Historical names of Transylvania

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Transylvania has had different names applied to it in several traditions.

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[edit] Transylvania

The first document in which the Medieval Latin term Ultra siluam ("beyond the forest") is used in reference to the area dates from 1075. The term Partes Transsylvanæ ("parts beyond the forest") dates from the same century (used in Legenda Sancti Gerhardi, and subsequently, as Transsilvania by Medieval Latin documents compiled in the Kingdom of Hungary).

[edit] Ardeal/Erdély

The names of Ardeal in Romanian and Erdély in Hungarian are believed to be connected. However, the original source and meaning are disputed and claimed by both Romanians and Hungarians.

The first Hungarian form recorded was Erdeuelu (12th century, in the Gesta Hungarorum), while the first Romanian form recorded was in 1432 as Ardeliu. The initial a/e difference between the names can be found in other words common to Romanian and Hungarian, such as agriş/egres ("gooseberry").

[edit] Hungarian view

The consensus of Hungarian linguists and Hungarian historians on the etymology of both Erdély and Transylvania is as follows:

  • The modern Hungarian form Erdély was derived from Erdő-elve ("beyond the forest"). Erdő comes from the Hungarian ered ("to originate from"). According to some sources, the elve suffix is itself a derivative of the older form elü (Benkő, Kiss & Papp 1984).
  • The Medieval Latin form Ultrasylvania (1077), later Transylvania, was most likely a direct translation from the Hungarian form (rather than the Hungarian being derived from the Latin) (Engel 2001).
  • The Romanian form Ardeal was probably derived from an old Hungarian form, Ardó/Erdő "forest"; cf. Végardó).

[edit] Romanian view

Several Romanian perspectives argue that the meaning of the term is unknown, and have suggested alternative etymologies:

[edit] Siebenbürgen

There exist a number of theories on the etymology of Siebenbürgen, the German name for Transylvania.

The most widely accepted theory is that Siebenbürgen refers to the seven principal fortified towns of the Transylvanian Saxons. The name first appeared in a document from 1296. An alternate Medieval Latin version, Septem Castra ("Seven fortresses") was also used in documents. The towns alluded to are: Bistritz (Bistriţa, Beszterce), Hermannstadt (Sibiu, Nagyszeben), Klausenburg (Cluj-Napoca, Kolozsvár), Kronstadt (Braşov, Brassó), Mediasch (Mediaş, Medgyes), Mühlbach (Sebeş, Szászsebes), and Schässburg (Sighişoara, Segesvár). [citation needed]

Other theories include:

  • Siebenbürgen means "Seven Castles" but does not refer to the towns of the Transylvanian Saxons . Transylvania and the Maros valley seem to have been the first portion of land within the Carpathians where Magyars gained a foothold. According to legend, each of the seven Magyar chieftains erected an earthen 'castle' in this region (Kontler 1999).
  • Siebenbürgen means explicitly "Seven Towns" or "Seven Castles". However, this etymology seems to originate in the dialectical tradition of the first, mainly Low German, Flemish and Dutch settlers, in whose homelands there are hilly regions called "Zevenbergen" (in southern Holland) and "Sevenbergen" (east of the town of Hameln on the river Weser, Germany) (Popa 1996).
  • Saxon settlement in Transylvania began in Sibiu. An early German name for the town was Cibinburg (akin to the Cibiniensis Latin name of the area). The alternate name Cibinburg was corrupted into Siebenbürgen, and became the name for the whole region (Engel 2001).

The Slavic names of the region (Sedmigradsko or Sedmogradsko (Седмиградско or Седмоградско) in Bulgarian, Sedmogradska in Croatian, Sedmihradsko in Czech, Sedmohradsko in Slovak, Siedmiogród in Polish, Semihorod (Семигород) in Ukrainian), as well as its Walloon name (Zivenbork), are translations of the German one.

[edit] References

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