Cibao “i”

[AlterEgo]

Someone posted this link to a Dominican genealogy page I belong to, I thought it was interesting about the “i”. Mr AE’s father’s family were from Santiago, Montecristi and Mao, and his dna test revealed his greatest ethnicity was Portuguese; surprised us at the time (we expected Spain & Italy), but this ties right in.

Explican porqué en el Cibao se habla con la i en campos y ciudades

SANTIAGO, República Dominicana. Algunas vez te has preguntado porqué los cibaeños y cibaeñas hablan con la i?. Intelectuales y expertos en español dominicano explican porqué en el Cibao, la gente nativa de esta región utiliza frecuentemente la i en sus conversaciones cotidianas. A continuación...

diariocibao.com

 

[Chirimoya]

He only touches on the possible Galician connection but it has to be a more significant factor. The Galician language (gallego) and accent are very close to Portuguese and there has been mass-migration from Galicia to the new world over the centuries. What would need to be established is whether they settled in the Cibao in larger numbers. I haven't noticed that many Portuguese surnames in the DR.

 

[bob saunders]

He only touches on the possible Galician connection but it has to be a more significant factor. The Galician language (gallego) and accent are very close to Portuguese and there has been mass-migration from Galicia to the new world over the centuries. What would need to be established is whether they settled in the Cibao in larger numbers. I haven't noticed that many Portuguese surnames in the DR.

Wouldn't it be difficult to tell in many cases if the surname is Spanish or Portuguese? Abreu, Gomes, Cruz, Delgado, Garcia, Cabral, and Esteves are common names in the DR, and all are common in both Spanish and Portuguese.

 

[Chirimoya]

A quick visit to Google confirms that Abreu and Cabral are just as likely to be Galician. Garcia, Delgado and Cruz are primarily Spanish surnames although they may also be found in Portugal.

Patronymic surnames with 'es' endings are Portuguese so if they spell it Esteves/Gomes rather than Estévez/Gómez it would suggest Portuguese descent or a civil registrar/priest who couldn't tell the difference - in Spain S and Z are pronounced differently while in Latin America they are both pronounced in the same way. At the same time, it's also likely that some of these Portuguese names ended up being changed to the Spanish spellings.

 

[AlterEgo]

Chiri, your posts sent me googling, and I found these, one also mentioning the Portuguese affecting the cibao dialect. 10% of the population was Portuguese and 3% Spanish?????

 

[bob saunders]

Interesting stuff. Many of my wife's family , that have been in the DR for many generations do not have Spanish surnames, or perhaps the spelling has been changed over the years. On my wife's father side the names are Mieses ( not Spanish - Jewish) but from Spain, Abreu- Spanish. On her mothers side Marine, from Spain but not Spanish, Ramirez and Mora both Spanish. The Acevedo's in Jarabacoa are all light hair and blue eyed, same with the Bremonts.

 

[carlos]

One familiar word that I have heard in Portuguese that is used en el Cibao is Pai.

Pai = Father

 

[NanSanPedro]

Fascinating thread.

 

[Chirimoya]

One familiar word that I have heard in Portuguese that is used en el Cibao is Pai.

Pai = Father

In Galician too, though. Galician and Portuguese are very close.

 

[Chirimoya]

Chiri, your posts sent me googling, and I found these, one also mentioning the Portuguese affecting the cibao dialect. 10% of the population was Portuguese and 3% Spanish?????

View attachment 2394
View attachment 2393

The facts in his message are a bit garbled. The bit about Portuguese Jews in Sosua is incorrect although there was a much earlier migration of Sephardic, possibly Portuguese, Jews from Curacao. The last section looks like it's from Wikipedia but I can't locate it. It would be good to see the sources for the 10% Portuguese vs. 3% Spanish figures.

 

[MarJD]

This is a very interesting article. Is the first time I read about Portuguese connection to El Cibao. My mother's side is from Cibao last names Nunez and Ortega, Spanish descent I believe, never bothered to look into it. I would like to take an ancestry test, who knows what I'll find out.

 

[Marianopolita]

In my experience, there is not enough research done on la i cibaeña. However, I read articles of interest or commentary that I find. This opinion/ commentary is good (please pardon the obvious grammatical typos by the writer). Good food for thought.

La i cibaeña

Resulta fácil identificar la nacionalidad de una persona de argentina o mejicana, así como la de un cubano o boricua, basta oírlo articular algunas palabras. No sé si los dominicanos tenemos algún acento al hablar, ahora bien a quien identificamos inmediatamente pronuncia algunas palabras es al...

elnuevodiario.com.do

 

[colmcb]

AlterEgo - my husband is from Mao. Last name is Baez and his mother's family name, also from Mao, is Guzman. Her father is originally from Sicily, and I believe his parents (my husband's great grandparents) were both from Spain, but I could be wrong. A lot of the family still live in Mao/Santiago. This thread is so interesting. I've never heard any of them mention a possible Portuguese ancestry but who knows..... In my husband's family there is everything from very light skinned with unbelievably bright green eyes, to very dark skinned with brown eyes.

 

[Marianopolita]

Here is another article with examples of words with la i cibaeña.

LENGUASOrigen portugués de la i cibaeña | Hoy Digital

No es de extrañar si alguien pensara que los siguientes vocablos podrían ser propios del habla peculiar de los habitantes de la región del Cibao, al norte de República Dominicana: Cadeira, madeira, noite, leite, praia, manteiga, caipirinha, muito, tejeira, sei, feira, bandeira. Sin embargo, ésto ...

hoy.com.do

 

[AlterEgo]

AlterEgo - my husband is from Mao. Last name is Baez and his mother's family name, also from Mao, is Guzman. Her father is originally from Sicily, and I believe his parents (my husband's great grandparents) were both from Spain, but I could be wrong. A lot of the family still live in Mao/Santiago. This thread is so interesting. I've never heard any of them mention a possible Portuguese ancestry but who knows..... In my husband's family there is everything from very light skinned with unbelievably bright green eyes, to very dark skinned with brown eyes.

The Portuguese was a total surprise to the family. You must remember that the DNA breakdown from companies like Ancestry represent where your ancestors lived approximately 500 years ago, so many are unaware. Some of my husband’s surnames from Mao, Santiago, Santiago Rodríguez, Montecristi are Olivo, Beco, Durán, Gonzalez, Cruz

 

[colmcb]

Yes, the Sicilian was a surprise to my husband as well. He never knew that until maybe 15 years ago. Now he considers himself "half Italian". LOL..... I'll have to ask him or his mom if they know anyone with those surnames in Mao, especially, since that's where most of the family still is. You never know. It's such a small world. When we moved to South Florida, from NY, my husband joined the gym around the corner and the very first guy he met in the gym became one of our very best friends. It turned out he is from Mao as well, their father's were best friends for many, many years, and cousins of each have married one another. One big happy family! His other best friend grew up in Mata Puerco and eventually made it to NJ and then down here to Florida. A few years ago my husband was golfing at La Cana and the caddie was from, of all places, Mata Puerco. When he told him about his buddy Marcos, he couldn't believe it as his wife is Marco's cousin.

 

[bachata]

This

 

[bachata]

Lie 😂

Don't believe that. My family name is in this list Arnaud we are French descendants.

JJ

 

[NanSanPedro]

Don't believe that. My family name is in this list Arnaud we are French descendants.

JJ

I was just going to add that Arnaud sounds very French.

 

[bachata]

I was just going to add that Arnaud sounds very French.

Since I saw this article in a Dominican online news source I started investigating about my family side of my dad which I didn't have much information.
I was able to trace my family tree up 5th generations... year 1825 Arnaud family is documented in Family Search . org in Cayetano Germocen - Moca DR.

JJ