my-server
← Wiki

Fourka

Fourka (; ) is a village and a former community in the Ioannina regional unit, Epirus, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Konitsa, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 32.374&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>. Population 56 (2021).

Name

The toponym is derived either from the Aromanian furca meaning 'the fork, or distaff' or from a Latin loan rendered as fourka in common modern Greek, stemming from the medieval Greek fourka and originating from Latin furca. The word also exists in Romanian as furca and Albanian as furk/ë with the same meaning.

Linguist Kostas Oikonomou wrote the name relates to the geography of the land, as the village according to local tradition was located at Paluhoară, a place resembling a fourka and formed by two pits called Visani and Louri. Local tradition attributes the name to forks placed alongside the road leading into the village, so people would not get lost in fog, snow or storm weather conditions.

Demography

Fourka has an Aromanian population and is an Aromanian speaking village. In the early 21st century, elderly people were bilingual in the community language and Greek, whereas younger residents under 40 might have understood the community language but did not use it. Aromanian multipart singing (polyphony) is practised in the village.

References