"Prior to 1865, Vlachs everywhere in the Peloponnese"

[Carlin]

Let's continue to explore the interesting topic of 'Tzakonians', and question some of the beliefs regarding their origins and history.

Per author F. Curta, the "Tzakonians" appear to have been settled in the Peloponnesus in the course of the ninth and tenth century. As a result, the evidence seems to be mounting that the "Tzakonians" have no ancient connection and links to Lakonia and the Spartans.

Interestingly, the viewpoint that the Tzakonians were settled in the Peloponnesus, from elsewhere, is also supported and shared by the author Stamatis C. Caratzas: the Tzakonians originate from Macedonia, namely from the area of Chalkidiki peninsula - and specifically, from the vicinity of Mount Athos district (Holy Mountain).

At the time when the "Tzakonians" were moved from Mt. Athos area to Peloponnesus (in the course of the ninth and tenth century), the overwhelming ethnic majority of the area of Mt. Athos, and nearby regions, were Vlach-speakers and Slavic-speakers (there were some Armenians as well, and perhaps others (?), but the ethnic majority were Vlach-speakers and Slavic-speakers).

In summary, the evidence seems strong that the Tzakonians originate from a mix of these populations.



"For the establishment of laiques /laymen on Athos at an even older (or earlier) date, see Uspenskij"
The only laiques/laymen living in this area were Vlachs, Sagoudates, Rynchini.

[Carlin]

Additional (modern Greek) sources about the Vlachs of Peloponnese.

The Armani-Vlachs of Peloponnese (Chapter 7 of the below book) -

Οι Αρμάνοι - Βλάχοι της Πελοποννήσου
ΟΙ ΕΛΛΗΝΟΒΛΑΧΟΙ (ΑΡΜΑΝΟΙ) (ΠΡΩΤΟΣ ΤΟΜΟΣ)

http://www.politeianet.gr/books/9789600327847-exarchos-giorgis-kastaniotis-oi-ellinoblachoi-armanoi-protos-tomos-204956

And here too,

Ολίγα για τους Κουπατσαραίους και τους Μανιάτες
ΟΙ ΕΛΛΗΝΟΒΛΑΧΟΙ (ΑΡΜΑΝΟΙ) (ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΣ ΤΟΜΟΣ)

http://www.politeianet.gr/books/9789600327854-exarchos-giorgis-kastaniotis-oi-ellinoblachoi-armanoi-deuteros-tomos-104665

[Carlin]

Testimony from Evliya Tchelebi.

Evliya Tchelebi compares the features of the inhabitants of Tzaconia between Molai and Monemvasia, to those of Tatar-Kalmyks.

First footnote below - translated from the highlighted part, where it reads: "Nous signalons ici qu'Evliya Tchelebi compare les traits des habitants de la Tzaconie entre Molai et Monevasie a ceux des Tatars-Kalmouks..."


PS: There appear to be numerous Armenian place names in Peloponnese as well, highlighted above.

[Carlin]

Sathas used written testimonies to support that the Slavs never arrived in the Peloponnese and hide under their names Vlachs.

Quote:
Sathas, o.l.c., se sert des temoignages ecrits pour soutenir que les Slaves ne sont jamais arrives dans le Peloponnese et que sous leurs noms se cachent les Valaques.




In addition to this, author G. Exarchos noted that there were many Vlach-speakers in Morea, but also all over Greece. He is of the opinion that the tribes of Sagoudates and Rynchini were Vlachs, and speculates that "linguistic Latinization of Greek people" took place in antiquity.

[Carlin]

Re: Tzaconia, & Macedonia

This seems very interesting (though unrelated perhaps), but there is a village called Tsakoni.

Цакони (Костурско)

https://mk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A6%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B8_(%D0%9A%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D1%83%D1%80%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE)#cite_note-.D0.91.D0.98.D0.9C-3

Τσάκονη Καστοριάς

https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%A4%CF%83%CE%AC%CE%BA%CE%BF%CE%BD%CE%B7_%CE%9A%CE%B1%CF%83%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%81%CE%B9%CE%AC%CF%82

[Amphipolis]

tsaka (fem. noun) means trap in Greek
tsakono (verb) means to grab, to arrest

but I don't know if that's related either.

[Carlin]

tsaka (fem. noun) means trap in Greek
tsakono (verb) means to grab, to arrest

but I don't know if that's related either.

Precisely A. -- indeed, it's very much related. The historian Sathas wrote about it. He argued as follows (what follows is just a quick summary - I can provide French sources/screenshots):

The word "Tzacon" (like the word "Mardaite") does not mean a people, but a category of soldiers. Its etymology belongs to the same root from which come many neohellenic words that have no relation with the term "Lakon", such as tsaka (the trap), and other terms like "grab", "break", etc.

The word "Mardaite" comes from the Albanian "marda", "mardaia" meaning the ruse, the trap. The modern Greek language keeps a group of words from the same root. ["Mardaites" means warriors whose tactic is in the ambush.]

It appears that the word Mardaite was used until the 13th century; at around this time it disappears always to be replaced by that of Tzacon. The story of this change is known to us, but I will not go into further details here other than to mention that the Peloponnesian Mardaites (who were most likely Albanian-speakers) inhabited the territory of modern Tzaconia.

[Carlin]

RE: Vlachs in the Peloponnese.

Source: Asimakis, Stathis (Ασημάκης, Στάθης) - Toponimia

https://www.google.ca/#q=%CE%91%CE%A3%CE%97%CE%9C%CE%91%CE%9A%CE%97%CE%A3+%CE%A3%CE%A4%CE%91%CE%98%CE%97%CE%A3

Page 21 excerpt: "Since three important names of the Peloponnese: Arahova, Araklovo and Akova mentioned in the Chronicle of Morea - for which a detailed analysis in the next section - are Latin (Vlach) and not Slavic origin"

Page 22 excerpt: "It is admitted, however, that Vlachs pastoralists namely: Boioi or Mpouioi, Malakasioi or Malakasiotes and Messarites Vlachs entered the Peloponnese together with Albanians."

Page 23 excerpt: "Interesting testimony to the spread of Latin-speaking population in the Peloponnese, presents a much later report Chalkokondylis for Vlachs, who perhaps found to reside in Mani with Slavic peoples who had settled there."

[Carlin]

More modern Greek sources - Page 157 of the book "A History of Greece" by Nicholas Doumanis:

"Central Greece and the Peloponnese also had large numbers of Orthodox Albanians and Vlachs.."

[Carlin]

RE: Vlachs in the Peloponnese.

http://www.karyes.gr/index_en.html

In Byzantium the place has been renamed as Megali (Great) Arachova, a name that was kept since the 20th century. The origin of the name Arachova is due to either the Slavic language (=place of wallnuts) or Vlach (= mountain ridge).

Karyes is a traditional village, nested on the foothill of mountain Parnon and surrounded by chestnuts and walnuts.

http://www.karyes.gr/history/romanbyz_en.html

The area was renamed as Arachova and under the Franks occupation was referred to as Great Arachova. The origin of the name Arachova was considered until recently to be of Slavic origin from the words орех (orech) = walnut and орахов (orachov) = made of walnut and therefore Arachova means place of walnuts. The above approach is not well justified and probably incorrect and it is assumed that this wrong approach of the origin of the word and its association with the word walnut and nuts, probably began from the Great Arachova of the "Chronicle of Morea", which are the today's Karyes Laconias, in location of which were ancient Karyes. Historians have tried to associate the name Arachova to ancient Karyes, but the settlers of that region for that period were likely non-Greek speaking and reasonably unaware of the area names of ancient Laconia. Even assuming that the word originates from the Slavic word орахов (orachov) = made of walnut, this can not reasonably explain the disappearance of the original letter omicron (O) from all sixteen toponyms in Greece, an unexplained linguistic change in such an extensive geographical area, while all "Orehovica" toponyms that exist in the Balkan Peninsula remain unchanged.

According to a recent study (2), there are eleven (11) toponyms in Greece with name Arachova and origin of the name is Vlach and not Slavic, from the Vlach nomads' breeders who inhabited Peloponnesus long before the 13th century. The Vlachs breeders along with the Slavic tribes inhabited the area since the 8th century. In Vlach language there is the word recha that is the mountain ridge -loan from the Greek language- that may be associated with the word rachas-rachados (5th century), often characterized sites in the Greek area during the Roman era and meant arboreal regions. Another element that seems to confirm the Vlach origin of the name Arachova is the original vowel alpha (A), which is a characteristic addition in the language of Vlachs at the beginning of words that are loans from other languages and especially those beginning with an "r". Thus the name Arachova is associated to the characteristic of a mountain ridge at high altitude.

Sources:
(1) Κ.Μ. Pitsios (1948), Karyaí (Aráchova) Lakedaímonos, Historical, Cultural Study
(2) S. Asimakis, (2015) Toponyms ova, όva, ista, itsa

[Carlin]

Μικρότερες ομάδες Αρβανιτοβλάχων σύμφωνα με την παράδοση εγκαταστάθηκαν νότια στην Πελοπόννησο = According to tradition smaller groups of Arvanito-Vlachs settled in the southern Peloponnese

Sources/Links:

http://www.phorum.gr/viewtopic.php?t=205230&p=5655936

http://vlahofonoi.blogspot.ca/2011/05/blog-post_7292.html

[VMRO]

Great stuff Carlin, keep it up!

[Carlin]

Thanks vmro.

New material below.

The following are some excerpts/screenshots from the book below (The Hellenovlachs - Armanoi), specifically from Chapter 7 - Οι Αρμάνοι - Βλάχοι της Πελοποννήσου.

ΟΙ ΕΛΛΗΝΟΒΛΑΧΟΙ (ΑΡΜΑΝΟΙ) (ΠΡΩΤΟΣ ΤΟΜΟΣ)

Link:

http://www.politeianet.gr/books/9789...s-tomos-204956

Page 138.



Romania of the Peloponnese - In the year 1606, Argolida and the Nafplion region called Romania, according to the testimony of the pirate Alonso de Contreras.




The residents of Argolida and Nafplio are Romans in the early 17th century and obviously Aromanian-speakers/Vlachophones - as Cousinery met them in 19th century and they were still Aromanian-speakers and called themselves Ρωμουνοι (Romouni or Romans).

[Carlin]

Thanks vmro.

New material below.

The following are some excerpts/screenshots from the book below (The Hellenovlachs - Armanoi), specifically from Chapter 7 - Οι Αρμάνοι - Βλάχοι της Πελοποννήσου.

ΟΙ ΕΛΛΗΝΟΒΛΑΧΟΙ (ΑΡΜΑΝΟΙ) (ΠΡΩΤΟΣ ΤΟΜΟΣ)

Link:

http://www.politeianet.gr/books/9789...s-tomos-204956

Page 138.



Romania of the Peloponnese - In the year 1606, Argolida and the Nafplion region called Romania, according to the testimony of the pirate Alonso de Contreras.




The residents of Argolida and Nafplio are Romans in the early 17th century and obviously Aromanian-speakers/Vlachophones - as Cousinery met them in 19th century and they were still Aromanian-speakers and called themselves Ρωμουνοι (Romouni or Romans).

Brief summary (translation) of main Facts below:
- We know very well from Chalkokondyles and geographer Meletios that the regions of Taygetos, land of Laconia, and promontory of Tenaron were long inhabited by Romani (that is, Vlachs or Armani).
- Maniati were/are Armani.
- The Armani or Vlachs have been variously called by different writers and in different places by the following names: Maniati, Laconi, Bui, Megalovlahiti, Dasareti, Meteori, etc. etc.

[Carlin]

Σικυών εστιν η χώρα των Ελλαδικών Βλάχων

Apologies for the incomplete translation below (and if it's incorrect - I am not fluent in Greek and am using Google Translate), but here is the rough translation of the first half of the page:


As noted in the previous chapter, our historian Paparigopoulos argued not only that the Peloponnese remained intact from the Latinization, but additionally that Roman colonists of Corinth and Patras were made into Greek-speakers even during the Roman republic, i.e. before the Latin language of Romania (Byzantium) was replaced by Greek.

His claim however is contradicted first by the testimony of Lydos which Paparigopoulos (deliberately as it turns out) sliced and showed half, and not the whole. Scanned labors from an earlier 11th century medieval testimony which writes revealing that “Sikyon is in the country of Elladikon Vlahon” (Σικυών εστιν η χώρα των Ελλαδικών Βλάχων). And famously Sikyon is the city of Corinthia, the capital of which (Corinth) Roman settlers rebuilt and dwelt in, descendants of which were Sikyonian Vlachs of this testimony. From the language of these Corintho-Vlachs also came abundant Vlach place names of the Peloponnese (and the criteria contained in the medieval era), who as typical we judge the following:

Again, apologies for the mangled translation.

Source (page 70) of below book




Sicyon -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicyon

Location of Sicyon in Peloponnese -

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Korinth_Isthmus_de.png