COMMENTS ON THE LANGUAGE OF THE FIRST GEOGRAPHY BOOK PRINTED IN TRANSYLVANIA
COMMENTS ON THE LANGUAGE OF THE FIRST GEOGRAPHY BOOK PRINTED IN TRANSYLVANIA
Author(s): Delia Ileana LugojanuSubject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Theoretical Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Phonetics / Phonology, Morphology, Semantics, Language acquisition, Historical Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Philology, Stylistics
Published by: Editura Arhipelag XXI
Keywords: Geography book; Romanian language; morphosyntactic analysis; premodern Romanian textbooks; Ioan Rusu
Summary/Abstract: The study aims to provide a morphosyntactic analysis of the preface of the first geography book from Transylvania, written in Romanian, "Icoana Pământului" (The Icon of the Earth). Actively involved in the process of defining the identity of Romanians and its recognition by the other nationalities in the Principality of Transylvania, priest and teacher Ioan Rusu transforms this preface into a remarkable manifesto, not only because of its ideas regarding the unity of language and religion among Romanians, but also because it offers a brief overview of the history of the development of the Romanian language.While emphasizing the linguistic difficulties encountered in completing his work due to the shortage of scientific terminology, the author offers his own perspective on ways to enrich the vocabulary of the Romanian language, namely: reintegrating archaic words into active usage, adopting words used by Romanians across the Danube, deriving Romanian words of Latin origin that have entered the basic vocabulary and, only as a last resort, borrowing - primarily from Latin, and then from other Romance languages.
Journal: Journal of Romanian Literary Studies
- Issue Year: 2026
- Issue No: 44
- Page Range: 426-433
- Page Count: 8
- Language: Romanian
