Here are a couple of fragments from Antoni Rubió i Lluch’s L’Expedició catalana a l’Orient vista pels grecs (The Catalan Expedition to the Orient as seen by the Greeks (1883, 2004 edition translated from Spanish into Catalan)). This is Rubió i Lluch quoting Epaminondas Stamatiades:
Is it necessary after all that we have said that we repeat that the Catalans wherever they went brought with them destruction, ruin, death and imprisonment? It it necessary that we enumerate the miseries suffered by the unfortunate inhabitants of these lands? Even today in some areas of Greece, as for example in Eubea, to reproach someone for an illegal or unjust act one says “Even a Catalan wouldn’t do that.” In Acarnania the word “Catalan” is currently considered a synonym for savage, thief, delinquent, and they call “Catalan” the man of lewd and cruel sentiment. Today also in Tripoli in the Peloponnese they use none other than the expression “like a Catalan” to indicate that a woman is irascible, uncouth and hard. The Catalan dagger … is synonymous with that of the murderer. Why tire ourselves, though, when the Spanish historian Mariana himself called the Catalan invaders of the Orient thieves, cruel and disobedient people?
Then Rubió i Lluch cites a friend, Nicolás Politis, who writes to him that
The word Catalan is considered in Athens as a terrible insult which may only be applied to cruel and barbarous men. “What a Catalan!” say the old people of Attica as an insult… In Messenia and Laconia they call Catalan a woman who is masculine, tall, bulky and ugly…
To be fair, I believe that “Catalan” in Greek was also used to refer to Valencians, and it may have covered a multitude of other sinners as well.
Rubió i Lluch (1856-1937) was a Catalan nationalist born in Valladolid who defied the trinity of blood, language and territory and wrote in Spanish. Kipling would have blushed at some of his opinions, but there’s some good history in there too.
Similar posts
- More Catalan thieves
I thought you’d like to know that the first bandoleros in the OED are Catalan and to be found in James - The fire and the precipice
The following curious passage brought back memories of a quiet Tuesday several years ago: The sixty Catalans imprisoned in Adrianople, after the - Anti-Catalanism
Antoni’s going to look at anti-Catalanism, which should be worth a read. The Wikipedia anti-Americanism entry is good, with quotes from - Final victory of the Catalans and Aragonese with their Turkish allies over the Duke of Athens
Expedición de Catalanes y Aragoneses al Oriente: Fué batalla muy terrible y sangrienta, y duró mas el alcance y el matar, que - The perejil shibboleth
“Is it true about the parsley, Your Excellency? That to distinguish Dominicans from Haitians you made all the blacks say perejil?
Lucky no Catalan selections are going to the Olimpics this summer ;-)
I’d rather be old, fat, and ugly than someone from a 3rd-world country, like Greece. Who wouldn’t? Greek is only good at being Europe’s puta. Greece = Fill de putas.
You tell ’em, kiddo!
Greek GDP per capita is only about 10% lower than Spanish, and flag production (which is the classic sign of a third world country) is actually lagging behind Cataloonier.
Den – that ‘flag production’ statistic sounds like utter bollocks to me. Everyone knows the Senyeres are Made in China. If you have a link, though, I’ll withdraw that.
Besides, Spain’s only really 2nd world isn’t it?
I’d better withdraw to the fat and ugly defense. In America we have real, true patriots. Check http://www.fmaa-usa.com/madeinusa/certification_program.php
“The Flag Manufacturers Association of America (FMAA) established the “Certified Made in the U.S.A. ” certification program to ensure that American flags are homegrown with pride.
“Certified Made in the U.S.A. ” certifies that your American flag has been made in the U.S. of materials that are domestic in origin and that all processes in every step of its manufacture were completed in U.S. facilities with U.S. labor.
U.S. law requires every American flag be labeled with its country of origin. Only the FMAA “Certified Made in the U.S.A. ” certification seal assures the standards and continued compliance as monitored by a professional association and its domestic members.”
why you people says like this about catalan
catalan are good and brave people
i am not catalan but i have been with them for long time
so sad to hear this from u people
I didn’t know that Catalan had such a pejorative meaning in Greece. Why is that? Does it have some historical reference?
Anyway, I also think that Catalan girls are (generally speaking) among the least attractive from Spain.
If I didn’t waste so much time on work and stuff like this, maybe I’d be able to give an opinion on your opinion.
Easy, please see http://kiwidpia.com/kiwi/di9lL24vVmVuZ2FuemFfY2F0YWxhbmE=
This is History, guys. The Catalan army (the “Almogavers”) formed by mainly mercenaries destroyed a big part of Greece in revenge for the assassination of their general (Roger de Flor) and other 100 almogavers. They were in Greece after being called by the King of Constantinople in his fight against the Ottoman Turks. They defeated the Turks but, afterward, in the celebrating meal they were massively poisoned. The “Catalan revenge” was so hard, so furious, so savage, that even the Greek language still keeps some reference to it.
Nothing to do with the actual Catalans, proud and noble, but very mild and quite. In fact perhaps too quite…So far.
That is definately not true. I am from Greece and I’ve never heard something like. That’s so funny.
However, I’ve been to Barcelona twice and I have to say that Spanish women are the ugliest in the whole Europe. Sorry guys but how can you cope up with sooo much hair…It’s disgusting!! Spanish women have hair like everywhere!!
Nikos, those must have been Catalan women you saw. Spanish women are completely clean-shaven, have three nipples, and never let a Greek man get away alive.
Nikos, you must’ve been swindled by your travel agent, dear lad – you paid all that money and stayed put! Having visited both Athens and Barcelona, I must say that what you describe definitely matches the Greek situation (no offence meant).
Greek women are fat and ugly, say the Basques? Nah, must be a Turk in disguise.
Are you sure it wasn’t Trevor done up in drag?
I believe it is only Catalan transvestites who are fat and ugly, but then I have never seen la Prima.
Greek girls are just so akin to turkish girls… Ugly.
I suppose the advantage of them all being incredibly ugly is that they have never been tempted into prostitution, unlike the female relatives of other commenters.
All of you people talking about women, must be sexually deprived.. for quite some time. So what you cannot get you condemn…Hmmm
When Fortune flatters, she does it to betray. Which just about sums up Lehman II aka the Great Spanish Caja Insolvency of 2010.
That’s nonsense , I’m from Athens, I’ve worked in tripoli and Messinia and it’s the first time I hear that. We DON’T use this expression, don’t believe everything you read
I found this article to be rather amusing.I am greek,living all my life in Greece,and have interacted multiple times with people from the areas mentioned above and never ever heard such allegations or stereotypes about the Catalans.
The book’s 130 years old, so I guess either we’re more civilised now or Greeks have much less contact with Catalans.
Oh please don’t believe everything you read. Never heard of that expression, too. Regarding the beauty part, I believe each country has its ugly as well as beautiful men or women.