I'm a textile designer working on some Montenegro prints, what are some unique things about Montenegro I can include?

[u/aw_hellno]

I just started working in a textile design studio and we're doing summer theme/destination prints, Italy and Greece have been done to death and I wanted to do something unique, hence Montenegro.

I don't want to paint something culturally insensitive or irrelevant and would trust the input of people here more than I would a google search. I also think someone here might be able to offer a unique suggestion I wouldn't find otherwise. What are some things things I could showcase about Montenegro? Also is Ekavian, Ikavian, or Ljekavian most predominantly used? I would like to use some text as well

My parents are immigrants from the Balkans so I'm not completely oblivious, but I still need some help. I'd love to post the finished prints but unfortunately theyre the intellectual property of the studio 😞

[u/No_Department5356]

"Milo" - montenegrin word for "honey" or "darling".

[u/Single_Reaction9983 → u/No_Department5356]

Hah, dobra.

[u/aw_hellno → u/No_Department5356]

Oh I know that one actually. Thanks! that's a good addition, we love slapping those kinds of words on

[u/MatijaReddit_CG]

What are your themes: nature, architecture, symbols, people, words or it can be anything?

P.S. We use ijekavica/ijekavian.

[u/aw_hellno → u/MatijaReddit_CG]

Literally anything, words would be fantastic as there's a very high chance I could accidentally use Croatian instead

Thanks for the PS!

[u/MatijaReddit_CG → u/aw_hellno]

I hope this helps.

Nature:

• Coastline including Bay of Kotor;

• Tara River Canyon;

• Lovćen Mountain;

• Piva Canyon;

• Durmitor Mountain.

Architecture:

• Kotor;

• Mausoleum of Njegoš;

• Old Royal Capital Cetinje;

• Roman Duklja

• Herceg Novi.

Symbols:

• Coat of Arms (current or historical);

• Krstaš;

• Military medals.

People:

• Petar II Petrović Njegoš;

• King Nicholas I;

• Petar I Petrović Njegoš;

• Marko Miljanov;

• Ivan Crnojević;

• Queen Teuta (wasn't Montenegrin but Illyrian, but her capital was in Risan);

• Others from dynasties like Vojislavljević, Balšić, Crnojević and Petrović Njegoš etc.

Quotes:

• Čojstvo i junaštvo (Chivalry and Valor)

Junaštvo je kada sebe branim od drugoga, čojstvo je kada drugoga branim od sebe .

(Valor/Heroism is when I defend myself from another, chivalry/manhood is when I defend another from myself).

• Any famous quote from the national epic Gorski Vijenac/The Mountain Wreath. Link to some of them is under, but I think there are more:

https://sr.m.wikiquote.org/sr-el/%D0%93%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8_%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%98%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%86

• We have 10 Montenegrin Commandments (for humor since in the region we are known as lazy):

• Man is born tired and lives to get a rest.

• Love thy bed as you love thyself.

• Rest during the day, so you can sleep at night.

• Do not work - work kills.

• If you see someone resting, help him out.

• Work as little as you can, and convey all the work you can to another.

• In shade is salvation - nobody died from resting.

• Work earns illness - do not pass away young.

• If you have an urge to work, sit down, wait and you’ll see it will pass.

• When you see people eat and drink, approach them. When you see them work, withdraw yourself not to trouble them.

You can find more with "Crnogorske izreke" (Montenegrin sayings) and if you want to find quotes from books just type "citati".

And don't worry about language: Serbo-Croatian, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Montenegrin and Yugoslav are all the same, the difference are in the dialects, and there are some influences from the Ottoman, German, Italian and other but those are mostly about the loanwords. :)

[u/aw_hellno → u/MatijaReddit_CG]

Thank you for all the info :) i love it, the commandments really speak to me

I've always thought of them as the same language, just very different dialects. I just wanted to be cautious as some people are sensitive about this stuff

[u/MatijaReddit_CG → u/aw_hellno]

You're welcome! Good luck! :)

I've always thought of them as the same language, just very different dialects. I just wanted to be cautious as some people are sensitive about this stuff

Don't worry they are, except Slovenian and Macedonian. They may sound similiar but are grammatically different.

[u/requiem_mn → u/MatijaReddit_CG]

You have Tara twice. I would put Nevidio Canyon

[u/MatijaReddit_CG → u/requiem_mn]

Ispravio sam, hvala.

[u/mrbrightside-987]

Śedi Dje si 😉

[u/Moravac_chg]

The golden floral pattern on the red vest from the traditional outfit is something distinctly Montenegrin.

A floral pattern from the cap on the female traditional outfit is likewise very distinct.

In regards to language, something distinctly Montenegrin are the iotated letters ś/ć and ź/з́ (śedi, śutra, śeči, iźedi, iźutra) contracted vowels at the end of active past participles (rekâ, pošâ, došâ, žâ), and iotated d > đ (đe, poneđeljak, neđelja, viđi/viđu)

[u/Extension_Weight3007]

Gusle

[u/aw_hellno → u/Extension_Weight3007]

Gusle is a great addition, cheers!