Dai ladini ai Walser : elementi di continuità e distorsione della figura femminile nei miti alpini

This article is a comparative study, in which a certain type of female figure from the Ladin mythology, the gana and Donna Chenina, is analysed and compared with similar figures found in other productions spread over the Alps, in order to verify whether they are all referable to one specific ancient figure from which all the others have descended with slight variations. The study confirms the hypothesis of a Celtic substratum to which it is possible to refer and which has formed ganes, dialas and fairies, according to where they can be found across the Alps. This is supported by the fact that these female figures have different names but their essential characteristics are constant, very precise and refer, most likely, to very ancient divinities, worshipped at a time when Europe was still an Indo-Europe-an group, had become familiar with agriculture and was probably populated by matrilineal societies.

“Wir wollen hoffen, dass es nicht so lange dauert…”

While the major events of the First World War were scientifically examined early on, the “everyday stories” associated with the war received little attention for decades. It is only in recent years that this aspect has been recognised as an inte-gral part of history and has also been the subject of academic research in Tyrol and Trentino. Luckily, an extensive collection of field postcards and field letters from Felix, Candidus and Albin Crepaz has been preserved. They were deployed as soldiers on Col di Lana and the Siefsattel in the immediate vicinity of their hometown Lasta, and experienced the impact of the war on their homeland and their relatives at first hand. The preserved documents – even though the letters of reply are missing – give a deep insight into the psychological and physical problems of an ordinary soldier, as well as the concern for his relatives and neighbours, and are thus an important evidence of the everyday history of Tyrol during the First World War.

Etymologisches im Lexicon romontsch cumparativ (LRC) (II)

As we have seen, the LRC is neither useful as a reference work nor as a teaching tool: it contains grammatical, morphological, semantic, etymological and struc-tural problems in a way that the reader has often to deal with misleading and wrong entries instead of finding advice in case of a linguistic doubt. The author often etymologises unsystematically, unscientifically and sometimes even tritely. This dictionary paints an unreal portrait of the Romontsch-Sursilvan language, an image that it is not worth to take seriously.