Languagle #41: Sardinian
Su mundu est tundu, e chie non ischit navigare falat a fundu
"The world is round, and whoever can't navigate goes to the bottom."
What it means
The world changes, and those who cannot adapt will sink. A seafaring image for an island language: the world is round, and anyone who cannot navigate it goes to the bottom. The internal rhyme (tundu, fundu) makes it memorable.
What kind of saying it is
Oral tradition. In Sardinian, a ditzu. Passed down by word of mouth. Sayings like this have no single author.
About the Sardinian language
Sardinian is a Romance language spoken on the island of Sardinia, Italy, and is officially recognised as a minority language. It is a separate language from Italian, not a dialect of it, and is often described as the closest living Romance language to Latin in its sounds: 'house' is 'domo', from Latin 'domus'. Its two main written varieties are Logudorese and Campidanese. It is endangered, as younger speakers increasingly use Italian.
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