Vincenzo Raimondo Porru

Born in Cagliari in 1773, Vincenzo Porru was engaged, with other intellectuals of the time, in the defense and enhancement of Sardinian traditions and cultural specificities.
These mainly include the language, to which he dedicated the 'Grammar Essay on the Southern Sardinian dialect', of 1810, and the 'Nou Dizionariu Sardu Italianu', of 1832-34. He was defined by Siotto Pintor as “the legislator of the Sardinian language”. In the introduction to his 1810 'Essay', Porru had already grasped the essence of the problem of the native language of Sardinia: “We Sardinians, however, seem to look with indifference, and almost with a despicable eye, at that language, which we would draw from our mother's womb with their own blood, and for which every being must be naturally passionate.” With his works he tried to bring order to a complex subject that was already difficult to master. In particular, as a linguist, he dealt with the Sardinian he knew best, the one from the southern part of the island. His work is interesting for two important reasons. Porru joins the general battle that Sardinian intellectuals had waged in defense of the truth about Sardinian things. In addition, it strongly notes the need to enrich the Sardinian language by resorting, where necessary, to loans from other languages. But his voice remains a dead letter: the times were not ripe. He died in Cagliari in 1836.

Update

10/3/2025 - 12:05