Preliminary communication
Summary: The term "Boduli" – origin, meaning and appropriate contemporary use
Anton Bozanić
Abstract
This brief overview is an attempt to explain and analyse the term "boduli", which is used to refer to islanders. The term is, as demonstrated in a series of arguments, of Croatian origin. It emerged in communication between people from the mainland and the inhabitants of the islands. For mainland residents, islanders are those who live 'down there’ ("doli") in line with the archaic expression "v’ doli" or "b’ doli", so based on this adverb, the term "boduli" was created. On the other hand, for islanders, the mainland residents are those who live ‘up there’ ("gori"), so they were given the name "gorinci", but also "vlasi" (‘Vlachs’). Most often, the term "boduli" is used to refer to the residents of the island closest to the mainland shore. The reason is entirely understandable. People on the mainland look at the residents of the closest island, while the more distant islands are not visible. In its original meaning, the name for islanders did not have a negative connotation. Since the term "boduli" is Croatian in origin, linking it to the Italian word "botolo", or the Venetian "bodolo", has no foundation. It is therefore unnecessary and pointless to mount a defence against the negative meaning of these Italian words, because this Croatian term has an entirely different origin. Islanders are not ashamed of the term "boduli", but they need not excessively extol it, either, for it will only then acquire a demeaning aspect.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
284441
URI
Publication date:
3.3.2020.
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