I.

Croatian language in midieval times

Croatian language has a long and profound history, but in order to understand the origins, it is
important to understand what Croatian territory looked like, what the situation was like and
how it all started.
In the late Roman Empire (which ended in 476 AD), what is now Croatia, was actually part of
the Roman province Illyricum. Illyricum was divided into Dalmatia and Pannonia.
Dalmatia was extremely prosperous and the cities were large. One of the largest cities of that
time was Salona (nowadays called Solin), near Split.
Most of the Croatian tribe of that time were illiterate and uneducated farmers and merchants.
Most people called themselves Illyirians, but some people were members of other tribes and
were placed on the territory of Illyria by the Roman government.
The language spoken then was Latin and it was considered the official language of the Roman
empire, but the tribes on the Croatian territory developed their own language called Slavonic
*common people also developed their own language, so called – Old Croatian).
With the decline of the Roman Empire, the region also started declining and becoming more
chaotic. In 395 the Roman Empire was divided into two halves and the province of Dalmatia
was assigned to the West Roman Empire. In 480, right after the fall of the Roman Empire
(476), the province of Dalmatia was attached to eastern Byzantine Empire1.
As already mentioned before, the Croatian society of that time was made of illiterate tribes.
Therefore, the emperor of the Byzantine Empire sent two brothers – Cyril and Methodius to
Croatia.
Cyril and Methodius were two cruical people who had a very important role in the early
origins of Croatian language. The emperor sent these two brothers to tell people about the
Christian religion in their native language – Slavonic.
They were sent to recruit local priests and ministers (clergy) and to establish Slavonic liturgy
(public worship in churches). Their basic aim was to make people accept Christianity.
Most of the liturgy2 was never written down until that point, so they started translating and
writing down the most important text for their mission – the Bible. For this purpose, they
invented the Glagolitic script. Later on, Cyril also invented a Cyrillic script (named after him
and it is presumed that it originated from Russian language). Most of the Church in Europe at

1
The Byzantine Empire was actually the continuation of the Roman Empire in the East, especially after the
deposition of the last Roman emperor in 476. It was finally extinguished by the fall of Constantinople, its
capital, in 1453.
2
Liturgy was the written form of church services.

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that time was under control of German religious and polithical authorities. When the Germans
saw how influential the two brothers were in the Croatian territory, they opposed their
mission, so the German bishop refused to approve of the Slavic clergy. The brothers traveled
to Rome to see the Pope in 869 and appealed to Pope Adrian II to help them resolve the
situation with the Germans. The pope upheld their authority and approved of their mission.
Croatians were the only nation in Europe who were allowed to use the Glagolitic script,
because everywhere else Latin was used as official (until 2nd Vatican Synod in 1962-1965,
when it was decided to allow national languages to be used for Catholic purposes instead of
Latin).

It is important to emphasize that the earliest known texts of Croatian literature, written in the
Latin script, have traces of Church-slavonic influences. Hence, Croatian glagolitic, Cyrillic
and Latin traditions cannot be viewed as separated entities, simply because they were all
mostly used at the same time.

So, during medieval time in Croatia there were 3 scripts:

1. Latin script – used since Roman Empire and still influential many centuries after the
fall of the Roman empire
2. Glagolitic script – invented by Cyril and Method – brothers who went on a mision to
Croatia to baptize and introduce Christianity to pagans. This script appears in two
variants: round and angular.

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 3. Cyrillic script (bosančica) – invented by Cyril, and later replaced glagolitic script

There were also 3 languages:

1. Latin – which was the official language until 1847.

2. Slavonic- which was massively popularized after Cyril and Methodius went on their
mission
3. Croatian language – „language of common people“, although at that time less
important, it was called the „language of people“ and it was used in places not related
to liturgy

In order to understand the origins of the first Croatian language scripts and language, it is
important to take into account several important facts:

1. The Christian church was the official religion and no others were permitted

2. The church was an agency of the government, administering all social services and under
the control of the government

3. The education was basically non-existent, the only people who could be called educated
were members of the Church (bishops, popes, monks etc.)

One of the most important events of that time was in 1252. when Pope innocent IV allowed
the Benedictine monks to use Croatian Slavonic liturgy and the Glagolitic script instead of
Latin.

It should be noted that members of Benedictine monastery 3 were strict followers of Latin
language and script everywhere in Europe – except in Croatia. These monks represented a
great intellectual force in Croatia.

At the same time, some other important events took place:

1. the foundation of the Duchy of Croatia – 7th century – 925.

3
Benedictines were monks who are members of a Christian religious community that follows the rule of St.
Benedict. Some of them run schools and parishes, while others are more focused of prayer and religious work.

3
 2. Kingdom of Croatia (founded in 925) – the first known Croatian king was King
Tomislav.

In 1102 the Croatian kingdom and Hungarian kingdom formed a personal union united by
a common king. Since this event until 1990. Croatia was never independent( except a very
short period after the World War II.)

(king Zvonimir reigned 1075-1089) Zvonimir's curse – For the next 900 years, Croatia
will be ruled by others, not by their own king. Zvonimir was crowned by Pope and that
turned Croatia under Pope's sovereignty. This event portrayed Zvonimir as the betrayer of
the Croatian people. After failing to persuade Croatian people to accept Pope's
sovereignty, he was murdered by his nobles near the city Knin. Before he died, he said:
Croats should never again have a ruler of their own tongue, but should always be under
foreign rule. After that most of Croatia came under the rule of Hungary and later Austro-
Hungarian, until 1918.

MOST IMPORTANT MONUMENTS OF THE MIDIEVAL CROATIAN LANGUAGE :

The 8th century marks the beginning of the midieval literature, however, there are no physical
proofs of it.

First known literary works are those translated by Cyril and Methodius and after the 13th
century most famous works include novels, legends, dramas, church songs and liturgical
works.

1. BAŠČANSKA PLOČA(Baška stone tablet)

It was found in 1851. by Petar Dorčić. Probably the most important monument of
medieval literacy. It contains an inscription written in the angular Glagolitic script in a
stone tablet. It dates from the year 1100 and it was found in the church of St. Lucy near
the town of Baška on the island Krk. It contains about 400 Glagolitic characters.

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 The dimensions are 2x1 m2 and it weighs 800kg. The most important thing about
Baščanska ploča are 3 words: Zvonimir, Croatian king. (Zvonimir, kralj hrvatski).

The monument was written in Croatian language (with some elements of Slavonic) and in
Glagolitic script.

The tablet was actually the proof of donation of land which Zvonimir donated to the
Benedictine monastery of Saint Lucy. The tablet lists the witnesses of that deed of
donation and describes the time in which the donation took place. Therefore, Baška stone
tableti s importnt for 3 reasons: it is the first legal, historical and linguistic monument.

Nowadays, the Baška tablet can be seen in the Academy of Science and Art in Zagreb and
a copy o fit is also exhibited in the Church of St. Lucy.

 The Baska Tablet web page

 reconstructed content of the Baska table - with spacings between words. The photo
on the right is a reconstruction of the Baska Tablet made by academician Branko
Fucic. On the left you can see how it looks now, click on it (98 Kb).
 Wen: Baska tablet, Appleby, Drenova. 
 episode with the British Prince Philip, related to the Baska tablet. 

Zvonimir, Croatian King (note that there are no spacings between words)

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 2. Trpimirova darovnica – Trpimir ruled from 845-864. In 852 he issued the oldest
known governmental document in Latin script, where the Croatian name was
metioned (dux Chroatorum (lat.) = the duke of Croatia)

3. LJETOPIS POPA DUKLJANINA (The Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja) – originates

from the middle of the 12th century. The author is an anonymous priest. It talks about
local event sin Slavic countries during his time. It is important because it mentiones
the name of Croatia as well as king Zvonimir and his death.

4. VINODOL CODE
Written in Glagolitic alphabet in 1288. It also mentiones the witnesses. The content: it
determined moral protection and integrity of women. It does not allow torture during legal
proceedings. Iti s considered one of the most important documents of midieval Croatia
because it mentions Croatian language. It was translated into many European languages
(Russian, Polish, French, German, Italian…) Nowadays the Vinodol code is kept in the
Croatian National and University Library in Zagreb.

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 5. Branimirov natpis (The Inscription of Duke Branimir) – it origins from the year 888. It
was found in Muć, a village near the city of Split. It is important because this is the
first monument in which the name „Croatian“ was mentioned.
„Beanimiro comite dux cruatorum“ = „Branimir, the duke of Croatia…“

There are other important documents regarding medieval Croatia:

1. Korčula codex – 1214. – in which the statute of the city and island was written in
Latin

2. The tablet from Valun (Krk) – dates from the 12th century, it was found in the church
of St. Mary in Valun. It was written in 2 languages (old Croatian and Latin) and
written in 2 scripts (Glagolitic and Latin). This tablet was actually a gravestone and it
mentiones the people who were buried there.

Croatian language 12th to 15th century

Until 12th century most linguistic monuments were engraved in stones, but in 13th century
that started changing and everything was written down on paper. There are still 3 languages
and 3 different scripts in use.

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In the 12th century Croatia is more and more accepting cyrillic script, mostly because of
influence from Bulgaria and Macedonia. Therefore, glagolitic script is becoming less and less
popular.
Both scripts were influenced by each other, so cyrillic and glagolitic script are changing. For
that matter, the documents started to look more artistic and had more artistic details.
Another important change was the change in dialects. Every region in Croatia started to adapt
more distinguished dialects, there were 3 of them: kajkavian, čakavian and štokavian. This
difference is visible in the documents and it is becoming more and more important for the
further development of language.

Monuments:

1. Istrian land survey (13th century)

(Istarski razvod) – 1275. – written in Croatian language and Glagolitic alphabet. It talks
about the land borders between the feudal rulers in Istria and it also describes the social
structure and the life of village community in midieval Istria. It mentions the Croatian
name 24 times. The dialect in which was written is Chakavian.

2. VINODOL CODE
Written in Glagolitic alphabet in 1288. It also mentiones the witnesses. The content: it
determined moral protection and integrity of women. It does not allow torture during legal
proceedings. Iti s considered one of the most important documents of midieval Croatia
because it mentions Croatian language. It was translated into many European languages
(Russian, Polish, French, German, Italian…) Nowadays the Vinodol code is kept in the
Croatian National and University Library in Zagreb.

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 3. Missal of Duke Novak – it is a 14th century Glagolithic missal. The letters were later
used to print the first Croatian printed book (Missale Romanum Glagolitice). This
Missal was written by Duke Novak in order to „save his soul“ and it contains the
oldest Croatian poems. It was written in a beautiful Glagolitic script and in Slavonic
language. Nowadays thos book is kept in Vienna, Austria.

4. Hrvojev misal (Missal of duke Hrvoje – 1403./4. – it is considered the most beautiful
and most beautifully decorated Glagholitic handwriting. A writer named Butko wrote
it for a Bosnian duke named Hrvoje Vukčić Hrvatinić and the church of Saint Mihovil
in Split. It was written for religious purposes.

Since the beginning of the 12th century, Cyrillic script is becoming more and more popular.
Cyrillic script use din Croatia is often called bosančica or hrvatska ćirilica. This script was
mostly used in southern parts of the Croatian territory.

Monuments:

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 1. The Chater of Povlja (Povaljska listina) – it was found in the city of Povlja on the Brač
island. The Charter of Povlja was written in Cyrilic script and it represented the
document of ownership from the Benedictine monastery of St. John the Baptist. Iti s
the oldest Cyrillic monument found in Croatia.

2. The Statute of the Poljica Principality (Poljički statut) – it was found in 1444 near
Split and written in Croatian Cyrillic script. This book was actually a collection of
laws and rules which were obligatory in Poljica. From this document we can know a
lot about historical, social, economic and political circumstances. This document was
made as a result of desire to distance from the influence of the Turkish empire,
because Turkey started to approach and infuence the Croatian territory more and more.
By issuing this document, Poljica clearly stated that they want their own rules,
independence and sovereignity and not the rules of another ruler.

In this period, more and more places are starting to become more and more
constitutional. Especially in Dalmatia, citis are becoming stronger and most cities had
their own laws and regulations. Therefore, it was necessary to write down the rules
and laws of the cities. The purpose was to keep the order and nowadays they represent
very important linguistic and historical language proof.
These rules are also the proof of the written Croatian language.
Most famous books include:

1. Vrbnik Statute (1388) – the laws of the city Vrbnik on island Krk.
It was written in Glagolitic script.

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 2. Kastav statute (1490, near Rijeka) – it is preserved in Latin, but it was previously
translated from Glagolitic script
3. Moščenica Statute (1501) – preserved in Latin, translated from Glagolitic script
Except for very rich church literature and books of laws, there are thousands of other
documents which prove that the Glagolitic alphabet was also use din administration and
communication.

The oldest known Croatian book of poems are from 1380. called Code Slave 11 containing 10
poems (Pariška pjesmarica). Nowadays it is in the National Library in Paris.

From the end of the 13th century a significant change took place. Until that time most things
spoken in Croatian were written down in Glagolitic script and most things spoken in Latin
were written down in Latin script.
But, from the end of 13th century and beginning of 14th century, Croatians began to write
down Croatian language in Latin.

From this era, the most significant are 2 documents.

1. The prayer from Šibenik (Šibenska molitva) – it was written in Latin and it is
considered one of the first poetic monuments of the 14 th century.
It was found in the monastery of St. Franjo in Šibenik in 1911.
It is an eulogy to Holy Mary.

11
 2. Order and law of the dominican sisters from Zadar (Red i zakon zadarskih
dominikanki) – a document dating from 1345. It was written in latin script and
Croatian language.
It contains laws and rules on how to admit new sisters into the monastery. There are
62 pages of prayers and instructions. Except for Croatian, this book was also originally
written in Latin. The original text was found in 1916. on the Krk island.

Historical events (12-15 century)

After the Croatian kingdom in 1102. stopped existing, the fight for trone began. Since
they couldn't find a suitable king, Croatia entered a new era. In 1102. Croatia signed a
contract with Hungarian king and they created Croatian-Hungarian union. Croatia still
had independent laws and leadership, but the two countries shared the same king.

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 3. CROATIAN LANGUAGE AFTER THE INVENTION OF
PRINTING

GUTENBERG – 1455., half of the 15th century, invented the printing machine. Book printing
has existed in China since 11th century, but Gutenberg was the first to produce serial
standardized individual parts, which made the process faster and less expensive. The first
printed book was a Bible in Latin.

However, his invention and idea spread fast around Europe, so people massively started
accepting printing as a new way of publishing books and the information exchange became
much faster and more convenient. Soon, the printing houses appeared all around Europe. In a
printing house, different people had different tasks but the most important person was called
Master (majstor), he was the one who made all the decisions about the design of a book.
Croatians were one of the first and only nations in Europe which printed books.
Croatian books were being printed in domestic and international printing houses and the first
books were related to religious purposes and in Latin language.
The first known people to publish books at that time were Nikola Modruški (published a book
Oratio in funere Petri Cardianlis S. Sixti, 1474, Rome) and Juraj Šižgorić (published a book
of poems and religious songs Elegiae et carmina, 1477, Venice).

The first books printed until year 1500 are called PRVOTISCI or INKUNABULE.

The first printed book in Croatia was „Misal po zakonu Rimskog Dvora“ (Vatican Croatian
Prayer Book, 1483.). The language used in the book is Croatian form of Slavic language and
it contains words from all 3 dialects. This book is important, because it it the first time that a
church book was not written in Latin. This meant that scholars attached the same importance
to all the languages used. Another important fact is that it was written in higher, more formal
and more sophisticated style which showed the power of education. In first copy of the book,
the letters and it's decorations and illustrations were actually copied from the Missal of duke

13
Novak. It had 2 columns in different colors – black and red. It was printed in 200 copies, but
only 11 remained preserved until today. The importance of this document lies in the fact that
the language used was morphologically, phonologically and syntactically very similar to
modern Croatian language. So the period 14th/15th century is the time when modern Croatian
language started emerging.
Second edition of Missal was printed in Senj in 1494.

(Vatican Croatian Prayer Book, 1483)

Other examples of the first printed books were: „Brevijar po zakonu rimskog dvora“ ( Psalter4
from the Roman Empire, 1491.), „Tkonski zbornik (Almanac5“ from Tkon, 1492.), „Brevijar
hrvatski“ (Croatian Psalter, 1493.)

The first Croatian printing houses

1. Printing house in Senj – the person in charge was a priest called Blaž Baromić and the
first printing house was located in one of the other priest's house. It was founded in
1494 and it worked with interruptions until 1508. We know this, because there were
no books with the publishing years between 1496 – 1507).
The first printed book was „Misal po zakonu rimskoga dvora“ (1494). 2 years later
they also printed first Croatian-Slavic-čakavian book – „Spovid općena“ (1496).
The imortance of the printing houses lies in the fact that they were a symbol of
financial and intellectual power.
In the meantime, Baromić died and the printing house stopped working until 1507.
That year a new scholar named Grgur Dalmatin took over the printing house.
20 years later, this printing house failed, but another one opened in Rijeka and it was
considered the continuation of the printing house in Senj.

4
A book of songs and poems used in church.
5
Almanac is a collection of papers.

14
 2. Printing house in Rijeka – the person in charge was a bishop named Šimun Kožičić
Benja. The reason why he was so important is because he bought and financially
supported everything regarding the printing house.
In 1531. he printed a book called „Misal hrvatski“. Many beautiful colors, fonts,
letters and illustrations are clearly visible.
Altogether, the printing house in Rijeka published the following books: „Misal
hrvatski“, „Psaltir“, „Knjižice krsta“, „Oficij Rimski“, „Knjižice od žitija rimskih
arhijereov i cesarov“ (this book is also the first historical book in Croatia)

3. Printing house in Kosinj, Lika – some scientists claim that this is where the first
„Misal po zakonu rimskog dvora“ was printed in 1491. Which would mena that it
existed around the same time as the printing house in Senj. In this printing house most
of the works printed were missals written in glagolitic script. The most famous book
printed here was called „Short description of Lika and Krbava, two Provinces in
Croatin Kingdom“ (Kratak i sažet opis Like i Krbave, dviju županija Kraljevine
Hrvatske). This book is also the proof that this printing shop really existed.

In the last decade of the 15th century first Croatian books written in latin script appeared.
The first book in Croatian language and Latin script was called „Lekcionar Bernardina
Splićanina“, 12.3.1495, printed in Venice.

The development of language and literature in Croatia was interrupted by Turkish

breakthrough into the Croatian territory. Frequent attacks and battles made it very difficult to
dedicate time to write or print books.
The Turkish attacks also caused people to move or they were forced to move and run away
from the war. These migrations also caused a language change (change in dialects mostly) in
many parts of Croatia. From that time, Croatian people not only moved within the borders,
but outside of borders as well. From eastern and southern parts of Croatia they moved to Italy,
they still live there until today and we call them Moliški Hrvati.
From northern parts thy moved to Austria, Hungary and Slovakia and they are nowadays
called Gradišćanski Hrvati.
After Turkey retrieved from Croatian territory, some people came back, and that caused
štokavian dialect to spread on čakavian and kajkavian territory.

15
Turkish Empire had a big influence on Croats, which is still visible nowadays, because some
words such as džezva, boja, jogurt, čarapa, šećer are still used in daily life.

4. 16th CENTURY – DIALECTS AND THE FIRST POETIC CIRCLES

At the end of 15th and at the beginning of the 16th century, the difference between literary
works and common language is becoming more and more obvious. At the end of 15th
century, the formation of the modern Croatian language is becoming more and more
complete. This period marks a calm development of language, but the historical
circumstances were not very calm, because it is still a period of frequent attacks and
migrations.
In Croatia, there are still 3 dialects, but the language mostly remains Croatian written in Latin
script. However, there are more and more mixtures even between dialects. Glagolitic script is
losing popularity and is only used for church books and it's becoming a synonym for archaic
language. Similar thing happened to cyrillic script. Unlike the glagolitic and cyrillic script,
latin script is becoming more influential. During this time writers started including the same
consonants that we are still using nowadays: ch, sh, dj were replaced by č, š and ž, but lj, nj ć
and đ also appeared. The person who took the credit for this is named Šime Budinić. He got
this idea from a Czech linguist Jan Hus and he took these consonants from Czech language.
The most productive linguistic area in Croatia was located in the southeast – in Dalmacija.
Three most important places were cities Dubrovnik and Zadar and the island Hvar. On one
hand. most of the poets from that time were influenced by midieval language, so they
borrowed many terms and phrases from midieval Croatian language. On the other hand, they
were creating new words and new language to keep up with the Renaissance in Europe.
The renaissance – means to be born again, rebirth. After a long period during midieval
stagnation of culture and cultural darkness, Europe started waking up. Renaissance is the time
of waking up, new discoveries and new inventions.
Within renaissance, there was an intellectual movement called humanism which originated
from Italy. The creators, poets, architects, painters etc. are turning to human nature and rebirth
of a lost human spirit and wisdom. The aim was to free human thinking and to distance it
from religious thinking. Philosophy, free thinking, criticism and exploring the possibilities of
human thought were encouraged.

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The goal was individualism and naturalism. During this period, there is a big improvement in
poetry, art, literature, science, inventions, …
Some of the most famous creators of this time were Dante, Petrarca, Da Vinci, Michelangelo
…
The topics that the poets used for their works were mostly related to the real world – love,
people, nature, history etc., during that time Turkish Empire and Venetian Republic were
frequently attacking the territiry, so Croatian poets also included this topic into their works.
The types of books were mostly poetry which was realted to Petrarca, philosophy, religion,
history, comedies etc. Apart from poetry, they wrote novels, travel diaries, dramas, comedies,
plays and so on.They insist on creating and expressing in their native Croatian language
instead of Latin or any other foreign languages.

The most important literary work of that time was „Judita“ written by one of the most famous
poets - Marko Marulić. The book was written in a special poetic form and in čakavian dialect
which is nowadays very difficult to understand. The language used in the book, obviously
belongs to a higher, more poetic language, we know this from the choice of words he has
used. This is actually a biblical story written in verses.
Although most of the southeastern poets used čakavian dialect during that time, there was an
area around the city Dubrovnik where they used štokavian dialect. The communication
between cities was very good, so poets, during the exchange of books and letters, they took
words and phrases from each other and a new type of language came into being – we call this
language „literary koine“ – this was the language of Croatian petrarcian 6 poetry (Hrvatska
petrarkistička lirika).
In the first decades of the 16th century there is a great development of the love poetry and it's
characterized by a free expression.
During the renaissance in Croatia, the following are the most important čakavian
representatives:

1. Marko Marulić „Judita“

- First collection of epic poems, written in 1501., printed in 1521. in Venice
- Many people call Marulić „the father of Croatian literature“

6
Francesco Petrarca was a famous Italian renaissance (14-17th century, the transition from midieval to modern
era) poet who greatly influenced Croatian poets during that era.

17
 - Judita was a brave woman who saved her city Betulija from attacks of an army led
by a leader called Holoferno. She used her charm to seduce Holoferno and killed
him, she represents a brave woman who fought for the right thing. At one point
Judita says she was led by God's hand – from this we can see that the influence of
church is still present although in a much smaller extent.
2. Petar Zoranić – „Planine“ – first Croatian novel (1536.) – it's partly written in verses
and partly as a text. This novel is actually a travel diary and it discribes the author's
journey through northern Dalmacija. On the way he meets different shepherds who tell
him different stories. There are 3 parts of the book: the first part is about his reason to
travel – love which wasn't mutual, so he wanted to be alone, second part are stories
from the shepherds, third part are poems.
3. Hanibal Lucić – „Robinja“ – drama – a story about duke's daughter who was an
orphan after her father died and she ended up kidnapped by the Turkish pirates.
Hingarian king loved her and he wanted to find her, but at the same time a young boy
called Derenčin wanted to save her, he was also in love with her. He disguised as a
merchant and he bought her from the pirates. In the end, they got married.
4. Petar Hektorović – „Ribanje i Ribarsko prigovaranje“ – first Croatian travel diary
(1566.) – The author describes his 3-day journey at the seaside, he is describing the
environment and the dialogues with 2 fishermen.
5. Hanibal Lucić – „Jur ni jedna na svit vila“ (love poem)
6. Brne Karnarutić – „Vazetje Sigeta grada“ (historical epic poetry) – about the
occupation of Siget

Renaissance in Dubrovnik – poets were mostly inspired by love and greatly influenced by
Italian renaissance,
Štokavian dialect in Dubrovnik, the most influential poets:
Džore Držić
Šiško Menčetić
Mavro Vetranović – religious drama „Suzana čista“
Marin Držić – wrote poetry, political letters, pastorals 7 and comedies („Dundo Maroje“,
„Novela od Stanca“). He was considered to be the finest Croatian Renaissance playwright and
prose writer from Dubrovnik. Often called „Croatian Shakespeare“.

7
Work of a priest or a teacher who is giving help or advice on personal matters, religion and education.

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Kajkavian 16th century circle

The kajkavian literature begins with the work of Ivan Pergošić – „Decretum“ (1574.) – it's a
legal document which is actually a translation of a Hungarian document. This document is
actually a Croatian-Hungarian private law, it's a collection of legal norms.

Antun Vramec – „Kronika vezda znovič spravljena“ (1578.)

The language of these two works is very similar which leads to conclusion that the language
already developed to a certain extent and there were probably works in kajkavian written
before, but they were not known to us.

Lexicography
The oldest known Croatian dictionary was written by Petar Lupis (Opera nuova che insegna a
parlare la lingua schiavonesca) in 1527. It was a Croatian-Italian dictionary and the purpose
was to help the Italian merchants to communicate when they came to trade in Croatia.

The first printed Croatian dictionary was published on August 25, 1595 by Faust Vrančić. It
was named „The dictionary of 5 noble European languages: Latin, Italian, German, Dalmatian
and Hungarian“ (Rječnik 5 najplemenitijih europskih jezika: latinskoga, talijanskoga,
njemačkoga, dalmatinskoga i mađarskoga). This dictionary represents a close connection of
languages in the Europe. After that, he noticed that Croatian contained many Hungarian
words, so he created a separate Croatian- Hungarian dictionary named „Dalmatian vocabulary
adopted by the Hungarians“. This dictionary represents the first systematical presentation of
word sin Croatian. It included about 5800 words.

Historical circumstances

During the renaissance period, Croatia was divided among the foreign landlords. Dalmacija
was ruled by Venetian Republic. Northern Croatia was ruled by Hungarians, southern Croatia
was frequently attacked by Turkish army, but the only place which remained free was the city
Dubrovnik.

19
 5. CROATIAN LANGUAGE IN THE 17TH CENTURY

16th and 17th century is the time when the literature and culture began to decline. But when it
comes to linguistic work, people were becoming to be more and more conscious about the
necessity for one unique language and they realized that unique language is štokavian. In that
period Croatian language was called different names (Slavic, Slavonic, Dalmatian, Illyric,
), so the authors used different names in the titles of their books.

Jesuits (The society of Jesus) – during the 17th century the Jesuits were a very influential
group who put a lot of effort into developing education. All over the country, they established
gymnasiums (grammar school; Croatian: gimnazija) which were the first institutions of higher
education. The first one was established in 1607. Since more and more people received higher
education across the country, there was a greater need for one unique language (which will be
explained later). Their mission was to spread the spirit of catholic reform, but also to spread
the education.

This period was also a very productive period for lexicography. After the first dictionary was
published at the end of 16th century, soon the first grammar was also issued, at the beginning
of the 17th century. The author of the first printed Croatian grammar was Bartol Kašić (who
was also a member of Jesuits). The grammar named „The basics of Illyrian language in 2
books“ (Osnove ilirskoga jezika u dvije knjige) was printed in Rome in 1604.
The name in the title „illyricae“ comes from the name Illirija which referred to Croatia. This
name – Illyric language (Illirski jezik) – was used in the books written in Latin, while the
word „slovinski“ was used in books written in Croatian.
The first grammar was mostly a description of the čakavian and štokavian language in
Croatia, so Kašić is actually showing two versions of the same language. He especially
emphasized the importance of the accent. He clearly states that everyone should use „the
version that is the most common and which everyone can understand“ (in this case –
štokavian), thanks to implementing these ideas we call Bartol Kašić „the father of Croatian
grammar“.

20
The second book he wrote was called „Roman ritual“ (Ritual rimski) and it was intended for
religious people.

Linguistic CIRCLE FROM OZALJ

Northwest of Croatia.
Produced many liturgic texts. Linguists who belonged to this circle believed that Russian was
the basis of all Slavic languages, and they often used Russian words adjusted to Croatian.
Apart from that they used words from all 3 dialects, which resulted in production of a
language hybrid. By creating this kind of language, they also created a lot of damage, because
later it took a long time until the standard language became pure again. The writers used a
language called „literary koine“, which was mutual in all parts of Croatia - this language
contained the elements of all the 3 dialects (hybrid language) but everyone was still able to
understand it, because the differences between words were very small) For example: mliko –
mlijeko - mleko, lipo – lijepo – lepo
A new type of language produced within this circle was gathered around Petar Zrinski. Most
important people were: Katarina Zrinska, Fran Krsto Frankopan, Ivan Belostenec, Juraj
Ratkaj). The center of the Zrinski family was in Ozalj, therefore the name of this linguistic
circle is also in Ozalj.
Most people who lived within this area spoke čakavian, so the first texts from this area
represent the first standard čakavian version of Croatian language.
Petar Zrinski – „Adrijanskoga mora sirena“
The biggest contribution in books definitely came from Ivan Belostenec who wrote a
Croatian-Latin dictionary called „Gazophylacium“ (this word in translation means a box
where the jewelry is put). The Croatian language he used in his dictionary belongs to čakavian
dialect. This dictionary was for educational purposes and was used in schools to translate the
most famous Roman works of literature – Plato, Cicero, Virgil, …)
Another important linguist from this circle is Juraj Križanić – 1665. – „Grammar
demonstration about Russian language“ (Gramatički prikaz o ruskom jeziku). He showed a
grammar which was for most Slavic languages, not just for Croatian, because it was written
while he was a refugee in Russia. Besides Kačić's grammar, this was the second most
important grammar of that time.
But, after the tragic death of Zrinski and Frankopani, as leaders of this circle, the linguistic
works also died. The tendency to create a separate unique type of Croatian language in the

21
northwest became much weaker, but continued living, especially since the Turkish Empire
was still attacking frequently and Croatians wanted to keep the language they have.
The most important people who fought for this idea were named Juraj Habdelić and Pavao
Vitezović.
Habdelić had a very important role in the linguistic history. He wrote “Dictionary of Slavic
words” (Dikcionar ili reči slovenske) – Cro-Latin dictionary with more than 12 000 words,
mostly from kajkavian. Apart from the dictionary, he also wrote religious and moral works.
Vitezović wrote „Odiljenje Sigetsko“ – a book in which he explained his philological views.
He introduces an idea where he doesn't see the 3 dialects as 3 separate languages, but rather
calls them part of one single language. He explains the differences in vocabulary as a pride
how diverse and rich the language is.
He also wrote a book named „Kronika“ („Cronicle“) in which the most important thing for
him was not to use the words from other languages (Latin, German, Hungarian). He thought
foreign words are pushing away the local words – linguistic purism. He also wanted to make
sure that the translations were done right, but that caused many problems because he thought
one sound should have only one letter, which was not always possible. However, through his
own effort, he managed to think of a system one sound – one letter. This idea soon spread
throughout the whole country.

The southern circle

In the cities Hvar, Split and Zadar, in the Croatian coast, new čakavian circles started forming.
These circles were actually the continuation of the previously mentioned poets (Hektorović,
Lucić …).
Another important center for čakavian literature became the city Šibenik. The influence from
the coastal area was strong, but they couldn't go against the much stronger štokavian influence
which was also spread in more places.
Čakavian poets were mostly inspired by the same thing as those from Dubrovnik – emotions
(and partly religious topics). However, čakavian dialect couldn't sustain the competition from
štokavian and it turned into solely local poetic expression.
Important poets: Šimun Kožičić, Juraj Baraković („Vila Slovinka“).

Throughout 17th century, štokavian dialect and expression is getting more and more
attention.

22
So, linguists of that time followed the idea that the štokavian dialect which is most
spread should be the basis of the standard language and it should be written in Latin
script.
The most important people who contributed to building the štokavian dialect were From
Dubrovnik: Ivan Gundulić, Ivan Bunić Vučić, Junije Palmotić and later, Ignjat Đurđević.
This period in the 16th century is called baroque (cro: barok from Portuguese: barocco
which means a shapeless pearl). This was the time when writers paid more attention to
how they write, instead of what they write, so the language is much richer and the
expression is much more complex. The atmosphere was opposite from the one in
renaissance, poets wrote about helplessness of humans and the emptiness of life, there is
more negativity, darkness, pessimism.

One of the most famous authors was Ivan Gundulić. He had a nickname Kitty (Mačica)
because he always lived a quiet and calm life. He was born in Dubrovnik and is famous for
writing dramas in verses. He had a great influence on the shaping of Croatian language in the
future. He is one of the most important writers of all time. Many of the phrases he used in his
works are still used today.
Historical epic poetry: „Osman“, „Dijana“, „Armida“ …
Religious poems: „The poems of king David“, „The tears of the boasting son“ (Suze sina
razmetnoga)
Drama: „Dubravka“,

Ivan Bunić Vučić – he was an active politician of his time.

“Plandovanja”

The continuation of lexicographical work:

Juraj Habdelić – „Dikcionar ili reči slovenske z vekšega vkup zebrane“ (Dictionary or
Croatian words gathered together) (1670.) – since he was originally from the northern part, he
decided that the words included will be from kajkavian.

Jakov Mikalja – 1649. – grammar of Italian language: „Grammatika talianska“ it is the first
Italian grammar written in Croatian language, and it was for the studetns who wanted to study

23
abroad in Italy. The purpose was actually learning Latin and after that it is easier to learn
Italian. He wrote the grammar using štokavian dialect from Dubrovnik.
He also wrote a dictionary: „Blago jezika slovinskoga“ (The treasure of Croatian language).

The one standard in writing

Except the tendency to create one standard language, there was also a tendency to create the
same script for writing all dialects.

6. CROATIAN LANGUAGE IN THE 18th CENTURY

Whatever was done by lexicographers by this time was just a basis for even better analysis of
language. Still, one characteristic was constant – a mixture of Croatian and neighboring
countries. Throughout the 18th century linguistic bifurcation was still present:
1. In the northern part – the mixture of German and Croatian
2. Coast – mixture of Italian and Croatian
3. Mid-Croatia and Slavonija – Latin and Croatian
Although štokavian dialect and Latin script prevail as the basis for standard language, this was
still not completely stable, but one thing was for sure, more and more people talked about
“dispersed heritage” (rasuta baščina) – in other words, culturally, linguistically and
politically, Croatia was still dispersed among neighboring countries.

Topics for wider audience are becoming more common than those during renaissance and
baroque.
First example is “Razgovor ugodni naroda slovinskoga” (A pleasant conversation of Slavic
people, 1756.) by Andrija Kačić Miošić. The book was written as half prose and half poetry.
It is a criticism of main events from the past (from medieval to the 18 th century) of the
southern Slavic people. Soon, this book was read by most people and it was one of the biggest
ever influences on spiritual life, aesthetic views and the development of national
consciousness.
Second book which was very popular with wide audience was “Satir iliti divji čovik” (Satir or
wild man) written by Matija Antun Reljković, it’s a book of poems about customs and
disadvantages in Slavonija, again, written as a criticism.

24
Most works that were published during those times carried a message of enlightenment, but
were dedicated to language as well. Most recognized language was definitely štokavian. One
reason for that is because it was simpler and more approachable to common people. Štokavian
expression was not burdened by perfect expression or extreme intellectual level. The works
created during this century were easily spread and accepted by people and that is the main
reason why štokavian was so widely spread. This language situation encouraged people to
take better care of the language, become interested in the origin of words, fighting against
foreign words and writing grammar and dictionaries.
In the second half of the 18th century new grammars were published in Slavonija.

1. Blaž Tadijanović – “Svašta po malo iliti kratko složenje imenah I ričih u ilirski I
njemački jezik” (A little of everything or the composition of names in Illyric and
german languages) (1761) – he wrote this little book of words while captured in
Germany in prison, and the purpose of it was to help fellow inmates learn German
language.
2. Matija Antun Reljković – Except the previously mentioned “Satyr”, he also wrote
“Nova slavonska I ilirska gramatika” (New Slavonic and Illyric grammar). Reljković
wrote a much better and more detailed description of grammar. His aim was to remove
all the remains of Turkish words and influence from Croatian language.
3. Marijan Lanosović – “Uvod u latinsko riči slaganje” (Introduction to the composition
of Latin words), besides the grammar, he also added a little dictionary.
4. Matija Petar Katančić – he wrote first non-printed and unfinished etymological
dictionary called “Pravoslovnik”. It included 1473 pages and more than 53 000 words.
The interesting thing about this language was that it wasn’t written as a book, but it
was written on the margins of the Bible.

These grammars have a few things in common:

1. The words and sources come from people’s language and other books.
2. They are increasing the already existent grammar
3. It’s visible that they are taking ideas and are cooperating with similar authors from
other parts of Croatia.

The lexicographical work was still on a very high level and written not only by domestic
authors, but also foreigners. One of the most important works written was a dictionary by

25
Ardelio Della Bella called Dizionario italiano, latino, illirico (1728.) (Dictionary of Italian,
Latin and Illyrian). He analyzed books of other authors (most of them from Dubrovnik) and
extracted words from it. The extent of his work proves the fact that he would find multiple
synonyms and words related and would write them all down.
For example, for Italian word “gola” he included Croatian equivalents “garlo, grkljan, čeljust,
jezičac, zgaravica” and many more. This was the first rich dictionary which was suitable not
just for linguistic, but also for poetic use. Except that, he also included a short grammar of
Croatian language. This work marked the completeness of southeastern language
construction.

A very productive grammar and lexicographical work definitely shows that one idea
prevailed: Concern for standardization of literary expression and one unique graphic
expression.
However, some problems arose. Such as: problems of terminology and phrases for the needs
of scientists and scholars who wrote books in Croatian. At the end of the 18 th century, this
problem was slowly getting its solutions.
Special place in the affirmation of Croatian language definitely has the complete translation of
Bible by Matija Petar Katančić in 6 books. He did this because he believed that every nation
must have his own Bible in their own language, because that is a proof of existence of that
language. This book was one of the basis of Croatian language.
Another author who fought for Croatian language and its independence was Antun Kanižlić.
He was a purist and he expressed the tendency for standardization which would be based on
accepting the forms from other dialects. He was greatly influenced by Dubrovnik and his idea
was to create a norm based on accepting the forms from other dialects, but the basis would be
both štokavian dialect from Dubrovnik and kajkavian from the north.
The authors from this period had one single aim: to standardize the language, and the same
was with Joso Voltiggi, an author from Istra. He created “Ričoslovnica iliričkoga,
italianskoga I nimačkoga jezika” (1802/03). (Dictionary of Illyrian, Italian and German
language) – in this dictionary he included the words from all parts of Croatia because he
believed that if the same word is spelled slightly differently, that is just a different form of the
same word.

26
Dubrovnik – after the poets in baroque period, Dubrovnik no longer had people who would
continue the rich literary tradition through the enlightenment period. Instead, that was the time
of great scientists, such as Ruđer Bošković.
One exception was Franjo Appendini, the author of “Grammatica della lingua Illyrica”
(1808, The grammar of Illyrian language). His grammar had a great influence on the language
reforms in the next century.
Another famous lexicographer was Joakim Stulli, he wrote a book in 3 parts “Lexicon latino-
italico-illyricum” (Dictionary of Latin-Italian- Croatian) (1801.) each of 3 parts of this
dictionary had a version in Latin, second in Italian and third in Croatian. In order to collect all
the words from the language he used more than 150 other dictionaries.

Two most important standard that prevails in this century is kajkavian in the north and
štokavian in the south(widely spread: from Slavonija to Dubrovnik and from Dubrovnik to
Lika), while čakavian gets far less popularity.
At the end of 18th century, first linguistic organizations were set up, main goal of these
organizations was to establish a unique way to note down the language. They also had a great
power, which is visible from the fact that their decisions were applied not only in schools, but
also in public life.
Another important linguistic name in the 18th century is Šime Starčević. His main complaint is
that most grammar books were written by foreigners, not locals. He wrote a grammar book in
3 parts “Lexicon latino-italico-illyricum” (Dictionary of Latin-Italian- Croatian) (1801.). His
starting point is that the real folk language comes from proverbs and folk quotes and he often
uses them as examples. Another special thing about his wok is that he is the first one to
describe the
stress in Croatian.

Kajkavian
Although the area where it was used and the number of people using it was small, kajkavian
still has an important place. It was used only in northeastern part and it is still used nowadays.
It is also important to mention that the desire for unique language and standardization started
very early here, unlike other parts of the country.
In the 18th century, the connection between dialects was quickly spread among the kajkavian
authors. That is why Franjo Sušnik started and Andrija Jambrešić finished “The Latin

27
dictionary of Illyric, German and Hungarian”. Except common words, they also included
terminology from other fields, such as education, culture and science. That is why this
dictionary is one of the most complete dictionaries in older Croatian lexicography.
Graphic problems were still unsolved. Although a while ago, Šime Budinić and P. Vitezović
suggested the letters (č, đ, lj, nj, š..) they were still unable to solve this problem in printing.
Apart from dictionary, one author deserves a special place here. His name is Tituš Brezovački
and he was a comedy writer. He wrote two pieces “Matijaš Grabancijaš Dijak” and
“Diogeneš”, still very popular and frequently played nowadays.
Except a very productive dictionary and grammar work, there were also a lot of translations of
plays, books about historical events, books for household. Their main aim was to give the
readers useful and interesting content to read.
Besides that, there is more and more linguistic and literary influence between different areas
and writers.
This century finished with one idea which they all agreed one: Croatian language should be
one and unique. All the aspirations and tendencies from this century were a basis for much
more turbulent and dynamic 19th century where real reforms and fight for the language
independence took place.

7. 19th century in Croatian language development (part 1)

At the end of the 19th century the political situation is getting more and more complicated due
to the fact that the Hungarian country wanted to realize the idea of national Hungarian
country, without giving sovereignty to the other nationalities which lived in their territory,
although at the beginning, Hungary promised their independence and respect of their national
rights. The gravity of situation is visible from the fact that Hungary made Hungarian as
obligatory subject in all schools in Croatia in 1833.
As a response to the Hungarian tendencies the countries started a national movement, first in
Serbia and Slovenia and later in Croatia.
Illyrian movement was a part of and the moving force of the Croatian national
movement/revival. Nowadays most people think that CNM was the crucial point in the history
of Croatian language and that it is the actual beginning of standardization of Croatian

28
language, however, many people disagree, because Croatian language has already reached a
certain level of standardization.
Illyrian movement was graded as linguistic and literary movement which originated from the
idea that mother tongue should have the status of a literary expression in the whole territory of
Croatia.

In Croatia, the goal of the national movement was to awaken the national conscience and
before all, the fight for a language that would be comprehensible to everyone (as opposed to
the Hungarian language which was imposed to people of other nationalities.
The Croatian national movement began around the 1830s, and the reason why it began later
than in the other countries was bad economic development, weak upper class, territorial
division, dependence on Hungary and still a very strong influence of Latin language.
One of the core ideas of the movement was political union of all Southern Slavic people.
These ideas were actually greatly influenced by philosophers, one of which – Jan Kollar had a
special significance because he claimed that all Slavic people should cooperate. This had a
crucial influence on Ljudevit Gaj – the creator and originator of the Illyric movement
(Croatian National Revival). He started spreading these ideas while he was still very young.
First most important work written by Gaj was in 1830. „Kratka osnova Horvatsko-Slavenskog
pravopisanja“ (Short basics of Croatian-Slavic ortography). In this book he suggested writing
the consonants c,d, g, l, n, s, z with a tilda. After he came back from his studies in Vienna in
1831. he wrote a patriotic poem (Još Hrvatska nij' propala = Croatia still isn't ruined). During
the same year a lot of political discussions were published, but the censorship was very
strong.
The year 1835. mark the new period of Illyric movement. This is the year when Ljudevit Gaj
began to publish his political magazine “Novine horvatske” (Croatian newspaper) and literary
attachment „Danicza Horvatzska, Slavonska y Dalmatinzka“. Danicza was a tool for
awakening the nation and publishing articles, poems, news, passages from older literature
which all often had political characteristics. At the beginning of each number, there was a
motto which expressed views on people or life.
The poems published in Danicza had a very important role as well. These poems were called
“budnice” and were patriotic lyric poems which had the role of awakening the national
conscience. Although they were written as poems, they were often put to music.
The same year, 1835., Gaj published an article “Pravopisz” (Orthography) in which he
explained his vision about one nation with multiple tribes (South Slavic people) who are

29
united with one language, but this language would have multiple dialects (Dialects refer to
languages such as Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian, …). Here it became obvious that they cannot
use the word “Horvatski” to describe this unique language of South Slavic people, but instead
they used the word “Illyric” which is more suitable to refer to all the Southern Slavs.
First this newspaper was printed in kajkavian dialect and old graphic form. However, at the
end of same year Gaj announced the changes in his newspaper, so from 1836. Danicza and
Novine HSD start being published in štokavian and according to the new orthography.

Orthography – Gaj already announced his reform of orthography in 1835. (“Pravopisz”) in

Danicza. This reform marked the second phase in his work. People who took part in this
language reform paid special attention to orthography because they thought that orthography
was equally important as spoken language. In this second phase, Gaj suggested a new idea: he
suggested new graphemes: č, š, ž, ć or tj, dj or gj, lj, nj. In 1838 he brings the final
modification of these graphemes in form: č, š, ž, dj or gj (which represented đ or dž), lj, nj (to
replace ñ).
He suggested this because there has been a lot of confusion in reading for example (djevojka
(d and j), but rodjen is actually rođen, so people weren't sure when to read this as dj and when
as đ. Another example: kamenje, but ñegov, both combinations are actually nj nowadays).
Later Đuro Daničić finished Gaj's work and added new graphemes: đ (first used in 1878.,
which he took from Iceland's writing). This popular reform from Gaj was later called „gajica“.
Although his dialect was kajkavian, because he was born in the northwest, Gaj still accepted
štokavian as official. One reason for this was because almost 11 million people used
štokavian, but only 800 000 used kajkavian. Second reason was because the literary tradition
of štokavian was much richer and the standardization was on a much higher level, so the
reform was necessary only in the territory with kajkavian.
In the year 1835., another important poem was published in Danicza. It was a poem (budnica)
named “Horvatska domovina” written by Antun Mihanović, which later became Croatian
anthem.
One important event during this time was the establishment of Zagrebačka škola (Zagreb
School, 1835/36). This was actually a group of linguists (not a school) who supported Gaj's
movement and ideas (as opposed to the reform done by Vuk Karadžić in Serbia during that
time). Later these linguists called themselves „illirci“. But, in 1843. the usage of the name
„Illyric, Illyria“ was forbidden, so they replaced this name with the name „Croatian“. The
work of the above mentioned School was established by Gaj and his work is mostly limited to

30
the linguistic reform. His basic idea was that there should be only one language in the whole
Illyria (which would include Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and some other neighboring territories).
His idea was greatly influenced by Pavao Vitezović, because he used a very similar language
model and similar ideas.

Gaj's idea had to be not only spread by spoken word, but ideology had to be written down as
well.
One of the first people who created a grammar based on Gaj's ideas was Vjekoslav Babukić in
„Osnova slovnice slavjanske narječja ilirskoga“(1836) which was later the model for the
grammars of Antun Mažuranić and Adolfo Veber Tkalčević. In his grammar Babukić used
štokavian and the new accent system and in the name the word „ilirski referred to „south-
slavonic“, whereas in his next grammar (Ilirska slovnica, 1854, the name ilirska refers to
Croatian-Serbian). Besides the important grammar contribution, he was also the first professor
of Croatian language in department for Croatian language established in 1845 as a response to
Hungarian tendencies.

Two important features of Illyrian reform were so called „ě” (rogato e) which stood
for “ie, je, e, i” (jat) and r (when it acts as a vowel) they wrote is as èr or àr. Until then jat was
written with y. So, according to the new reform it was allowed to pronounce word with jat in
different ways (vjera, vira, vera, viera) in daily life, but for schools Babukić suggested ie
(today: ije) or je.
Special attention was also paid to etymology, therefore, the words didn’t go through voice
changes, because they wanted to show the words in their original form. Sudac – sudca
(today:suca). Their main principle was: speak for the ears, write for the eyes.
Second important author of the grammar was Antun Mažuranić who wrote “Temelji ilirskoga
I latinskoga jezika za početnike” (The basics of Illyrian and Latin language for beginners,
1839 and 1842). It was written in form of questions and answers as Croatian- Latin grammar
and basically repeated the views of Babukić. In another grammar called “Slovnica Hervatska”
(1859) he described the new štokavian accent system.
Another Babukić’s grammar called “Ilirska slovnica” (1854), it’s much more scientific and
contains the comparison of other Slavic languages and Croatian dialects.
Third important author who contributed to writing grammar is Adolfo Weber Tkalčević – he
wrote grammars mostly for schools, but before all he was a very prominent Croatian linguist.
Besides that, he also wrote scientific discussions and works related to the movement.

31
Except grammars, during the Illyric movement a few dictionaries were published. First one
was “Ilirsko-nemacski i nemacsko-ilirski rukoslovnik” (Illyrian-German, German-Illyrian
dictionary, Vienna, 1839, 1840) written by Adolf Richter, Adolf Ballmann and Rudolf
Fröhlich. The dictionary was pretty bad, unoriginal and printed using the old graphic form and
it was soon replaced by “Nemačko-ilirski slovar” (German-Illyric Dictionary, Zagreb, 1842.)
written by Ivan Mažuranić and Jakov Užarević. It was the first Illyrian dictionary written in
the new graphic form. Another great thing Mažuranić was famous for was that he brough the
Illyrian reformed language into schools in 1862.

Bogoslav Šulek published another “Nemačko-hrvatski rječnik” (1860) which was based on
Mažuranić and Užarević dictionary. Except this, Šulek also wrote a big dictionary called
“Hrvatsko-njemačko-talijanski rječnik znanstvenoga nazivlja” (Croatian-German-Italian
dictionary of scientific concepts” (1874/75). In 1879 he published Yugoslavian dictionary of
plants”. These two works were extremely important for shaping the modern scientific
concepts. Therefore, Šulek was famous as a most dedicated Croatian lexicographer, linguistic
genius and the father of Croatian scientific concepts. As a dedicated follower of the Illyrian
movement, he didn’t borrow words from other dialects or languages, but instead, he first
created the new words by himself and the he would take the other languages as a translation
model and source.
In shaping the language during the Illyric movement, two principles were always present: 1.
Linguistic purism and 2. Parallel usage of štokavian, kajkavian and čakavian words,
interference of all 3 dialects.
The reason why linguistic purism was so important is that it represents a self-defense of
language which was pressed by Latin tradition, Italian, German, Hungarian and Turkish.
Purism was a fight against foreign words, therefore Croatian linguistic purism has a
nationalistic character because its main argument is their own linguistic tools and words.
During the Illyric movement, their primary goal was to unite all the Croatian people under
one language, but although their aspirations to unite all South Slavic people under one
language remained just a utopia.
Many linguists claim that the Illyric movement wasn’t a new phase, but instead it was just a
continuation of standardization from the past centuries.
The bad side of the Illyric movement was that it pushed kajkavian to the margins and it just
became a dialect. The good side of the movement was that there was finally a reform of
writing which was the same on the whole territory of Croatia.

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Except a very productive political actions, cultural productivity was also on a very high level.
In 1842. Matica ilirska (later Matica hrvatska) was founded, it was a cultural organization in
charge of publishing the books, Matica hrvatska is still very active in book publishing
nowadays and it’s one of the most important language institutions in Croatia.
In 1843. Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski made the first speech in Croatian in the Croatian
Congress. Up until then, Latin was the language used in formal occasions. Except the speech,
Sakcinski is also famous for writing the first Croatian drama named “Juran I Sofija ili Turci
pod Siskom” (1839). (Juran and Sofija or Turks under Sisak).
In 1847. Croatian Congress proclaimed Croatian language as official tool for communication.
In 1846. first Croatian opera was written by Vatroslav Lisinski, named “Ljubav I zloba”
(Love and evil).

8. CROATIAN LANGUAGE IN 19TH CENTURY (PART 2)

In the second half of the 19th century, after Gaj’s reform, linguists started to provide
arguments on why they agree or disagree with Gaj’s reform.
First group was in the north of Croatia, claiming that people who speak kajkavian
should not give up on their dialect and accept štokavian.
Second group was gathered in the city Zadar and they were against Gaj’s reform.
The claims of the first group were supported by the claim that kajkavian expression
was good enough and developed enough to be a literary expression. Ignjat
Kristijanović, one of the most famous advocates of Croatian language had a strong
wish to continue the development of kajkavian tradition. He published “Stoletni
calendar” (A century’s calendar) and Grammatik der kroatischen Mundart (Grammar
of Croatian dialect). He wasn’t alone in his work, he had many people who followed
him, but their group wasn’t strong enough, because Gaj and his group managed to
convince kajkavian people to accept štokavian.
The new reform brought a kind of language which was new for all Croatian people.
However, as time went by, Kristijanović also accepted Gaj’s reform.
Secont opposition was much more stronger. They were trying to continue the
štokavian written tradition, but although they followed the štokavian tradition, just like
Gaj, their idea was slightly different than Gaj’s. Second circle was gathered in the city
Zadar and Ante Kuzmanić who started publishing “Zora Dalmatinska” (Dalmatian

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 Dawn). They agreed with Gaj that Croats should fight against the usage of other
foreign languages in their territory, but the problem appeared when they started
disagreeing with Gaj on which dialect should be the basis of Croatian language.
Kuzmanić thought that Gaj doesn’t consider others and is making most of the
decisions on his own. In other words, he thought Gaj wasn’t considering Dalmacija
when making his decisions. Kuzmanić thought it’s not real to unite all the southern
Slavic people in one language. However, if that is possible, they should be united in
using the štokavian ikavian pronunciation, not štokavian jekavian as Gaj suggested.
The reason was that štokavian ikavian was used by most Croatians and its already
established graphic form is more convenient to use. Kuzmanić was willing to
compromise with Gaj and he suggested that Northern Croatia (where Gaj was from)
should accept ikavian pronunciation and Dalmacija would in return accept Gaj’s
writing reform idea. But that suggestion was declined by Gaj because he and his group
had already won most of the political disputes and were getting stronger. He managed
to gather all the middle class and rolyalty, improve political, social, literary life,
theatre, journalism and music. In their reform they stick to the reform (č, š, ć, ž, đ…)
which connected them to the Polish and Czech way of writing and they also accepted
the Literary tradition of Dubrovnik and thought it should be kept as an important part
of the language. Gaj was winning because most people from northern Croatia,
Dalmacija, Dubrovnik accepted his program.
The only problem left was rogato e (replacement for ije, je, ie), on which they still
couldn’t decide.
Kuzmanić struggled to make an influence on people, but somehow he managed to
publish the first number of Zora Dalmatinska in 1844. In Split. At the same time, a
book was also published in Split, but that book was written according to the Gaj’s
reform. Besides, many influential Gaj’s coworkers also worked on Zora Dalmatinska.
Gaj’s influence was visible, not only in Croatia, but also in Slovenia, where his reform
of writing was accepted as well.
Another important event which was encouraged by the reform and the whole political
situation is the establishment of Croatian as official language in Croatia. Croatian
Congress pronounced it official on October 23, 1847. Until then, Latin was the
language of formal legal communication. In 1848. Josip Jelačić became the governor
of Croatia. With this event ends the first very turbulent era of Croatian National

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 Movement. This period is important because it cleared the language situation, made
Croatia more united and created a language used until nowadays.

Philological schools in Croatia

After 1850 starts a calmer phase in the development of Croatian language standard.
From the first half of the 19th century 3 things are important:
1. Kajkavian territory accepted štokavian ikavian as official
2. Mutual and unique graphic expression was created for the whole territory
3. Croatian congress pronounced Croatian as official language.

However, some minor language problems remained and those problems were something that
Gaj’s movement didn’t solve. For that reason around Croatia appeared a few philological
schools which offered their own language solutions. The questions involved: what kind of
status did kajkavian have after štokavian was dicided as a standard language, how to end the
ijekavian-ikavian double pronunciation.

There were three schools:

1. In Zadar, led by Ante Kuzmanić
2. Rijeka, led by Fran Kurelac
3. In Zagreb, led by Adolfo Veber Tkalčević
According to the places where they were established, they were called Zagrebačka, Riječka
and Zadarska filološka škola.
In 1850. There was a big meeting in Vienna where these questions were discussed. A group of
Croatian linguists in that meeting wanted to accept the form of ijekavian štokavian basis
which was already developed in Dubrovnik and which was also encouraged by Vuk
Stefanović Karadžić in Serbia. Later, they signed a document where they agreed on these
solutions called Bečki književni dogovor (1850.) (Literary agreement from Vienna). But,
neiher of the philological schools accepted this agreement because they thought that the
štokavian form which was the basis of the standard language already had the elelments of
ikavian and other elements which were not štokavian, so it was impossible to agree on
ijekavian štokavian as individual basis.

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So, although they were different, the three schools had a clear vision : to establish a standard
based on written tradition.

Zadarska filološka škola

As already mentioned, Kuzmanić was the leader who already publish Zora Dalmatinska in
1844. In their program they wanted: 1. Choose one single dialect as a basis for standard
language, and that dialect should be štokavian ikavian because it was used by most people.
His reasoning was pretty clear: If instead of three dialect-basis, Croatian people accept the
basis of standard on only one language, then it’s possible to have one nation one language
rule. From this, they also concluded that people’s language and literary language should have
the least possible difference. These premises were actually the continuation of an old
tradition. And according to this, a new standard should have been developed. They worked
had for štokavian ikavian to be accepted as the basis for the standard.
However, after the new generation took over the school and the leadership was given to Ivan
Kaznačić, their ideas became more and more similar to the ideas of Zagrebačka filološka
škola which was in favor of Gaj’s ideas.

Riječka filološka škola

It was led by Fran Kurelac. His idea was that the basis of written language should be those
elements which were mutual to all the Slavic languages. Other two schools were mostly busy
eliminating the words and remains of other languages in Croatian language, however, Kurelac
was more focused on Grammar and morphology in which he accepted certain ideas from the
past.
One of the most important differences between this and other schools was th Genitiv plural of
female gender nouns. While others expressed G.mn. with the ending -ah (ženah), Kurelac
thought it I better to use no ending (žen). This is just one example, but most disagreements
were based on the differences among grammar cases. This is one reason why Kurelac was a
fan of Marko Marulić and his work “Judita” because most forms were taken from there.
In the end, Kurelac didn’t have many followers, most of them were high school students and
his ideas were a little outdated, apart from that he himself wasn’t a linguist or philologist.

Zagrebačka škola

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Unlike Riječka škola, Zagrebačka škola had a strong foundation and was supported by great
linguists and philologists led by Ljudevit Gaj, who had their specific program and very firm
ideas. Riječka škola and Kurelac cound’t compete with that, so Riječka škola soon fell apart.
As already mentioned, Zagrebačka škola was a fan of ending -ah (G, mn, – mnogo selah,
ženah, jelenah..) that’s why the followers of this school got the nickname ahavci. They had a
few aims: to finish the standardization based on the results of the national movement program,
take štokavština as basis, but also take care of kajkavian and čakavian writers.
One of the most prominent members of this school was definitely Bogoslav Šulek.
Zagrebačka škola published a huge number of dictionaries, grammars and orthographies.
Although they had a strong tradition and many followers, a new generation of philologists
turned the direction. This new group became active at the end of the 19th century

Hrvatski vukovci

They called themselves vukovci because they supported the work and ideas of Serbian
philologist Vuk Stefanović Karadžić. Unlike Zagrebačka škola which wanted etymological
orthography (keep the original base of the word), Vukovci went in the other direction. They
wanted phonological orthography, which means they would write down words exactly as they
pronounce it. The leader of Vukovci was Tomo Maretić who took Đuro Daničić as his role
model. Daničić was a philologist who worked on Dictionary of Croatian and Serbian
language.
One of the active linguists was also Pero Budmani who published a grammar called The
Grammar of Serbo-Croatian language. It was the first time this expression was used, although
this language technically didn’t exist, because these were two separate languages.
In 1892. Ivan Broz published Croatian orthography based on phonological rules, which was
closer to Serbian reform than Croatian. This orthography was different than the one from
Zagrebačka škola. Ortography from Ivan Broz was also obligatory in schools which meant
getting closer to Serbian language.
At the end of the 19th century there were more and more linguists and philologists who agreen
with Vuk Karadžić and Đuro Daničić. In the final phase of standardization it was very
obvious that the language of Croatian literature involves more ideas of Karadžić and Daničić
and much less of Croatian literature.

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This situation contributed to the concept which Vukovci and Karadžić wanted: one unique
language for one nation with two names. This was also supported by Hungarian leader Khuen
Hedervary.
The end of the 19th century matks the victory of hrvatski vukovci. The further expansion of
their influence will be clearly visible in the 19 th century.The next century clearly marks the
gradual approaching of Croatian and Serbian language.

CROATIAN LANGUAGE IN THE 20TH CENTURY

The influence of Vukovci continued from the 19th into the 20th century, with a slight
difference – the problem of language wasn’t just a linguistic problem, but it also because a
political problem and a common point of discussion between two governments. 20th century
for Croatian language began as the language with štokavian basis – which was unique to other
nations in Serbia, Montenegro and Muslims. As a consequence of the events in the second
half of the 18th century and approaching of Croatian and Serbian language the language
standard between these two languages was beginning to be more and more similar. 20 th
century was in most part characterized by two forces: unitarian (which was trying to unite
Serbian and Croatian) and puristic (which was trying to preserve Croatian as a separate
entity).
Although the situation seemed calm, a gap between the poets and philologists started to
appear. Majority of poets didn’t agree with the decisions of hrvatski vukovci. The reason was
because it was clear for them that they are using Croatian language and not a hybrid language
created by groups of philologists. That was visible in their choice of words, where they would

38
every now and then use a kajkavian or čakavian words. Although the poets tried to resist the
influence of vukovci, their actions didn’t cause any major changes.
One of the people who was promoting the ideas of vukovci most was Tomo Maretić. He
claimed that the language of literature for Croats begins with Vuk Karadžić, which was a
pretty scandalous claim concerning the fact that by that time Croatia already had a 1000 years
of language history. He also claimed that Croats should start learning this “new language”.
The idea of one “Serbo-Croatian” language was greatly forced upon people and was
becoming a dominant idea among linguists. The grammars and dictionaries written during the
Croatian puristic era were now replaced by those of Serbo-Croatian language based on the
reform of Serbian linguist Vuk Stefanović Karadžić. A special committee was established
whose job was to promote a unique terminology in schools. So, most books used in schools
were written in Serbian and mostly with Serbian terminology. Despite that, the literary
expression and many writers didn’t accept these decisions. Main resistance force came from
kajkavian writers and čakavian writers who insisted on local expression.
During the World War II there was a slight change in views. The Croatian leadership was
trying to stop the development of this hybrid language any further, so they removed the
language books proscribed by vukovci and brought into usage a type of ortography which was
focused on etymology of words. So Croatian state office (Hrvatski državni ured) published a
book called Etymological writing (Koriensko pisanje, 1942.) and after that “Croatian
ortography” (1944.) as well.
In 1944 there was even a law which strictly defined Croatian as official language. During the
WWII the mutual Committee for the 4 countries brought a rule by which all the official
statements and communication should be done in 4 languages (Croatian, Serbian, Slovenian
and Macedonian). The new constitution was also written in 4 languages. This way, they gave
all the languages places that they deserved. Following that decision, Croatian philological
society started publishing a magazine called “Jezik” published by professor Ljudevit Jonke.

The unitarist force still didn’t calm down, despite the clear language decisions.
Matica Srpska from Serbia organized and published a Questionnaire in which they asked
about the status of Serbo-Croatian language and they wanted a unique ortography and
terminology for this “language” in the whole Serbo-Croatian territory.
After a few months of research, the result of this Questionnaire was the signing of
“Novosadski dogovor” (Agreement from Novi Sad) 1954. The agreement was signed by
Serbian linguists who were a part of Matica Srpska and Croatian linguist (who were chosen

39
by Matica Srpska and sent to Serbia) who were a part of Matica hrvatska. The first point of
this agreement says: National language of Serbs, Croats and Montenegro is ONE language, so
there is a unique language which was developed around two centers – Belgrade and Zagreb.
Based on this point and a few others from this agreement, Matica Srpska published a
Ortography of Serbo-Croatian language (1960). It was written in two scripts – Latin for
Croatia and Cyrillic for Serbia.
This was the point where there was no way back for Croatian language as independent, so the
linguists who still wanted to separate these two languages worked on theories about “two
versions of one language – Serbian and Croatian version”. Unitarian force was getting
stronger and stronger, but there was still a successful resistance to it in Croatia.
Following the attempt to separate the two languages somehow, Đuro Daničić suggested
adding “Ili” between the names for the two languages, calling it – Srpski ili hrvatski jezik.
This idea temporarily calmed down the situation, however, this was a very locally focused
claim, because the name “hrvatski ili srpski” was just a local name and outside the borders of
the countries in Balkan, it could not be defined. So this decision wasn’t satisfactory either.
Either way, this new hybrid language was called using two names, there was no way it could
be united, because nobody’s mother tongue was this language nor this ever existed.
Those who wanted to unite it, insisted on this argument and thought of one name to unite it –
srpskohrvatski jezik. In order to achieve thin unification in one language, they would have to
make the Croatians forget the whole tradition and become illiterate.
After Novosadski dogovor was signed, Croatians hoped for continuous individual
development of Croatian language, however, the reality was different. More and more
vocabulary from Serbia came into Croatian language.
In addition, in 1967, a mutual dictionary was planned to be creates , one in Zagreb and the
other one in Novi Sad. The reactions to this dictionary were strong – it did not respect the
separate and unique variants of both languages. Soon the work on this dictionary was
completely stopped.
A very decisive step was taken against the union of the two languages in 1967, when linguists
who were a part of Matica hrvatska signed a document called Declaration about the name and
the position of Croatian language (Deklaracija o nazivu I položaju hrvatskog književnog
jezika). The Declaration was not signed only by Matica hrvatska, but also by many Croatian
cultural and scientific institutions. It was a reaction against the Agreement from Novi Sad. In
this document it was asked that the decision about 4 languages being independent should be
written in the constitution. However, the Declaration didn’t get a positive reaction from the

40
government. They thought that linguists and scientist were protesting against the ideals the
government supported in terms of language.
But despite that, the document was welcomed by people because it was a proof that it is
possible to react against the forces which tried to unite the two nations and two languages. So,
the Croatian linguists continued their work independently and “in silence” – they were
working on creating a grammar and dictionary of Croatian language. In 1971 they managed to
publish “Hrvatski pravopis” (Croatian orhtography) by Stjepan Babić, Božidar Finka and
Milan Moguš.
At the end of the same year, there was a conference of the Central Communist Party of
Yugoslavia in Karađorđevo, Serbia. And due to certain political decisions and ideals,
“Croatian orthography” was destroyed and forbidden by the government and many people
who worked on it ended up in prison. This was the second attack against the Declaration.
Not even this stopped the Croatian persistence and the willpower for affirmation of
independent and separate language.
Until then, all the attention was focused on genetical classification according to which
Croatian or Serbian language was considered one of the Slavic languages. So the focus of
scientific studies was only language basis, but the development process and the level that the
language reached through that process was completely disregarded. According to that new
claims appeared: Croatian and Serbian are not the same language, but the variations of one
basic language. Starting from that point, the argument for distinguishing the two languages
was the following: the two languages might have the same basis, but they developed
differently and now have different characteristics, for example, Serbian has only one dialect,
whereas Croatian consists of 3 dialects which are equally part of one language – in other
languages there is no such thing. This tradition of 3 dialects originates in the first written
monuments engraved in stone, and therefore, this development was the development of
Croatian language only, not Serbian or Serbo-Croatian. In the 1970s to 1980s linguists and
scientist produced a massive number of books (grammar, language history, orthography,
scientific studies etc.) which proved the distinctive characteristics of Croatian language in 3
dialects. Many of the studies were showing the historical development of the 3 dialects and
their separate historical tradition. Apart from that, it was also shown the position of Croatian
language among other southern Slavic languages.

CROATIAN LANGUAGE AFTER 1990

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After Yugoslavia fell apart in 1990 and Croatia was proclaimed an independent country on
June 25, 1991 – this was a great change for the whole southeastern Europe. This event also
caused a lot of change fo Craotian language. After almost a century of being blended with
Serbian language, Croatian language reached the phase of independent development. This
phase was characterized by problems in the norm and standard of the language and the
appearance of two groups of linguists. One was puristic, the other was liberal.
Purists waned to clear the language of Serbian concepts and double words (Serbian and
Croatian) for certain concepts and choose only Croatian terminology.
The liberals wanted to continue the existent form of the language, but prevent the further
influence from the outside.
The period after 1990 was characterized by the “hunt for Serbian words in Croatian
language”. This resulted in appearance of many articles and books dedicated to explaining the
differences between Croatian and Serbian language.
In 1998. A Committee for the standard of Croatian language (Vijeće za normu hrvatskoga
jezika) was established. It’s role was to establish a stable and fixed norm for certain problems
within the language. Their primary task was to remove Serbian terminology and establish a
standard for Croatian language.
Another major change happening with Croatian language is the adoption of words from other
languages, mostly English. Due to globalization, internet and a greater exchange of
information, many words used nowadays are not pure Croatian words, but they were taken
from English, in Croatian they age called anglizmi, most common examples are:
internacionalan, telefonirati, plan, planirati, kopirati, kompjutor, etc.
Although established as an independent language and one of the official languages of the
European Union, there are still places within orthography, lexis and accent system which
cause a disagreement among linguists and the solutions still haven’t settled down.
However, one thing is for sure, the slogan “jedna država-jedan narod-jedan jezik” greatly
determined the direction of development and set the puristic tendencies as dominant. This was
a direct reaction to almost a century of politics which drove Croatia into the union with Serbia
on a political and linguistic level.
In the development one characteristic of the development remained constant since the 16 th
century – the parallel and gradual development of all 3 dialects. This trait is still one of the
arguments for further development. The argument about historical development is still very
commonly used.

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The reason why such great importance was attached to the language is because language
means national identity and national identity means belonging to one nation and one
homeland. And this is still important nowadays.

CROATIAN LANGUAGE TODAY

Nowadays around the world there are around 7 million Croatian speakers.
In Croatia about 95% of people speak Croatian as first language.
Except the standard Croatian language which is the tool for formal communication, there are
3 other idioms/languages used in and outside of the Croatian borders.
Those languages are kajkavian, čakavian and the language of Croatian people in Gradišće
(Austria) which has a status of independent language standard.
It is very rare for Slavic languages to have such greatly developed poetry in all dialects, but
Croatian is one of those languages.
Although čakavian lost his status of standard in the half of the 18 th century and kajkavian lost
it in 1836, after Gaj chose štokavian as the basis, their expression and development didn’t stop
there.
At the beginning of the 20th century, literary tradition in dialects became lively again. Part of
the reason was because many writers chose to, except in štokavian, write in another dialect as
a sign of affirmation of Croatian dialects and language. Reasons for this were often political,
protest against Serbian politics and the influence of Serbian language.

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