Romance-Croatian ethno-linguistic symbiosis in the toponymy of Istria and North Croatian islands

Područje Istre i kvarnerskih otoka najaktivnija je hrvatska jezična i onomastička regija. Više od tisućljeća kontinuiranih romansko-hrvatskih etnojezičnih dodira čini to područje osobito zanimljivim za proučavanje njihovih međujezičnih prožimanja. Upravo se tu nalaze potvrde o neprekinutu slijedu romanskoga sloja od najstarijih doba do danas kao i prve pisane potvrde o naseljavanju Hrvata. Toponimija pruža osobito zahvalnu građu za proučavanje međujezičnih prožimanja, jer zemljopisna imena u mijenama svojih likova čuvaju neporecive dokaze supostojanja različitih jezičnih sustava i izravnu provjeru taloženja njihovih leksičkih prežitaka.The exceptionally complex toponymie stratification in the region of Istria and North Croatian islands reflects the entire complexity of a thousand years of ethno-linguistic permeation. The Romance languages coexisted with the Croatian over the centuries, and are still present even today in the small enclaves of Istria. Romance names are present in the territory of Croatia through several chronological layers and one can not consider the Romance stratum geographically or chronologically unique. The pre-Roman nominal layer belongs in a formally chronological sense to the proto-Romance linguistic stratum. However, since the Croats, over the course of their gradual colonisation of the area, encountered a fully Romanized population, the whole toponymie substratum passed through a specific Romance language filter and all the names had already undergone some Romance linguistic adaptations. Therefore the Croats accepted them as romanism, and then adopted these already romanized names to their own linguistic system. The Roman layer is encompassing the time period from the beginning of Roman colonisation until the arrival of the Croats (the 6th or 7th until the 9th centuries). It is followed by the Istriotic and Vegliotic layer (from the 9th to the 13th centuries), then a Venetian layer from the 13th century onward. The names of larger settlements in Istria and North Croatian islands are mostly of pre-Romance or Romance origin, but the microtoponymy of those territories is to a large extend of Croatian origin. That confirms that after the Slavic arrival, the Romance population withdrew into the towns, and the Croats, for the long period of time remained outside the city-walls. That does not mean they didn\u27t mix during centuries of coexistence. Exactly in place-names one can clearly observe traces of their ethno-linguistic symbiosis