“Jèje figghie alla gaddìna bianghe”

When dialect speaks of privilege

In the dialect of Turi, some expressions are more than words: they are layered stories, cultural inheritances that come from far away. “Jèje figghie alla gaddìna bianghe” is one of them.

It is said of someone who enjoys special treatment, who seems to be born with a fast track already laid out. A saying whose roots reach back to Imperial Rome itself: from the Latin expression gallinae filius albae comes a powerful image linked to Livia Drusilla, wife of Augustus. Legend has it that a white hen, falling from the sky into her arms, became an omen of fortune and protection. From then on, its offspring were not sacrificed, but carefully preserved.

In everyday language, this ancient story turns into popular irony, social observation and collective memory.

The dialect of Turi does not explain: it evokes. And every word, when listened to closely, carries an entire world within it.

Sources and Credits

Original source: Dialect column – Il Paese

Issue: July–August 2020

Text by: Vincenzo Pascalicchio