Of Delicate Build And Below The
Average Height, Small-Eared And Straight-Nosed, With Curly Hair That
Varies From Blonde To What Italians Call Castagno Chiaro.
It differs
not only from the robuster and yet fairer northern breed, but also from
the darker surrounding races.
But so many contradictory theories have
lately been promulgated on this head, that I prefer to stop short at the
preliminary question - did a Hellenic type ever exist? No more, probably,
than that charming race which the artists of Japan have invented for our
delectation.
Strains of Greek blood can be traced with certainty by their track of
folklore and poetry and song, such as still echoes among the vales of
Sparta and along the Bosphorus. Greek words are rather rare here, and
those that one hears - such as sciusciello, caruso, crisommele,
etc. - have long ago been garnered by scholars like De Grandis, Moltedo,
and Salvatore Mele. So Naples is far more Hellenic in dialect, lore,
song and gesture than these regions, which are still rich in pure
latinisms of speech, such as surgere (to arise); scitare (excitare - to
arouse); e (est - yes); fetare (foetare); trasete (transitus - passage of
quails); titillare (to tickle); craje (cras - to-morrow); pastena (a
plantation of young vines; Ulpian has "pastinum instituere"). A woman is
called "muliera," a girl "figliola," and children speak of their fathers
as "tata" (see Martial, epig. I, 101). Only yesterday I added a
beautiful latinism to my collection, when an old woman, in whose cottage
I sometimes repose, remarked to me, "Non avete virtu oggi " - you are not
up to the mark to-day.
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