Uskoks and Geordie: Difference between pages

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'''Geordie''' refers to a person originating from [[Tyneside]] ([[England]]) and the adjacent former coal mining areas of northern [[County Durham]] or the [[dialect]] spoken by such people. There are a number of rival theories to explain how the term came about, though all accept that it derives from a familiar diminutive form of the name "George".

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In recent times Geordie has also been used to refer to a supporter of [[Newcastle United F.C.|Newcastle United]] [[football (soccer)|football]] club no matter their origin, including people from outside the traditional area.

'''Uskok''' was the designation for a fugitive Christian Slav in the areas of [[Dalmatia]] during the [[Ottoman wars in Europe]]. Bands of uskoks fought a fairly successful [[guerilla]] war against the Ottomans.

== Derivation of the term ==

The exploits of the uskoks contributed to a renewal of war between Venice and Turkey (1571-1573). An extremely curious picture of contemporary manners is presented by the Venetian agents, whose reports on this war resemble some knightly chronicle of the middle ages, full of single combats, tournaments and other chivalrous adventures. They also show clearly that the Dalmatian levies far surpassed the Italian mercenaries in skill and courage.

One explanation is that it was established during the [[Jacobitism|Jacobite Rebellion]] of 1745. The Jacobites declared that the natives of [[Newcastle upon Tyne|Newcastle]] were staunch supporters of the Hanoverian Kings, in particular of [[George II of Great Britain|George II]] during the [[1745]] rebellion. This contrasted with rural [[Northumbria]], which largely supported the Jacobite cause. If true, the term may have derived from a popular anti-Hanoverian song, which calls the first Hanoverian king "Geordie Whelps", meaning "George the [[House of Guelph|Guelph]]".

Many of these troops served abroad; at the Battle of Lepanto, for example, in 1571, a Dalmatian squadron assisted the allied fleets of Spain, Venice, Austria and the Papal States to crush the Turkish navy.

An alternative explanation for the name is that local miners used "Geordie" safety lamps designed by [[George Stephenson]], rather than the "Davy Lamps" designed by [[Humphry Davy]] which were used in other mining communities.

The term Geordie is often incorrectly used to cover all the peoples of the [[North East England|North East of England]], though this usage is generally confined to people from other parts of the [[United Kingdom]], and is considered an insult by North-Easterners who do not come from Tyneside, due to intense local rivalries. To North-Easterners the term exclusively refers to persons from Tyneside; since about [[1991]] people from [[Sunderland|Wearside]] have been termed [[Mackem|Mackems]]; people from [[Hartlepool]] are known as [[monkey hanger]]s, whilst natives of the [[Teesside]] conurbation are generally referred to as [[Smoggies]]. People from the countryside in between these urban areas are generally referred to as 'farm yackers' or 'pit yackers' (particularly in Northumberland around the Ashington area).

==History==

== The Geordie dialect ==

During the early years of the 16th century, the Turkish conquest of Bosnia and Herzegovina drove large numbers of the Christian inhabitants from their homes. A body of these Uskoks, as they were called, from a Serbo-Croatian word meaning "refugee", established itself in the Dalmatian fortress of Clissa, near Spalato, and thence waged continual war upon the Turks. Clissa, however, became untenable, and the Uskoks withdrew to Zengg, on the Croatian coast, where, in accordance with the Austrian system of planting colonies of defenders along the Military Frontier, they were welcomed by the Emperor Ferdinand I., and promised an annual subsidy in return for their services.

'''Geordie''' derives much less influence from French and Latin than does Standard English, being substantially [[Angle tribe|Angle]] and [[Viking]] in origin. The accent and pronunciation, as in [[Scots language|Lowland Scots]], reflect old Anglo-Saxon pronunciations, accents and usages.

Their new stronghold, screened by mountains and forests, was unassailable by cavalry or artillery, but admirably suited to the light-armed Uskoks, whose excellence lay in guerilla warfare. The Turks, on their side, organized a body of equally effective troops called Martelossi, for defence and reprisals. Thus, checked on land, and with their subsidy rarely paid, the Uskoks turned to piracy.

Personal pronouns differ markedly from Standard English: Geordies use "youse" for plural "you", "me" for "my", "us" for "me", "wor" for "our". The word "wor" is sometimes placed before the given name of the person being the subject of conversation to denote that they are a family member, for example "wor Allan" or "wor da" (father). It is also quite common for Geordies to use the word "man" for both men and women, as in "howay man" (c'mon you).

Large galleys could not anchor in the bay of Zengg, which is shallow and exposed to sudden gales, so the Uskoks fitted out a fleet of swift boats, light enough to navigate the smallest creeks and inlets of the Illyrian shore, and easily sunk and recovered, if a temporary landing became necessary. With these they preyed upon the commerce of the Adriatic. Their ranks were soon swelled by outlaws from all nations, and by their own once peaceful neighbors, from Novi, Ottocac and other Croatian towns.

Vowel sounds are also quite unusual. "er" on the end of words becomes "a" ("father" is pronounced "fatha", both "a" sounds as in "hat"). Many "a" sounds become more like "e": "hev" for "have" and "thet" for "that". Double vowels are often pronounced separately as dipthongs: "boat" becomes "boh-ut". Some words acquire extra vowels ("growel" for "growl", "cannet" for "can't"). This property of the dialect has lead Geordie to be known for ''putting as many vowels as possible into a word''. The "or" sound in words like "talk" becomes "aa", while "er" sounds in words like "work" becomes "or". The "ow" in words like "down" or, most famously, "town" becomes "oo", hence "the Toon" meaning [[Newcastle upon Tyne|Newcastle]]. In Wearside, the "oo" in words like "cook", "book" or "look" becomes "uu", although this accent has come to be known as [[Mackem]], not Geordie.

After 1540, however, Venice, as mistress of the seas, guaranteed the safety of Turkish merchant vessels, and provided them with an escort of galleys. The Uskoks retaliated by ravaging the Venetian islands of Veglia, Arbe and Pago, and by using the Venetian territories in Dalmatia as an avenue of attack upon the Turks. Meanwhile the corsairs of Greece and Africa were free to raid the unprotected southern shores of Italy; and Venice was besieged with complaints from the Porte, the Vatican, the Viceroy of Naples and his sovereign, the king of Spain. An appeal to Austria met with little success, for the offences of the Uskoks were outweighed by their services against the Turks; while, if Minucci may be trusted, a share of their spoils, in silk, velvet and jewels, went to the ladies of the Archducal Court of Graz, where the matter was negotiated.

Geordie also has a large amount of vocabulary not seen in other English dialects. Words still in common use today include "canny" for "pleasant" (it should be noted that the Scottish use of canny is often somewhat less flattering), "hyem" for "home", "divn't" for "don't", "bairn" and "grandbairn" for "child" and "grandchild", "hacky" for "dirty", and "gan" for "go". "Howay" is broadly comparable to the invocation "Come on!". Examples of common use include "Howay man!", meaning something like "come on" or "hurry up", "Howay the lads!" as an encouragement for a football team, or "Ho''way''!?" expressing incredulity or disbelief. The word "hyem" for "home" is inherited from the [[Old Norse language]]. The word "tab" for "cigarette" is thought to derive from Ogden's Tabs, a once-popular brand of cigarettes.

From 1577 onwards, Venice endeavoured to crush the pirates without offending Austria, enlisting Albanians in place of their Dalmatian crews, who feared reprisals at home. For a time the Uskoks only ventured forth by night, in winter and stormy weather.

Geordie commonly uses the word 'Aye' meaning 'Yes', which is also found in most Scottish dialects. As a contrast, a geordie might say the word 'Na' for 'No' however this occurs less frequently.

In 1592 a Turkish army invaded Croatia, hoping to capture Zengg, but it was routed and dispersed in the following year. Austria being thus involved in war with Turkey, the Venetian Admiral Giovanni Bembo blockaded Trieste and Fiume, whither the pirates forwarded their booty for sale. They also erected two forts to command the passages from Zengg to the open sea.

Much of the vocabulary is a preserved form of [[Old English language|Old English]], the north having not been so affected by the [[Norman conquest]]. Pronouncing Old English with a geordie-like accent, rather than the more commonly recommended German, results in a form more comprehendible to those with knowledge of the meaning of Geordie vocabulary. When a Geordie uses the word "larn" for teach, it is not a misuse of the English word "learn"; the word is derived from the [[Anglo Saxon]] word "laeran", meaning to teach.

In 1602 a raid by the Uskoks upon Istria resulted in an agreement between Venice and Austria, and the despatch to Zengg of the energetic commissioner Rabatta with a strong bodyguard. All these measures, however, availed little. Rabatta was murdered, the fugitive Uskoks returned to Zengg and piracy was resumed, with varying fortunes, until 1615, when a grosser outrage than usual led to open war between Venice and Austria.

Geordie is also sometimes used to describe the distinctive dialect of the people of [[Northumbria]]. However strictly speaking, South East Northumberland (the [[mining]] area bordering Tyneside) has its own similar, but distinctive dialect known as [[Pitmatic]].

By the treaty of peace concluded at Madrid, in 1617, it was arranged that the Uskoks should be disbanded, and their ships destroyed. The pirates and their families were, accordingly, transported to the interior of Croatia, where they gave their name to the Uskoken Gebirge, a group of mountains on the borders of Carniola. Their presence has also been traced near Monte Maggiore, in Istria, where such significant family names as Novlian (from Novi), Ottocian (from Ottocac) and Clissan (from Clissa), were noted by Franceschi in 1879.

In recent times, the Geordie accent has featured prominently in the national media, arguably more so than ever before. TV Presenters such as [[Ant and Dec]], and [[Marcus Bentley]], are happy to use their natural accents on air. The commentator on the UK edition of [[Big Brother (UK TV series)|Big Brother]] is often perceived by southerners to have a Geordie accent (North-East accents do sound very alike to the untuned ear), however, he grew up in [[Stockton on Tees]]). Brendan Foster and Sid Waddell have both worked as television sports commentators. However, in general, the Geordie accent still tends to be employed for comedy effect as opposed to serious usage.

==References==

* {{1911}}

** See Minuccio Minucci, ''Historia degli Uscochi'' (Venice, 1603); enlarged by P. Sarpi, and translated into French as a supplement to Amelot de la Houssaye's ''Histoire du gouvernement de Venise'' (Amsterdam, 1/05). Minucci was one of the Venetian envoys at Graz.

** See also the conciser narratives in C. de Franceschi's ''L'Istria'', chap. 37 (Parenzo, 1879); and T. G. Jackson's ''Dalmatia, the Quarnero and Istria'', chap. 27 (Oxford, 1887).

The accent was also popularised by the [[comic]] [[magazine]] [[Viz (comic)|Viz]], where the accent itself is often conveyed phonetically by unusual spellings within the comic strips. Viz magazine itself was founded on Tyneside by a couple of Geordie lads, [[Chris Donald]] and his brother [[Simon Donald|Simon]].

[[Category:History of Croatia]]

It is said that the Roma influenced much of the Geordies' words eg. "charva" is an old word meaning child in Roma and used by Geordies to describe troublesome people. The word "gadgie" for man is derived from the similar-sounding Roma word for a non-Roma. There is a high percentage of Roma origins in the North East and Newcastle hosts a large Gypsy travelling-fair, the "Hoppins", which has been held annually on the Town Moor every year for over a century.

==Famous Geordies==

*[[Paul Gascoigne|Paul Gascoigne (Gazza)]], footballer

*[[Ant and Dec]], television presenters

*[[Peter Beardsley]], footballer

*[[Michael Bridges]], footballer

*[[Catherine Cookson]], author

*[[Steve Cram]], athlete

*[[Bryan Ferry]], [[Roxy Music]], musician

*[[Robson Green]], actor

* Tim Healey, actor

*[[Brian Johnson]], [[AC/DC]] singer

*[[Mark Knopfler]] of [[Dire Straits]]

*[[Jayne Middlemiss]], television presenter

*[[Jimmy Nail]], actor and singer

* Sir [[Bobby Robson]], former footballer, club and England national team manager

*[[Ridley Scott]] and [[Tony Scott]], film directors

*[[Sting (musician)|Sting]], actor and musician

*[[Alan Shearer]], footballer

*[[Paul Smith]], [[Maximo Park]] singer

*[[Andy Taylor]], [[Duran Duran]], musician

*[[Peter Taylor, Baron Taylor of Gosforth]], late [[Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales]]

*[[Neil Tennant]], [[Pet Shop Boys]], musician

*[[Chris Waddle]], footballer

* Kevin Whateley, actor

*[[Harry Woolf, Baron Woolf]], former [[Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales]]

*[[Ross Noble]], comedian extraordinaire

[[Category:HistoryTyne ofand CroatiaWear]]

[[Category:British English]]

[[nn:Geordie]]