ca.1680
Fame of the Town of Kotor
Location of Original: The State Archives of Montenegro
About the Document
It seems that this unknown Dominican friar was not so happy with his stay in the town of Kotor.
He wrote this satirical poem entitled Fame of the Town of Kotor in macaronic style, interweaving Latin and Serbian. Macaronic Latin is a jumbled jargon made up of vernacular words given Latin endings, or of Latin words mixed with the vernacular in a pastiche.
It is generally derogatory and is used when the mixing of languages has a humorous or satirical intent or effect. In the poem, this Dominican is making fun in the monastery of all the things he was not liking in Boka Bay: abundant rain, a bay that was too narrow, frequent earthquakes and dangerous people.