Tsakonia
 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification.(July 2014) |
 1890 ethnographic map of thePeloponnese,with Tsakonian-speaking areas insky blue | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| c. 8,321 (2011 Greek census) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Greece,United States,Australia | |
| Languages | |
| Modern GreekandTsakonian Greek | |
| Religion | |
| Untilc.9th century:Ancient Greek religion;fromc.9th century to present:Greek Orthodox Christianity | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Maniotsand otherGreeks |
Tsakonia(Greek:Τσακωνιά,Tsakoniá;Tsakonian:Τσακωνία,Tsakonía) or theTsakonian region(Τσακωνικός χώρος) refers to the small area in the easternPeloponnesewhere theTsakonian languageis spoken, in the area surrounding 13 towns, villages and hamlets located around Pera Melana in Arcadia. It is not a formally defined political entity of the modernGreek state.
Extent
[edit]In hisBrief Grammar of the Tsakonian Dialectpublished in 1951, Prof.Thanasis Costakisdefines Tsakonia as the area from the town ofAgios AndreasinKynouriasouth toLeonidioandTyrosand inland as far asKastanitsaandSitaina,but asserts that in former times the Tsakonian-speaking area extended as far asCape Maleain easternLaconia.The principal town in Tsakonia at this time wasPrastos,which benefited from a special trading privilege granted by the authorities inConstantinople.Prastos was burned byIbrahim Pashain theGreek War of Independenceand was abandoned, with many of its residents fleeing to the area aroundLeonidioandTyrosor other spots on theArgolic Gulf.
Some early commentators seem to have confused the speech ofManiot dialectspeakers with true Tsakonian, demonstrating the flexible nature of the term.
The actual Tsakonian speech community has shrunk greatly sinceBrief Grammarwas published, but the area delineated by Costakis is still considered "Tsakonia" due to the preservation of certain cultural traits such as theTsakonian danceand unique folk costumes.
The Tsakonian speaking region was once much more widespread than it was at the time ofBrief Grammar;Evliya Çelebinoted in 1668 that the village of Vatika, far south of Leonidio, was Tsakonian; however that place would later be resettled byArvanites;theChronicle of Morea(14th century) furthermore indicates that Tsakonian was spoken in Cynuria, which is now part ofArcadiabut was once considered to be in the northeast of Laconia.[1]The original Tsakonian region may have consisted of the entire eastern half of Laconia.[1]
History
[edit]
The termTsakonasorTzakonasfirst emerges in the writings ofByzantinechroniclers who derive theethnonymfrom a corruption ofLakonas,a Laconian/Lacedaemonian (Spartan)—a reference to theDoricroots of theTsakonian language[2]and the people's very late conversion toChristianityin the 9th century and practice of traditional Hellenic customs, a fact which correlated with their isolation from mainstream medieval Greek society.[3]What is often considered the first reference to Tsakonians is a note from around 950 byConstantine Porphyrogenitusin hisDe Arte Imperiando,"the inhabitants of the district of Maina... are of the older Greeks, who are to this day called Hellenes (pagans) by the locals for being pagans in time past and worshippers of idols, like the Hellenes of old, and were baptised and became Christians during the reign of the late Basil (867–886)",withMainain his usage typically interpreted to instead mean Tsakonia.[3][4]
The Tsakonians are thought to have been often border guards in the Byzantine military, judging by the number of references to τζάκωνες and τζέκωνες playing such roles in Byzantine Greek writings.[3]The first reference to their "barbaric" speech being unintelligible to Koine Greek dates to the 15th century.[3]
According to the Byzantine historianGeorge Pachymeres,some Tsakonians were resettled by the Byzantine emperorMichael VIIIPalaiologos inPropontis.This was part of their compensation for serving asmarinesin theByzantine Navy.[5]: 737 They and the PeloponnesianGasmouloi,who served in the same role, were dismissed from service by Michael's successor,Andronicus II,who made large reductions in the naval force, preferring to rely on Genoese mercenaries.[5]: 747 They lived in the villages of Vatka and Havoutsi, where the Gösen River (Aesepus) empties into the sea. However, based on the preservation of features common to both Propontis and the Peloponnesian dialects, Prof.Thanasis Costakisthinks that the date of settlement must have been several centuries later.[citation needed]
Population
[edit]| Part ofa serieson |
| Greeks |
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History of Greece (Ancient·Byzantine·Ottoman) |
TheTsakonians(Greek:ΤσάκωνεςTsákones) are aGreekethnolinguistic groupwho historically speak theTsakonian languageand have certain peculiar cultural traditions, such as theTsakonian dance.Today, the language is critically endangered.
Tsakonians in later time were known for theirmasonryskills; many were also shepherds. A common practice was for a small crew of men under amastorato leave their village after the feast ofSaint Demetriusand to return atEaster.They would travel as far asAtticadoing repairs and white-washing houses. The Tsakonian village ofKastanitsawas known for itschestnutsand derives its name from the Greek word for the nut.[6]: 13
Genetic studies
[edit]The paper "Genetics of the peloponnesean populations and the theory of extinction of the medieval peloponnesean Greeks"(2017) studied the Tsakonians under two groups; one from the South (15 samples) and one from the North (9 samples) of the region. Both populations have a very high average pairwiseIBDsharing of 0.66% of their genome, or 94 cM, and every pair of individuals shares at least one IBD segment. Tsakonians possess low levels of common ancestry with the Slavs (Belarusians, Russians, Polish, and Ukrainians) at 0.2%–0.9% for Southern Tsakonians and at 3.9%–8.2% for Northern Tsakonians. The rest of the Peloponnesians (148 samples - excluding the Maniots), even though possessing low levels of common ancestry with the Slavs as well, they are still relatively higher than that of Tsakonians (and Maniots) at 4.8%–14.4%. Even thoughManiots,divided under the groupings ofDeep Manior Mesa/Inner Mani (22 samples),West Taygetosor Exo/Outer Mani (24 samples), and East Taygetos or Kato/Lower Mani (23 samples), are similarly conservative at 0.7%–1.6%, 4.9%–8.6%, and 5.7%–10.9% of common ancestry with the Slavs respectively, Tsakonians remain a distinct population from both the Maniots and the rest of the Peloponnesians, something that is attributed toisolation by distanceand the possibility that Tsakonia in antiquity was inhabited byDoric-speakingIonians(perHerodotus), while Mani by actualDorians.[7]
References
[edit]- ^abNicholas 2019,p. 20
- ^William Miller.The Latins in the Levant: A History of Frankish Greece 1204–1566.Cambridge, Speculum Historiale, 1908. p. 4.
- ^abcdNicholas 2019,p. 21
- ^Original from Porphyrogenitus: Ἱστέον ὅτι οἱ τοῦ κάστρου τῆς Μαΐνης οἰκήτορες οὐκ εἰσὶν ἀπὸ τῆς γενεᾶς τῶν προρρηθέντων Σκλάβων, ἀλλ’ ἐκ τῶν παλαιοτέρων Ῥωμαίων, οἳ καὶ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν παρὰ τῶν ἐντοπίων Ἕλληνες προσαγορείονται διὰ τὸ ἐν τοῖς προπαλαιοῖς χρόνοις εἰδωλολάτρας εἶναι καὶ προσκυνητὰς τῶν εἰδώλων κατὰ τοὺς παλαιοὺς Ἕλληνας, οἵτινες ἐπὶ τῆς βασιλείας τοῦ ἀοιδίμου Βασιλείου βαπτισθέντες χριστιανοὶ γεγόνασιν
- ^abTreadgold, Warren(1997).A History of the Byzantine State and Society.Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
- ^Costakis, Thanasis P (1951).Σύντομη Γραμματική της Τσακωνικής Διαλέκτου[Brief Grammar of the Tsakonian Dialect] (in Greek). Athens: Institut Français d'Athènes.
- ^Stamatoyannopoulos, George; Bose, Aritra; Teodosiadis, Athanasios; Tsetsos, Fotis; Plantinga, Anna; Psatha, Nikoletta; Zogas, Nikos; Yannaki, Evangelia; Zalloua, Pierre; Kidd, Kenneth K.; Browning, Brian L. (8 March 2017)."Genetics of the peloponnesean populations and the theory of extinction of the medieval peloponnesean Greeks".European Journal of Human Genetics.25(5): 637–645.doi:10.1038/ejhg.2017.18.ISSN1476-5438.PMC5437898.PMID28272534.
Sources
[edit]- Nicholas, Nick (2019)."A critical lexicostatistical examination of Ancient and Modern Greek and Tsakonian".Journal of Applied Linguistics and Lexicography.1(1): 18–68.doi:10.33910/2687-0215-2019-1-1-18-68.
- Chrēstos D. Petakos (2003).Chrēstu D. Petaku "Tsakonia": psēphida ellēnikē istorias kai politismu.Zacharopulos.ISBN978-960-91690-1-1.
- Hawes, Charles H. "Some Dorian Descendants?." The Annual of the British School at Athens 16 (1910): 258-280.
- Costakis, Thanasis P. "Vatika kai Chavoutsi ta tsakonochoria tes Propontidas." (1979).
- Bagenas, Thanos K. Thanu K. Bagena Historika Tsakōnias kai Leōnidiu. 1971.
- Pitsios, Th K. "Anthropologische Untersuchung der Bevölkerung des Peloponnes unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Arwaniten und Tsakonen." Anthropologischer Anzeiger (1986): 215-225.