What is the origin of the name Calabria? In ancient times what territory did Calabria include? To shed light is a fascinating volume by Francesco Lopez, a research doctor in History of Science at the University of Pisa, ‘The Historical Landscape of Ancient Kalabría. Balkan and Aegean Linguistic Influences’, dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of the name ‘Calabria/Kalabría’ from the origins to the early Middle Ages.
The search for Lopez, the first monograph dedicated to the topic, starts from the testimonies of the Kalabría cordoner in chronological order, from the Hellenistic age to the early Byzantine age (III AC/VIII century DC). The start point is the identification of the Kalabría with the Messapia, a territory corresponding to today’s Salento, on a journey through the centuries to the current Calabria region. The history of the landscape that gives the way to grasp a profound bond with the karst nature of the places to which in the sources the name Kalabría is associated with.
“The idea of reconstructing the historical-linguistic origin of the name Calabria was born operationally in 2015 following the meeting at the University of Pisa with Prof. Francesco they losing Cacciafoco (now a professor of linguistics at the XI’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University of Suzhou in China), who was committed to studying the Indo-European root *kar- Some Ligurian toponyms – Lopez replies to Adnkronos – The concrete possibility of extending the investigation to Calabria also meant that a multi -year research project was drawn up, now landed at the publication at the International Academic Publishing Brill with the supervision of Prof. Carlotta Viti of the University of Lorena in France “.
What has pushed it to such research?
“The original input – he tells – in addition to the curiosity, by Calabrian, to deepen the origin of the name of his region, was offered by a particular circumstance, due to the fact that I lived for about forty years in a small center of the province of Crotone, Altilia of Santa Severina, where an ancient monastery, first Basiliano and then Cistercian, dedicated to the cult of the Madonna of Calabria, Today Palazzo Barracco. then giving life, together with a group of colleagues and friends, in 2006 to a circle for the knowledge and dissemination of local history, the Centro Studi Cornelio Pelusio Parisio, has further fueled curiosity “.
Based on the first testimonies, the territory of Calabria which areas included and what changes over time have led to today’s region?
“The name Calabria, in the Greek form Kalabría, originally indicated Salento – explains Lopez – the Puglia area between the Taranto -Brindisi line and head of Santa Maria di Leuca, a territory also known as Messapia. Only in the mid -seventh century AD, when the Lombards of Benevento occupy Puglia, the name is adopted by the Byzantines to designate the current Calabria region, previously known with the term. Brutium or Bruzia land from the Italian people of the Bruttii. If, at the time, land of the Bruttii and Salento had begun to take on a single name “.
“Certainly – he continues – at the end of the century to the third council of Constantinople, in 680 AD, the bishops of Locri, Turio, Tauriana, Tropea and Vibona declare themselves belonging to the apurmony of the Bretti but to that of Kalabría, on a par with those of Otranto and Taranto. In a definitive way, the Byzantine historian Teofane Isauro during the eighth century distinguishes the territories. of southern Italy, without uncertainties, between ‘Loggibardía, Kalabría and Sikelía’. Reference to Salento, the Latin authors (Varrone, Livio, Pliny the Elder, Tacitus), while distinguishing between ‘land of the Calabri’ to the north-east and ‘land of the skews’ south-west intended as names of local origin as Strabo had done (about 60 AC-24 DC), focus more on the geographical notion of Calabria, especially in relation to the coasts. As a ‘country of the Sallentini’, it does not appear to be perceived as a territorial unit in its own right.
Let’s explain to readers, what is a cordoner?
“The term ‘cordoner’ designates the name of a region, from the Greek ‘chora’ (‘region, country’) and ‘onoma’ (‘name’). In linguistics, it has a more specific value compared to the general term ‘toponym’ (from the Greek ‘topos’, ‘place’). Calabria, Salento, Puglia, and so on, are in this sense properly ‘coronimous'”, explains the scholar.
What is the origin of the name?
“Over time, several explanations of the Calabria/Kalabría Cortonian associated with Messapia have been proposed, the ancient Salento. Among the most important – he underlines – elaborated by scholars of ancient history, we remember the one that considers the name of Illyrian -Balcanic origin on the model of the Galabrioi tribe in Dardania; of Greek or Aegean origin, on the basis of an initial ‘Poseidon Kalauros’. on the island of Kalauria near Crete; from the Ellenic term ‘Kolabros’, ‘piglet’, probably used by the inhabitants of Taranto in a derogatory sense to apostrophe the messages of their enemies. *Kal- In the sense of ‘stone’ and by the theme *Bru- which generated the verb ‘Bryo’ in Greek, ‘growing up, arising’. pre-hellenic formed by the Indo-European or pre-industry root *kar- / *kal- in the most specific and better documented meaning of ‘stone dug by water’, and by the suffixing ‘bria / uria’ appellation in the value of ‘country, region, land’. Golfi, Cale and Calette “.
Are there previous investigations or can we call it a pioneering?
“Studies are characterized by numerous articles, especially of the half -end of the twentieth century, but to date a complete monograph was missing – says Lopez – in this sense, the published volume appears innovative and can be defined as a pioneering as for the first time it collects in summary and re -elaborates historical research and linguistic investigations together. Not only but combines the history of the landscape, historical -archeological studies, philology, linguistic and linguistic and linguistic studies comparative.
Which chapters remain open, susceptible to further insights?
“Of course, like any scientific investigation, the work presents itself as a ‘contribution’ to research, susceptible in itself of further insights. Specifically – it highlights – the question remains open if the origin of the name Kalabría is indigenous, linked to the proto -historical, or Balkan massapia, connected to Illyria, or of the Aegean matrix, attributable to the miniic -friendly area. they are equivalent “.
Research synthesis and conclusions?
“In the conclusions – observes – the new methodological perspective, which organically combines toponymy and landscape history, allows you to identify a deep bond with the karst nature of the places to which in the sources the cordoner Kalabría is associated, especially as regards the system of natural inlets and promontories that characterize Salento. A significant place occupies the possibility of projecting the countertop in the pre -strip Crotoniatide, with Crotone as ‘Città dei Calanchi’, a privileged stop in antiquity, and southern mouth of the Gulf of Taranto “.
The book, published for the international academic publisher Brill (Leiden-Boston), in English, in the Ancient Languages and Civilizations series, is financed by Beijing Normal University (China) and sponsored by the Jao Tsung-I Academy of Sinology of Hong Kong. The text is published in Open Access, which can be downloaded for free from the Brill.com website, as well as purchasable in paper edition.