Reference articles on history, science, culture and more
Encyclopedia

Comasco dialect

Western Lombard dialect of Como, Italy

Comasco (endonym: comasch), anglicized as Comasque, is a dialect belonging to the Western branch of Lombard language, spoken in the city and suburbs of Como. Comasco is part of the Comasco-Lecchese dialect group.

01History

The Comasco dialect evolved as a consequence of its origins and influences. In ancient times, the Lake Como area was inhabited by Orobi, Leponzi, and Etruscan tribes. As with the rest of the Po Valley, the area was subject to invasions by the Gauls. In Roman times, the Latin spoken in the Lake Como area was influenced by the Celtic substratum, contributing to the phonetic and lexical formation of today's dialect. In the early Middle Ages, the area was occupied by the Lombards, who probably spoke a dialect of the Saxon language and brought a further, albeit small, lexical contribution. In the late Middle Ages, the Lake Como territory became part of the Duchy of Milan.

02Characteristics

It shares similarities with Milanese, but more precisely consists of a transition between Brianzöö and Ticinese, in fact both the masculine singular article ul (typical of central Brianzöö) and el (typical of Milanese and Ticinese) are used. Generally, it has harder sounds than other dialects.

Watch videos about Comasco dialectExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Comasco dialect, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Fathomly is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Spotted a problem? Tell us.