In
\n1894, Friedrich Stenner, an archivist with the Bra\u0219ov City Archives, found a
\ndocument written in Cyrillic alphabet by a Neac\u0219u from the town of C\u00e2mpulung. It
\nwas a letter to the mayor of Bra\u015fov, Hans Benkner, in which Neac\u0219u was warning
\nof Ottoman military manoeuvres on the Danube and advised measures should be
\ntaken. The letter dates back to 1521 and is regarded as the first document in
\nRomanian preserved to this day.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Neac\u0219u’s brief note
\nhas been researched extensively by historians and linguists. The former have
\nfocused on the players involved and the political context of the 16th
\nCentury, and the latter analysed the Romanian language of the time. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Regional politics was
\ndominated by the Ottoman Empire’s expansion into Central Europe. Since the
\nmid-14th Century and until 1521, the Ottomans had conquered the
\nBalkans and were heading for Hungary, which was to fall in 1526. Historian Radu
\nNedici, a professor of Medieval history with the University of Bucharest, was
\nthe first to provide an explanation for the document:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Radu Nedici: Historians
\ntried to come up with an explanation for the letter. The most reasonable of
\nthem seems to be the haste to convey information on an Ottoman military
\ncampaign. The standard at the time was to use Slavonic or Latin in the
\ncorrespondence between Wallachia, Transylvania and the Kingdom of Hungary. Very
\nlikely the rush to send urgent intelligence regarding an Ottoman attack and a
\npossible threat to Bra\u015fov prompted Neac\u0219u to write this letter in Romanian.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The
\nstrongest ties between the German towns in the Transylvanian Carpathians and
\nthe other Romanian provinces were economic. C\u00e2mpulung and Bra\u0219ov, only 85 km
\nfrom each other, had over two centuries old connections, and those who
\npreserved that contact were mostly merchants. Neac\u0219u was apparently part of C\u00e2mpulung’s
\ntrading elite, says Radu Nedici:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Radu Nedici: Unfortunately we know little today about Neac\u0219u of C\u00e2mpulung. He is
\nnever mentioned in documents prior to this letter. He seems to be a merchant
\nfrom C\u00e2mpulung, involved in trading Oriental products that would transit
\nWallachia on their way to Central Europe, via Bra\u0219ov. On the other side we have
\nthe magistrate from Bra\u015fov, the mayor of the town, mentioned in a lot more
\ndocuments. Since Bra\u0219ov was one of the main towns in Transylvania, his position
\nwas quite important.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In 1521, Wallachia was
\nruled by prince Neagoe Basarab. In fact, the prince died around 3 months after
\nthe letter was written. The country was likely to fall under Ottoman influence,
\nbut Wallachian nobility were still hoping for support from Hungary. Therefore,
\nWallachian princes and characters like Neac\u0219u would readily keep the Christians
\nacross the mountains up to date with the Ottomans’ moves. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The letter was
\ncomplete, written in brown ink, in good condition, with a seal on the back. We asked
\nRadu Nedici about the Romanian language spoken in the 16th Century: <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Radu Nedici: To a 21st
\nCentury reader, the language is rather hard to understand, because a lot of
\nSlavonic phrases are used. The beginning and ending, as well as the connectors
\nfor each paragraph, are taken as such from Slavonic, hence the difficulty of
\nunderstanding the text. On the other hand, the language is quite comprehensible
\nif we look exclusively at the part of the text in Romanian. So we have a
\nlanguage developing in a direction that we can recognise today.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In a book published in
\n1970, linguist Aurel Nicolescu counted 190 unique words in Neac\u015fu’s letter. 178
\nof them come from Latin, 11 are Slavonic and Hungarian, and only 1 comes from
\nTurkish. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Radu Nedici: The letter was written at a time
\nwhen Romanian was just being introduced in the princely chancellery. This happened
\nas the Romanian language was beginning to be used extensively, including in
\nofficial contexts. This is a document written at a precisely known date, in
\n1521, so in mid-16th Century we are beginning to see
\nRomanian-language documents written in Romanian chancelleries. It was the time
\nwhen the Romanian language was developing and becoming predominant.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The
\nletter of Neac\u0219u of C\u00e2mpulung is the written testimony that Romanian was used
\nin correspondence 500 years ago. In the five centuries that followed, various
\ninfluences have enriched it and turned it into the language we speak today. (tr, A.M. Popescu)<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Neac\u0219u’s brief note has been researched extensively by historians and linguists<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":90486,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45210],"tags":[45673,43893,36339,40929,31833],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-169950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rri-encyclopaedia","tag-campulung","tag-language","tag-medieval","tag-neacsu","tag-romanian"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n