therefore their language is called chakavski. The more important
differences between the two languages were pointed out by Danichich
(Glasnik, ix., 1857). They are as follows: (a) while the Servians
pronounce the Old Slavonic yach as ye or e or ee, the Croats pronounce
it always as ee (Servian beeyelo or belo, Croatian beelo); (b) the
Servians have the sound gye (softened d or g), the Croats are without
it, but have instead ya or ye (Servian gospogya, Croatian gospoya);
(c) the Servians let the vowel i transform the preceding consonant
into a soft consonant, whereas the Croats pronounce the consonant
unaffected by the softening influence of i (Servian bratya, Croatian
bratia); (d) the Servians change the letter l at the end of a word into
o whereas the Croats always pronounce it as l. These differences are
so insignificant that it was very natural that the Croats after having
tried to convert the chakavski dialect into a separate literary language
were compelled to abandon that attempt and to adopt the shtokavski.
To facilitate this reform, to overcome the ecclesiastical prejudices of
the Roman Catholic Croats against the Eastern Orthodox Servians,
and vice versa, certain Croatian patriots, led by Ljudevit Gaj,
proposed that all the Slavonic peoples in the north-western part of the
Balkan Peninsula should call themselves Illyri and their language
Illyrian (see Croatia-Slavonia: Language and Literature and
History). The appellation “Serbo-Croatian” for the literary language
of both nations now finds more favour. The great dictionary
compiled and published by the South Slavonic Academy of Agram is
called The Lexicon of the Servian or Croatian Language. Although
the Croats write and print in Latin characters, while the Servians
write and print in Cyrillic, and although many a Servian cannot read
Croatian books, and vice versa, the literary language of both nations
is one and the same. (C. Mi.)
Literature
1. Formation of a Servian-Slavonic Language.—Servian literature begins with the biblical and liturgical books, written in “Old Slavonic,” or “Church Slavonic,” into which “the Slavonic apostles” Cyril and Methodius (see Slavs) had translated the Bible and other church books about the middle of the 9th century. Cyril and Methodius used the Greek alphabet somewhat modified and adapted to the necessities of the Slavonic language. That alphabet is called “Cyrillic” (in Servian Kyrilitsa), and is—simplified and modernized—practically the alphabet used by the Servians, Bulgarians and Russians of our times. The Cyrillic alphabet replaced an older Servian, or probably Old Slavonic, alphabet called “Glagolitic” (see Slavs: Alphabets). A few Servian books are still printed in Glagolitic, and some in Latin letters; but by far the greatest number are written and printed in Cyrillic.
The Old Slavonic church books had naturally to be copied from time to time, and the Servian, Bulgarian and Russian copyists were unable to resist the influences of their respective living languages. Thus comparatively soon there appeared church books no longer written in pure Old Slavonic (of which the so-called “Asseman's Gospel” in the Vatican is the best type), but in Old Slavonic modified by Servian, Bulgarian, Russian influences, or in the languages which could be called Servian-Slavonic, Bulgarian-Slavonic, Russian-Slavonic. The best extant specimen of the Servian-Slavonic is “Miroslav's Gospel,” written in the second half of the 12th century for the Servian prince Miroslav; a facsimile edition was published in 1897 in Belgrade. Servian-Slavonic was the literary language of the Servians from the 12th century to the end of the 15th, i.e. during the first period of their literary history.
2. Servian-Slavonic Literature.—The only noteworthy literary productions of this first period of Servian literature were zhivoti (biographies) and letopisi (chronicles). The best writers of the time were Archbishop Sava (St Sava), his brother King Stephen (Stefan) Prvovenchani (i.e. the “first-crowned”), the monks Domentiyan and Theodosius, Archbishop Danilo, Gregorius Tsamblak, Stephen Lazarevich, prince of Servia, and Constantine the Philosopher. The most important literary work of St Sava (d. 1237) was The Life of St Simeon, in which he described the life of his father, Stephen Nemanya, the first sovereign of the united Servian provinces, who towards the end of his life became a monk and took the name of Simeon. Domentiyan wrote a life of St Sava in the involved and bombastic Byzantine style of the middle of the 13th century. The best literary creations of the period are undoubtedly The Lives of the Servian Kings and Archbishops by Archbishop Danilo (d. 1338), and Constantine the Philosopher's Life of Despot Stephen Lazarevich, written in 1432.
The chronicles (letopisi) are without any literary value, although as historical material they are useful. They number about thirty. The oldest of them was written between 1371 and 1390. The best are Letopis of Ypek, which ends with the year 1391; Letopis of Koporin, written by Deacon Damyan in 1453; Letopis of Carlovitz, 1503; and the chronicle of the monastery of Tronosha, 1526.
To this period of Servian literature belongs the first attempt by an unknown author to write a romance. The story of the love and sufferings of the Servian prince Vladimir, who lived in the 11th century, and his wife, the Bulgarian princess Kossara, written probably in the 13th century, was very popular among the Servians of the 14th and 15th centuries. Other comparatively widely-read books of the period were the Life of Alexander the Great, The Story of the Siege of Troy, Stefanite and Ikhnylat (an Indian story) and The Journey of a Soul from this World to that Other, all of which were translations from the Greek.
A characteristic example of the literary and also, as it appears, of the official language of the Servians in the middle ages is the Codex of Tsar Dushan (Zakonik Tsara Dushana), which was promulgated at the Servian parliament (Sabor) in Skoplye (Usküb) in 1349 and 1354. Very interesting material for the study of the Servian literary language during the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries is to be found in several collections of old charters and letters of that period (F. Miklosich's Monumenta Serbica, Putsich's Srpski Spomenitsi u Dubrovaehkoy Arkhivi, and the publications of the Royal Servian Academy in Belgrade and the South Slavonic Academy of Science in Agram). The oldest document written in the vernacular Servian is considered to be a charter by which Kulin, the ban of Bosnia, grants certain commercial privileges to the Ragusan merchants in 1189.
The oldest printed book in Servian-Slavonic issued in 1483 from the printing-press of Andreas de Theresanis de Asula in Venice. A few years later the Servian nobleman Bozhidar Vukovich bought a printing-press in Venice and established it at Obod in Montenegro, from which issued in 1493 the first church book (the Octoich) printed on Servian territory. There is a copy of this book in the British Museum. Vicentius, the son of Bozhidar Vukovich, carried on the enterprise of his father, and their printing-press continued to work up to 1566, issuing several church books in the Servian-Slavonic language. During the first half of the 16th century the Servians had printing-presses in Belgrade, Skadar (Scutari) on the river Boyana, Gorazhde, Mileshevo and elsewhere. But in the second half of that century all printing absolutely ceased in the Servian countries under the direct rule of the Turks, and was not resumed until the middle of the 18th century. Books for the use of the churches had to be imported from Russia, printed in the Russian-Slavonic language.
3. Dalmatian Literature.—While among the Servians belonging to the Eastern Church all literary work had practically stopped from the middle of the 16th century to the middle of the 18th, the Roman Catholic Servians of Dalmatia, and more especially those of the semi-independent republic of Ragusa, became more active. Being for centuries politically, ecclesiastically and commercially connected with Venice, Rome and Italy in general, they came under the influence of Italian civilization, and during the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries were the most cultured branch of the Servian nation. The awakening of literary ambition among these Servians of the Adriatic coast was originally due to the influence of immigrant Greek scholars who came to Ragusa after the fall of Constantinople in 1453.
Between 1450 and 1530 there had already been founded in Spalato a small literary society, in which the Servian poets Marulich, Papalich, Martinich and others read their poetical compositions, mostly lyrical and religious songs. About the same time (1457-1501) there appeared in Ragusa the poet Menchetich, who wrote nearly four hundred love-songs and elegies, taking Ovid as his model, and George Drzhich (1460-1510), author of many erotic poems and of a drama. Two of the finest works of this early period of the Servian literature of Ragusa are the poem Dervishiyada, written by the Ragusan nobleman Stepan Guchetich (1495-1525), rich in humour and satire, and the poem Yegyupka (“The Gipsy Woman”), written by Andreas Chubranovich (1500-1550), a goldsmith by profession and a very original and clever lyrical poet. Another remarkable Ragusan poet was Hectorovich (1486-1572), who wrote the poem Ribanye (“The Fishing and Talking with Fishermen”), and anticipated a new movement in Servian literature by publishing three national songs as he heard them from the popular bards (guslars). But the true glory of Ragusan literature was established by its three poets, Ivan Gundulich (1558-1638), Gyon Palmotich (1606-1657) and Ignacius Gyorgyich (1675-1737). Of these the greatest was Gundulich (q.v.). Palmotich is remarkable as a dramatic poet. The subects of most of his dramas were taken from Latin and Italian poets (Atalanta after Ovid, Lavinia after Virgil, Armida after Tasso); but at least in two dramas, Pavlimir and Tsaptislava, he displayed some originality, taking his themes from Servian national history. All the works of Palmotich have been published by the South Slavonic Academy (Stari Pisči, vols. xii., xiii., xiv. xix.). Gyorgyich's best work is
