Historical names of Transylvania
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Several names have been historically given to the area that corresponds to Transylvania.
Transylvania
The first document in which the term "Ultra siluam" is used referring to the area dates from 1075, its meaning is "beyond the forest". The terms "Partes Transsylvanæ" ("parts beyond the forest") dates from the same century (in Legenda Sancti Gerhardi) and after that becomes the term used in the Latin documents of the Kingdom of Hungary (as "Transsilvania").The name Transylvania (Romanian: Transilvania) is from Latin, meaning "beyond the forest" ("trans" = beyond and "silva" = forest).
Ardeal/Erdély
The names of Ardeal in Romanian and Erdély in Hungarian are believed to be linked one to another. The original source and meaning are disputed and claimed by both Romanians and Hungarians. The first Hungarian form recorded was "Erdeuelu" in the 12th century Gesta Hungarorum, while the first Romanian form recorded was in 1432 as "Ardeliu". The initial a/e difference between the names can be found in other words common to Romanian and Hungarian, such as agriş / egres (gooseberry). Another possibility is that its origins lie in the Roman province name of Dacia Aureliana ( e g Aureliana = Ardeal, Erdély) which was set up by Roman Emperor Aurelian in the third century.Hungarian View
The consensus of Hungarian linguists and Hungarian historians on the etymology of both Erdély and Transylvania is as follows:
- The Latin form Ultrasylvania (1077), later Transylvania was most likely a direct translation from the Hungarian form (rather than the Hungarian being derived from the Latin)
- The Romanian form Ardeal was probably derived from an old Hungarian form, Ardó/Erdő (forest) (eg Végardó).
Romanian View
The actual meaning is yet unknown, there have been suggested several possible etymologies:
- arde appears to be an Indo-European word meaning "forest" (akin to Forest of Arden, England and Belgian Ardennes Woods).
- deal means "hill" in Romanian, while arde means "to burn": it has been suggested that it could mean "the land of the burning hills" after the fires started by Romanian shepherds to warn the invaders of their presence.
- Arderich, the king of the Germanic Gepids once ruled Transylvania in the 5th century and it is possible that the name of Arderich's land was passed on ever since.
- Romanians in Transylvania were organized in small comunities including several villages, in which population was more ethnically pure. They called this lands Ţāri (which literally means "lands, countries" and came from the Latin Terra, eg Terra Blacorum). Examples: Ţara Pādurenilor (Woodlanders Country - in Poiana Rusca Mountains), Ţara Moţilor (Country of the People of Apuseni Mountains), Ţara Crişului (Country of the Criş Rivers), Ţara Zarandului, Ţara Haţegului, etc. This was a common fact for Romanian people. The southern medieval Romanian political entity Wallachia was called Ţara Româneascā. As they lacked political representation, they probably did not feel the need for their own name and just used the official name of the most important ruling class, i.e. the Hungarian name Erdély - but adapted to fit the language. As an interesting note, people in Moldavia and Wallachia sometimes used to refer to Transylvania as Ţara Ungureascā (translated as "Hungarian country"). This does not necessarily imply that its people were Magyars: rather it referred to all inhabitants of the Kingdom of Hungary, irrespective of their ethnicity (see Historic meaning of Hungarian).
Siebenbürgen
Siebenbürgen ("seven castles" or "seven boroughs"), the German name for Transylvania, refers to the seven principal fortified towns of the Transylvanian Saxons. The name first appeared in a document from 1296. An alternate Latin version, "Septem Castra" ("Seven fortresses") was also used in medieval documents.- Bistritz (Bistriţa, Beszterce)
- Hermannstadt (Sibiu, Nagyszeben)
- Klausenburg (Cluj-Napoca, Kolozsvár)
- Kronstadt (Braşov, Brassó)
- Mediasch (Mediaş, Medgyes)
- Mühlbach (Sebeş, Szászsebes)
- Schässburg (Sighişoara, Segesvár)
The Slavic names of the region (Sedmigradsko or Sedmogradsko (Седмиградско or Седмоградско) in Bulgarian, Sedmogradska in Croatian, Sedmihradsko in Czech, Sedmohradsko in Slovak, Siedmiogród in Polish, Semihorod (Семигород) in Ukrainian), as well as its Walloon name (Zivenbork), are a translation of the German one.
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