Fornes dialects

Fornes (second syllable stressed) is the dialect native to Forni di Sopra and Forni di Sotto, two villages which, from 1300 to 1700 AD, were governed separately from the surrounding areas by the Savorgnani family of Venice and known as 'I Forni Savorgnani'.

As the two villages are 9 km (over 5 miles) from each other and there was traditionally poor communication in the snowy months of the year, these villages' dialects diverged and are still markedly different both from each other and from the language spoken further down the mountains (Friulian). According to studies by some institutions (examples to follow) which study Ladin languages these two dialects moved away from Friulian to become 'Raetic-Dolomitic-Ladin' similar to Ladin languages spoken in Grijun Switzerland, while keeping Friulian characteristics.

To give one of many examples, the word 'sheep' (plural) translates as 'las minas' in Forni di Sopra 'lis fedis' in Forni di Sotto, and 'lis pioris' in Friuli. For comparison, the Italian is 'le pecore'.