Pieris e Begliano: villaggi medievali del basso Isonzo dall‘incerta identità

The author has studied in depth, starting from the 90s, the place names and the ancient anthroponymy of the Monfalcone area (the old Ultraisoncium ‘beyond the Isonzo river’). After the publication of the second edition of his monograph, the research continued and confirmed the initial results. In practice this South-eastern corner of Friuli came back at least until the end of teh 15th century to Slavia Submersa, with a majority of the inhabitants Slovene speaking and a minority speaking a Romansh language that ranged morphologically between the central Friulian and the old Romansh dialect of Trieste. The article presents some new data on the three neighbouring countries of the old ferry (zopum) Pieris on the Isontium river; and a discussion of the etymologies of the toponym Begliano (assigned permanently to the Slavic layer) and the Friulian term çop/zòpul ‘pirogue’ (Slovene dialect čupa), giving more emphasis here for Romance origin