Names of Moldavia and Moldova

Last updated

The names of Moldavia and Moldova originate from the historical state of Moldavia, which at its greatest extent included eastern Romania (Western Moldavia), Moldova, and parts of south-western and western Ukraine.

Contents

Etymology

One of the existing theories is that Moldavia/Moldova was named after the Moldova River, which is a Slavic name, [1] derived from Slavic mold-, "spruce, fir". [2] [3] A. I. Sobolevskij derived it from *moldu, "tender, soft, young". [4] The ending -ov(a)/-av(a) is a common Slavic suffix used in appelatives and proper names. [5] -ova denotes ownership, chiefly of feminine nouns. There is significant Slavic influence on Romanian.

The myth, included in works of Grigore Ureche (1590–1647), Miron Costin (1633–1691) and Dimitrie Cantemir (1673–1723), but given varying levels of credibility by these, was that the hunter Dragoș from Maramureș (the founder of Moldova) One myth, given different levels of credence by Ureche, Miron Costin, and Cantemir, was about a place-name: Moldova. Other theories is that it is derived from old German Molde, meaning "open-pit mine",[ citation needed ] or the Gothic Mulda meaning "dust", "dirt" (cognate with the English mould ), referring to the river.[ citation needed ]

The short-lived capital of Moldova, Baia in the Suceava County, was called Stadt Molde in a 1421 German document.

Bogdania

The original and short-lived reference to the region was Bogdania, after Bogdan I, the founding figure of the principality.[ citation needed ]

Wallachia

The term "Black Wallachia" (Romanian : Valahia Neagră), in Turkish Kara-Eflak, was another name found used for Moldova in the Ottoman period. [6] It derived from Bogdan I of Moldavia; in Ottoman Turkish usage his state was known as Kara-Bogdan (Romanian : Cara-bogdan) [7] and Bogdan-Eflak, "Bogdan's Wallachia".

Republic

Before 1812 the territory of the modern Republic of Moldova was usually called Eastern Moldova, Eastern Lowlands, Dniester-Prut , Bendery (for the largest town) or Orhei (for the largest town in the middle). Since 1812 the Russians spread the name of the small Bessarabia on it, so that this name became mostly associated with this territory. After the establishment of the Moldovan SSR in the 1940s the new republic started to be unofficially called Moldova and Moldavia. In 1991 that name was adopted as official name, with Moldova variant quickly preferred in the country itself.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moldavia</span> Historical region and former principality in Central and Eastern Europe

Moldavia is a historical region and former principality in Central and Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester River. An initially independent and later autonomous state, it existed from the 14th century to 1859, when it united with Wallachia as the basis of the modern Romanian state; at various times, Moldavia included the regions of Bessarabia, all of Bukovina and Hertsa. The region of Pokuttya was also part of it for a period of time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen the Great</span> Prince of Moldavia from 1457 to 1504

Stephen III, commonly known as Stephen the Great ; died on 2 July 1504), was Voivode of Moldavia from 1457 to 1504. He was the son of and co-ruler with Bogdan II, who was murdered in 1451 in a conspiracy organized by his brother and Stephen's uncle Peter III Aaron, who took the throne. Stephen fled to Hungary, and later to Wallachia; with the support of Vlad III Țepeș, Voivode of Wallachia, he returned to Moldavia, forcing Aaron to seek refuge in Poland in the summer of 1457. Teoctist I, Metropolitan of Moldavia, anointed Stephen prince. He attacked Poland and prevented Casimir IV Jagiellon, King of Poland, from supporting Peter Aaron, but eventually acknowledged Casimir's suzerainty in 1459.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culture of Moldova</span>

The culture of Moldova is unique and influenced by the Romanian origins of its majority population, as well as the Slavic and minority Gagauz populations. The traditional Latin origins of Romanian culture reach back to the 2nd century, the period of Roman colonization in Dacia.

Romanian literature is the entirety of literature written by Romanian authors, although the term may also be used to refer to all literature written in the Romanian language or by any authors native to Romania.

Several theories, in great extent mutually exclusive, address the issue of the origin of the Romanians. The Romanian language descends from the Vulgar Latin dialects spoken in the Roman provinces north of the "Jireček Line" in Late Antiquity. The theory of Daco-Roman continuity argues that the Romanians are mainly descended from the Daco-Romans, a people developing through the cohabitation of the native Dacians and the Roman colonists in the province of Dacia Traiana north of the river Danube. The competing immigrationist theory states that the Romanians' ethnogenesis commenced in the provinces south of the river with Romanized local populations spreading through mountain refuges, both south to Greece and north through the Carpathian Mountains. Other theories state that the Romanized local populations were present over a wide area on both sides of the Danube and the river itself did not constitute an obstacle to permanent exchanges in both directions; according to the "admigration" theory, migrations from the Balkan Peninsula to the lands north of the Danube contributed to the survival of the Romance-speaking population in these territories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Târgoviște</span> Municipality in Dâmbovița, Romania

Târgoviște is a city and county seat in Dâmbovița County, Romania. It is situated 80 kilometres north-west of Bucharest, on the right bank of the Ialomița River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ghica family</span>

The House of Ghica [or Ghika] was a noble family whose members held significant positions in Wallachia, Moldavia and later in the Kingdom of Romania, between the 17th and 19th centuries. The Ghica family produced many voivodes of Wallachia and Moldavia and two Prime Ministers of Romania. Several branches of the family still exist today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dragoș, Voivode of Moldavia</span> Founder and Voivode of Moldavia, Knyaz in Maramureș

Dragoș, also known as Dragoș Vodă, or Dragoș the Founder was the first Voivode of Moldavia, who reigned in the middle of the 14th century, according to the earliest Moldavian chronicles. The same sources say that Dragoș came from Maramureş while chasing an aurochs or zimbru across the Carpathian Mountains. His descălecat, or "dismounting", on the banks of the Moldova River has traditionally been regarded as the symbol of the foundation of the Principality of Moldavia in Romanian historiography. Most details of his life are uncertain. Historians have identified him either with Dragoș of Bedeu or with Dragoș of Giulești, who were Vlach landowners in the Kingdom of Hungary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bogdan the Founder</span> First independent ruler of Moldavia in the 1360s

Bogdan I, commonly known as Bogdan the Founder, was the first independent ruler, or voivode, of Moldavia in the 1360s. He had initially been the voivode, or head, of the Vlachs in the Voivodeship of Maramureș in the Kingdom of Hungary. However, when the first certain record was made of him in 1343, he was mentioned as a former voivode who had become disloyal to Louis I of Hungary. He invaded the domains of a Vlach landowner who remained loyal to the king in 1349. Four years later, he was again mentioned as voivode in a charter, which was the last record of his presence in Maramureș.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grigore Ureche</span> Moldavian chronicler

Grigore Ureche was a Moldavian chronicler who wrote on Moldavian history in his Letopisețul Țării Moldovei, covering the period from 1359 to 1594.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grigore III Ghica</span>

Grigore III Ghica was a prince of Moldavia and of Wallachia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miron Costin</span> Moldavian political figure

Miron Costin was a Moldavian (Romanian) political figure and chronicler. His main work, Letopiseţul Ţărâi Moldovei [de la Aron Vodă încoace] was meant to extend Grigore Ureche's narrative, covering events from 1594 to 1660. The Chronicles were first published in 1675.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baia</span> Commune in Suceava, Romania

Baia is a commune in Suceava County, in the historical region of Western Moldavia, northeastern Romania with a population of 6,793. It is composed of two villages, namely Baia and Bogata. Located on the Moldova River, it was one of the earliest urban settlements in Moldavia.

The history of the Romanian language started in Roman provinces north of the Jireček Line in Classical antiquity. There are three main hypotheses around its exact territory: the autochthony thesis, the discontinuation thesis, and the "as-well-as" thesis that supports the language development on both sides of the Danube. Between the 6th and 8th centuries AD, following the accumulated tendencies inherited from the vernacular Latin and, to a much smaller degree, the influences from an unidentified substratum, and in the context of a lessened power of the Roman central authority, the language evolved into Common Romanian. This proto-language then came into close contact with the Slavic languages and subsequently divided into Aromanian, Megleno-Romanian, Istro-Romanian, and Romanian. Because of limited attestations between the 6th and 16th centuries, entire stages from its history are reconstructed by researchers, often with proposed relative chronologies and loose limits.

The founding of Moldavia began with the arrival of a Vlach (Romanian) voivode, Dragoș, soon followed by his people from Maramureș, then a voivodeship, to the region of the Moldova River. Dragoș established a polity there as a vassal to the Kingdom of Hungary in the 1350s. The independence of the Principality of Moldavia was gained when Bogdan I, another Vlach voivode from Maramureș who had fallen out with the Hungarian king, crossed the Carpathians in 1359 and took control of Moldavia, wresting the region from Hungary. It remained a principality until 1859, when it united with Wallachia, initiating the development of the modern Romanian state.

Church Slavonic was the main language used for administrative and liturgical purposes by the Romanian principalities, being still occasionally used in the Orthodox Church until the early 18th century.

This deals with the History of Transnistria before it became part of the Russian Empire in 1792.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Literature of Moldova</span>

Literature of Moldova comprises the literature of the principality of Moldavia, the later trans-Prut Moldavia, Bessarabia, the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, and the modern Republic of Moldova, irrespective of the language. Although there has been considerable controversy over linguistic identity in Moldova, the Moldovan and Romanian languages are virtually identical and share a common literary history. Moldovan literature, therefore, has considerable overlap with Romanian literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petre P. Panaitescu</span> Romanian literary historian (1900–1967)

Petre P. Panaitescu was a Romanian literary historian. A native of Iași, he spent most of his adult life in the national capital Bucharest, where he rose to become a professor at its main university. As such, he challenged various aspects of the dominant nationalist historiography. However, he also joined the ultra-nationalist Iron Guard, and headed the university during the movement's brief time in power. After the Guard was violently suppressed at the beginning of 1941, he lost his professorial position. When a communist-dominated government entered office in early 1945, he was arrested and imprisoned. Panaitescu was freed by the end of the year, the new authorities finding useful his theories of Slavic influence on Romania's national trajectory. He worked as a researcher in the latter part of his career, retiring in 1965, two years before his death.

The re-latinization of Romanian was the reinforcement of the Romance features of the Romanian language during the 18th and 19th centuries. In this period, Romanian adopted a Latin-based alphabet to replace the Cyrillic script and borrowed many words from French as well as from Latin and Italian, in order to acquire the lexical tools necessary for modernization. This process coined words for recently introduced objects or concepts (neologisms), added Latinate synonyms for some Slavic and other loanwords, and strengthened some Romance syntactic features.

References

Sources

Further reading