Historical names of Transylvania
Transylvania has had different names applied to it in several traditions.
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[edit] Transylvania
The first document in which the Medieval Latin term Ultra siluam ("beyond the forest") is used in reference to the area dates from 1075. The term Partes Transsylvanæ ("parts beyond the forest") dates from the same century (used in Legenda Sancti Gerhardi, and subsequently, as Transsilvania by Medieval Latin documents compiled in the Kingdom of Hungary).
[edit] Ardeal/Erdély
The names of Ardeal in Romanian and Erdély in Hungarian are believed to be connected. However, the original source and meaning are disputed and claimed by both Romanians and Hungarians.
The first Hungarian form recorded was Erdeuelu (12th century, in the Gesta Hungarorum), while the first Romanian form recorded was in 1432 as Ardeliu. The initial a/e difference between the names can be found in other words common to Romanian and Hungarian, such as agriş/egres ("gooseberry").
[edit] Hungarian view
The consensus of Hungarian linguists and Hungarian historians on the etymology of both Erdély and Transylvania is as follows:
- The modern Hungarian form Erdély was derived from Erdő-elve ("beyond the forest"). Erdő meaning "mountain deep forest", the elve suffix is a derivative of the older form elü (meaning beyond).[1] According to some theories,[2] the Hungarians used this term long before the Hungarian conquest, when they lived in Etelköz and the Eastern Carpathians were referred as deep forest by them.
- The Medieval Latin form Ultrasylvania (1077), later Transylvania, was most likely a direct translation from the Hungarian form (rather than the Hungarian being derived from the Latin).[3]
The theory is also supported by the Romanian historian Ioan-Aurel Pop.[4]
[edit] Romanian view
Several Romanian perspectives argue that the meaning of the term is unknown, and have suggested alternative etymologies[citation needed]:
- A letter from around 960 from the Khazar king Joseph to the Rabbi of Córdoba, Chasdai ibn Shaprut mentions the Ardil country (Eretz Ardil), rich in gold and silver.[5][6][7] Today, in Hebrew, Ardeal is written identically: ארדיל. This theory therefore suggests that Ardi(a)l was the primary form of the name and thus "Ardeal" is an original Romanian toponym.[improper synthesis?]
[edit] Siebenbürgen
The oldest occurrences of this form are from the 13th century:
- In the year 1241: in Annales Sancti Trudperti and in the Annals of Zwifalt: "Tartari terras Pannonie, Septum urbium, Moraviae vestaverunt”[8][9]
- In the year 1242: in the notes of the friar Erfurt: „Eodem anno Tartari in Ungaria, terra scilicet Septem castrorum, civitatem dictam Hermanii villam in Aprili expugnantes, usque ad centum ibi peremerunt...”[10]
- In the year 1285: "...Eodem anno Tarthari terram Ungarie que dicitur Septemcastris, intraverunt et multos christianos captivaverunt et occiderunt” and "...quid audientes Septemcastrenses”.[11]
- In the year 1296: a reference to a particular "maister Dietrich von Siebenbuergen”.[12]
- In the year 1300: Ottacher of Styria mentions "Sybenburger”.[13]
There exist a number of theories on the etymology of Siebenbürgen, the German name for Transylvania.
The most widely accepted theory is that Siebenbürgen refers to the seven principal fortified towns of the Transylvanian Saxons. The name first appeared in a document from 1296. An alternate Medieval Latin version, Septem Castra ("Seven fortresses") was also used in documents. The towns alluded to are: Bistritz (Bistriţa, Beszterce), Hermannstadt (Sibiu, Nagyszeben), Klausenburg (Cluj-Napoca, Kolozsvár), Kronstadt (Braşov, Brassó), Mediasch (Mediaş, Medgyes), Mühlbach (Sebeş, Szászsebes), and Schässburg (Sighişoara, Segesvár).[citation needed]
Other theories include:
- Siebenbürgen means "Seven Castles" but does not refer to the towns of the Transylvanian Saxons . Transylvania and the Maros valley seem to have been the first portion of land within the Carpathians where Magyars gained a foothold. According to legend, each of the seven Magyar chieftains erected an earthen 'castle' in this region.[14]
- Siebenbürgen means explicitly "Seven Towns" or "Seven Castles". However, this etymology seems to originate in the dialectical tradition of the first, mainly Low German, Flemish and Dutch settlers, in whose homelands there are hilly regions called "Zevenbergen" (in southern Holland) and "Sevenbergen" (east of the town of Hameln on the river Weser, Germany).[15]
- Saxon settlement in Transylvania began in Sibiu. An early German name for the town was Cibinburg (akin to the Cibiniensis Latin name of the area). The alternate name Cibinburg was corrupted into Siebenbürgen, and became the name for the whole region.[3]
The Slavic names of the region (Sedmigradsko or Sedmogradsko (Седмиградско or Седмоградско) in Bulgarian, Sedmogradska in Croatian, Sedmihradsko in Czech, Sedmohradsko in Slovak, Siedmiogród in Polish, Semihorod (Семигород) in Ukrainian), as well as its Walloon name (Zivenbork), are translations of the German one.
In Ukrainian the name is also known as Trans-wooden land or Zalissia (Ukrainian: Залісся).
[edit] References
- ^ Benkő Loránd, Kiss Lajos & Papp László (1984). A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó. ISBN 963-05-3810-5
- ^ Erdély A Keresztény Magyar Királyságban, Hungary.
- ^ a b Engel, Pál (2001). Realm of St. Stephen: History of Medieval Hungary, 895–1526 (International Library of Historical Studies), London: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 1-86064-061-3
- ^ Ioan aurel pop — istoria transilvaniei medievale, Scribd, 1997. (Romanian)
- ^ F.F. Otrokocsi, Origines II, p. 27
- ^ Halevy, Sefer Hacisri, Vilna, 1914
- ^ Ion Marţian, Ardealul nu derivă din ungureşte, Bistriţa, 1925
- ^ Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores, vol.X, Hannover, 1852, p.59.
- ^ Ibidem, vol.XVII, 1861, p.294.
- ^ Ibidem, vol.XVI, 1859, p.34.
- ^ Annales Polonorum, in: Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores, vol. XIX, p.684.
- ^ Urkundebuch zur Geschichte der Deutschen in Siebenbürgen, vol.I, nr.201, p.143.
- ^ Apud J.Wolff - Die Landesnamen Siebenbürgens, in: Programm des vierklassigen evangelischen Gymnasiums in Mühlbach, 1885/86, Hermannstadt, 1886, p.16.
- ^ Kontler, László (1999). A History of Hungary: Millennium in Central Europe, Budapest: Atlantisz. ISBN 963-9165-37-9
- ^ Popa, Klaus (1996). "An Outline of Transilvanian-Saxon History". Retrieved April 24, 2007
