Морлахи: История и происхождение этнонима

Morlachs ( or Crni Vlasi, Црни Власи; ; Morlaci) has been an exonym used for a rural Christian community in Herzegovina, Lika and the Dalmatian Hinterland. The term was initially used for a bilingual Vlach pastoralist community in the mountains of Croatia from the second half of the 14th until the early 16th century. Then, when the community straddled the Venetian–Ottoman border until in the 17th century, it referred only to Slavic speaking, mainly Eastern Orthodox but also Roman Catholic people. The Vlach, i. e., Morlach, population of Herzegovina and Dalmatian hinterland from the Venetian and Turkish side were of either Roman Catholic or Christian Orthodox faith. Venetian sources from 17th and 18th centuries make no distinction between Orthodox and Catholics, they refer to both groupings as Morlachs. The exonym ceased to be used in an ethnic sense by the end of the 18th century, and came to be viewed as derogatory, but has been renewed as a social or cultural anthropological subject. As the nation building of the 19th century proceeded, the Vlach/Morlach population residing with the Croats and Serbs of the Dalmatian Hinterland espoused either a Serb or Croat ethnic identity, but preserved some common sociocultural outlines.

The word Morlach is derived from Italian Morlacco and Latin Morlachus or Murlachus, being cognate to Greek Μαυροβλάχοι Maurovlachoi, meaning "Black Vlachs" (from Greek μαύρο mauro meaning "dark", "black"). The Serbo Croatian term in its singular form is Morlak; its plural form is Morlaci [mor latsi]. In some 16th century redactions of the Doclean Chronicle, they are referred to as "Morlachs or Nigri Latini" (Black Latins). Petar Skok suggested it derived from the Latin maurus and Greek maurós ("dark"), the diphthongs au and av indicating a Dalmato Romanian lexical remnant. Dimitrie Cantemir, in his History of the Growth and Decay of the Ottoman Empire remarks that when Moldavia was subdued to the Ottoman Rule by Bogdan III, Moldavia was referred to by the Ottomans as "Ak iflac", or Ak Vlach (i. e., White Wallachians), while the Wallachians were known as "Kara iflac", or Kara Vlach, (i. e., Black Wallachians). "Black Vlachs" can in fact mean "Northern Vlachs", because the Turkish word "kara" means black but also means North in old Turkish. There are several interpretations of the ethnonym and phrase "moro/mavro/mauro vlasi". The direct translation of the name Morovlasi in Serbo Croatian would mean Black Vlachs. It was considered that "black" referred to their clothes of brown cloth. The 17th century Venetian Dalmatian historian Johannes Lucius suggested that it actually meant "Black Latins", compared to "White Romans" in coastal areas. The 18th century writer Alberto Fortis in his book Viaggio in Dalmazia ("Journey to Dalmatia", 1774), in which he wrote extensively about the Morlachs, thought that it derived from the Slavic more ("sea") – morski Vlasi meaning "Sea Vlachs". 18th century writer Ivan Lovrić, observing Fortis' work, thought that it came from "more" (sea) and "(v)lac(s)i" (strong) ("strongmen by the sea"), and mentioned how the Greeks called Upper Vlachia Maurovlachia and that the Morlachs would have brought that name with them. Cicerone Poghirc and Ela Cosma offer a similar interpretation that it meant "Northern Latins", derived from the Indo European practice of indicating cardinal directions by colors. Other theories suggest that it refers from the Morea peninsula, or, according to Dominik Mandić, from African Maurs.

The use of Morlachs is first attested in 1344, when Morolacorum are mentioned in lands around Knin and Krbava during the conflict between the counts of the Kurjaković and Nelipić families. The first mention of the term Morlachs is simultaneous with the appearance of Vlachs in the documents of Croatia in the early 14th century; in 1321, a local priest on the island of Krk granted land to the church ("to the lands of Kneže, which are called Vlach"), while in 1322 Vlachs were allied with Mladen Šubić at the battle in the hinterland of Trogir. According to Mužić in those early documents there is no identifiable differentiation between the terms Vlach and Morlach. In 1352, in the agreement in which Zadar sold salt to the Republic of Venice, Zadar retained part of the salt that Morlachi and others exported by land. In 1362, the Morlachorum, settled, without authorization, on lands of Trogir and used it for pasture for a few months. In the Statute of Senj dating to 1388, the Frankopans mentioned Morowlachi and defined the amount of time they had for pasture when they descended from the mountains. In 1412, the Murlachos captured the Ostrovica Fortress from Venice. In August 1417, Venetian authorities were concerned with the "Morlachs and other Slavs" from the hinterland, who were a threat to security in Šibenik. Authorities of Šibenik in 1450 gave permission to enter the city to Morlachs and some Vlachs who called themselves Croats who were in the same economic and social position at that time. According to scholar Fine, the early Vlachs probably lived on Croatian territory even before the 14th century, being the progeny of romanized Illyrians and pre Slavic Romance speaking people. During the 14th century, Vlach settlements existed throughout much of today's Croatia, from the northern island Krk, around the Velebit and Dinara mountains, and along the southern rivers Krka and Cetina. Those Vlachs had, by the end of the 14th and 15th century, lost, their Romance language, or were at least bilingual. As they adopted Slavic language, the only characteristic "Vlach" element was their pastoralism. refn|group="nb"|That the pastoral way of life was specific for Vlachs is seen in the third chapter of eight book in Alexiad, 12th century work by Anna Komnene, where along Bulgars are mentioned tribes who live a nomadic life usually called Vlachs. The term "Vlach" was found in many medieval documents, often mentioned alongside other ethnonyms, thus, Zef Mirdita claims that this was more an ethnic than just a social professional category. Today's Istro Romanians may be a residual branch of the Morlachs. The Istro Romanians, and other Vlachs (or Morlachs), had settled Istria (and mountain Ćićarija) after the various devastating outbreaks of the plague and wars between 1400 and 1600, reaching the island of Krk. In 1465 and 1468, there are mentions of "Morlach" judge Gerg Bodolić and "Vlach" peasant Mikul, in Krk and Crikvenica, respectively. In the second half of the 15th century, Catholic Morlachs (mostly Croatian Vlachs) migrated from the area of southern Velebit and Dinara area to the island of Krk, together with some Eastern Romance speaking population. The Venetian colonization of Istria (and Ćićarija) occurred not later than the early 1520s, Tihomir Đorđević points to the already known fact that the name "Vlach" didn't only refer to genuine Vlachs or Serbs but also to cattle breeders in general. In 1579, several groups of Morlachs, understood as a Serb tribe in Dalmatia, immigrated and requested to be employed as military colonists. Initially, there were some tensions between these immigrants and the established Uskoks. Their activity was similar to that of the Uskoks. Their military service granted them land, and freed them from trials, and gave them rights which freed them from full debt law (only 1/10 yield), thus many joined the so called "Morlach" or "Vlach" armies. At the time, some notable Morlach military leaders who were also enumerated in epic poetry, were: Janko Mitrović, Ilija and Stojan Janković, Petar, Ilija and Franjo Smiljanić, Stjepan and Marko Sorić, Vuk Mandušić, Ilija Perajica, Šimun Bortulačić, Božo Milković, Stanislav Sočivica, and Counts Franjo and Juraj Posedarski. and 18th century writers Johann Gottfried Herder and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who labeled their poems as "Morlackisch". In 1793, at the carnival in Venice, a play about Morlachs, Gli Antichi Slavi ("antique Slavs"), was performed, and in 1802 it was reconceived as a ballet Le Nozze dei Morlacchi. At the beginning of the 20th century, still seen as relics from the primitive past and a byword for barbarous people, they may have inspired science fiction novelist H. G. Wells in his depiction of the fictional Morlocks. Thomas Graham Jackson described Morlach women as half savages wearing "embroidered leggings thet give them the appearance of Indian squaws". In the 20th century, Alice Lee Moqué, as did many other women travelers, in her 1914 travelogue Delightful Dalmatia emphasized the "barbaric gorgeousness" of the sight of Morlach women and men in their folk costumes, which "made Zara's Piazza look like a stage setting", and regretted the coming of new civilization. In the Balkans, the term became derogatory, indicating people from the mountains and backward people, and became disliked by the Morlachs themselves. Italian cheese Morlacco, also named as Morlak, Morlach, Burlach, or Burlacco, was named after Morlach herders and woodsmen who lived and made it in the region of Monte Grappa. "Morlacchi" remains attested as an Italian family name.