Aspecte ale conștiinței etnolingvistice înainte de „secolul naționalităților”
Aspects of Ethnolinguistic Consciousness before the “Century of Nationalities”

Summary/Abstract: One source of public confusion is the idea that ethnolinguistic consciousness did not exist at all before the 19th century, but was an “invention” of the modern age. The reality is different. In the 19th century, nationalist ideologies emerged, so the ethnolinguistic consciousness was given a doctrinaire form. These ideologies then had a major impact on large population groups, not least because of the unprecedented technological revolution, the spread of means of transportation and mass media. Ethnic identities and solidarities, on the other hand, had existed before the emergence of modern national ideologies, since Antiquity, albeit in narrower, incipient, local forms, without the range seen in recent centuries. Historical documents clearly attest various instances of ethnolinguistic identity consciousness from antiquity to the 18th century. Some examples are: the ancient Greeks; the ancient Jews; the educated Byzantine elites of the late Eastern Roman Empire; the Hungarian nobility of the medieval period; King Henry IV of France; etc. To the examples listed we cannot but add the Romanians, whose ethnic consciousness was expressed by their intellectual elites (Dimitrie Cantemir, Miron Costin, Grigore Ureche, etc.). Moreover, Romanians were also perceived from an ethnolinguistic perspective by the foreign travelers who passed through the Romanian Lands, as well as by the personalities of the time who had lasting interactions with Romanians. Even Iancu Huniade and the humanist scholar Nicolaus Olahus were criticized for having Romanian origins, which were seen as unworthy. Romanian chroniclers in the 17th century used the term Romanians to refer to those from Moldavia and Transylvania, not just the inhabitants of Wallachia. The foreign travelers’ view of Romanians was similar. In addition, there are documents revealing that the Saxons and Hungarians in medieval Transylvania were perceived ethnically as well. All this demonstrates the longevity of ethnolinguistic consciousness, which was strongly emphasized (not invented) in the “century of nationalities”.

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