Introduction in the Study of Romanian Language A textbook for foreign students Bagiu, Lucian Vasile 2018 Document Version: Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Bagiu, L. V. (2018). Introduction in the Study of Romanian Language: A textbook for foreign students. Editura Aeternitas, Universitatea "1 Decembrie 1918" Alba Iulia. 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LUND UNIVERSITY PO Box 117 221 00 Lund +46 46-222 00 00 The final chapter (Romanian language today) presents the LUCIAN VASILE BÂGIU Romanian language in synchrony. It explores essential issues, such as: the double state of Romanian (Romance and Balkan), the individuality of Romanian within Romance context and Balkan language area, and an etymological analysis of Romanian vocabulary. The comments take into account particularly the vocabulary. Not only because it is highly illustrative in itself, but also as it is the easiest to comprehend by first-level foreign students learning the Romanian language. Each chapter comprises a theoretical explanation, amply exemplified with adequate samples and is followed by a practical section – individual tasks, compulsory or optional, with structural and self-evaluating object. Associate Professor Constantin-Ioan Mladin The content of the course is a timely and requisite report for a foreign student who does not speak Romanian and is not aware of the various circumstances and contexts for the expression of Romanian language. It is more than welcome the tackling of a several fundamental matters of Romanian language in an interdisciplinary approach, explaining the function of Romanian culture and civilization in shaping the Romanian language. (…) The author maps out certain tasks for the student aiming at the summing up of the main theoretical knowledge exposed in the course, interpolated with practical tasks where the students are requested to solve translation and composition exercises, making use of customary words. Professor Felix Nicolau INTRODUCTION IN THE STUDY OF ROMANIAN LANGUAGE A TEXTBOOK FOR FOREIGN STUDENTS UNIVERSITATEA „1 DECEMBRIE 1918” DIN ALBA IULIA EDITURA ÆTERNITAS ISBN 978-606-613-151-3 2018 LUCIAN VASILE BÂGIU INTRODUCTION IN THE STUDY OF ROMANIAN LANGUAGE A TEXTBOOK FOR FOREIGN STUDENTS Reproducerea integrală sau parţială a textului cărţii, prin orice mijloace, fără acordul autorului şi/sau al editurii, este interzisă. Descrierea CIP a Bibliotecii Naţionale a României BÂGIU, LUCIAN Introduction in the study of Romanian Language: a textbook for foreign students / Lucian Vasile Bâgiu. - Alba Iulia : Aeternitas, 2018 Conţine bibliografie ISBN 978-606-613-151-3 811.135.1 © Lucian Vasile Bâgiu, 2018 Tiparul a fost executat la Tipografia Universităţii „1 Decembrie 1918” din Alba Iulia Editura Aeternitas Universitatea „1 Decembrie 1918” Str.Gabriel Bethlen, nr. 5 RO 510009 Alba Iulia Tel: 004-0258-811412 Fax: 004-0258-812630 E-mail: [email protected] www.editura-aeternitas.ro LUCIAN VASILE BÂGIU Introduction in the Study of Romanian Language A textbook for foreign students UNIVERSITATEA „1 DECEMBRIE 1918” EDITURA AETERNITAS ALBA IULIA 2018 To David Jonsson TABLE OF CONTENTS AUTHOR’S NOTE ............................................................................... 7 ORIGINS .............................................................................................. 9 LATINITY ......................................................................................... 17 CONTINUITY ................................................................................... 23 ROMANIAN AND THE OTHERS ..................................................... 31 THE EMERGENCE OF THE ROMANIAN STATES ........................ 39 WRITTEN ROMANIAN .................................................................... 47 ROMANIAN LANGUAGE TODAY .................................................. 55 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................... 67 BIO NOTE........................................................................................... 71 5 6 AUTHOR’S NOTE The course is intended for the optional subject Introduction in the Study of Romanian Language of the specialization Romanian language as a foreign language – preparatory year. It is a two hours’ course every two weeks in the first semester, meant for foreign students (mostly Arabs) with no previous knowledge of Romanian language, culture and civilization, with little (if any) former linguistic or foreign language training and with no future professional interest in the subject, as most are concerned with Medical Studies (or, to a lesser extent, Engineering, Law, Accountancy, etc.). The course was written keeping all of these in mind and also with a view to the compulsory subjects of the Preparatory Year: Romanian culture and civilization; Phonetics, vocabulary and grammatical structures; Written and oral communication; Comprehension of written and oral text; Writing and composition. Every of the seven chapters of the course aims at introducing the students to the basics of Romanian language in the larger context of the Romanian culture and civilization development, with the ultimate purpose of settling both a few essential theoretical knowledge and some practical communication skills for the foreign students as inhabitants of Romania. The compulsory tasks at the end of each chapter act as a summing up of the main knowledge of the course and as application for probable written and oral events of daily life. In the end, the course is planned as a helping tool, balanced in between the academic linguistic rigor and the day-to-day necessities of language and culture. 7 8 ORIGINS Romanian language ought to be considered a descendent of Latin language, as the Roman Empire ruled part of the territory of nowadays Romania from 106 to 275 AD, after having defeated and incorporated the core of the ancient Dacian kingdom. However, the Latinity of Romanian language was challenged more than once, for historical, political and linguistic reasons. Mention should be made that a good number of the foreigners encountering the Romanians in the Middle Ages noted the similarity between Latin and Romanian languages which they have reasoned through the plausible Roman descent of Romanians1. The same logic was followed by the neighboring people of Romanians, i.e. the Hungarians and the Poles2. Once the idea was firmly established by various Catholic instances, it was reiterated by the Protestants all the same. Johannes Honterus from Brasov (Transylvania) stated that the origin of the Romanians is to be found in the “Getae who had once ruled Dacia and the Romans commanded by Flacus”; Sebastian Münster: “Some people write that in certain places of Valachia, the Roman language has remained unchanged”3. Foreigners have designated the Romanians with the name Vlahi/ Vlasi/ Valahi (“Wallachians”), a term of Old Germanic origin, later adopted by the Slavs. The word român is first ever recorded in Romanian in the book Palia de la Orăștie (The First Two Books of the Old Testament, 1581). The term român/ rumân had the meaning “Romanian/ serf” and shared a close relationship with the term roman (meaning “Roman”) in several 1 Among them: Pope Innocent III, the Catholic Archbishop John of Sultaneyeh, Poggio Bracciolini, Flavio Biondo, Enea Silvio Piccolomini, Andrea Brenta. 2 Such as: the anonymous chronicler of the Hungarian King Bella IV, the chronicler Simon de Keza, humanists at the court of Hungary’s King Mathias Corvinus (Alessandro Cortesi and Antonio Bonfini), as well as Filippo Buonaccorsi Callimaco, adviser to the Polish king. 3 Apud Alexandru Niculescu, Outline history of Romanian language, p. 14. 9 Romanian books from the Middle Ages4. Dimitrie Cantemir stated in his Chronicle of the Roman-Moldo-Wallachians in 1710: “the Romanians in Dacia, who are nowadays Moldavians, Wallachians and Transylvanians, are in their origin genuine Romans from Italy brought to these places by Trajan the Emperor”5. This was partly due to the need of Middle Ages Romanians to distinguish themselves from the neighboring invading people. And this difference was to be marked through an old(er) and most “noble” origin: the Roman Empire, the conqueror which everybody was very much aware of, unlike the defeated (and lesser known) Dacians. Thus the Latin origin of Romanian language became the landmark of any linguistic conceptualization, most famous being the assertion of Alexandru Rosetti when characterizing the genealogy of Romanian language