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Modern Romanian (Romanian:română modernă) is thehistorical stage of the Romanian language starting at the end of the 18th century. The modern era comprises three distinct periods: the premodern period starting from 1780 and lasting until 1830, the modern period from 1830 until 1880, and the contemporary period after 1881.[1] Modern Romanian is characterised by the development of theRomanian alphabet, initialLatin andItalian lexical entries, followed by the central role ofFrench in the growth of theRomanian lexis, the development of literary styles, and standardisation.[2][3]
History during this stage is fused with the blooming ofRomanian literature, the influence of great writers often cited along[2] the efforts of institutions, mainly theRomanian Academy, as the main standardisation factors.[4]
Some researchers place the end of this last period between the end ofSecond World War and the beginning of the "Socialist Period", thus separating the current stage of the Romanian language from the Modern one.[5]
Since the 16th century, Romanian language has appeared inits literary form.[6] The early books and texts, written with theRomanian Cyrillic alphabet, were predominantly religious or historical.[7] Personalities such asIon Neculce,Miron Costin,Dimitrie Cantemir, andConstantin Cantacuzino, influenced byHumanism, promoted the use of Romanian instead of the regular literary language,Old Church Slavonic.[3] However, the Church language continued to influence religious writings, but writers, such as Archbishops Vaarlam and Dosoftei, were reserved in introducing the needed neologisms from it.[3] The first influences on the modern lexicon came mostly fromLatin,Greek, andTurkish, with an estimate of 850 words fromModern Greek entering the language during this period.[3]
The alphabet came under scrutiny initially inTransylvania where the main writing system used theHungarian alphabet. The scholars of the Transylvanian School, educated inCatholic centers inRome orVienna, developed a writing system based on the Latin alphabet.[8] These efforts were supported by a rich publishing activity, out of which the printing of the bookElementa linguae daco-romanae sive valachicae, written byGheorghe Șincai andSamuil Micu-Klein was recognised as the divide between the old and the modern periods.[4] However, due to differences between regions and social groups, the development of the written language into what is considered Modern Romanian was not immediate.[3]
Between 1711–1716 and 1821, a number ofPhanariots were appointed asHospodars (voivodes or princes) in theDanubian Principalities (Moldavia andWallachia); the period is known as the Phanariot epoch in Romanian history.[9] The Greek dignitaries and their retinue brought with them significant Greek influence, mainly replacing Old Church Slavonic and Romanian as literary languages. However, the growing influence of French as a prestige language was felt at the conversational level among the educated, opening access tothe West. In this context, early writers such asIenăchiță Văcărescu,Dinicu Golescu,Costache Conachi developed a style combining these influences.[10] Translations from Western writers, for example Vasile Pogor's translation of Voltaire'sLa Henriade, became more frequent with this generation.[11]
The main contribution to the beginning of modern Romania was taken by theTransylvanian School, a current developed within theRomanian Greek Catholic Church community from theHapsburgterritory.[12] "The Coryphaei" of this cultural movement,Micu-Klein,Gheorghe Șincai,Petru Maior andIon Budai-Deleanu, took up the cause of representing Romanian political rights and appealed to the Latin origin of the people and language as the main argument.[13] Within this context, they devised the early Romanian alphabet based on Latin and mainly onetymologising (Latinising) principles.[6] A sample of text fromElementa linguae daco-romanae sive valachicae showing the etymologizing features compared to a Latin version:[14]
Nu ê têmp se jáci în pat; scoala te, n'áuzi quum tuna ẛi trazneẛte/Non est tempus jacendi in lecto; eleva te, non audis que tonat et fulminat.
The influence of their writings expanded to the Romanian principalities, with the work of teachers such asAaron Florian continuing the activity ofGheorghe Lazăr, another Romanian from Transylvania, spreading further to cultural figures of the early 19th century such asIon Heliade Rădulescu andNicolae Bălcescu.[15]
The first decades of the 19th century brought romantic enthusiasm to Romanian culture.[16] The period saw the rise and fall of theFiliki Eteria in theDanubian Principalities[17] and with this event, the end of the Greek language branch of thePrincely Academy of Bucharest. The Academy becameSaint Sava Academy, the institution whereIon Heliade Rădulescu andEufrosin Poteca promoted the usage of Romanian. Rădulescu was adept atintroducing neologisms into the language, especially from Italian which he saw as a more modern cultural model than the Latin model,[18] managed to break the monopoly on public press held by the authorities and published in 1829Curierul Românesc with contributions from Heliade himself,Grigore Alexandrescu,Costache Negruzzi,Dimitrie Bolintineanu,Ioan Catina,Vasile Cârlova, andIancu Văcărescu.[19][20] A sample of text showcasing the etymologising writing used by Rădulescu:[21]
Primi audi-vor quel sutteranu resunetu
Și primi salta-vor afara din grôpa
Sacri Poeți que prea ușôrâ țêrinâi
Copere, și quâror puțin d'uman picioarele împlumbâ.
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InMoldavia a similar endeavour was undertaken byGheorghe Asachi, a friendly figure of theTransylvanian School, an opponent of the Phanariote regime, and an admirer ofPetrarch and Moldavian chroniclers.[21][22] Asachi oscillated between returning to the archaic language of the religious writings, which he saw as a solution to the confusing tendencies of modernising, and standardising the language, including the addition of neologisms by a single responsible institution.[23] His political orientation towards Russia allowed him to become involved in the creation of the MoldavianRegulamentul Organic, a constitution-like set of laws during the Russian protectorate, and the publishing of the Romanian language magazineAlbina Românească, the first of its kind in Moldavia.[24] Asachi went on to publish the supplementsAlăuta Românească (1837–1838) andFoaea Sătească a Prințipatului Moldovei (1839).[25]
With the end of thePhanariote epoch, the adoption of theRegulamentul Organic, and the establishment of Romanian as the mainliterary language ofWallachia andMoldavia the transitional period ended. The modern period partly overlapped with what is called the Golden Age of Romanian literature.[26][27] The drop in importance of Old Church Slavonic and the Church language,[28] the reorientation towards other languages as cultural models with the effect of losing hundreds of words from Modern Greek[3] andTurkish, the use of theRomanian transitional alphabet and the advent of French as the major language of influence during and after what is called the Pașoptist generation[3][2] (in the semantic field of Modern World over 70% of them are from French)[29] are the cumulative effects of the patchy process known asRe-Romanisation, Re-Latinisation, or Westernisation of Romanian language.[2] Only about 10% of the Greek and Turkish loanwords remained in usage from the 19th century onward, according to linguist László Gáldi).[30]
Historical events such as the1848 Revolutions, theCrimean War, theUnification of Moldavia and Wallachia, and theRomanian War of Independence created favourable conditions for the adoption of theRomanian alphabet, the founding of universities in Iasi (1860) and Bucharest (1864), and the establishment of the Romanian Academic Society in 1866,[31] which would then be later be renamed to theRomanian Academy.[3]
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Although the modernising current was initially led by the aristocratic and educated personalities of the Danubian Principalities, the profound changes of the early 19th century allowed the middle-classbourgeoisie to participate more actively in cultural life.[32] Educated at the schools and colleges of the older generation (Heliade'sSaint Sava Academy or Asachi'sAcademia Mihăileană), they embraced the period's growinginfluence of French language and culture.[3] This superseded the previous cultural models of Latin and Italian in the spoken language.[32] The leaders of this generation were active during the 1848 Revolutions inWallachia andMoldavia as well as participating in the events in theHabsburg Empire.[33] The levelling effect of the French language in terms of lexical borrowing and the literary activities of personalities involved in the political life of all areas inhabited by Romanians brought the first signs of language standardisation.[34]
One of the first to take up the new ideas of theFrench Revolution andRomantic Nationalism wasNicolae Bălcescu, a former student ofAaron Florian andIon Heliade Rădulescu, and a leading member of the French-based association of Romanian students from both Principalities presided byAlphonse de Lamartine.[35] His main publishing activity was in collaboration withAugust Treboniu Laurian atMagazin istoric pentru Dacia.[36] His impact came from his political activities and the posthumously publishedRomânii sub Mihai Vodă Viteazul in 1860 byAlexandru Odobescu, both imbued with a vision of the unity of all Romanians and implicitly the Romanian language.[37]
Mihail Kogălniceanu started his literary activity inAlăuta Românească, the supplement to the Moldavian magazineAlbina Românească.[37] He initiated in 1840 the first literary magazine,Dacia Literară, thenPropășirea later renamedFoaie Științifică și Literară. Kogălniceanu's role in combating nationalist excesses, in particular the post-1840 attempts byTransylvanian andWallachian intellectuals to change the fabric of theRomanian language by introducing influences fromLatin or other modernRomance languages was recognised byGarabet Ibrăileanu.[38]
Vasile Alecsandri, one of the most prolific writers of this generation, drew inspiration from folkloric material and adapted it into his work through aRomantic perspective.[37] His literary style, difficult to pin down to one of the cultural currents of his century, influenced generations after, including the late 19th century poetMihai Eminescu.[38] Like Kogălniceanu, he was less receptive to the previous generation's proposals of modernising the language, looking to adopt features of the Wallachian style into his own–a process initiated byConstantin Negruzzi before him, which by mid-century had an effect on Wallachian scholars who reciprocated the gesture.[39]
The Pașoptist current had its critics, although limited in number and quality. The Bonjuriști (from Frenchbonjour) were opposed by whatCălinescu called the Antibonjuriști.[40]
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TheRomanian Transitional Alphabet also known as thecivil alphabet[41] was used between 1828 and 1859.[6] The idea belonged toIon Heliade Rădulescu who made it public in his 1828Gramatica românească.[42] The oldCyrillic alphabet had 43 letters and, as scholars likeIenăchiță Văcărescu before him noticed, not all had a clear use in Romanian. Rădulescu proposed a list of 29 letters: А, Б, В, Д, Г, Ԑ, Ж, Є, Ӡ, Ї, К, Л, М, И, О, П, Р, С, Т, Ꙋ, Ф, Ц, Х, Ч, Ш, Щ, Ъ, Џ, Ѱ, Ѵ, which he identified as useful for his students.[43] However, even in his own publicationCurierul românesc from 1829 and 1830 many of the rejected letters reappeared.[44] The difficulty of putting in practice the transitional alphabet would last a few more years until in the same magazine, in 1835, the letters Î,R, S and Z replaced their Cyrillic equivalents. Another attempt four years later added hybrid letters combining Latin and Cyrillic features.[45] In 1844 the editors publishedCurierul de ambe sexe with Latin characters only.[46]
Elsewhere, in 1840 the first page of Iordache Golescu'sBăgări de seamă asupra canoanelor gramăticeștipresented no less than 4 alphabets, and within the text the Cyrillic and Latin letters alternated.[47] Kogălniceanu'sDacia literară andPropășirea had a moderate transitional alphabet, using the Latin D, E, M, N, Z. Only in 1855 România literară were the letters Î, J, S, T added.[48] The TransylvanianFoaie pentru minte, inimă și literatură andGazeta de Transilvania, edited byBariț andCipariu, had the first page printed with Latin letters, then the following in transitional alphabet, sometimes alternating from Latin to Cyrillic from one page to another.[48] In 1856 in Wallachia a law decreed the use of the Latin alphabet for schools and manuals, but retained the letter Ъ.[49] Finally, on 8 February 1860,Ion Ghica decreed the use of the Latin alphabet in Wallachia, a model followed two years later by Moldavia.[50]
The earliest schools teaching in Romanian had their roots in the Princely Academies of Wallachia and Moldavia where the Greek language teaching branch was seconded by a Romanian language one. After the end of the Phanariote epoch the Romanian language branch remained the only one in use. Although named "academies", the two institutions—Saint Sava Academy in Bucharest andAcademia Mihăileană from Iași—offered only college level education. Those looking for higher education had to study abroad, mainly in France where hundreds of the so-called Pașoptist generation intellectuals did or in major university centres of Central Europe such asVienna orKraków.[51] With theunification of Wallachia and Moldavia and the introduction of the Latin-based alphabet the stage was set for the establishment of advanced education. From the two academies, by decree ofAlexandru Ioan Cuza, theUniversity of Iași was founded on 26 October 1860 and theUniversity of Bucharest on 4 July 1864. In Transylvania the first university was founded in 1872, called Hungarian Royal Franz-Joseph University, but due toMagyarization policies Romanian was not a language of education. However, a chair for Romanian language and literature was permitted.[52] The structure and model of the Romanian language institutions was inspired or implemented on a French system.[53] Several Romanian language schools were established in Macedonia to support the language.[54]
A few years after the introduction of advanced educational institutions, the main academic forum was established.[3] Several scholars are credited with the idea or the continuous support for the creation of a single forum, among themGheorghe Asachi, the leading figure of early Moldavian education, andIon Heliade Rădulescu a leader in the development of Modern Romanian.[54] The formal proposal was made and fulfilled byC. A. Rosetti, then the minister of Public Instruction, and in April 1866 the Societatea Academică Română was created.[55] The institution became the main stage for the academic debate between etymologising (Latinising) and broadly phonemic approaches to standards of writing.[6] Tendencies in writing such as Timotei Cipariu's noting of letters Ă, Î, Ș, and Ț with Latin characters without comma or Rădulescu's proposal of writing/k/ as qu, é and ó for/ea/ and/oa/ diphthongs were debated and in 1869 the society decided in favour of Rădulescu's system.[54] Only in 1881 did the Academy opt in favour of the phonemic principle.[54]
The use of Modern Romanian in these institutions, along with the literary forms and neologisms, created an intellectual style adapted to the reality of its time. Words likebenign,cotidian,decență,depravare,impecabil,rural,rustic,urban took precedence in the higher cultural language before the mundaneblând,zilnic,cuviință,desfrânare,fără cusur,țărănesc,sătesc,orășenesc, a tendency that continued in contemporary usage.[56]
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