Anca Sapovici

The Wallachian ruler Neagoe Basarab left behind an important work for Romanian Literature and for the entire post-Byzantine Eastern European culture. Dated to the first quarter of the 16th century, the Teachings of Neagoe Basarab to His Son Theodosius belongs to the mirror for princes literary type but constitutes an atypical presence in the old genre. It is, in fact, a document of the early post-Byzantine religious and political thought, for the author intended to bequeath not only a manual of the art of ruling but equally an Orthodox catechism, and, through it, an entire tradition under threat by Ottoman imperialism.
The mind receives an outstanding role within this work. Following the teachings of his spiritual father, St. Niphon of Constantinople, the author is, on the one hand, preoccupied with the ascension of the mind toward God, and, on the other hand, with avoiding its falls in the captivity of the passions. Thus, the purpose of the Teachings is to define the place and importance of the mind in the economy of the human being, and foremost, to teach further the science of mobilizing the soul and therefore the mind in order to achieve perfection (i.e. dispassion and union with God) even within the earthly life.

Two of Matthew's of Myra parenetic works appear in the volume "Teachings for all days" ("Învățături preste toate zilele"), printed in 1642 in Câmpulung, in a translation offered by Melchisedech, abbot of Dormition Monastery in Câmpulung, Wallachia. Comparing the two versions of the teachings, the original and the translation, we notice that the translator's interventions in the text are minimal and refer, in general, to insignificant omissions or additions, as well as to a series of changes related to the audience to which the "Teachings" were addressed.

ABSTRACT
Written at the beginning of the 17th century by the abbot of the Dealu Monastery, the Epirot Matthew, Honorary Metropolitan of Myra in Asia Minor and addressed to Alexandru Iliaş (1616–1618), the prince of Wallachia, the Advices represents the second literary success of the parenetic species in the Romanian space, after the Theachings of Neagoe Basarab to his son Theodosius. In his creative approach, Matthew reported at a well-established tradition, cultivated since Antiquity and throughout all the history of the Byzantine Empire. In analyzing this work, we therefore considered not only the Byzantine parenetic tradition, but also its ties with this “tutelary presence” (Dan Horia Mazilu) from the history of the Romanian literature represented by the Teachings of the Wallachian Prince.
Moreover, the linguistic phenomenaillustratedwithin the Advices of Matthew of Myra highlight a socio-linguistic phenomenon with a rich illustration during the Phanariot period: the codeswitchings between Greek and Romanian. Thus, Matthew is one of the precursors of cultural and linguistic facts which the massive presence of the Greek ethnic element in the Romanian countries has favored since the first decades of the 17th century.

For more than two and a half centuries the Greek were a prestigious language, strengthening the Balkan linguistic unity (Sprachbund) at least at the level of the vocabulary and phraseology. There are, however, many words borrowed from Greek to contemporary Romanian language that underwent a major stylistic devaluation, phenomenon by which they were placed among the expressive words.
This category includes words of slang, but also domestic and vernacular words, which are not in the minds of speakers different class words; on the contrary, they are considered words of the same category . The meaning of the expressive words is completely different from their original significance, as pointed out by Al. Graur, which explains the phenomenon with the vivid impression that foreign words produce in the minds of speakers, which, impressed by the word’s apparence, are no longer paying attention to their meaning . I. Iordan also supports this remark by adding a historical explanation. He remarks that „the foreign origin of a term can evoke a certain spiritual atmosphere characteristic to an age in the life of our people or to a social category that continues to keep and use it in case the word disappears from the common language” .
Words such as aghios (monotonous song; snore), ahtiat (craving after), catadicsi (to deign), fandaxie, fandosi (to mince, to attitudinize), ifos (caprice), iotă (jot), [a ține cuiva] isonul (to accompany someone, to get in unison to somebody), istericale (tantrums, hysterics), lefter (broke, penniless), liman (refuge), magherniţă (hovel), nevricale (nervous breakdown), pricopsi or procopsi (to make fortune, to profit by; to endow [with]), sastisi (to be tired of something), schimonosi (t.v. to distort; r.v.. to grimace), sclifosi (r.v. to mince), simandicos (fancy; very important), tacticos (slowly, leisurely), ticsit (overcrowded, crammed), tagmă (category [of people]) are today part of the familiar register.
However, it is not forbidden for such words to transgress the borders of this stylistic category. Some of them, for example fandosi, ifos, schimonosi, simandicos, tacticos, tărăboi are easily associated to the ludic register, and are, therefore, preferred by children literature: „Ieri am avut o vizită :/A trecut pe la mine o broască ţestoasă” (“Yesterday I had a fancy visit: / A turtle dropped by my place) .
Other words entered in an obscure area of present-day vocabulary, and they are perceived as argotic terms by today’s Romanian language speakers. A series of words such as aschimodie (ugly creature), doxă (intelligence), lefter, marghioală (cunning, frivolous woman), matracucă (ugly and badly dressed woman; mistress), ofticos (peevish), paranghelie (big party), schepsis (intelligence; cuteness), şustă (dishonest arrangement between two or more people), ţaţă (vulgar woman), fall into this category. Some of them are somewhere in the middle between the familiar language and the argotic register.
At the opposite pole there are words like iotă, matracucă, schepsis, whose special stylistic status would create a vivid impression to a native Greek speaker. Skepsis (gr. σκέψις), for instance, means thinking in Greek, „the ability to compare and associate ideas; reflecting, conception” . In today’s Romanian language, schepsis is used as part of adjectival and adverbial phrases formed with the preposition „with”, and it means something done “with good reasoning; with a certain purpose, with a certain intention (unrevealed)”, and it is used exclusively in the familiar register . The definition in the Romanian Explanatory Dictionary (DEX) does not cover, however, the real instances when it is used by Romanian contemporary speakers, as we shall further point out. Matracucă remained in the contemporary Neo-Greek language only in names. As far as the word iotă is concerned, if this means „nothing” in Romanian, in Greek it is only the name of the „ι” sound, the tenth letter of the Greek alphabet.
During the Phanariot age, the Greek culture and language played a privileged role in the Romanian Principalities. Merchants, monks, diplomats, intelectuals, adventurers, are coming in the Romanian Principalities seeking for a refuge, a safer and more conducive environment for the development of personal projects and for their ambitions of climbing the sociopolitical ladder. Among the most notable figures of the Greek immigration one can count Matthew (1550, Epirus – 1624, Dealu Monastery, Wallachia), Metropolitan of Myra and abbot of the Monastery Dealu Wallachia. Matthew is among the first cases of a real socio-political and cultural phenomenon, which will influence the history of the Danubian principalities until the dawn of the modern period, that is, until the revolution of 1821 and even beyond this term.
Towards the end of this period, we can already notice the reverse phenomenon of indexation and rejection of the Greek heritage acquired during the previous centuries. Several of the words borrowed by the Romanian language during the Phanariot and the pre-Phanariot period were significantly altered from a semantic point of view, and were therefore included in the lower stylistic registers. Greek loanwords emphasise phenomena that concern the socio-cultural linguistic aspects of communication. The negative feelings towards the Turkish and Phanariot heritage are hence echoed linguistically.

Pendant des siècles le grec a représenté la langue de la culture et de l’administration dans les pays roumains, en renforçant l’unité linguistique balkanique (Sprachbund), au niveau du vocabulaire et de la phraséologie. Le niveau d’influence été tellement marqué aux premiers décennies du XIXe siècle, que les gens lettrés avaient la tendance de gréciser des mots du français qui, a l’époque, avait commencé d’être utilises dans les discours libre des élites (Ion Ghika cite le cas du verbe poursuivre qui était encadré souvent dans la IVe conjugaison, c’est à dire parmi les verbes d’origine grecque, avec la forme poursuivarisi ).

L’étude des occurrences du mot soios (qui dans la langue roumaine actuelle a un sens péjoratif) nous offre une agréable surprise. Vers la fin du XIXe siècle, cet adjectif comportait une signification qui n’a fait pas d’histoire, mais qui reste néanmoins une bonne illustration des possibilités créatrices de la langue, celle de „chose de très bonne qualité”. A l’occasion de cette constatation, l’auteur s’est proposé d’examiner les dérives du substantif d’origine turque soy, et d’établir, en tant que possible, une généalogie de cette famille lexicale.

O bună parte din împrumuturile lexicale de origine neogreacă din limba română actuală au suferit o depreciere stilistică marcată, care a avut drept rezultat încadrarea lor în rândul cuvintelor expresive. Fenomenul poate părea curios având în vedere faptul că limba și cultura greacă au deținut vreme de secole un rol privilegiat în țările române, exercitând o vie influență asupra Țării Românești și Moldovei și contribuind la unificarea culturală și lingvistică a Balcanilor, mai ales la nivel lexical și frazeologic . Către sfârșitul perioadei fanariote, putem remarca, deja, fenomenul invers, de indexare și respingere a moștenirii grecești dobândite pe parcursul secolelor anterioare. Multe dintre cuvintele împrumutate din greacă au suferit o modificare semantică esențială, fiind încadrate în registre stilistice joase. Împrumuturile lexicale din greacă pun în evidență fenomene ce au legătură cu aspectele cultural lingvistice ale comunicării, sentimentele negative privitoare la moștenirea turco-fanariotă având ecou și în plan lingvistic.