Rumanian Language And Literature
RUMANIAN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE Rumanian * is, geographically, an isolated eastern member of the group of Romance languages (q.v.), being severed from all the rest by countries in which the predominant speech is Slavonic or Magyar. It represents the original rustic Latin of the Roman provincials in Moesia and Dacia, as modified by centuries of alien rule. Structurally, its Latin characteristics have been well preserved; but its vocabulary has undergone great changes, becoming so far Slavonized that the ratio of words of Slavonic origin to words of Latin origin is approximately as three to two; large numbers of loan-words have also been added from Turkish, Greek, Magyar and other sources. It is noteworthy, however, that where Latin words have survived they are sometimes purer than in the Romance languages of the West 1 i.e. the so-called Daco-Rumanian, spoken by the vast majority of Rumans over the whole of Rumania, in Transylvania, Bukovina, the Banat, Bessarabia, and some districts of Servia and Bulgaria bordering on the Danube. The two most important dialects are the Istro-Rumanjan, spoken in part of Istria but rapidly becoming extinct, and the Macedo-Rumanian, spoken by the Kutzo-Vlachs (see VLACHS). The Istro-Rumanian forms, as it were, a link now completely severed between the Romance of the Balkans and the Romance of the West. In the Macedo-Rumanian there are no Magyar loan-words, but there is a large Albanian element, and Greek loan-words are more numerous than Slavonic.
(e.g. Lat. domina is better represented by Rum. domna, " lady," than by Ital. donna, Span, dona, Port, dona, Fr. dame). Some words indeed 2 such as laudare, to praise, ducere, to lead retain unaltered the forms under which they were used by Virgil and Cicero. A feature of the language which distinguishes it from all other members of the group, and appears to be of even higher antiquity than the word-forms above mentioned, is the retention of a suffix article e.g. frale, brother, fratele, the brother; zi, day, ziua, the day. This usage seems to have survived from the pre-Roman period. A similar suffix article is retained in Albanian, which almost certainly represents the original language of the Thraco-Illyrian tribes (see ALBANIA) ; and these tribes belonged to the same ethnical and linguistic group as the Daco-Moesians represented by the Vlachs.
Rumanian orthography remained in a transitional state throughout the 19th century. The Latin alphabet is used, with special signs to represent sounds borrowed from Slavonic, etc. All the unaccented vowels except e are pronounced as in Italian; e has the same phonetic value as in Old Slavonic ( = French e) and is often similarly preiotized (=ye in yet), notably at the beginning of all words except neologisms. The accented vowels e and 6 are pronounced as ea and oa (petra, rock, = peatra ; morte, death, = moarte) ; they are written in full, as diphthongs, at the end of a word and sometimes in other positions. The sound of the Slavonic JJ (a guttural y) is represented by a, e or 8, though these letters occur as frequently in words of Latin origin (e.g. ctnd = quando) as in those derived from Slavonic ; SC ' s represented by a or f, having the nasal sound of un in French; t and u at the end of a word are mute or short. Of the consonants, c followed by e or i = ch (as in church), otherwise k ; 4 or 4 resembles the English j ' ; g is hard before e and i, otherwise soft; h is guttural, as ch in loch', j is pronounced as in French; r as in Russian; s or j (Slav. HI) as sh;-( or ( (Slav, n,) as ts or tz; w is wanting. The remaining consonants have the same phonetic values as in English.
Rumanian is highly inflected. It possesses two regular substantive declensions and six cases, the vocative being in common use. The large class of heterogeneous nouns which are masculine in the singular and feminine in the plural constitute what is sometimes called the neuter declension. There are three regular conjugations, distinguished (as in Latin) according to the termination of the present infinitive in a, e or i; e.g. (i) a ara or arare, to plough, (2) a crede or credere, to believe, (3) a dormi or dormire, to sleep. Verbs ending in i, however, are sometimes classed as a fourth conjugation. The second form of the present infinitive (arare, credere, dormire) is used as a noun. The so-called " simple perfect " (perfectul simplu) has often the force of an aorist. Compound tenses are formed by the addition of certain particles and of the auxiliary verbs a ave, to have, afi, to be, and a voi, to will. For the passive voice, afi is used, with the past participle of the required verb. All tenses of reflexive verbs except the imperative and present participle are formed by prefixing the pronoun which indicates the object to the verb, in the dative or genitive case (abbreviated) as the verb may require; but in the reflexive imperative and present participle the verb precedes the pronoun; e.g. a propune, to propose, a ${ propune, to propose to oneself, but propune ft, propose to yourself.
The accentuation of Rumanian, though complex, is governed by certain broad principles, except in the case of neologisms, many of which have been borrowed from French and Italian without change of accent. Nouns retain the accent of the nominative singular in all cases and in both numbers (e.g. copila, girl, vocative plur. coptlelor), except when a diminutive or augmentative suffix is added ; the accent then shifts to the suffix. The language is very rich in diminutive and augmentative forms; e.g. the name Ion or loan (John), has the diminutives lonicd, lonifa, lonascu, lanache, lenachel, etc. In verbs apart from a few exceptional tenses the accent falls on the first syllable of the inflectional suffix, e.g. cu dorm, I sleep, but eu dormlssem, I had slept. For the sake of euphony, a vowel is frequently interpolated between two consonants; e.g. in masculine nouns terminating in a consonant, an interpolated u precedes / to form the suffix article (om, man, om-u-l, the man).
BIBLIOGRAPHY. (i) Dictionaries: A. de Cihac, Dictionnaire d' etymologie daco-roumaine (2 vols., Frankfort, 1870-79), valuable for non-Latin elements; B. P. Hadeu, Etymologicum magnum Romaniae (Bucharest, Academia Rom^na, 1887, etc.); F. Dame, Dictionnaire roumain-franfflis (Paris, 1896); S. Pu^cariu, Etymologisches Worterbuch der rumdnischen Sprache (Heidelbeig, 1905, etc.); I. A. Candrfci-Hecht and O. Densusianu, Dic(ionar general al Umbel romane (Bucharest, 1909, etc.) ; I. Dalametra, Dicfionar Macedorom&n (Bucharest, Academia Romana, 1006). (2) Grammars, etc. : T. Cipariu, Gramatec'a Umbel romane (Bucharest, 1870-77); I. Nadejde, Gramateca Umbel romane (Bucharest, 1884), id., Istoria limbei jt literaturel romane (Jassy, 1886); B. P. HasdSu, Cuventt 1 Apart from certain instances in which the Latin form has been artificially restored in comparatively modern times. (See under Literature.)
din batr&nl (Bucharest, 1878-79); L. S,aineanu, Istoria filologtel romdne (Bucharest, 1895), id., Influenza orientald asupra limbet 31 culturei romdne (3 vols., Bucharest, 1900) ; S. C. Mandrescu, Elemente unguresfi in limba romdnd (Bucharest, 1802); S. Pugcariu, " Studii istroromane " inAnnalele of the Academia Roman;!, ser. 2, vol. xxviii. ; T. Gartner, Darstellune der rumdnischen Sprache (Halle, 1904); G. Weigand, Praktische Grammatik der rumdnischen Sprache (Leipzig, 1903). Important studies on the separate dialects of Moldavia, Walachi, the Dobrudja, Bessarabia, Bukovina, the Banat, Macedonia, Istria, etc., have been published by G. Weigand, cither in book form or jn the Leipzig Jahresbericht des Instituts fur rumdnische Sprache, which he edited from its foundation in 1894.
(X.) LITERATURE The intellectual development of Rumania has never until modern times been affected by Latin culture, but it has been profoundly influenced first by Slavonic literature, then by the Greek or Byzantine literature, and last, by the Western, notably French and Italian novels. The history of Rumanian literature can be divided into three distinct periods: the Slavonic, from the beginnings of Rumanian literature in the middle of the 16th century down to 1710; the Greek, from 1710-1830, corresponding with the era of Phanariote rule; and the modern period, from 1830 to the present. The change from Slavonic to Rumanian was very gradual. Slavonic had been the language of the Church from the early middle ages, and was therefore hallowed in the eyes of the people and the clergy ; through the political connexion with the Slavonic kingdoms of the south, Bulgaria and Servia, it had also been the language of the chancelleries and of the court. Even when the Rumanian language at last supplanted the Slavonic, it did not emancipate itself from the original; the new was merely a translation from the old, and at the beginning it was as literal as possible. We have therefore in the first period a medieval literature transplanted to Rumania and consisting of translations from the Slavonic. The reason of the change from Slavonic into Rumanian is to be sought in the influence the Reformation had among the Rumanian inhabitants of Transylvania.
The second period is marked by a complete waning of Slavonic influence, through the literary activity of the Greek hospodars. The Slavonic kingdoms of the south had lost their independence; they had ceased to produce anything worth having, whilst the Greeks brought with them the old literature from Byzantium and thus drove out the last remnants of Slavonic. They also treated Rumanian as an uncouth and barbarian language, and imposed upon the Church their own Greek language, Greek literature and Greek culture. This literature may be taken to represent the period of the Renaissance in the West; but when the yoke of the Phanariotes was shaken off, the link that connected Rumanian literature with Greek was also broken, and under modern influences began the romantic movement which has dominated Rumanian literature since 1830.
Much of the Rumanian literature of the first two periods has been preserved only in MSS.; few of these have been investigated, and a still smaller number have been compared with their original. The Rumanian Academy keeps jealous watch over the treasures it has accumulated, and few have had access to the riches entombed in its archives; nor has any private or public collection been catalogued. An exhaustive history of Rumanian literature is, for the time being, a pious wish.
First Period: c. 1550-77/0. Rumanian literature begins, like all modern European literature, with translations from the Bible. The oldest of these are direct translations from Slavonic texts, following the original word for word, even in its grammatical construction. The first impetus towards the printing of the Rumanian translations came from the princes and judges in Transylvania. It is under their orders and often at their expense that the first Slavonic printing-presses were established in places like Kronstadt (Brashoy) Orastia, Sasz-Shebesh and Belgrad (Alba Julia, in Transylyania)where Slavonic and Rumanian books appeared. The foremost printer and translator was a certain Diakonus Koresi, of Greek origin, who had emigrated to Walachia and thence to Transylvania. He was assisted in his work by the " popes " (parish priests) of those places where he worked. The very first book published in Rumanian is the Gospels printed in Kronstadt between 1560 and 1561. An absolutely identical Slavonic text of the Gospels appeared in the same year, or one year earlier, which no doubt was the original for the Rumanian translation. Following up the list of publications of the books of the Bible in chronological order, we find Diakonus Koresi immediately afterwards the date has not yet been definitely ascertained printing a Rumanian translation of the Acts of the Apostles; in 1577 he printed at Sasz-Shebesh a Psalter in both Slavonic and Rumanian; the Rumanian follows the Slavonic verse for verse. A MS. Psalter more recently discovered shows close affinity to this edition, and, in spite of the opinions held by some critics, must be considered as a copy of it made about 1585; it even reproduces the printer's errors of Koresi's edition. To the 16th century belong also the first attempts to translate the historical books of the Old Testament which appeared in Orastia in 1582, under the title Palia. The example thus set could not fail to react upon the Rumanians in Walachia, with whom the Transylvanians stood in close commercial and political connexion. The Slavonic language still reigned supreme in the Church ; yet once the example had been set in Transylvania, and the influence of the Slavonic nations had begun to slacken, it was inevitable that the Rumanian language should sooner or later come to its own. It was in Transylvania that the first complete Rumanian translation of the New Testament appeared (Belgrad, 1648). This translation was based upon the Slavonic original, but the text had been verified and corrected, by comparison with a Calvinistic translation, and had been collated with the Greek. The chief author of this translation, which may be termed classical, seems to have been a certain Hieromonach Sylvestre who lived in Walachia and who had undertaken, by order of the prince Betlengabor of Transylvania (1613-29), a translation of the whole Bible. Upon this version, no doubt, are based the editions of IordacheCantacuzene(Bucharest, 1682), and that of erban Greceanu (1693), in which for the first time the Greek text is printed side by side with the Rumanian; and the edition of Anthim the Iberian (1703). In these may also be traced a few reminiscences of the older version by Koresi, of which a copy, made by Radu Gramatik (1574), and once the property of Peter Cercel, is now in the British Museum. Sylvestre also prepared a new edition of the Psalter as part of his Bible (Belgrad, 1651), verifying the text by reference to the Hebrew and Greek originals. The first edition of the complete Bible was published (1688) by order of Prince loan Serban Cantacuzene, by Radu Greceanu, assisted by his brother yerban and by Metrofan the bishop of Buzeu. This may be considered as the supreme monument of Rumanian literature in Walachia in the 17th century. No other Rumanian translation approaches it in style and diction, although the authors, as they own, utilized the older translations, and for the New Testament and the Psalter they utilized Sylvestre's work. At least a hundred years had to pass ere a new edition of the whole Bible was undertaken, nor was the Bible used for private reading, except such passages as were included in the lessons read in church. These were translated independently by Dositheiu under the title of Pirimiar (Jassy, 1683), and were almost the last work that came from his prolific pen. As far back as 1600 Dositheiu had made a new translation of the Psalter from the Slavonic and printed it in both languages (Jassy, 1680). Upon this translation he based the rhymed Psalter at which he had worked from 1660-73, when it appeared in Uniev. This is the first example of rhymed psalms in Rumanian, the author following the Polish rhymed version of Ian Kohanowski. Albert Molnar had translated a French rhymed Psalter into Hungarian (1607) and this served as the basis for a literal translation made by lanes Viski (1697). About the same time Theodor Korbea attempted to versify the Psalter and dedicated his work to Peter the Great of Russia. A new translation of the Psalter from Slavonic, with a commentary, the first of its kind, was made in 1697 by Alexander Dascalul (Alexander Preceptor Polonus). All these last-mentioned Psalters are still in MS.
Turning from the Bible to homilies and the liturgy, we find the ancient collections of homilies in Rumania to be due to the same Croselytizing movement. Almost the first book printed y Koresi (at the expense of the magistrate of Kronstadt, ' Foro Miklaus, c. 1570), seems to have been a translation from some Calvinistic compilation of homilies, one for every Sunday in the year. A Slavonic original sent by the metropolitan Serafim of Walachia served as the basis for a second collection of homilies known as Evangelie invdjatoare (1580^ It differs from the former in language and tendency and proves that Koresi was only a translator and printer. The first collection of homilies, henceforth known as Cazanii, appeared in Dlugopole, i.e. Campulung, in Walachia, in 1642. It was compiled by a certain Melchisedec and contained thirteen homilies, yery voluminous is the next collection, Evangelie invdfdtoare tdlcuita, ^translated from the Russian by Sylvestre (Govora, 1643). One year later appeared the first book printed in Moldavia, the collection of homilies Carte romdneasca de invdfiturd (Jassy, 1643). It is a volume of loco folio pages, of which the first half is absolutely identical with Sylvestre's collection. A similar unacknowledged loan was made by Meletie the Macedonian, compiler of the homilies which appeared at Deal in 1644. Of special interest is the next publication of homilies Cheea infelesului, " the Key of understanding," by the Walachian metropolitan Varlaam, translated from the Russian and printed at Bucharest in 1678. This, the first book printed in Bucharest, begins the long series of editions which have issued from the press of the " Mitropolie " in Bucharest. From this press originated also the no less important presses at Buzeu and Ramnicu Valcea, where in the following two centuries almost all the books for the Church service were printed. Two or three more collections may be mentioned herey-one called Sicriu de aur, " the Golden treasury," by loan of Vinji (Sasz-Shebesh. 1688), probably from some Hungarian Calvinistic collection of obituary sermons; and the " Pearls," Mdrgaritare, an anthology made from the Greek homilies of St Chrysostom, Epiphanius, Anastasius Sinaita, etc., and translated from the Greek by the brothers Radu and Serban Greceanu. The only collection of original sermons is the Didahii delivered by the metropolitan Anthim the Iberian (q.v.), the scholar, artist, translator, printer and great linguist, who was the first to issue books in Arabic and even in Georgian from his printing-presses in Bucharest. The Didahii were published at Bucharest in 1888.
The Rumanian language was not yet introduced into the Church. All the service books were in Slavonic, but during this period most of j. fie them were translated, and some of them printed, although Lit rev not y et officially used. The burial service seems to have been the first to be translated. Two Evholoeia appeared during the second half of the 17th century, one by the bishop Dositheiu (Jassy, 1679-80), which remained almost unknown, and the other based upon the Slavonic, by loan of Vinri (Belgrad, 1689). This Molitdvnic (prayer-book) has been the basis of all subsequent editions of the Rumanian Prayer-book. The Liturgy proper was also translated by bishop Dositheiu in 1679, but a translation from the Greek, by Jeremia Kakavela (Jassy, 1697), was the one adopted in the churches. Passing over the numerous editions of the Akathist and Katavasiar, some partly in Rumanian, we may mention the Ceasoslov (Book of Hours), said to have been printed for the first time in Transylvania in 1696, but certainly printed or reprinted by the metropolitan Anthim (Tirgovishtea, 1715). In 1694 Alexander Dascalul translated, and the bishops Mitrofan of Buseu and Kesarie of Ramnicu Valcea printed (among other church books) the twelve volumes of the Mineu in Slavonic with Rumanian rubrics, and short lives of the saints, as well as the Triad and the Anthologion.
In addition to the activity of the Reformers in Transylvania, there was also a Roman Catholic propaganda in Rumania, and the Orthodox Church found it necessary to convoke a synod in Jassy for the purpose of formulating anew its own dogmatic standpoint. It was held in 164.2 under the presidency of Peter of Mogila, and a formulary of the Orthodox creed was drawn up. An answer to the Lutheran Catechism of Heidelberg (translated into Rumanian and printed at Fogaras in 1648) was also prepared by Bishop Varlaam. R. Greceanu translated the formulary from Greek into Rumanian under the title Pravoslavnica martunsire (Bucharest, 1692). Of a more decided polemical character is the Lumina of Maxim of Peloponnesus, translated from the Greek (Bucharest, 1699).
Of far greater interest is the literature of maxims, and lives of saints, real or apocryphal, intended to teach by example. Such are Ethical tne max ' ms ' n the Flooerea darurilor, translated from the liters- Greek (Sneagov, 1700), and going back to the Italian Fiore tare. ^ e ^ tu < tne Invdt&luri creflmejti, " Christian teachings " of Filoteos (ibid., 1700); the short moral guide, Carare pre scurt, by loan of Vinji (Belgrad, 1685), translated from some Hungarian original; the Mdntmrea pdcdtosilor, or "Salvation of sinners," translated from the Greek by a certain Cozma in 1682, which is a storehouse of medieval exempla; and above all the Mirror of Kings, ascribed to Prince Neagoe Bassaraba, written originally in Slavonic (or Greek, if the prince be really the author), and translated (c. 1650) into Rumanian. This exceeds all the other publications of its class in purity of language and excellence of style. Of the lives of saints, the Prolog, translated from the Slavonic at the beginning of the 17th century (MS.), and the Viefile Sfin(ilor. by Dositheiu (2 vols., Jassy, 1682), are the most important. In the latter, which is his greatest work, Dositheiu uses not only Greek texts, but also Slavonic legends and other MS. material ; and he includes a goodly number of the apocryphal legends of saints. To this kind of literature belongs also the Lafsaikon, i.e. the Historia Lausiaca of Palladius, differing, however, in some points from the original. The legends of the saints of the Pecherskaya in Kiev were translated by Alexander Dascalul. All these are still in MS.
The first law-books were also compiled during this period. The Slavonic Nomokanon, which rests on Greek legislation and embodies Law tne canonical and civil law, had previously been used in Rumania. In 1640 there appeared in Govora the first canonical law-book, which was at the same time the first Rumanian book printed in Walachia. This Pravild (code) was probably the work of the historian Moxa or Moxalie. In 1632 Evstratie the Logofet (logothete) also translated a Pravild from the Greek, which remains in MS. In 1646 appeared the Pravild aleasd, or " Selected Code," compiled, no doubt, by Evstratie and published with the authority of the then reigning Prince Vasile Lupul (Basil the Wolf), hence known as the Code of Vasile. In 1652 there appeared in Bucharest a complete code of laws, translated from the Greek and Slavonic and adapted to local needs under the direction of the prince of Walachia, Matthias Bassaraba. The Indreptarca legii, in which Pravild of Vasile _ was incorporated without acknowledgment, remained the recognized code almost down to 1866. It embraces the canonical as well as the civil law. The chief authors were Uriil Nasturel and Daniil M. Panoneanul.
The earliest historical works are short annals, written originally in Slavonic by monks in the monasteries of Moldavia and Walachia. In 1620 Moxa translated from the Slavonic a short history .. of the world down to 1498. Two other universal histories were translated from Greek and Slavonic chronographs. One by Pavel Danovici contains the history of the world told in the style of the Byzantine chroniclers; it includes the legend of Troy, the history of Pope Sylvester and the description of the various church councils; and it concludes at the year 1636. The second is the Hrongraf of Dorotheus of Monembasia, translated by a certain Ion Buburezau. Both are still in MS. The Old Slavonic annals were later on translated and new notes were added, each subsequent writer annexing the work of his predecessor, and prefixing his name to the entire compilation. Ancient Rumanian historiography is thus difficult to unravel. In Moldavia, where the influence of Poland had been great and Western writings were accessible, we find the best chroniclers. The writers are often actors in the dramas which they describe, and often also the victims. A history of Moldavia from the earliest times to 1594 is ascribed to Nestor or to his son, Gregorie Ureche, or to Simion Dascalul. It was continued by the Evstratie mentioned above, and probably also by Missail Calugarul. The most important author whose writings rank as classical is Mirpn Costin, who either took up the thread where it was left by Simion and Ureche and wrote the history of Moldavia from 1594- 1662, or continued the history from where (probably) Evstratie had left it (c. 1630-62). Nicolae Costin (d. 1715), son of Miron, completed the history at both ends. He starts from the creation and endeavours to fill up the lacuna from 1662 to his own time, 1714. It is doubtful, however, whether the portion from 1662-1701 is his work or whether another compiler had filled up that section. Acsintie Uricariul, 1715, brings to a close the corpus of Moldavian Chronicles.
The same uncertainty holds good also for Walachia. The beginnings are the work of an anonymous author, whose chronicle, continued by a certain Constantly Capitanul, describes the history of Walachia from Radu Negru (i.e. Rudolph the Black), c. 1290- 1688. An addition to this Chronicle from the time of the Roman Conquest to Attila is ascribed to Tudosie Vestemianul, twice metropolitan of Walachia (1669-73, I0 77-I73)- The Chronicle of Capitanul was further continued by Radu Greceanu to 1707, and finally by Radu Popescu to 1720. Two works remain still to be mentioned a comprehensive history of both principalities by an anonymous author, probably the Spatar Milescu, who finished his eventful life as ambassador of Russia to China (still in MS.), and the Hronicul Moldo-Vlahilor of Prince Demetrius Cantemir (see CANTEMIR), more an apology for the Roman origin of the Rumanians than a true history. Cantemir wrote the original in Latin and translated it into Rumanian in 1710. His style shows an immense superiority to that of the previous historians. Of poetry there is scarcely a trace during the whole period under review except some rhymed Psalters and a few rhymed dedications to patrons.
Second Period: 1710-1830. The Phanariote period has been described as one of total decay; the political degradation of Rumania was thought to be reflected in its spiritual life. But the facts do not warrant this opinion. The few who had taken the trouble to study Rumanian literature paid not the slightest attention to the vast MS. material accumulated during the years of the Phanariote dominion, and out of sheer ignorance and political bias condemned this period as sterile. Another influence was far more potent than the conduct of the Greek princes, though some of them were real benefactors of the people. In Transylvania one section of the i n n u eacf Rumanian population had accepted the spiritual of Roman rule of the pope; they became now Greek-Catholic, Cathoiiinstead of Greek Orthodox. Rome took good care e *" D ' to educate the priesthood far above the status of the Orthodox priests, and continued an extensive proselytizing activity. So long as the Rumanians were spiritually united with the other Orthodox nations, and so long as they used the Slavonic or Cyrillic alphabet, they would practically be cut off from the Latin West. If, however, they could be induced to discard the old Slavonic alphabet and substitute for it the Latin, and could be brought to recognize their national and ethnical unity with ancient Rome, it was hoped that then they would be more easily induced to enter into the unity of faith. Thus a great change was wrought towards the end of the 18th and in the
first half of the 19th century in the whole current of Rumanian literature. It suited the promoters of that movement to pretend that they started a new era. But the Latin or Transylvanian movement wrought great havoc in Rumanian literature and caused the greatest confusion in the language. Only now are some authors beginning to free themselves from the evil influence.
By the end of the 17th century Rumanian had become the authorized language of the Church, and the Rumanian translation of LU r- tlie Go 8 ? 6 ' 3 (printed 1693) had become the Authorized Version. Most of the liturgical books officially adopted and revised in this period are still used for church services. Such are the Ceasoslov, revised by Bishop Kliment of Ramnicu Valcea (1745), the Evhologion (1764), the Katavasiar (1753), The monumental publication of the Mineiu, in 12 folio volumes, by Bishops Kesarie and Filaret of Ramnicu Valcea (1776-80), is equal in importance if it be not superior to the no less monumental publication of the Lives of Saints, also in 12 huge folio volumes, published under the direction and with the assistance of the metropolitan Veniamin of Moldavia. The latter was translated from the Russian, appeared in Neamtzu (1809-12), and was reprinted in Bucharest (1835-36). In beauty, richness and lucidity of language, and in dignity of style, these two books resemble the Bible of 1688. Slavonic having entirely disappeared from the sources of literature, writers and translators turned to Greek originals and for more than a century were busy translating into Rumanian the most important works of the older Fathers of the Church. Some of these translations were printed much later; thus the Hexaemeron of Basil the Great (andofEpiphanius) translatedinthemiddleof the 18th century, was printed at Bucharest in 1827. The Scala Coeli of Jon. Klimakus, the Treasury of St Damascenus (MS. 1747 by a certain Mihalacea), the homilies of Cyril of Alexandria, and those of Ephraem the Syrian, were printed at Neamtzu in 1818. The Panoplia of Euthymius Zygabenus (1775) and the Commentary of Theophylact were printed by Veniamin (Jassy, 1805). The homilies of Theodor Studites (MS. of 1712) were edited by Bishop Filaret and published at Ramnicu Valcea in 1784; a translation of Gregory of Nazianzus appeared at Bucharest in 1727. The great polemical work of Simeon of Thessalonica, the Greek original of which was published by Dositheiu (Jassy, 1683), had been translated into Rumanian long before it was printed (Bucharest, 1756). The Lafsaikon, mentioned above, was printed at Bucharest in 1754. All these translations are written in good Rumanian. One can see how a language not originally suited for abstract problems and theological dialectics was slowly but surely improved and made capable of expressing profound and subtle ideas.
In Transylvania, with the conversion to Greek-Catholicism of Bishop Athanasius in I7OI, the Greek Orthodox had to place themselves down to 1850 under the protection of the Servian metropolitan of Karlovatz. No writer of any consequence arose among them. The " United " fared better, and many a gifted young Rumanian was sent to Rome and helped from Vienna to obtain a serious education and occasionally also temporal promotion. With a view probably to counteract the literary activity in Rumania, the bishops P. P. Aaron and loan Bobb were indefatigable in the translation of Latin writers. First and foremost a new translation of the whole Bible was undertaken by Samuel Klain. It appeared in Blazh (!793-95)- It falls short of the older version of 1688; it was modernized in its language, and no doubt a careful examination would reveal differences in the translation of those passages in which the Catholic tradition differs from the Eastern. Bobb translated Thomas a Kempis's Imitatio Christi (Blazh, 1812); he wrote a Theologhie morala (ibid. 1801) and adapted the Rumanian service-books to the new order of things. Popular catechisms and various histories of the Church were then written. Mention may be made of a few more moral treatises such as the U$a pocainfei, "Gate of Penitence", (Kronstadt, 1812); Oglinda omului din auntru, "The Mirror of the Inner Man"; or Pilde filosofe^li, " Philosophical Saws and Maxims " (Tirgovishtea, 1715). Of greater importance was the collection of fables with their ' ' moral " translated and modified from the Servian of Obrenovich Fabule moralice$ti, by Tzikindeal (Budapest, 1814). These are heavy and follow the original too literally. Tzikindeal (d. 1818) and his contemporaries in Hungary had lost contact with the Rumanian literature in Walachia and Moldavia, and the same was the case with the other writers of their school. Radovici or Dinu din Golesti, an enlightened Walachian boyar, who was one of the first Rumanians to describe a journey in Western Europe, is also the author of a collection of maxims and parables, Adunare de pilde bisericejti j*' filosofejti (Budapest, 1824); he left a larger collection in MS. part.ly edited by Zane in his Proverbele Romanilor, vols. xi. xvi.
After 1727 Rumanian was recognized as the language of the law-courts, and through the annexation of Bukovina by Austria Law. (.'774) and of Bessarabia by Russia (1812), codes for the civil and political administration of those provinces were drawn up in Rumanian, either in accordance with the established law of the land or in consonance with the laws of Austria and Russia.
Such legal codes reflect the German or Russian original. They were> however, of importance as they served as models (to some extent) for the new legislative code compiled in Moldavia under Prince Calimach; this was originally published in Greek (1816), and afterwards translated into Rumanian with the assistance of G. Asaki (Jassy, 1833). The Walachian civil laws and local usages were collected and arranged under the direction of Prince Ypsilanti (1780) in Greek and Rumanian; and under Prince Caragea another code was published (1817), which remained in force until 1832, when the " Organic Law " changed the whole trend of legislation.' One more collection, an abstract from the Greek Basilica, published by Donici (Jassy, 1814), must be mentioned, for through it the legal terminology of the modern codes was more or less fixed.
The last and probably the best writer of Rumanian history in the Phanaripte period is Neculcea. He wrote a history of Moldavia to his own time, but for the period before 1684 his work is ... . more or less an abstract from older writers. The original s *ory.
part covers the period from 1684-1743, and is to some extent an autobiography of a very adventurous life. Neculcea adds to his chronicle a collection of historical legends, many of them still found in the ballads of Moldavia. Among other historians might be mentioned N. Roset, the continuator of Neculcea. Enaki (lanache) Cogalniceanu wrote a history of the period 1730-1774, and followed the example of Greek writers by introducing rhymes into it. He was also the author of some political satires and other poems on G. Ghica, M. Bogdan and loan Cuza. The historians of the time under pressure of political exigencies did not scruple to invent treaties between the Porte and the Rumanian principalities. A series of such spurious collections of treaties were submitted to the Powers for ratification ; in them imaginary rights and privileges alleged to have been granted by the Turks were described, and the Rumanian representatives asked that after the peace negotiations of 1774 they should be sanctioned afresh. In Walachia there was not a single historian of importance in the first half of the 18th century. In the second we have the chronicle of Dionisie Eclesiarh (1764-1815), a simple-minded and uncritical writer who describes contemporary events. The ancestor of a great family of poets and writers, I. Vacarescu described the history of the Ottoman empire from the beginning to 1791, interpolating doggerel verses. Alexander Beldiman describes in a rhymed epic, Eteria (1821), the first battles between the Greeks and the Turks in Moldavia. It is a bitter satire upon the Greeks. Similar in tendency is another rhymed chronicle known under the name of Zilot (c. 1825).
Whilst a political and national revival was taking place in Moldavia and Walachia, towards the beginning of the 19th century, the Latin movement went on in Transylvania. There ethical and religious tendencies got the upper hand. Three historians had been partly educated in Rome under the protection of Prince Borgia and the influence of the Jesuit Minotto and the College of the Propaganda ; they were Samuel Klain, Petru Maior and George Sincai. To Klain's initiative can be traced most of the work of the three. Unfortunately his writings, with a few exceptions, are still in MS. He is the author of the first history of the Rumanians in Dacia written according to the standards of Western science. It seems to have described the wars between the Romans and the Dacians, and to have been continued down to 1795; a history of the Rumanian Church also formed part of the book. P. Maior published an almost identical history (Budapest, 1812), and it is probable that he had made use of Klain's composition. In both the tendency is the same to trace the modern Rumanians directly from the ancient Romans, and to prove their continuity in these countries from the time of Trajan to this day. Political and religious aims were combined in this new theory. A conflict was raging between the Hungarians and Rumanians, and history was required to furnish proofs of the greater antiquity of the Rumanians in Transylvania. George Sincai (1753-1816), who was an intimate friend of Klain and collaborated in most of his works, succeeded him as revisor at the printing office in Budapest. Sincai worked for nearly forty years at his monumental History of Rumania, which the Hungarian censor did not allow to be printed on account of its nationalist and anti-Magyar tendencies. It remained until 1853-54, when it was printed at the expense of Prince Gr. Ghica. The edition of 1886 is only a reprint, though both the original MS. and a better copy had meanwhile been discovered.
These books had no immediate influence in Walachia and Moldavia, where fiction and the drama had developed under the influence, first, of Greek and then to an increasing extent of French, Italian and German models. It was towards the end of thel 8th century that Rumanian literature began to emanci- " e pate itself, very slowly of course, and to start on a career of its own in poetry and belles lettres. Curiously enough, the first novel to be translated was the " Ethiopic History " of Bishop Heliodorus. The Odyfsey and Iliad were then translated into prose, and the Arabian Nights, after undergoing an extraordinary change in Italian and modern Greek, appear in Rumanian literature at the middle of the 18th century under the name of Halima. The Glykis, a Greek printing firm in Venice, published many popular books in Rumanian which found their way into the principalities. The epic of Vincenzo Cornaro was translated into prose alternating Literature.
with verse, first under the name of Erotocrit and then slightly changed as Filerot 31 Antusa. Anton Pann printed it as his own composition. Kritil $i Andronius (Jassy, 1794) is almost the last novel or story translated direct from the Greek. The young men of Walachia had come into contact with Western literature, which they were anxious to transplant to their own country. Some had been sent to Paris for their education, such as Poteca, Marcovici, the Voinescus, Moroiu and others, who developed an almost feverish activity in translation. Most of the writings of Florian, Marmontel, Le Sage, Montesquieu and others were rapidly translated into Rumanian. The picaresque novel Lazarillo de Tormes also found its translator, and appeared in 1839, Paul and Virginia in 1831. Campe's German Robinson Crusoe (1816) and his Discovery of America were translated by Draghici (1835). G. Asaki and Alexander Bcidiman in Moldavia developed a similar activity. Beldiman copied a number of ancient chronicles, wrote a satire on the Greeks, and translated and adapted a number of French tragedies and dramas, in verse and prose.
Nowhere has the theatre played a more important r6le in the history of civilization than in Walachia and Moldavia, more in the Tllf former than in the latter. It formed the rallying-ground for the new generation which chafed under the tyranny of a urama. /^ i * ** r*~>i * i_ ; Greek court. A certain Anstia, of Greek origin, but soon acclimatized to his surroundings as teacher at the high school in Bucharest, was the first to adapt foreign dramas for the Rumanian stage. These were first performed in Greek and afterwards translated into Rumanian. The plays produced on the Rumanian stage included most of the dramas of Moliere, some of Corneille, Kotzebue and Metastasio, whose Achille in Schiro was the first drama translated into Rumanian (by lordache Slatineau, printed at Sibiu in 1797). Schiller was also translated, and a few plays of Shakespeare (Hamlet, etc.) from a French version. Victor Hugo's A ngelo and Maria Tudor were translated by Constantin Negrutin. Those who kept in touch with the old literature men such as Beldiman, Marcovici and Negrutin were able even in their metrical translations to do justice to the originals and at the same time not to distort the character of the Rumanian language. Among such translators was Skavinschi, who came originally from Transylvania to Jassy, and translated Regnald's Democnt into verse.
The lyrical and epic poetry of the time follows somewhat the same lines, but with certain notable differences. The individuality Poetry. of the authors is more marked, and they advance much sooner from translations to independent poetry. Transylvania, which awoke to a new life towards the end of the 18th century, produced some of the most popular poets. Among them were Vasile Aaron .(1770-1822) and Ion Barak (1779-1848). Aaron wrote the Passion, in 10,000 verses (1802; often reprinted); the lyrical romances of Piram jt Tisbe (1808) and Sofronim $i Hariti (1821); and the humorous Leonat 31 Dorofala, a satire on bad women and on drunken husbands, now a chapbpok. Barak wrote Rasipirea lerusalimului (1821), " The Destruction of Jerusalem," almost as long as Aaron's Passion ; and he versified a Magyar folktale, Argkir si Elena, which has also become a chapbook, and has been interpreted as a political poem with a hidden meaning. He also translated the Arabian Nights from the German. In Walachia a certain Ion Budai Deleanu, a man of great learning, author of a hitherto unpublished Rumanian dictionary of great value, wrote a satirical epos in which gipsies play the chief part. It is called Tiganiafa (1812) and consists of 12 songs and of many thousand verses. The author displays a profound knowledge of the life and the customs of the gipsies, and of Western literature from the Batrachomyomachia to the Pucelle of Voltaire.
The love-songs of the time are primitive imitations of the NeoGreek lyric dithyrambs and rhapsodies, which through the teaching of the princes of Walachia were considered as the fountainhead of poetical inspiration. But a closer acquaintance with the West led to greater independence in poetical composition. In the three generations of the Vacarescu one can follow this process of rapid evolution. lanache Vacarescu, author of the first native Rumanian grammar on independent lines, was also the first who tried his hand at poetry, following Greek examples. He then studied Italian, French and German poetry, and made translations from Voltaire and Goethe. His son Alecu (b. 1795) followed his example. Both were overshadowed by the grandson loan (b. 1818), who was more than any other man both the representative of an epoch fast vanishing and the harbinger of the new spirit that was stirring young Rumania. The collected poems of I. Vacarescu were published in 1848; but among them were some of the poems of lanache and Alecu, which were confused with his own work. In this volume, Colec[ie din poeziile domnului mare logofet I. Vacarescu, there are odes, hymns, patriotic poems, ballads, lyrical and didactic poems, some of them among the most beautiful in the language. A contemporary of his earlier period, Paris Mumuleanu (1794-1837), wrote his Rost de poezie (1820) under Greek influence, but afterwards passed under the spell of Maior and Tzikindea, whose Latin propaganda he was one of the first to advocate in Rumania. In his Caractere (Bucharest, 1828) Latin forms are common. One more poet, and a real one, is Vasile Carlova (1809-1831), whose Ruins of Tirgovishtec sufficed to place him among the foremost Rumanian poets of the igth century.
In Moldavia a similar development took place, translations leading up to independent production. The most prominent figure is that of the scholar and linguist Constantin Konaki (1777-1849), who might be termed the Rumanian Longfellow for the facility and felicity of his translations from Western poetry and for his short poems, easily set to music and very popular. His Alcatuiri jt appeared in 1858. Constantin Negrutin, who was at first influenced by the Russian poets, notably Pushkin, successfully translated poems of Victor Hugo, and rivalled Konaki in his dexterity and fidelity to the original.
Third Period: 1830- . The agitation for the transliteration of the alphabet, the elimination of all non-Latin words from the language and the ostracism of the old literature, completely crippled all literary activity, first in Transylvania and then in Rumania. The Latin movement was first brought into Walachia by a certain George Lazar from across the mountains. Lazar was appointed teacher at the St Sava school of Bucharest, where he spread the new doctrine of the Latin origin of the Rumanians; Latinizing tendencies were, however, not yet imported into the language. Of his pupils there was one whose influence became decisive: Ion Eliade (Heliade), afterwards also known as I. E. Radulescu (1802-1872), a man of immense activity, of great power of initiative and of still greater imagination. He it was who ushered in the new epoch, and for close upon forty years he stood at the head of almost every literary undertaking.
There were two periods in his life the latter the exact opposite and negation of the former. Up to 1848 he was closely connected with politics, the theatre and the school he was the successor to Lazar; he wrote grammars, and the introductions to his grammars are models of lucidity, combined with a wide historical view. He was the founder of the first political and literary review, and he had a genius for discovering talent, and the merit of assisting it. Through his reviews he trained the middle-class to read and to take an active interest in literary problems. Through his Curier de ambt sexe (1837-41) he disseminated translations from political and other works, thus paving the way for the political change of 1848. About this time he turned to philology, and fell under the spell of the Transylvanian school. Slowly he developed his theories about language and writing, and he ended as a fanatic wedded to extraordinary views. He was a prolific writer and translator of dramas and novels from French and Italian, the latter appearing mostly in his periodical. The number of his publications is legion.
All the prominent Rumanians of that period were politicians; they strove to obtain the emancipation of the country from Turkish dominion, and, later on, the union of Walachia and Mol- .... davia. Everything was placedat theserviceof this national aspiration, which is the keynote of the poems of Bolintineanu (1826-1873). He also was discovered by Radulescu, who published his first and best known poem, " The Dying Virgin." In 1848 he was exiled, together with the other leaders of the revolution, and he spent the next nine years in travels in the East. There he gathered the materials for his lyrical poems " Macedonele " and " Florile Bosforului ? " Returning in 1857 to Walachia, he occupied high administrative posts, and he wrote a number of historical novels (Traian, Mircea, tefan, etc.), dramas (Lapu^neanu, Mihnea, Mihaiu, etc.), longer poems (Sorin, Conrad), and his politico- philosophical novel Elena. These mostly patriotic compositions were as a rule less felicitous than his political satires (Nemesis, Menade, etc.). His peculiar strength lay in the historical ballad, which he was the first to introduce into Rumanian poetry, and in the vivid portraiture of Oriental scenery and emotions. He died in a lunatic asylum forgotten by all, and even his writings have, save in one early edition, not been published without unwarranted alterations by the editor Sion.
A contemporary of Bolintineanu was Grigorie Alexandrescu (1812-1885), also a pupil of Eliade. Imperfect in his rhyme and rhythm, his poetry is of a didactical nature, and his best _ ^ fc poems are rhymed fables, many of which are thinly dis- a ' nd " guised political satires. He also translated the Alzire (1834) and Merope (1847) of Voltaire. Among his contemporaries may be mentioned G. Crejeanu (1829-1887) and A. Sihleanu (1834- 1857), who left some weak poems of a sentimental and patriotic character. A Depararianu (1835-1865), whose language shows traces of the new Latinizing school ; and Nicolae Nicoleanu (1833-1871), whose powerful poems, full of deep and often mystical reflections, lead on from Alexandrescu to Eminescu, all three being the poets of pessimism. InTeodorerbanescu (b. 1839) we find the reflex of Bolintineanu of the earlier period, in the beauty and simplicity of his lyrical poems not yet published in complete form. Like erbinescu, Vasile Alecsandri (1821-1890), the greatest of Rumanian lyrical poets (see ALECSANDRI), was a Moldavian. In France, under the influence of Beranger and the romantic school, he was led to turn to popular Prate Writers.
poetry for inspiration. He collected Rumanian popular songs and ballads (Doine, 1844) (Lacrdmioare, 1853). In Paslelun rfrf (1867) he introduced admirable pictures of popular life into Rumanian poetry. In Legends (1871) and Ostasii nojtrii (1877) he strikes the patriotic note. His fame rests on his lyrical poetry alone, which retains some of the charm of popular poetry. Alecsandri is less successful in his dramas, most of which are adaptations from French originals; the only merit of his novels is that amidst the phonetic and philological turmoil he kept to the purer language of the people.
From Alecsandri there is a natural transition to his great rival, who was also his superior in depth of thought and in mastery of form and language, the great poet of pessimism, Mihail Emlaescu. gminescu ( g . r .). Mention may also be made of Matilde Cugler Poni (b. 1853), who published some admirable short poems in the Rumanian reviews (Poesii, 1888). Veronica Micle (1853-1889) belongs to the same circle of gifted Moldavian women (Poesii, 1887). But all these men or women disappear with the appearance of Eminescu, who, like Bolintineanu, started a new school of poetry and left a deep and growing influence upon the new generation. His best follower, though possessing originality of his own, is A. Vlahuta (b. 1859). G. Cosbuc, who has risen more recently to fame, is the poet of the unfortunate Rumanian peasant, emancipated only in name and on paper, and a prey to greedy landowners and to a medieval administration. The poets of this school drew their inspiration from popular poetry, and all of them were sons of the lower middle class or of peasants, who by dint of heavy work and great hardship were able to rise above the narrow social conditions in which they were born.
Somewhat different has been the development of the Rumanian prose writers. They suffered in consequence of the philological confusion brought about by Eliade and his assistants, mostly men who after 1848 immigrated from Transylvania and brought with them their own prejudices and narrow intolerance. Too great influence was accorded to them, and the result was that for a long time scarcely a single Rumanian novelist or historian can be mentioned. It was only after N. Balcescu had undertaken the edition of the ancient Walachian chronicles, and had found in them admirable prose writers, that he ventured on a continuous history (1851-52) of the Rumanians under Michael the Brave, written not as a didactic treatise but as a poem in prose full of colour and of energy. A. Odobescu, the friend and literary executor of Balcescu, was a consummate scholar of ancient and medieval antiquities, and wrote a history of ancient art. His Pseudkynegetikos is an unsurpassed model of elegant writing and of fine irony. What Alecsandri was for verse, Odobescu was for prose. He also created the Rumanian historical novel, by his Mihnea Voda (1858) and Doamna Kiajna (1860). The first novel describing human nature in everyday life is the Ciocoii vechi s_i noi (1863) of Nioolae Filimon (1819-1865). In Moldavia where the knowledge of thepld chroniclers had not entirely died out and disturbing philological influences were not so acutely felt, we find the vigorous writings of Mihail Cogalniceanu one of the leading spirits of the 19th century, the greatest mind and the real founder of Rumania. Cogalniceanu published various reviews, some of a political, others of a more literary character, such as the Dacia literard (1840) and Archiva romdneasca (1845-46) ; he has also the great merit of having published for the first time a collection of the Moldavian chronicles. G. Asaki (1788-1871), a second Eliade, helped to inaugurate a literary reform in Moldavia; but the result was disappointing, until the literary society known as the Junimea was started, in the 'seventies, by Titu Maiorescu (b. 1839), who was then a professor at Jassy. Titu Maiorescu put a stop to the prevailing Latinism, and turned the current of Rumanian literature into a more healthy channel, by the publication of his Critice (1874).
loan Ghica, a contemporary of the revolutionaries of 1848, gathered his recollections of those agitated times into two volumes, Amintiri (1890) and Scrisori cdtre V, Alecsandri (1887), which besides their historical value have become a model of Rumanian prose. Among writers of fiction three names stand out prominently: Ion Slavic! (b. 1848) describes the life of the people, notably of the Transylvanian peasants, in short stories, Nuvele din popor. Barbu Stefanescu de la Vrancea (b. 1858) also wrote short popular stories characterized by a wealth of imagery and richness of language; but the characters are all mostly unreal and exaggerated. The best known collections are Sultdnica (1885) and Trubadurul (1887). loan Caragiali (b. 1852), the most popular Rumanian dramatist of modern times, who has brought on the stage living types of the lower and middle classes, and has skilfully portrayed the effect of modern veneer on old customs, is also the author of the powerful short novel Faclia de paste. Dobrogeanu Gherea (b. 1853) has in his Studii critice (1890 sqq.) been a ruthless but none the less judicious critic.
Curiously enough, there is not a single novel in the Rumanian literature with a sustained plot; none which presents a study of the development of human character amid the multifarious vicissitudes of life. The reason for this deficiency is perhaps the unsettled conditions of Rumanian life, and the lack of a profound and longestablished civilization; or it may be found in the unstable and Popular literature: Folklore, Ballads, Tales.
fickle character of the people. Whatever the cause may be, while Rumanian poetry could well compare with that of any Western nation, in the domain of prose writing, and of novels in particular, one must look to the future to fill up the gap now existing.
There existed in Rumania another set of literary monuments at least as old as any of the books hitherto enumerated, but which appealed to a wider circle. Rumanian folk-literature contains both popular written books and oral songs, ballads, etc. It is advisable to group the material in three sections: (i) the romantic and secular literature; (2) the religious literature; both of these being written and (3) the modern collections of ballads, songs, tales, etc.
To the first belong the oldest books, such as the History of Alexander the Great, which was known in Rumania in the lyth century. It rests mostly upon a Sloyeno-Greek text and is of the utmost interest for the study of this cycle of legends. The first printed copy appeared in 1794, and has been reprinted in innumerable editions. Next comes the legend of Constantine, of his town and his exploits a remarkable collection of purely Byzantine legends. In addition to these there is the history of St Sylvester and the conversion of Constantine, etc., all still in MS. The History of Barlaam and loasaf (see BARLAAM AND JOSAPHAT) may also be mentioned here, for it appealed to the people not so much for its religious interest as for the romantic career of the hero. The parables and apologues contained in the legend were incorporated into the Teachings of Prince Neagoe, and were also circulated separately; they are found in many old MSS. Udrite (Uriil) Nasturel translated the History from the Slavonic in 1640. One of its episodes, the farewell song of the prince departing into the forest, has since become one of the most widespread popular songs. Of similar oriental origin is the Dream of Mamer, the interpretation of which goes back to the Panchatantra, and must have reached Rumania early in the 18th century, probably in Slavonic. The history of Syntippa and the Seven Masters has also become a popular book. It was translated from the Greek version. To the same cycle of oriental tales belongs the Halima, already described, which G. Gorjeanu printed (3 vols., 1835-37) as his own work. The History of Arkir and Anadam, printed by Anton Pann from older MSS., is the now famous Old Testament apocryphon of Akyrios the Wise, mentioned in Tobit and found in many languages. In Rumanian it rests on an older Greek-Slavonic text, and owes its great popularity to the wise and witty proverbs it contains. " Esop," whose wonderful biography (by Planudes) agrees in many points with Arkir, has also become one of the Rumanian popular books. The history of Bertoldo, which, though of Italian origin, reached Rumania through a Greek translation, belongs to the same cycle of rustic wisdom and cunning, and is the last representative of an old series of legends clustering round the figures of Solomon and Ashmodai, or Solomon and Markolph. These books are of course anonymous, most of them being translations and adaptations. One man, however, stands put prominently in this section of romantic and secular folk-literature. This was Anton Pann, who was born in 1797 at Slivden, of Bulgarian parentage, and died at Bucharest in 1854. Carried away by the Russians in his early youth, he settled in Rumania, learned Church music, and became one of its best exponents, married four times, had an adventurous life, but lived among the people for whom he wrote and composed his tunes. In about twenty years he published no less than fifty books, all of them still popular. Besides his edition of the Rumanian Church service-books with musical notation, he published a series of tales, proverbs and songs either from older texts or from oral information; and he made the first collection of popular songs, Spitalul amorului, " The Hospital of Love " (1850-53), with tunes either composed by himself or obtained from the gipsy musicians who alone performed them. Of his numerous writings two or three are of the greatest interest to folklore. His Povestea vorbii (first ed. I vol., 1847; 2nd ed. 3 vols., 1851-53) is a large collection of proverbs ingeniously connected with one another and leading up to or starting from a popular tale exemplifying the proverb. The Fabule $i istorioare (2 vols., 1839-41) is a collection of short popular stories in rhyme; Sezs,toarea la tard (1852-53) is a description of the Rumanian Spinnstube, for which the peasants gather in one of their houses on a winter's night, the girls and women spinning and working, the young men telling tales, proverbs, riddles, singing songs, etc. Pann also collected the jokes of the Turkish jester, Nasreddin, under the title of Nasdrdvaniile lui Nastratin Hogea (1853), also in rhyme. He also published a collection of Christmas carols, set to music by himself; -these are still sung by boys on Christmas night.
Far larger than the secular is the religious popular literature; it comprises many apocryphal tales from the Old and the New Testaments, and not a few of the heretical tales circulated by the various sects of Asia Minor and Thracia, which percolated into Rumania through the medium of Slavonic. A brief enumeration of the chief tales must suffice. Only a few of them have hitherto been published. They exist in numerous MSS. which testify to their great popularity; in the popular songs one finds many traces of their influence upon the people's imagination. They include the History of Adam and Eve, the Legend of the Cross, The Apocalypse of Abraham, the History of the Sibyl, the Legends of Solomon; numerous New Testament apocryphal tales, starting with legends of St John the Baptist; a very remarkable version of the Gospel of Nicodemus; and the Epistle of Pilate. Printed in tens of thousands of copies are certain apocalyptic legends dealing with eschatological problems. The ancient Apocalypse of Peter appears here under the name of Paul, then there is an Apocalypse of the Virgin Mary, who, like Peter, is carried by the Archangel through the torments of Hell and the bliss of Paradise, and through whose intervention sufferers are granted pardon on certain days of the year. Combined with these is the Sunday Epistle, sent from Heaven, enjoining strict observance, not only of Sunday, but also of Friday and Wednesday, as holy days. Most of these texts date in their Rumanian form from the 16th and i;th centuries; the Sunday Epistle is well known in connexion with the Flagellants. In the same pamphlet as the Sunday Epistle was published the legend of St Sisoe and sometimes that of Avestitza, the former saved the children of his sister from the attacks of the devil, who had devoured them and had to restore them alive; the latter is the female child-stealing demon, who is prevented by an angel from carrying out her evil design. In both cases the repetition of the legend and the recitation of a string of mystical names serve, like some other tales, apocryphal and otherwise, as amulets, sufficient to protect from the devil. Upon the recitation of some of these texts rest many popular charms and incantations. Therein lies the importance of this written literature, for it gives us the clue to much that now lives in the mouths of the people, and is by some considered to be of immemorial antiquity. A number of astrological calendars and prognostics are among the best known and most widely circulated popular books, and the lives of St Alexius, Xenophon, etc. have become chapbooks.
The whole of this popular literature belongs to what may be called the cycle of the Balkan nations, in every one of which exact parallels are to be found. Not that there was any direct, deliberate borrowing by one nation from the other, but all of them seem to have stood for a long time under identical psychological influences and to have developed on similar lines. The superstitions of one are often found to be those of the others, and in such a form that they could not have been taken over independently from a third source; they show too much family likeness. Thus also the popular songs of Rumania, the " doine," the " hora," the " cantece," " colinde," " legende," i.e. the love songs, the heroic ballads, legends, songs at the ring-dance, hymns and carols, though instinct with a charm of their own, find their counterparts in many a song, ballad, etc. of the Balkan nations. The heroes are often the same: Serbs, Bulgars and Rumanians sing the heroic deeds of Baba Novak and recite the legend of the Monastery of Argesh, or the ballad of lorgovan, found in the Malorussian Byliny. One of the first to collect these treasures of Rumanian poetry was V. Alecsandri (1852-1866), who, however, retained only their poetical beauty and did not reproduce them with that strict accuracy which modern study of folklore demands. A. M. Marienescu collected those of Transylvania (1859); S. F. Marian, those of the Bukovina (1873); T. T. Burada, those of the Dobrudja (1880); but the most complete collection is that of G. Dem. Teodprescu, Poesii populare romdne (Bucharest, 1885). The collection of fairy tales started later than that of the ballads. The first collection is the German translation of tales heard by the Brothers Schott (1845). The most important collections, now deservedly considered as classical from every point of view, are the successive publications of P. Ispirescu. The collected tales of the Moldavian Ion Creanga (1837-89) appeared in his Opere complecte (1908). Excellent collections are those of D, Stancescu, Basme (1885-1893), I. G. Sbiera, Basme (1886), Frdncu s.i Candrea (1888). Kutzo-Vlach tales and folklore will be found in G. Weigand, Die Aromunen, vol. ii. The only review devoted to the study of folklore is the Sazatoare, founded in 1892.
In recent times a kind of stagnation seems to have overtaken Rumania, and although attempts have been made to place the intellectual life of the nation on a sounder basis, the work of transition from the past to the present has hitherto absorbed more energy than appears necessary. Whatever the causes may have been, the fact remains, that now there is a great dearth of talent and great poverty in output.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. M. Gaster, Chrestomathie roumaine (2 vols., Leipzig, 1891); id., Literatura populara romana (Bucharest, 1883); id., " Geschichte der rumanischen Litteratur," in Grpber, Grundriss der romanischen Philologie, ii. pp. 264-428; L. Saineanu, Autorii romdni moderni (Bucharest, 1891). (M. G.)
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
