Church Slavonic in Romania
Church Slavonic was the main language used for administrative (until the 16th century) and liturgical purposes (until the 17th century) by the Romanian principalities, being still occasionally used in the Orthodox Church until the early 18th century.[1]
Characteristics
The language, while based on Church Slavonic, was influenced by the Slavic languages used by surrounding peoples. The most important influences were from Middle and Modern Bulgarian, with influences from Serbian (in Wallachia) and Russian (in Moldavia). Starting with the 15th century, the language was also influenced by Romanian language.[2]
Usage
After the
Church Slavonic was also used as a literary language, for example in chronicles, story-books, law codexes (known as pravila), property documents (hrisov), decrees of the voivodes or boyars, diplomatic correspondence and sometimes even in private letters.[5] It also led to an integration of the written Romanian culture into the Slavic culture of the neighbours.[3]
Replacement with Romanian
The earliest contracts (zapis) to be written in Romanian rather than Slavonic date from 1575 to 1590 and by 1655–1660, all the administrative documents at the Princely Courts of both Wallachia and Moldavia were written in Romanian.[6]
The replacement of Slavonic religious texts with Romanian versions began with the first translations in
Nevertheless, the Orthodox Church opposed the changes and the Metropolitan
Legacy and assessments
Coresi, the printer of the first Romanian-language book, saw in 1564 no good in the usage of Church Slavonic as a liturgical language, as the priests speak to the people in a foreign language, arguing that all the other peoples have the word of God in their language, except for the Romanians.[3] Dimitrie Cantemir, a Moldavian scholar who published the first novel in Romanian, saw the usage of Church Slavonic as a "barbarism", which caused a cultural regression.[8]
However, there were some cultural accomplishments done in the Church Slavonic language, such as a number of chronicles and historiographical works in Moldavia or Neagoe Basarab's Teachings to his son Theodosie.[9]
See also
Notes
References
- V. Costăchel, P. P. Panaitescu, A. Cazacu. (1957) Viaţa feudală în Ţara Românească şi Moldova (secolele XIV–XVI) ("Feudal life in the Romanian and Moldovan Land (14th–16th centuries)", București, Editura Ştiinţifică
- Vlad Georgescu. (1991) The Romanians: a history, Ohio State University Press. ISBN 0-8142-0511-9