it,and all

night long theymarched :And in the deepest of the dawn Ypselae was full:And when the light was breaking, Atsidae was crowded.And when they appeared on the Field of PhilipThere they uttered a shout, to.be heard at the castle.No one was found to send back answer,Only the old Atsides, man of dark stratagems:'You surely do not think, O Genoese, and you, O Weaver-of-

deceits,'Thut it is the twelve islands that you subdue,'And capture all the castles, and take all the towns ?'Here is a terrible castle, everywhere renowned,'In Stamboul and in Venice they have it pictured,




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'In the chambers of the emperor they have it stamped.'Let the nine brothers once be here, the takers of castles,'Then set yourselves against them to fight.''And where are they, the nine brothers, that we may set our-

selves against them ?''They are marrying their sister up in Langadha.'Thereupon they approached with such speed,They encircled it and triply encircled it; it finds no surrender.And one little fellow accursed beyond all of themWas very experienced, more than they,And he thrusts in his daggers and makes them into a ladder,And all followed him to make an assault.And a damsel sits on the top of the castle,And she stands and prays with all her heart:'Dear Saint George of Dhorgana, great is thy name,'Great is thy grace and thy sanctuary.'Let me grasp my little slab and strike down ten.'And she throws her little slab and strikes down ten,

And once more she throws and makes them thirty,And once more she throws and killed fifty,And again she threw and ninety perish.One of the accursed ones of the ChalikadaeLoves this girl, but she does not accept him.Forthwith this fellow thrusts his head forth over the rampart,'A girl is sitting on the top of the castle,'Give her to me, and I will be your teacher.'

And they promised him to give her to himWith many gifts besides, that he might open to them.And he threw them the keys out from the rampart.Then they entered all armed.The five sons of Costas' wife, the takers of castles,Took their mother: into (Mount) Prion they go.

The Island of Icaria, which is simply a mountain ridgestretching from N.E. to S.W. in continuation of Samos, is nowdivided into three districts (Icap'r'pta, rTt'~,vara).

Of thesePhanari lies to the east, and Messaria occupies the middle ofthe island. A chain of mountains which runs transverselyacross the island separates them. Mliessaria ies on the northern,and Phanari on the southern slope. Towards the west the




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island is a series of ridges and hills, which give name to the thirddistrict,

'Pdavt,also called Parameria. The term

Uioovhas of

late been revived, and has, according to Ross, spread from Greeceto Icaria, so that the districts are called 8~&ot, and the head-men 8•4~apxot. Ross must have been mistaken in thinkingthat a village Messaria existed. The chief village is now

AyLovq q4pvxcos on the south coast of Messaria. On themountain of Koskina in the centre of the island is a Hellenicruin called 7raXaKca?ao-po-the castle referred to in the ballad.Inside it is a church dedicated to St. George; it is an ancienttemple, probably the Tavpowr6Xtov r temple of Diana mentionedby Strabo. Hot springs, still called Ta O eppd, on the southcoast mark the place where dwelt the OEpLpaFot 'Iec 'povmentioned in the Athenian tribute lists (Franz, Elem. Epigr. Gr.,n. 52, p. 130). Oenoe lay on the fertile northern coast ofMessaria and its name still survives in the form Na: hencecame the Pramnian wine, the produce of the 'Sacred' or'Dionysian' vine. On the north-east promontory called Drakanon

or Drepanon stands a tower called T~Iep6y or Favdpt, the Light-house, which has given name to the cape and the whole districtalong the southern slope. Its ruins were described to Ross asbeing still forty feet high, and in the neighbourhood are othertraces of a Hellenic settlement. This must have been theancient Drakanon. Along the summit of the central ridge arethe ruins of several other small Hellenic towers, Kao-rpdtica, andnear Oenoe are many sepulchral chambers (OoXadpta) till perfect.

There were no harbours in Icaria, but only roadsteads, the bestof which was at 'IToro, the modern Eudelos (aThv EibrXov).During his short visit Ross had no time to see any of these sitesexcept Therma, but gives his account from hearsay. Theantiquities of this and of many other of the Turkish islands inthe Aegean still present a fresh and most interesting field forexploration: and the accounts given by Mr. Newton and Rossof their travels and discoveries show how much may be expectedin the

partsto which their researches did not extend.

Icaria, the most barren and wild of all the Aegean islands,was not a tempting spot for settlement, and the popular dialectseems to have retained a more primitive character than anyother of the modern formns of Greek. The Genoese occupationhas left its traces in.a number of Italian words, but Ross in his




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visit of twenty-four hours was struck with a number of wordspeculiar to this island (1. c. p. 165). M. Fontrier has also beengood enough to give me a list of peculiar words which he noteddown during his visit to the island: of these the mostinteresting are I4c•tro,, la-rrta in the sense of fire, and 8•o6SoXoas a rough measure of distance (apparently 8tGcr-cpoXov).[Unless it means 'bow-shot' : Socdpe being modern Greekfor 'rdoov.-ED.]

Genovas and Kryphoraphtes had, when this song wascomposed, become heroic names, the leaders of the invasion.

So Atsides, line 14, is also the eponymous hero of the mountaincalled Atsidae, line 10.

2. wa7ra is used in Smyrna in a friendly sense, to denote asurprise visit to a friend's house with the intention of havinga merrymaking. See Coraes, i'ra rca iii., s.v.

5. Ross, coming with a north wind from the side of Chiosand anchoring on the southern coast, likewise had his anchor

on the left, and a waXaa/dpp• astening the stern of his vessel tothe shore. The word ico-rpia, Latin or Italian, shows that theGenoese also must have landed on this side, having come roundor past Cape Phanari with a north wind.

6.,t7Kovpe?

foryic•ovpaet,

the common Romaic form.

otryovpa'vro-aL, he Italian 'sicuranza.'

7. r6o3ora, an unknown word, which, as M. Fontrier suggests,

maybe derived from

wrot;'. [Perhapsthe Italian

'pedoto'or

' pedotto' = pilot.-ED.]

8. CTdXa, orist of a verb a'wXo, sed in Icaria in the senseof do80tropwc. The imperfect is ?gaXa. The verb is not knownin the lexicons. [dhXov, however, is a 'step,' 'footprint'; and

faXowra'rcZis to 'tread underfoot.'-ED.]

9. y~,eo-av, of. 50, cp7radav. There is a constant tendencyin Romaic to gain uniformity of accent.

ap7rcdalpe,pw7rdare,

aprrwdrave, r 'p• daoc,produce '7pwd av also, though alpwra4av

and similar forms are also heard in the speech of the common

people. In line 8, ddXha implies a form 6r~dave. The sameholds in the declension of nouns; in almost every case theaccent of the accusative obtains throughout.




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'TfkXatls is part of the mountain range between Phanari andMessaria.

'Alro-•'atqis a mountain in the south of Messaria.

Kd4puro, village on the north coast of Messaria, is perhapsalluded to in line 11.

10. EyXvicoXdpa-cre for dyXvicoXdpa e:such forms 6ccur in

ancient times, among others, in the Argive dialect.

Srijav, from 7r f'o, much stronger than ryepCaoav.

13. [wre+y = wrvi•py.The occurrence of this classical word

is interesting, for, though it has been preserved in the Cretandialect, it is lost in ordinary modern Greek.-ED.]

15. p7rras or jwrlco, ccording to the usual explanation.

16. vnrdo or vnotd.

20. laoka'sd, is used of the Byzantine emperor in theremarkable semi-historical ballad, Schmidt, Griech. Mdhrchen, &c.No. 59, which should be compared with the Icarian song for itsmixture of historical names and love romance.

[araatraptoo-pvo= 'printed.' This seems to show that the

ballad in its present form is not mediaeval.-ED.]

24. Langadha, the glen, is a place in the south-west of Icaria.

27. (d)wravaOeuLariGa4'voq.31. ravo•&o for w7ra'vYot.

33. She appeals to the saint whose church was in the castle;each saint has his distinct individuality and special name in everyplace where he is worshipped. Here he is St. George Dhorgana.

30. p•c-'Xra,Italian word. [Lro-dX a s of Italian origin,

though no such word as 'risalta' seems to exist in Italian.'Risalto' means a bastion or redoubt, and Passow thinks theGreek

jdo-6X'ros used in this sense in the

passage rrepoovvEal

lcd-'rpa pt AptadXro (v. Carmina Po2ularia, n. 225, 1. 18, andthe Glossary s. v.). But both

to'dX'-rothere and pt'dk'ra here

make better meaning in the sense of' attack' or ' escalade.'Although 'risalto' does not mean this,' risalire,' from which itis derived, signifies to 'mount again.'-ED.]




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34. poo vlvr7.a, name given to the part of the church wherethe saint's picture is.

35.rXd•Ka

is especially a gravestone. The stone whichcomposes the mountain is chiefly a schist, so that plenty ofrrXa/ciro-at were at hand.

42. pre'vrvVt, he Turkish word ' beden' = battlement.

49. K&Catva;9, a married woman is always named thus:I KIvptaro) eivo9 is the polite style.

50. Updvt for IHpto'vlo, diminutive of Prion, a frequent namefor mountains in Greece, e.g. at Ephesus.

W. M. RAMSAY.

Thi d l d d f 8 9 34 228 69 S 8 F b 201 5 11 13 49 AM
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(pp. 293-300) w. m. ramsay - a romaic ballad

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