Names of Moldavia and Moldova

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.

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", or the Gothic Mulda meaning "dust", "dirt" (cognate with the English mould), referring to the river.

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.

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 Moldavia variant quickly preferred in the country itself.

References
  1. Boia (2001), p. 55.
  2. Du Nay (1996).
  3. Illyés (1988), p. 173.
  4. Nandriș (1968), p. 121.
  5. Nandriș (1968), p. 122.
  6. Filstich (1979), p. 39.
  7. Rădvan (2010), p. 322.

Sources
  • Boia, Lucian (2001). Romania: Borderland of Europe. Translated by Brown, James Christian. London: Reaktion Books. ISBN 1-86189-103-2.
  • Du Nay, André (1996). The Origins of the Rumanians: The Early History of the Rumanian Language. Toronto: Matthias Corvinus Publishing. ISBN 1-882785-08-8 – via Archive.org.
  • Filstich, Johann (1979). Armbruster, Adolf (ed.). Tentamen historiae Vallachicae (in Romanian). Bucureşti: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică.
  • Illyés, Elemér (1988). Ethnic Continuity in the Carpatho-Danubian Area. Boulder, Colorado: East European Monographs. ISBN 0-88033-146-1.
  • Kellogg, Frederick (1990). A History of Romanian Historical Writing. Bakersfield, California: C. Schlacks. ISBN 9781884445170.
  • Nandriș, Grigore (1968). "Moldova-The Name of the River and the Country". In Magidoff, Robert; Shevelov, George Y.; Simmons, J. S. G.; Taranovski, Kiril (eds.). Studies in Slavic Linguistics and Poetics in Honor of Boris O. Unbegaun. New York: New York University Press. pp. 119–128. ISBN 9780814702819.
  • Rădvan, Laurențiu (2010). At Europe's Borders: Medieval Towns in the Romanian Principalities. Translated by Cîrdei, Valentin. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-18010-9.

Further reading
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.