Etymology of Romania
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Romanians are a people living in Central and South-Eastern Europe speaking a Romance language. Their name ultimately is derived from the city of Rome and the Roman Empire and more specifically from "Romanus" (Roman citizen).
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[edit] Etymology of the etnonyme "Romanian" (român)
The name of "România" (Romania) comes from "Român" (Romanian), which is a derivative of the word "Romanus" (Roman) from Latin. During the transition from Vulgar Latin to Romanian, there were some phonetical changes that modified "Romanus":
- ending "-s" disappeared (occurred in all Romance languages)
- ending "-u" disappeared (regular change; in Old Romanian was however still present)
- "a" → "â" (regular change; vowels before nasal consonants turned into "â"/"î")
- "o" → "u" (regular change; however, in some regions of Romania, the variant with "o" was kept)
A reference of the name "Romanian" could be containde by the Nibelungenlied: "Duke Ramunc of Wallachia,/with seven hundred vassals, galloped up before her/like flying birds men saw them ride".[1] It is argued that "Ramunc" could represent an eponyme name, representing Romanians. [2]
The self-designation of Romanians as Romans is scholarly mentioned as late as the 16th century by mainly Italian Humanists travelling in Transylvania, Moldavia and Walachia. Tranquillo Andronico writes in 1534 that Romanians (Valachi) "now call themselves Romans".[3] In 1532 Francesco della Valle accompanying Governor Aloisio Gritti to Transylvania, Walachia and Moldavia notes that Romanians preserved the name of the Romans (Romani) and "they call themselves in their language Romanians (Romei)". He even cites the sentence "Sti rominest ?" ("do you speak Romanian ?" for originally Rom.: "ştii româneşte ?").[4]
In the next centuries numerous authors produced first-hand evidence about the name Romanians used to call themselves: Orichovius (Stanislaw Orzechowski) notes as late as 1554 that "in their own language, Romanians are called Romin, after the Romans, and Walachs in Polish, after the Italians";[5] the Transylvanian Saxon Johann Lebel confirms in 1542 that common Romanians call themselves “Romuini„; [6] Martinus Szent-Ivany cites in 1699 Romanian expressions: "Sie noi sentem Rumeni" (for originally Rom.: "Şi noi suntem români") and "Noi sentem di sange Rumena" (for originally Rom.: "Noi suntem de sânge român") [7]
Historical Romanian documents display two spelling forms of "Romanian": "român" and "rumân". For centuries, both spelling forms are interchangeably used, sometimes in the same phrase. [8]
In the Middle Ages the ethno-linguistical designation rumân/român also denoted common people. During the 17th century, as serfdom becomes a widespread institution, common people increasingly turn into bondsman. In a process of semantic differentiation in 17th-18th centuries the form rumân, presumably usual among lower classes, got merely the meaning of bondsman, while the form "român" kept an ethno-linguistic meaning.[9] After the abolition of the serfage by Prince Constantine Mavrocordato in 1746, the form "rumân" gradually disappears and the spelling definitively stabilises to the form "român", "românesc".[10]
There are other Romanic people in the Balkans that have an ethnonym derived from "Romanus", including Aromanians (armâni, arumâni or rămăni) and Istro-Romanians (rumâri). The Megleno-Romanians originally used the form rămâni, but it was lost by the 19th century and used the word Vlaşi borrowed from Bulgarian/Macedonian.
The word Romanus is also kept elsewhere in other parts of the Roman Empire: in the name of the region of Romagna, in Northern Italy and also in the name of the Romansh language of Switzerland. The name was also kept by non-Latin peoples, such as the Byzantines, who used to call themselves "Romioi" (Ρωμιοί).
[edit] Etymology of "Romania" (România)
The first document written in Romanian language is a 1521 letter which notifies the mayor of Braşov about the imminent attack of the Turks. This document is also notable for having the first occurrence of "Romanian" in a Romanian text, Wallachia being here named The Romanian Land - Ţeara Rumânească (Ţeara < Latin Terra = land). As in the case of the etnonyme "român/rumân", Romanian documents use both forms Ţara Românească and Ţara Rumânească for the country name.
In the first half of the 18th century the erudite prince Dimitrie Cantemir systematically uses the name Ţara Românească for designating all three Principalities inhabited by Romanians [11]
The name "România" as common homeland of the Romanians is documented in the early 19th century. [12]
The etymology of "România" didn't follow the Romanian pattern of word formation for country names, which usually adds the suffix -ia to the ethnonym, like in "grec" -> "Grecia", "bulgar" -> "Bulgaria", "rus -> "Rusia", etc. Since it is a self-designation, the word "România" has an older history, coming from "românie" which in turn resulted as a derivation of the word "român" by adding the suffix -ie, like in ""moş -> moşie", "domn" -> "domnie" or "boier" -> "boierie" (lord -> lordship). Initially, "românie" may indeed have meant "Romanianship", being then used in the eve of the 19th century to designate the common homeland of Romanians.
The name "Romania" (România) has been firstly brought to Paris by young Romanian intellectuals in the 1840', where it has been spelled "Roumanie" in order to differentiate Romanians (fr.: Roumains) from Romans (fr.: Romains).
The French spelling version (Roumanie) spread then over many countries, such as Britain, Spain, Italy, Germany.
In English, the name of the country was originally borrowed from French "Roumania" (<"Roumanie"), then evolved into "Rumania", but was eventually replaced after WWII by the name used officially: "Romania". With a few exceptions such as English and Hungarian ("Románia"), in most languages, the "u" form is still used (German and Swedish: Rumänien; Bulgarian: Румъния; Serbian: Румунија / Rumunija, Polish: Rumunia, etc).
[edit] Romania as term used also
- Since 7th century, name for region surrounding Ravenna (Romagna in Italian)
- It has been an alternative name for the Byzantine Empire (also known as the Eastern Roman Empire). (Ρωμανία in Greek).
- It has been an alternative name for the Latin Empire, centred on Byzantium, set up by Roman Catholic Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade with the intention of replacing the Eastern Orthodox Byzantine Empire with a Roman Catholic empire.
[edit] References
- ^ Der herzoge Ramunch vzer Vlâchen lant/mit Sibenhunduert mannen chom er fvr si gerant/sam die wilden vogele so sah man si varn Das Niebelungenlied
- ^ "Der Nibelunge not", XII, ed. K. Lachmann, Berlin, 1878, p. 174; Francis P. Magoun jr. in "Geographical and Ethnic Names in the Nibelungenlied", p. 129-130; Fritz Schuster cu "Herzog Ramunc aus dem Walachenland", in "Sudost-Forschungen", XI, 1946-1952, p. 284-290)
- ^ "nunc se Romanos vocant" A. Verres, Acta et Epistolae, I, p. 243
- ^ "...si dimandano in lingua loro Romei...se alcuno dimanda se sano parlare in la lingua valacca, dicono a questo in questo modo: Sti Rominest ? Che vol dire: Sai tu Romano,..." Cl. Isopescu, Notizie intorno ai romeni nella letteratura geografica italiana del Cinquecento, in Bulletin de la Section Historique, XVI, 1929, p. 1- 90
- ^ "qui eorum lingua Romini ab Romanis, nostra Walachi, ab Italis appellantur" St. Orichovius, Annales polonici ab excessu Sigismundi, in I. Dlugossus, Historiae polonicae libri XII, col 1555
- ^ "Ex Vlachi Valachi, Romanenses Italiani,/Quorum reliquae Romanensi lingua utuntur.../Solo Romanos nomine, sine re, repraesentantes./Ideirco vulgariter Romuini sunt appelanti", Ioannes Lebelius, De opido Thalmus, Carmen Istoricum, Cibinii, 1779, p. 11 – 12
- ^ "Valachos...dicunt enim communi modo loquendi: Sie noi sentem Rumeni: etiam nos sumus Romani. Item: Noi sentem di sange Rumena: Nos sumus de sanguine Romano" Martinus Szent-Ivany, Dissertatio Paralimpomenica rerum memorabilium Hungariae, Tyrnaviae, 1699, p. 39
- ^ "am scris aceste sfente cǎrţi de învataturi, sǎ fie popilor rumânesti... sǎ inteleagǎ toti oamenii cine-s rumâni crestini" "Întrebare creştineascǎ" (1559), Bibliografia româneascǎ veche, IV, 1944, p. 6 "...ca vazum cum toate limbile au şi influresc întru cuvintele slǎvite a lui Dumnezeu numai noi românii pre limba nu avem. Pentru aceia cu mare muncǎ scoasem de limba jidoveascǎ si greceascǎ si srâbeascǎ pre limba româneascǎ 5 carti ale lui Moisi prorocul si patru carti si le daruim voo frati rumâni si le-au scris în cheltuiala multǎ... si le-au daruit voo fratilor români,... si le-au scris voo fratilor români" Palia de la Orǎştie (1581 – 1582), Bucuresti, 1968 " În Ţara Ardealului nu lăcuiesc numai unguri, ce şi saşi peste seamă de mulţi şi români peste tot locul...", Grigore Ureche, Letopiseţul Ţării Moldovei, p. 133-134
- ^ Stelian Brezeanu, Romanitatea Orientalǎ în Evul Mediu, Editura ALL EDUCATIONAL, Bucureşti, 1999, p. 229-246
- ^ In his well known literary testament Ienăchiţă Văcărescu writes: "Urmaşilor mei Văcăreşti!/Las vouă moştenire:/Creşterea limbei româneşti/Ş-a patriei cinstire." In the "Istoria faptelor lui Mavroghene-Vodă şi a răzmeriţei din timpul lui pe la 1790" a Pitar Hristache writes: "Încep după-a mea ideie/Cu vreo câteva condeie/Povestea mavroghenească/Dela Ţara Românească
- ^ "Hronicon a toată Ţara Românească (care apoi s-u împărţit în Moldova, Munteniască şi Ardealul) ...", D. Cantemir, Hronicul vechimei româno-moldo-vlahilor, in Operele Prinipelui Dimitrie Cantemir, Academia Română, Bucuresti, 1901, p.180
- ^ The first known mention of the term "Romania" (meaning the to-day land of Romania) dates from 1816, as Dimitrie Daniel Philippide publishes in Greek his work "The History of Romania", followed by "The Geography of Romania". On the tombal stone of Gheorghe Lazăr in Avrig 1823 there is the inscription: "Precum Hristos pe Lazăr din morţi a înviat/Aşa tu România din somn ai deşteptat."
