Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu | |
|---|---|
 Hasdeu byGeorge Demetrescu Mirea (1887) | |
| Born | Tadeu Hâjdeu (1838-02-26)26 February 1838 |
| Died | 7 September 1907(1907-09-07) (aged 69) |
| Resting place | Bellu Cemetery, Bucharest |
| Alma mater | University of Kharkiv |
| Children | Iulia Hasdeu |
| Father | Alexandru Hâjdeu |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Philology |
| Institutions | National Archives of Romania University of Bucharest |
| Signature | |
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Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu (Romanian pronunciation:[boɡˈdanpetriˈtʃejkuhaʃˈdew]ⓘ; 26 February 1838 – 7 September [O.S. 25 August] 1907)[1] was aRomanian writer and philologist who pioneered many branches of Romanianphilology and history.
He was bornTadeu Hâjdeu in Cristineștii Hotinului (nowKerstentsi inChernivtsi Oblast,Ukraine), northernBessarabia, at the time part ofImperial Russia.[1] His father was the writerAlexandru Hâjdeu, a descendant of theHâjdău family ofMoldovan boyars, with notedPolish connections. Alexandru's mother was Jewish.[2][3][4][5]
After studying law at theUniversity ofKharkiv, he fought as a Russianhussar in theCrimean War. In 1858, he settled inIași as a high school teacher and librarian. In 1865, Hasdeu published amonograph onIoan Vodă the Terrible, renaming him for the first timecel Viteaz—"the Brave". The portrayal of this violent, short rule as a glorious moment (and of Ioan himself as a reformer) drew criticism from theJunimea society, a conflict which was to follow Hasdeu for the rest of his life. Still, Hasdeu's version of Ioan's character and his anti-boyar actions were to be reclaimed as a founding myth byCommunist Romania.
In 1863, Hasdeu again moved his residence, from Iași toBucharest; he began editing thesatirical magazineAghiuță, which ceased publication the following year.
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In Romania, Hasdeu started work on theArhiva historică a României (1865–1867), the first history work to use sources inSlavonic andRomanian. He also published the 1870 philological reviewColumna lui Traian, the best at the time in Romania. With the workCuvente dân Batrâni (2 volumes, 1878–1881), he was the first to contribute to the history of apocryphal literature in Romania.
HisIstoria critică a Românilor (1875), though incomplete, marks the beginning of critical investigation into the history of Romania. Hasdeu edited the ancientPsalter ofCoresi of 1577 (Psaltirea lui Coresi, 1881).
HisEtymologicum magnum Romaniae (1886) was the beginning of an encyclopaedic dictionary of the Romanian language, though he never covered letters afterB. While the completed parts of the work do aim to be exhaustive, and are remarkably detailed, many of its entries reflect more of Hasdeu's own vision than historical facts (in one famous entry, he claims to be able to traceBasarab I's ancestry in a direct line to theDacian rulers, with Dacia as a developed state that would have had, at times, dominated theRoman Empire—to the point where the single ruling family would have given Rome a large number of emperors).
Hasdeu got involved in the dispute over theLatin origin of the Romanian language. Being challenged by numerous arguments which pointed to the central position occupied by words ofSlavic origin in theRomanian language, Hasdeu developed an influential verdict, deemedthe theory of words' circulation. The conclusion he reached was that Slavic words were never as widely used as Latin ones, with usage giving the language its character.
In 1876, he was appointed head of theState Archives inBucharest,[6] and in 1878 professor of philology at theUniversity of Bucharest.[7] In 1877, Hasdeu was elected as a titular member of theRomanian Academy,[8] and in 1883 he became a foreign member of theRussian Academy of Sciences.[1]
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Hasdeu was a politician often at odds with the Romanian establishment. For example, he was placed under arrest for a nine-day interval after Captain Alexandru Candiano-Popescu's "Republic of Ploiești" conspiracy (1870). Although he had been a staunch defender of the deposedAlexandru Ioan Cuza, he eventually backed the movement against him (led byMihail Kogălniceanu), and was not opposed to the newDomnitor (futureKing of Romania)Carol I.[citation needed]
However, Hasdeu was aLiberal Party activist (he was elected to Parliament on its list for two non-consecutive terms), and close to its most radical, republican wing—the one led byC. A. Rosetti. As the republican experiment coincided with worsened relations betweenPrime MinisterIon Brătianu and Carol, all Liberal Party members became suspect of involvement. Together with several Party leaders, Hasdeu was tried and acquitted.
After the death of his only child, his daughterIulia, in 1888, he became a spiritualist and a firm adept of thespiritism. He retreated to aCâmpina mansion, and arranged it as a temple to his newly found beliefs and to his daughter. He died there and was buried inBellu Cemetery, Bucharest.
His works include two dramas,Răsvan și Vidra (romanticizing the actions of an obscure 1590s Moldavian-RomaniVoivode,Ștefan Răzvan), andDomnița Ruxandra. Between 1891 and 1892, he wroteSic Cogito, a theoretical work ofspiritism as a philosophy. In addition to his interest in science, Hasdeu was the author of many poems, usually short ones. The Romanian criticMircea Eliade described him as a "genius of an amazing vastness".[9]
Hasdeu is pronounced as if spelled with the Romanian version ofș (Hașdeu); Hasdeu never spelled it with any diacritic (most likely because theRomanian alphabet appeared and went through several major changes during his lifetime).
Although many times taken for a first surname,Petriceicu is in fact his second name. The confusion can be ascribed to the name's uniqueness, and to the misguided assumption thatcu is the same as the extremely common suffix for Romanian family names. The name was chosen by the writer himself, and it reflected the Hasdeu family claim to have descended from 17th century Moldavian rulerȘtefan Petriceicu.
