Allegra

Allegra

Engadine Romansh

Said in the Engadine

Hello — literally: rejoice

St. Moritz

See it on the map

Where it comes from

Allegra is a Romansh greeting that wishes joy. According to German Wikipedia, it translates as “rejoice!”, and it does what it says: by saying it, you give the other person the joy you wish them. Linguists, Romansh Wikipedia notes, see it as a performative word. The wish was religious at first: allegra is what remains of “Cha Dieu ans allegra!”, may God gladden us.

Still according to Wikipedia, it is said during the day, between people of equal standing, in the Engadine and in Val Müstair, in the Ladin idioms: Puter in the Upper Engadine, Vallader in the Lower Engadine and Jauer in Val Müstair; it is also heard more and more elsewhere in Graubünden. The Ladin dictionaries of the Uniun dals Grischs render it in German as grüezi and also give allegramaing!, the adverbial form, which Wikipedia says is rarer and used mainly in the Upper Engadine. Behind the greeting lies the verb “to rejoice”: s’allegrer in Puter, s’allegrar in Vallader. Puter, Wikipedia explains, often puts an e where the other idioms have a long a.

St. Moritz is in the Upper Engadine, and Puter is its original language. According to Wikipedia, as early as 1880 only half the inhabitants still spoke it, squeezed by German and Italian; in 2000, 13 % of the population could still make themselves understood in Romansh, the lowest share of any commune in the Upper Engadine.

In use

In Puter, the idiom of the Upper Engadine, checked against the Puter dictionary of the Uniun dals Grischs:

• “Allegra! Cu stest?” – Hello! How are you?
• “Allegra, tuots insembel!” – Hello, everyone!

Sources: German Wikipedia, “Allegra (Gruss)”, “Oberengadinische Sprache” and “St. Moritz”; Romansh Wikipedia, “Allegra”; the Ladin dictionaries of the Uniun dals Grischs, Puter and Vallader.