Geographica Timisiensis, vol. 18, nr. 1-2, 2009 (pp. 149-159)●

TOPONYMIC ASPECTS FROM MUŞCELELE ARGEŞULUI

Mihaela AVRAM Grupul Şcolar Corbeni, Judeţul Argeş Facultatea de Geografie, Universitatea Bucureşti

Abstract. The minor toponymy of the hills called “muşcele” reflects the modifications appeared in the landscape as a reflex of the early humanization of this environment. The appellative “plai”, through its meanings of surface covered in pastures at the foot of the mountains, a road on a summit and an administrative district in the 15th to 19th centuries, through the frequency and diversity of the toponymes it generated, evokes the pastoral specific, the situation of the place on the roads used for moving the flocks and an aspect of the mediaeval administration. The appellative “muşcel”, hill covered in hay fields, pastures, orchards with fruit trees and tillage, inspired by its frequency the name Muşcelele Argeşului, proposed by the geographer V. Mihăilescu The large density of the microtoponymes makes possible the emphasize of the specializations of some surfaces in some occupations. The minor toponymy kept, as well, events that took place in this subdivision.

Rezumat. Aspecte toponimice ale Muşcelelor Argeşului. Toponimia minoră a dealurilor numite „muşcele” reflectă modificările apărute în peisaj ca o consecinţă a umanizării timpurii a regiunii. Apelativul „plai”, prin sensurile sale de suprafaţă acoperită cu pajişti la baza munţilor, a unui drum sau pe o culme sau de district administrativ în secolele 15 sau 19, prin multitudinea şi diversitatea toponimelor pe care le-a generat, evocă specificul pastoral situarea locului pe drumurile folosite pentru transumanţă dar şi o formă administraţie medievală. Apelativul „muşcel” însemnând dealuri acoperite de fâneţe, păşuni, livezi sau terenuri cultivate, a inspirat toponimul Muşcelele Argeşului propus de geograful V. Mihăilescu. Marea densitate a microtoponimelor subliniază faptul că anumite zone sunt caracteristice anumitor ocupaţii. Toponimia minoră face referire şi la evenimente ce s-au petrecut în această subdiviziune.

Key words: plai, muşcel, orchard, moving of flocks Cuvinte cheie: plai, muşcel, livadă, transhumanţă

Plaiul, polysemantic geographical term, is largely used in Muşcelele Argeşului as well as in the entire country. Ion Conea was the first geographer who presented the meaning of this word in the North of Oltenia as “the surface of mountains from the contact with the Subcarpathian depression and up to the summit (mountain for the Romanian people is, everywhere, only the alpine pick, that means up from the superior border of the coniferous tree forest).” The geographer emphasized the much closer connection in the past with the mountain, from where the continuous dwelling of the plai and he specified that “taking the villages out of the plai is a rather recent event.” Continuing these observations of the plai in the North of 150 ● Toponymic aspects from Muşcelele Argeşului

Oltenia, Dragoş Bugă speaks about the status of the inhabitants, that of moşneni* or freeholders, organized in village communities that administrate the mountains. “Plaiul is the mountain place in the nearest proximity of the villages, with smooth surfaces, little inclination in which people cut of the trees, set his mansion, cultivated the land and bred cattle.” Although they have a different structure than the hills in the North of Oltenia, Muşcelele Argeşului present at the contact with the mountain a faint inclination covered in pastures which the inhabitant name them plaiuri. In the strip of Subcarpathian hills, between Topolog and Dâmboviţa, well populated from early times, plaiurile kept in their microtoponymy prints of the human presence and activity (tables 1 and 2). Another meaning of the word plai is that of a road on the slope of a hill or mountain. Romulus Vulcănescu and Paul Simionescu classify these roads in the category of ancient roads, connected to the occupations. The old pastoral roads were used for the local grazing and for moving the flocks. These roads went beyond the village land, went up the mountain or down to the field (fig. 1). Plaiul Oii (The Sheep Plai), as a road for the moving shepherd, appears even today in the toponymy of muşcele although it lacks the function of providing a road for the flocks to the mountain through appropriate places for pasture. Thus the information gathered on the basis of ground investigations show: - Plaiul Tocii (The Bell Board Plai) along the interfluve of Doamnei – Vâlsan rivers, - Plaiul Oii (The Sheep Plai) along the interfluve of Argeş – Topolog rivers (fig. 2), - segments of roads called Plaiul Oii appear in the villages near the mountain: Sălătrucu de Sus, Poenari, Căpăţâneni, Nucşoara, Valea Mare-Pravăţ. Plaiul Bisericii (The Church Plai) represent a segment of the road called Drumul Oraşului (The Town Road) walked on foot, last centuries by the inhabitants of Nucşoara, Stăneşti, Slănic, Berevoieşti villages, when they went to Câmpulung. This road crossed Plaiurile Plăticăi until it was abandoned with the making of the road network. It remained as a testimony of the existence of a village (Clocotiva), disappeared nowadays, but mentioned in the Austrian map from 1790. In the present nomenclature of street and roads, plai is still used in Câmpulung, Plăieşti Street, in Gruiu (Nucşoara) village, Plaiului Street and in village, the road Plaiul Oii. The roads and plaiuri on which one can still find permanent settlements or temporal households are the testimony of a life in mountains which was taken into consideration when they had been given a separate administration. In Ţara Românească (The Romanian Country) plaiul was the institution created for the guard of the peripheral territory, of the “border” in the South of the Carpathians. The organization of “borders” and plaiuri in Transilvania and in Ţara Românească preceded the establishing of the borders on the mountain peaks, established in 1520, between the land lord Neagoe Basarab and the hospodar Ioan Zapolya, from Orşova to Olt. At the South of Carpathians the process of organizing the plais probably began around 1400 and ended at the beginning of the 16th century7. At the beginning of the 18th century 10 districts of Ţara Românească had a boundary with Transilvania. Among these were: Mihaela AVRAM ●151

- Muşcel District with Plaiul Dâmboviţa, with 15 villages and Plaiul Nucşoara, with 12 villages. - Argeş District with Plaiul , with 20 villages and Plaiul Loviştea with 20 villages. At the mountain passes was created a guarding system made by frontiers. Established out of economical and safety reasons, the frontiers interweaved with the tradition of moving the flocks. Its role ended in 1831, but for a long period of time were preserved echoes in toponymy and anthroponomy: - Gămăceşti village (Berevoieşti) was called Plaiaşu until the 19th century, - The hamlet Plai (Plaieşti in older maps) in the Arefu Depression is situated near a mountain pass. - The name Plaiaşu is to be found in the area of muşcele. The local research on the Valley of Argeş River in the Subcarpathian sector shows that the inhabitants give different meanings to the term of plai. Thus in the North of Arefu Depression, plaiul is the surface with faint inclination, not enclosed, at the foot of Ghiţu Massife (1622 m) crossed by a road, Plaiul Oii, which is continued through the mountain pass to the mountains. At the foot of the mountain one can found, as we showed above, the hamlet Plai. As we step away from the mountain, plai refers less to surfaces and more frequent roads and paths, as they appear on the territory of Cicăneşti commune: Plaiul Nuculeţului, Plaiul Pleşii, Plaiul Ciorii, Plaiul Hotarului, Plaiul Ponorului, and Plaiul Rugetului. In Oeşti, a pasture crossed by a road was called plai until its segmentation and enclosure of the plots. In the South part of the Valley of Argeş River, plai has the meaning of road, associated locally with the Verneşti lap which crosses the old road used by shepherds along the interfluve Argeş – Vâlsan. Concerning the origin of the word plai, Dragoş Bugă offers the word “plagium” which means slope in Latin4. The Explicative Dictionary of Romanian Language (1975 and 1998 editions) classifies it as unknown origin. Professor Ion Conea considered the word plai one of the oldest and most interesting in our language. Plaiul appears in the folklore from Muşcelele Argeşului as an element of the environment with the meaning of summit, road on a summit. In a song of outlawry, which tells events from the first half of the 19th century, that took place on the Valley of Vâlsan River, plai has the meaning of the falling of the grass in a file during haymaking1.

* ………………………… Cu vergeaua mi-atingea ,, Dară Radu ce-mi făcea ? Să s-aşeze iarba-n ea, El de lucru că n-avea, Drumu prin păduri că-i da, Mâna pe durdă-mi punea, Copacii mi-i reteza, Băga iarbă cu poala, Crăcile plaiuri venea, Alicii cu chivăra, Lui Radu bine-i părea”. (Folclor din Oltenia şi Muntenia, volumul III, 1968, Editura pentru Literatură) ,,Frunză verde de susai, ...... De trei zile urc pe plai Şi iar verde de susai Cu merinde pe trei cai Mai sui un deal şi un plai Şi nimica nu mâncai La căpitan Neculai Numa la cuc ascultai. C-acolo-i izlaz de cai’’. (N.Gh. Teodorescu,1983, Folclor din Oeşti, Piteşti )

152 ● Toponymic aspects from Muşcelele Argeşului

The family of toponymes formed with the word “muşcel” holds a well known position in the Romanian toponymy in the Subcarpathian area, especially between Topolog and Dâmbovita. The geographical literature acknowledged the syntagm Muşcelele Argeşului, suggested in 1908 by I. Popescu-Voiteşti for this area, in which the affluents of the river Argeş deepened creating long ridges. The appellative “muşcel”, Small Mountain, a low peak, is derived according some opinions from “muncel”. This etymology has at its basis semantic reasons and phonetic analogies. In the local acceptance muşcelul refers both to the form of relief and mostly economical function (pasture, grassland, orchard). As a toponym, Muşcelul describes today rather small surfaces, a hillside, the space of a former estate, a pasture. For the natives muşcelul is synonym with the appellative hill. The Muşcel Hill appears only on maps and is used very rarely. The inhabitants of the villages from the Southern part of the subunit between Topolog and Dâmboviţa call the rounded peaks and the little inclined slopes with constructions found at a transformation from a periphrastic form at the name of: Pe Muşcel (On the Muşcel), În Muşcele (In the Muşcele). In the Eastern side of the subunit at which we refer at as Muşcel became the name of an area. With this meaning is perceived the word under discussion on the Valley of Argeş river where it did not produce any toponym. Westward of Vâlsan river the toponymes formed with the appellative muşcel are rare, (fig. 2) while in the Câmpulung town’s surroundings and in the near villages, muşcel represents the identity of inhabitants being present in the name of the town Câmpulung-Muşcel, in the name of the village Muşcel ( commune), and in the name of some touring units (Hotel Muşcel) and began to be used even in anthroponomy. The peaks sector, with altitudes of over 1000 meters, separated by dingles, covered in beech forests, comprised between Doamnei river and Bratia was named by the geographer V.Mihăilescu Plaiurile Râuşorului, or Plaiurile Plăticăi. These peaks are considered by geographers as having the usual aspect of “muşcele”. In these hills, welded to mountains, which reproduce at a small scale the mountain landscape, the toponymes formed with the appellative plai have a big frequency (Table 1). This space is called in our days in the geographical literature as Muşcelele Plăticăi and differently from these, the hills called Muşcele, from the Southern part of the subunit under discussion, are 600-700 meters high and versants with slow slopes. This Subcarpathian area was named by V. Mihailescu “Depresiunea celor şapte muşcele” (The Depression of the Seven Muscels) using the name that the locals used for this corridor. Many authors, referring to these hills, insisted on their pastoral usage. I. Conea showed that “muşcelele” are always “Subcarpathian peaks covered not in forests, but in pastures and hay.” The oldest mention of the toponym Muşcel seems to be that from a 16th century document, from the time of Neagoe Basarab (1512-1521), which deals with a change of estates, and one of these was Muşcelul, from Valea Iaşului, used in our days as a pasture. The manuals and dictionaries are sometimes ambiguous, even contradictory in defining the muşcel. This is frequently explained as a long, high, woody peak, which comes from the mountain. This definition refers to the high hills from the subunit Muşcelele Argeşului, distinct from a geomorphologic point of view as a landscape resulted Mihaela AVRAM ●153

from a different usage of the ground. As we showed, in this area, muşcelele are low hills, which make the passage to Gruiurile Argeşului situated in the South and have a pastoral usage, not for forests. In my opinion it is necessary to make the distinction between muşcel – as a geographical reality, locally defined and the changed subunits appeared in time, at least, by mentioning the initial meaning, sense still in use in the local villages. The appellative is pronounced local muşcel [‘m u ∫ k e l], not [ m u s c e l ], with the stress on the final syllable. The appellatives plai and muşcel and the toponymes generated by them are related to the pastoral and agricultural usage of some surfaces on these hills. Here, on the clearings made individually by people, establishments and hearths were built up. At the level of the interfluves, at over 700-800 meters a mixed economy had been practised, agricultural and pastoral in the same time, which was emphasised by the great density of toponymes related to these activities. On the Toaca peak, at 850 meters, wheat, rye, flax and hemp had been sowed long time ago. Here, a clearing is still called Inuri (land cultivated with flax). In the minor toponymy of muşcele the names of some places are quite frequent, places were certain crops were yearly cultivated: Cânepişte (land cultivated with hemp), Inişte (land cultivated with flax), Meişte (land cultivated with maize). Also numerous are the microtoponymes that show the way in which the deforestation was made: Runc ( from runcare - to weed in Latin), Secătură (a place where the trees were barked), Arsură (a place where the plants were burnt) and the effect of the action - Pleaşa (a place with no vegetation), Ciunget (a place with stubs on it), Curatu (a place where the vegetation was removed). The actual name is Tămaş Summit, 1104 meters. The toponymy connected to the breeding of animals indicates the maintenance of these outside the village for a long time, on the pastures at the edge of the forest. This is the meaning of the toponymes Văcăriile (a place where cows were bred), Valea Văcăriei (Văcăriei Valley, Cicăneşti), in Văcărie (), Dealul Oboarelor (Stockyard Hill), etc. These places where cows were being kept were similar to the folds, places outside the village, where cattle were being held for the summer, until late in autumn and where the milk was being processed in căşărie (a place where cheese is being made). A term related to the animal breeding is the word livadă, livade (orchard) which had in the past the meaning of grasslands. Thus, we learn from an old document from 13 December 1656, that the landlord Constantin Şerban had given to Lunea the captain and his uncles the domination over a grassland orchard called Odor (Hodor) from Suslăneşti that is why the mention of some surfaces with this destination was frequent. In 1664, the 10th of November, the Jumărăştilor kin buy from Cornea a grassland orchard near Mărăcine, on the Suslăneştilor land, after having bought on the 16th of January 1621 the orchard called Coasta Cucului (Cuckoo’s Peak). In the documents of the Stroiasca estate it is often mentioned “livada Călăraşilor” (The Horsemen Orchard), near the Argeşel river, in Suslăneşti. In the village was o group of horsemen that had an orchard of theirs, where they kept their horses, when the lord did not call them in the army. The community of the village had the obligation to keep strip of land for the local “roşii” (reds, horsemen), near the hearth of the village in order for them to put their horses and prepared the hay for winter.8 154 ● Toponymic aspects from Muşcelele Argeşului

And on the Valley of the Argeş river, it is still used, although very rarely the meaning of hay field for orchard, that is “enclosed surface, well cared of with high productivity.” (information from the inquiry at Corbeni) In the writing “Personal Writings”, Ion Arsenescu, speaking about the foundation of the Corbeni village, tells that Corboc brothers, shepherds from Transilvania, bought in the 18th century from Bucşenescu landowners “places and orchards called pens”. Ţărcătoare (Pen for animals) is kept as a toponym in Cicăneşti, and Livada Balii (Balii Orchard) is a hay field in the village Poduri (Bridges Village - Commune) that belongs to the Balea family’s descendants. From mediaeval documents appears that the surfaces of land that were at the disposal of a kin were used in common for the building of the houses, for the cultivated land, hay field, orchard, forest and pasture. Many microtoponymes indicate a great spreading of the fruit-trees orchards in the area Muşcelele Argeşului. The diversity of the activities and the high level of fragmentation of the relief produced a great density of microtoponymes. Among these we may still identify areas which have specificity in the economy of the villages, the microtoponymes being classified in types of activities. Thus, for the cereal crops we may observe: - The plateau crossed by a road called Pe Şură (On the Sheld), Poiana Grâurari (Wheat Cultivators), Preluca Morii (The Mill’s Slope) on the interfluve of Argeş - Topolog rivers. - The plateau Mălaia (place cultivated with maize - millet in Transilvania according to C. Panţu, 1906) - Coasta Morii (The Mill’s Slope); The breeding of animals and of bees and customs related to these appear from the following groups: - Padeşul Oeştenilor (Oeşti), Valea Căşăriei (Căşăriei Valley - Bucşeneşti), Văcării, Valea Văcăriei, Târlişoare, Ţărcătoare, Nedeia (Cicăneşti), on the interfluve of Argeş – Topolog rivers; - Văcăria, Poaina Pe Tauru (The Bull Clearing - Turburea) in the Arefu Depression; - The place În Buturi (buduroi - beehive), Poiana Albina (The Bee Clearing), the antroponym Boştinaru (in the village of Turburea)2 - La Stupină (At the Beehive), Valea Butia (Barrel Valley - in barrels was collected the honey) in Corbeni. The microtoponymes are important for the features of some eras or historical events that took place on the valleys of Argeş and Doamnei rivers. Muşcelele Argeşlului has a high population level, valued by the rural communities from early times. In this space was created in the 14th century the first feudal state, The Romanian Country. Few microtoponymes suggest the way in which the inhabitants organized themselves to cope with the historical events. Among these, the more recent events are easier to be recognized. Here are some of them. Microtoponymes that suggest: - withdrawls in the front of the invading people : Băjenari, Poaiana Veghiu (The Watching Clearing), Dealul Toaca (The Bell Board Hill), Grănicerul (The Guardian) in Poduri village and Valea Strejii (The Sentry Valley) in Corbşori and Muşetesti villages.

* Name derived from “boştina”, a material residue resulted after melting the honeycomb. Mihaela AVRAM ●155

These names of places are found on a small area, on the Valley of Doamnei River, on which Paul from Alep withdrew in the 17th century in front of the Tartars. In 1821-1822 the inhabitants of the villages on this valley suffered the plundering of those from Eteria who conquered the districts of Prahova, Muşcel and Argeş, followed then by the plundering of the Turkish army. The army of the Eterists was moving from village to village after requisitions, destroying through plundering and appalling the population, which fled into the forest. Here are two events that could have marked in the toponymy the place where the refugees (Băjenari) might have settled early, the place from where they could have observed the valley, the clearing situated at a higher altitude, Veghiu (The Watching), the place from where the alarm was rang, Vârful Toaca (The Bell Board Hill), near it. At the foot of the hill, were used to be the border of the village, was set the guard, Grănicerul (The Guardian). - the shedding of the harvests and of the flocks: Pârâul Lăcătuş (The Locksmith Creek), in the villages Arefu and Oeşti, on the valley of Argeş river. In the land inquiry, in the Arefu village, we found out that in the past, when they had to withdraw in the valleys, people used to gather brake behind them to cover themselves and make the pursuit more difficult. In Oeşti village, Pârâul Lăcătuş springs from a hill where sometime ago were pits with burnt walls where a part of the harvest was kept.* - the outlawry and the anticommunist resistance: Poiana and Pârâul Iancului (Iancu’s – Jianu - Clearing and Creek) in Corbeni, Stânca Haiducului Zdrelea (The Outlaw Zdrelea’s Rock – in Jgheaburi, Corbi), Râpa Partizanilor (The Partisans’ Ravine - Corbşori). Partisans were locally called the anticommunist fighters withdrawn in the Fagaraş Mountains. A centre of this organization was hidden in Valea Dracului (The Valley of the Devil), with rough terrain and not circulated by villagers, under Vârful Toaca (899 meters). Here were discovered and killed the last fighters. - trails from the First World War: Coasta Turnurilor (The Towers Slope – in Căpăţâneni), Poiana La Tranşee (At the Tranches Claearing - Berindeşti), La Odăjdii (Priest Clothes - Arefu). In 1916 in the Northern part of the Arefu Depression passed the front line. At the entrance in Cheile Argeşului (The Gorges of Argeş) cannons were placed, the slope being known since then Coasta Tunurilor (The Cannons’ Slope). From the same slope had been shelled by the Turkish the castle in the gorges where Vlad Tepes hide himself. From the First World War the trails of some trenches are still visible, the place being known by the villagers as Poiana La Tranşee (At the Trenches Clearing). In the same event, the inhabitants of the Arefu village hide in a small cave the valuable objects of the church, before withdrawing from the battle. The respective place is called since then La Odăjdii (The Priest Clothes). - trails from the Second World War; the place called La Avion (At the Plane – in Turburea), the clearing La Morminte ( At the Graves – in Berindeşti). La Avion is a part of the grassland in Turburea where during this event a military airplane crashed, and La Morminte is a clearing where dead Russian prisoners had been buried during their detention in the Corbeni camp.

CONCLUSIONS

The minor toponymy of Muşcelele Argeşului at which I referred reflects the action of the human communities on the environment through economical and strategic usage of this 156 ● Toponymic aspects from Muşcelele Argeşului

space. It emphasises a descent of the activities from the interfluves at the foot of the mountains, on the terraces and meadows. One can also observe a more complex structure of the agricultural crops in the past as compared to those in the present, as an expression of a more limited economy of the villages which characterized Muşcelele Argeşului centuries ago. The density of microtoponymes is still high, as a reflex of the geomorphologic complexity of the landscape and of the diversity of human activities. The changes that have taken place lately at the level of the agricultural terrains lead at a slow disappearance of the microtoponymy. In Muşcelele Argeşului the cereals crops became fewer, the interfluves became hay fields and pastures. The breeding of sheep and cattle does not concern a large part of the inhabitants. The ageing of the village population, the lack of sacredness of life, the appliance of new standards in the rural activities produce irreversible changes in the way in which people refer themselves to the environment, they perceive and name it.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bugă Dragoş, (1975), The Meaning of the Term “Plai” for the Population in the Subcarpathian Villages in Oltenia, in the Lectures of the Toponymy Symposium, Bucharest. Conea Ion, (1984), The Carpathians Fields, Sport and Tourism Publishing, Bucharest. Hera-Bucur Ion, (1996), The Monography of Berevoieşti Commune, Technical Publishing, Bucharest. Mihăilescu Vintilă, (1996), ’ Hills and Fields. Scientific Publishing, Bucharest. Şucu Ion, POPESCU Ion, TOMESCU Ion, (1976) Commune-Monography, Letter Publishing, Bucharest, (p. 77). Vulcănescu Romulus, SIMIONESCU Paul, (1975), Old Roads and Halts, Albatross Publishing, Bucharest. Ursache Vasile, (2006), Pe-un picior de plai-About the Romanian Country’s Fields towards the end of the 18th century, Iaşi.

Mihaela AVRAM ●157

158 ● Toponymic aspects from Muşcelele Argeşului

Mihaela AVRAM ●159

Fig.1 The roads made by sheeps to Ungurenii from the left side of the river Olt Drumurile făcute de oi spre Ungurenii de pe malul stâng al Oltului

Fig. 2 The appellatives „plai” and „muscel” in the toponymy of Muşcelele Argeşului Apelativele „plai” şi „muscel”în toponimia Muşcelelor Argeşului