Brigasc dialect

Brigasc
Brigasc
brigasc
Native to	Italy, France
Native speakers	(undated figure of 1,000)[ citation needed ]
Language family	Indo-European Romance Western Gallo-Romance Gallo-Italic Ligurian Brigasc; ; ; ; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	None
Linguasphere	51-AAA-og

Last updated January 13, 2026

Brigasc is a dialect of the Ligurian language. It is spoken in Italy and France.

Area of use

The Brigasc dialect is spoken in La Brigue (France) and Briga Alta (Italy) and some villages of the communes of Ormea and Triora. It is very close to Royasc dialect.

History

During the Renaissance the Ligurian language was spoken in all the territories of the Republic of Genoa: in the western area of this republic one of its groups (spoken mainly in the area between the Principality of Monaco and Sanremo) was called Intemelio.

The language spoken in the mountains around Briga was called Brigasc and received some influence from the Occitan language.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Some words in Brigasc

Occitan^[4]	Brigasc	Ligurian	Italian	English
labrena	labrena / cansëneštr	salamandra/scilvestru	salamandra	salamander
lhauç	jlaus o žlaus	lampu	lampo	flash
besson, gemel	'binèe	binélu	gemello	twin
grolla	'causée/cuusée	scarpa	scarpa	shoe
faudilh, faudal	fudìi	scussà	grembiule
ren	ren	ninte - nièn	niente	nothing
quauquarren	cücren	cuarcosa - carcosa	qualcosa	something
luenh	lögn	luntàn	lontano	far
a raitz	arè	du tüttu	completamente	totally
Deineal, Chalendas	Dëneàa	Natale - Neà - Denâ	Natale	Christmas
bealera	beàa/bearera	béu	canaletto
agulha	agüglia/agüya	aguggia	ago	needle
mai	ciü- mai	ciü	più	more
c(l)han, pl(h)an	cian	ciàn	piano
fl(h)or	sciu(u)	sciùa	fiore	flower
cl(h)au	ciau	ciave	chiave	key
uelh	ögl/öy	öggiu	occhio	eye
pont	pont	punte	ponte	bridge
pòrc	porc	porcu	maiale	pig
muralha, mur	muragn	meàia/miâgia	muro	wall
escoba	dëvìa	spasùia/spasuìa	scopa	broom
sentièr	dëraira	senté	sentiero	path
fea, feia	fea	pégua	pecora	sheep
abelha	abeglia/abeya	ava/avia	ape	bee
aret	aré	mutòn/muntun	montone	ram
volp, rainard	vurp / rinard	gurpe/vurpe	volpe	fox
singlar	sëngriée	cinghiale	cinghiale	boar
ruaa	ruà	burgà	borgata
femna, molher	femna	muié/mugê/dona	moglie	woman
òme	om	maìu/mâiu	marito	husband
marrit, chaitiu	marì	gramu	cattivo

References

↑ Werner Forner, "À propos du Ligurien Intémélien. La côte, l'arrière-pays", in Travaux du Cercle Linguistique de Nice, 7-8 (1985-1986), pp. 29-61; Werner Forner, "Areallinguistik I: Ligurien", in Lexikon der Romanistischen Linguistik (LRL), IV, Tübingen 1988, pp. 453-469 ; Werner Forner, "Géographie linguistique et reconstruction, à l'exemple du ligurien intémélien", in Actes du I Colloque International sur l'ancien provençal, l'ancien français et l'ancien ligurien, Nice sept. 1986 ("Bulletin du Centre de Romanistique et de Latinité Tardive"), Nice 1989, pp. 125-140; Werner Forner, "Fra Costa Azurra e Riviera: tre lingue in contatto", in V. Orioles, Fiorenzo Toso (a cura di), Circolazioni linguistiche e culturali nello spazio mediterraneo. Miscellanea di studi, Recco 2008, pp. 65-90.
↑ Jean-Philippe Dalbera, Les parlers des Alpes-Maritimes. Étude comparative. Essai de reconstruction. London 1994, Pubblicazione dell'Association Internationale d'Études Occitanes.
↑ Giulia Petracco Sicardi, E. Azaretti, "Studi linguistici sull'anfizona Liguria-Provenza", in Dizionario Etimologico Storico Ligure, Alessandria 1989, a pp. 11-62, di Giulia Petracco Sicardi, "Contributo alla definizione dell'anfizona Liguria-Provenza".
↑ Lorenzo Artusio, Piermarco Audisio, Gianni Giraudo, Eliano Macario, Disiounari Ousitan Roubilant - Roucavioun

Bibliography

Fiorenzo Toso, Il brigasco e l'olivettese tra classificazione scientifica e manipolazioni politico-amministrative, in Intemelion. Cultura e territorio – Quaderno annuale di studi storici dell'Accademia di cultura intemelia, n. 14, anno 2008; website online (in Italian)

External links

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[1] Werner Forner, "À propos du Ligurien Intémélien. La côte, l'arrière-pays", in Travaux du Cercle Linguistique de Nice, 7-8 (1985-1986), pp. 29-61; Werner Forner, "Areallinguistik I: Ligurien", in Lexikon der Romanistischen Linguistik (LRL), IV, Tübingen 1988, pp. 453-469 ; Werner Forner, "Géographie linguistique et reconstruction, à l'exemple du ligurien intémélien", in Actes du I Colloque International sur l'ancien provençal, l'ancien français et l'ancien ligurien, Nice sept. 1986 ("Bulletin du Centre de Romanistique et de Latinité Tardive"), Nice 1989, pp. 125-140; Werner Forner, "Fra Costa Azurra e Riviera: tre lingue in contatto", in V. Orioles, Fiorenzo Toso (a cura di), Circolazioni linguistiche e culturali nello spazio mediterraneo. Miscellanea di studi, Recco 2008, pp. 65-90.

[2] Jean-Philippe Dalbera, Les parlers des Alpes-Maritimes. Étude comparative. Essai de reconstruction. London 1994, Pubblicazione dell'Association Internationale d'Études Occitanes.

[3] Giulia Petracco Sicardi, E. Azaretti, "Studi linguistici sull'anfizona Liguria-Provenza", in Dizionario Etimologico Storico Ligure, Alessandria 1989, a pp. 11-62, di Giulia Petracco Sicardi, "Contributo alla definizione dell'anfizona Liguria-Provenza".

[4] Lorenzo Artusio, Piermarco Audisio, Gianni Giraudo, Eliano Macario, Disiounari Ousitan Roubilant - Roucavioun

[5] Venetian is either grouped with the rest of the Italo-Dalmatian or the Gallo-Italic languages, depending on the linguist, but the major consensus among linguists is that in the dialectal landscape of northern Italy, Veneto dialects are clearly distinguished from Gallo-Italic dialects.

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