Controversy over linguistic and ethnic identity in Moldova
Encyclopedia
A controversy exists over the national identity
and name of the native language of the main ethnic group in the Republic of Moldova
. The issue more frequently disputed is whether Moldovans
constitute a subgroup of Romanians
or a separate ethnic group. While there is wide agreement about the existence of a common language, the controversy persists about the use of the term "Moldovan language
" in certain political contexts.
The Declaration of Independence of 1991 calls the official language "Romanian
", and the first anthem adopted by the independent Moldova was "Deşteaptă-te, române" ("Awaken, Romanian!"), the same as the anthem of Romania
. Mirroring political evolutions in the country, the Constitution of Moldova (1994)
calls the official language "Moldovan" and establishes as anthem "Limba noastră
" (Our language, without any explicit reference to its name). Moreover, the 2003 "Law of Nationalities" adopted by the Communist-dominated Parliament explicitly designates the Romanians
as an ethnic minority in Moldova
.
The officially sanctioned distinction between Moldovans
and Romanians
has been criticized by some members of the scientific community within Moldova. and raised protests from certain segments of the population, especially intellectuals and students, at their turn inspired by several political forces.
Furthermore, the problem strained Moldova's diplomatic relations with neighboring Romania.
attested the names used by the inhabitants of Moldavia to refer to themselves as well as the common language and origin of Moldavians, Wallachians and Transylvanians. Stephen the Great
, Prince of Moldavia (1457–1504), had ordered a chronicle to be written by a German royal courtier. The chronicle covered the years 1457–1499 and was titled Dy Cronycke Des Stephen Woywoda auss Wallachey or The Chronicle of Stephen Voivode of Wallachia. The first important chronicler of Moldavia, Grigore Ureche
(1590–1647), states that the Romanians of the Hungarian Kingdom and Moldavians have the same origin, since both "come from Rome". Later, chronicler Miron Costin
(1633–1691) wrote in one of his works that the "rightest and most authentic" name of Moldavians is Rumân (Romanian), a changed form of "Roman
", and that this name was kept by them from the beginnings till to that day. He also mentioned that Moldavians never ask "do you speak Moldavian?", but rather "do you speak Romanian?". His son, chronicler Nicolae Costin
(1660–1712), shared his father's opinion. The Wallachian chronicler Constantin Cantacuzino (1655–1716) explains that by Romanians he means Romanians from Wallachia, Transylvania, and Moldavia, as they all speak essentially the same language and have a common origin. A remarkable scholar, Dimitrie Cantemir
(1673–1723), Prince of Moldavia and member of the Royal Academy of Berlin, wrote a history book called Hronicul vechimei a Romano-Moldo-Vlahilor (Chronicle of the Ancientness of the Romanian-Moldavian-Vlachs). In the introductory part, he calls it "a chronicle of the entire Romanian land" (Hronicon a toată Ţara Românească) that "later was divided into Moldavia, Wallachia and Transylvania" (care apoi s-au împărţit în Moldova, Muntenească şi Ardealul) and mentions that the book was first written in Latin and then translated into Romanian (pre limba românească). He also claims that the usual name of Transylvanians, Moldavians and Wallachians is Romanian (carii cu toţii cu un nume de obşte români să chiamă).
" or "Volokhs", a term equally used to refer to all the Romance speakers from Wallachia, Transylvania, and the Balkan peninsula. Nicolaus Olahus
(1493–1568), proeminent humanist
, writes in Hungaria et Attila that the Moldavians have the same language, rituals and religion as the Wallachians and that the only way to distinguish them is by their clothes. He also mentions that the language of Moldavians and other Vlach peoples was once Roman (Latin), as they all were colonies of the Roman Empire.
Thomas Thornton
(1762–1814) wrote a book in 1807 about his numerous travels inside the Ottoman Empire and says that the Wallachian and Moldavian peasants call themselves "Rumun, or Roman", to distinguish themselves from boyars (local nobles), and that their language is a corrupt Latin.
sponsored a book of homilies translated by Metropolitan Varlaam of Moldavia from Slavonic
into Romanian (pre limba Romeniască) and titled Carte Românească de Învăţătură (Romanian Book of Learning) . The foreword by Prince Lupu
says that it is addressed to the entire Romanian nation everywhere (la toată semenția românească de pretutindeni). The book, also known as "Cazania of Varlaam" (Varlaam's Homiliary), was the very first printed in Moldavia and large numbers of copies spread in the neighboring provinces inhabited by Romanian speakers. Furthermore, as a reaction to the translation in Transylvania of the Calvinist catechism into Romanian, Metropolitan Varlaam wrote in 1645 a "Response to the Calvinist Catechism" (Răspuns la Catehismul calvinesc) addressed to "the beloved Christians and with us one Romanian nation" from Transylvania Moldavian PrinceVasile Lupu
sponsored the printing in 1646 of the first code of laws in Moldavia titled Romanian Book of Learning (Carte românească de învăţătură de la pravilele împărăteşti şi de la alte giudeţe). The book was inspired by Byzantine tradition and in 1652 a virtually identical code of laws appeared in Wallachia, sponsored by Prince Matei Basarab
.
Moldavian Metropolitan Dosoftei
printed Dumnezaiasca Liturghie (Divine Liturgy) in Romanian (tiparita româneste). In his "Foreword to the Romanian nation" (Cuvânt depreuna catra semintia rumaneasca), Dosoftei calls the book a gift to the Romanian language (acest dar limbii rumânesti) translated from Greek (de pre elineasca) into Romanian (pre limba rumâneasca).
Later, after the annexation of Bessarabia by the Russian empire, religious books written in the region commonly called the language "Moldavian". Thus a menologium
printed in Chişinău in 1819 states it was translated from Slavonic into Moldavian (тълмъчиндуль де пре лимба Словенѣскъ пре чѣ Молдовенѣскъ), as does a typicon from 1821 (Сау тълмъчить Молдовенеще де пре чель Словенескь).
, Ruler of the Austrian Empire
and Catherine II, Empress of Russia between 1762–1796, were willing to unite Moldavia and Wallachia, then under Ottoman sovereignty, in order to create an independent buffer state between Russia and Austria. The proposed independent state, named Dacia
, would have been contained Moldavia, Bessarabia and Wallachia, but Catherine wished it under Russian influence as it was presented in the so-called "Greek Project". During the British Parliament debates of 1793, Mr. Whitebread, speaking about the initiative of France to erect an independent Belgium from Austro-Hungaria, mentions Edmund Burke's
initiative to form an independent state from the Ottoman Empire, named Circle of the Danube comprising Wallachia, Moldavia and Bessarabia.
Also, the memoirs of Sir James Porter
(1720–1786), British diplomat, ambassador to the Sublime Porte in Istanbul
from 1747 to 1762, mentions that, inside the Ottoman Empire
, next in number to the Slavonians are the Rumelians or Romani, to whom the Moldavians and Wallachians belong, who call themselves Rumuryi.
, called Bessarabia
, which includes the current territory of Republic of Moldova (except for Transnistria
) was ceded by the Ottomans to the Russian empire.
The idea of a unified state including all Romanian speakers from Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia did not emerge before the 18th century, as it was "foreign to the spirit of the age" Starting with the 18th century, a pan-Romanian national idea appeared, inspired by the German and French romantic nationalism
. The young boyar
s from Moldavia and Wallachia educated in western universities returned home with ambitious political goals to modernize their countries, and sought to accomplish the ideal of a unified Romanian nation state. One important step was achieved in 1859, in a favorable international context, with the election of Alexander John Cuza
as a common ruler of the autonomous principalities of Wallachia and (western) Moldavia. The newly formed Romanian state set among its primary tasks to inculcate the sentiment of belonging to a common Romanian nation to the illiterate rural majority through state-funded universal elementary school. The Romantic historical discourse reinterpreted history as a march towards the unified state. The creation of a standardized Romanian language and orthography, the adoption of the Roman alphabet to replace the older Cyrillic
were also important elements of the national project. Although still under foreign rule, the masses of Romanians in the multiethnic Transylvania developed a Romanian national consciousness, owing to their interaction with the ethnic groups, and as a reaction to the status of political inferiority and the aggressive nationalist politicies of the later Hungarian national state.
Such developments were not reflected in the Russian controlled Bessarabia. The Russification policy of the regime, more successful among the higher strata of the society, did not have an important effect on the majority of rural Moldavians. As Romanian politician Take Ionescu
noted at the time, "the Romanian landlords were Russified through a policy of cooptation, the government allowing them to maintain leading positions in the administration of the province, whereas the peasantry was indifferent to the national problem: there were no schools for de-nationalization, and, although the church service was held in Russian, this was actually of little significance" Furthermore, as University of Bucharest
lecturer Cristina Petrescu noted, Bessarabia missed "the reforms aimed at transforming the two united principalities [Wallachia and Moldavia] into a modern state" Irina Livezeanu claims that, moreover, at the beginning of the 20th century, peasants in all regions of the former principality of Moldavia were more likely to identify as Moldavians than the inhabitants of the cities.
In 1849, George Long writes that Wallachia and Moldavia are separated only by a political boundary and that their history is closely connected. About the latter he says that it is inhabited mainly by Wallachians who call themselves Roomoon (Romanian
). Ethnologist Robert Gordon Latham
, writes in 1854, that the name by which a Wallachian, Moldavian or a Bessarabian designates himself is Roman or Rumanyo (Romanian), a name the author also applies to the Romance speakers of Macedonia
. Similary, in 1845, German brothers Arthur Schott and Albert Schott (historian) write in the beginning of their book - Walachische Mährchen (Wallachian Fairy Tales) - that Wallachians
live in Wallachia, Moldavia, Transylvania, Hungary, Macedonia
and Thessaly
. The authors also mentions that Wallachians respond Eo sum Romanu (I am Romanian
) when asked what they are.
voted for the union
of Bessarabia with the Kingdom of Romania
. At the time, the Romanian army was already present in Bessarabia. US historian Charles Upson Clark
notes that several Bessarabian ministers, Codreanu, Pelivan and Secara, and the Russian commander-in-chief Shcherbachev had asked for its intervention to maintain order. He also mentions that after the arrival of Romanian army "all classes in Bessarabia, except the Russian revolutionaries, breathed a sigh of relief". However, he adds that, at the beginning, the intervention had "roused great resentment among those who still clung to the hope of a Bessarabian state within the Russian Federated Republic" such as Ion Inculet
, president of Sfatul Tarii
and prime-minister Pantelimon Erhan
who initially demanded the prompt withdrawal of the Romanian troops to avoid a civil war. However, Inculet later welcomed Romanian general Brosteanu, who was in charge with the intervention, to a formal reception at Sfatul Tarii
.
Given the complex circumstances, some scholars such as Cristina Petrescu and US historian Charles King
considered controversial the Bessarabian vote in favor of the union with Romania. On the contrary, historian Sorin Alexandrescu thinks that the presence of the Romanian army "did not cause the unification, [...] but only consolidated it".
. Similarly, Bernard Newman
, who traveled by bike in the whole of Greater Romania
, claimed there is little doubt that the vote represented the prevailing wish in Bessarabia and that the events leading to the unification indicate there was no question of a "seizure", but a voluntary act on the part of its people.
Quoting Emmanuel de Martonne, historian Irina Livezeanu
mentions that, around the time of the union, Bessarabian peasants "still called thesemlves Moldovans". She adds Ion Nistor
's explanation from 1915 of a similar earlier phenomenon in the Austrian-ruled Bukovina
, where peasants had called themselves Moldovans but "under the influence of the [Romanian] literary language, the term 'Moldovan' was then replaced by 'Romanian'", while "in Bessarabia this influence has not penetrated yet"
After the unification, a few French and Romanian military reports from the period mentioned the reticence or hostility of the Bessarabian ethnic minorities, at times together with Moldovans, towards the new Romanian administration. Livezeanu also notes that, at the beginning, the Moldovan urban elite educated under Russian rule spoke predominantly Russian, and despised Romania as "uncivilized" and the culture of its elite, of which it knew very little.
Owing partly to its relative underdevelopment compared to other regions of Greater Romania
, as well as to the low competence and corruption of some of the new Romanian administration in this province, the process of "turning Bessarabian peasants into Romanians" was less successful than in other regions and was soon to be disrupted by the Soviet occupation. Cristina Petrescu thinks that the transition between the Tsarist-type of local administration to the centralized Romanian administration alienated many Moldovans, and many of them felt they were rather occupied than united with "their alleged brothers". Based on the stories told by a group of Bessarabians from the villages of the Balti county, who, notably, chose to move to Romania rather than live under the Soviet regime, Cristina Petrescu suggests that Bessarabia seems to be only region of the Greater Romania where the central authorities did not succeed "in integrating their own coethnics", most of whom "did not even begin to consider themselves part of the Romanian nation, going beyond their allegiance to regional and local ties" .
, was incorporated into the USSR following an ultimatum sent to the Romanian government. The Soviet authorities took several steps to emphasize the distinction between the Moldovans and the Romanians, at times using the physical elimination of pan-Romanian supporters, deemed as "enemies of the people". They were repressed by the NKVD
and KGB
for their "bourgeois nationalism". The Soviet propaganda also sought to secure a separate status for the varieties of the Romanian language spoken in the USSR. Thus, it imposed the use of a Cyrillic script derived from the Russian alphabet, and promoted the exclusive use of the name "Moldovan language", forbidding the use of the name "Romanian language". The harsh anti-Romanian Soviet policy left a trace on the identity of Moldovans.
(called Moldovan
by the Constitution of 1994, also called Romanian or "the official language"/"limba de stat") is identical to standard Romanian. The spoken language of Moldova, in spite of small regional differences, is completely understandable to speakers from Romania and viceversa. The slight differences are in pronunciation and the choice of vocabulary. For example, cabbage
, drill
and water melon are respectively "curechi", "sfredel" and "harbuz" in Moldova and Moldavia (Romania), but their synonyms "varză", "burghiu" and "pepene" are preferred in Transylvania and Wallachia. However, Daco-Romanian
speakers might know and understand both forms of each term.
Moldovan is widely considered merely the political name used in the Republic of Moldova for the Romanian language.
, for whom the figures were 42% and 44%. The poll also shows that, compared to the national average (25%), people are more likely to perceive the two identities as the same or very similar if they are young (33%), are native speakers of Romanian (30%), have higher education (36%) or reside in urban areas (30%), especially in the capital city (42%).
Until 2007, some 120 000 Moldovan citizens received Romanian citizenship. In 2009, Romania granted 36 000 more citizenships and expects to increase the number up to 10 000 per month.
Romanian president Traian Băsescu
claimed that over 1 million more have made requests for it, and this high number is seen by some as a result of this identity controversy. The Communist government (2001–2009), a vocal advocate of a distinct Moldovan ethnic group, deemed multiple citizenship a threat to Moldovan statehood.
, the first Moldovan President (1992–1996), a somewhat versatile supporter of the common Romanian-Moldovan ethnic and linguistic identity
Vladimir Voronin
, President of Moldova (2001–2009), an adversary of the common Romanian-Moldovan ethnic identity, acknowledged at times the existence of a common language.
Mihai Ghimpu
, speaker of the Moldovan Parliament and interim president (2009–2010), a staunch supporter of the common Romanian-Moldovan ethnic identity:
Since "Moldovan" is widely considered merely a political term used to designate the Romanian language, the supporters of a distinct language are often regarded as anti-scientific or politicianist. A typical example is the Moldovan-Romanian dictionary
.
National identity
National identity is the person's identity and sense of belonging to one state or to one nation, a feeling one shares with a group of people, regardless of one's citizenship status....
and name of the native language of the main ethnic group in the Republic of Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
. The issue more frequently disputed is whether Moldovans
Moldovans
Moldovans or Moldavians are the largest population group of Moldova...
constitute a subgroup of Romanians
Romanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....
or a separate ethnic group. While there is wide agreement about the existence of a common language, the controversy persists about the use of the term "Moldovan language
Moldovan language
Moldovan is one of the names of the Romanian language as spoken in the Republic of Moldova, where it is official. The spoken language of Moldova is closer to the dialects of Romanian spoken in northeastern Romania, and the two countries share the same literary standard...
" in certain political contexts.
The Declaration of Independence of 1991 calls the official language "Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
", and the first anthem adopted by the independent Moldova was "Deşteaptă-te, române" ("Awaken, Romanian!"), the same as the anthem of Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
. Mirroring political evolutions in the country, the Constitution of Moldova (1994)
Constitution of Moldova (1994)
The Republic of Moldova Constitution of 1994 is the country's supreme law of the country since August 27, 1994.- History :It was adopted on July 29, 1994 by the Moldovan Parliament and published in Monitorul Oficial al R. Moldova, N1, July 18, 1994....
calls the official language "Moldovan" and establishes as anthem "Limba noastră
Limba noastra
For the Moldovan public holiday on 31st August, see National Language Day"Limba noastră" has been since 1994 the national anthem of the Republic of Moldova. For a short period before that, the official anthem of the country was Deşteaptă-te, române!, which is also the national anthem of Romania....
" (Our language, without any explicit reference to its name). Moreover, the 2003 "Law of Nationalities" adopted by the Communist-dominated Parliament explicitly designates the Romanians
Romanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....
as an ethnic minority in Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
.
The officially sanctioned distinction between Moldovans
Moldovans
Moldovans or Moldavians are the largest population group of Moldova...
and Romanians
Romanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....
has been criticized by some members of the scientific community within Moldova. and raised protests from certain segments of the population, especially intellectuals and students, at their turn inspired by several political forces.
Furthermore, the problem strained Moldova's diplomatic relations with neighboring Romania.
Principality of Moldavia (1359–1812)
Moldavian identity in medieval chronicles
The chronicles of medieval MoldaviaMoldavia
Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...
attested the names used by the inhabitants of Moldavia to refer to themselves as well as the common language and origin of Moldavians, Wallachians and Transylvanians. Stephen the Great
Stephen III of Moldavia
Stephen III of Moldavia was Prince of Moldavia between 1457 and 1504 and the most prominent representative of the House of Mușat.During his reign, he strengthened Moldavia and maintained its independence against the ambitions of Hungary, Poland, and the...
, Prince of Moldavia (1457–1504), had ordered a chronicle to be written by a German royal courtier. The chronicle covered the years 1457–1499 and was titled Dy Cronycke Des Stephen Woywoda auss Wallachey or The Chronicle of Stephen Voivode of Wallachia. The first important chronicler of Moldavia, Grigore Ureche
Grigore Ureche
Grigore Ureche was a Moldavian chronicler who wrote on Moldavian history in his Letopiseţul Ţării Moldovei , covering the period from 1359 to 1594....
(1590–1647), states that the Romanians of the Hungarian Kingdom and Moldavians have the same origin, since both "come from Rome". Later, chronicler Miron Costin
Miron Costin
Miron Costin was a Moldavian political figure and chronicler. His main work, Letopiseţul Ţărâi Moldovei [de la Aron Vodă încoace] was meant to extend Grigore Ureche's narrative, covering events from 1594 to 1660...
(1633–1691) wrote in one of his works that the "rightest and most authentic" name of Moldavians is Rumân (Romanian), a changed form of "Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
", and that this name was kept by them from the beginnings till to that day. He also mentioned that Moldavians never ask "do you speak Moldavian?", but rather "do you speak Romanian?". His son, chronicler Nicolae Costin
Nicolae Costin
Nicolae Costin was a Moldovan politician. He served as mayor of Chişinău .- Biography :...
(1660–1712), shared his father's opinion. The Wallachian chronicler Constantin Cantacuzino (1655–1716) explains that by Romanians he means Romanians from Wallachia, Transylvania, and Moldavia, as they all speak essentially the same language and have a common origin. A remarkable scholar, Dimitrie Cantemir
Dimitrie Cantemir
Dimitrie Cantemir was twice Prince of Moldavia . He was also a prolific man of letters – philosopher, historian, composer, musicologist, linguist, ethnographer, and geographer....
(1673–1723), Prince of Moldavia and member of the Royal Academy of Berlin, wrote a history book called Hronicul vechimei a Romano-Moldo-Vlahilor (Chronicle of the Ancientness of the Romanian-Moldavian-Vlachs). In the introductory part, he calls it "a chronicle of the entire Romanian land" (Hronicon a toată Ţara Românească) that "later was divided into Moldavia, Wallachia and Transylvania" (care apoi s-au împărţit în Moldova, Muntenească şi Ardealul) and mentions that the book was first written in Latin and then translated into Romanian (pre limba românească). He also claims that the usual name of Transylvanians, Moldavians and Wallachians is Romanian (carii cu toţii cu un nume de obşte români să chiamă).
Selected foreign travelers about Moldavians
Several foreign travelers through Moldavia since the 16th century noted that locals called themselves "Romanians" and their language "Romanian". They also mention the awareness of a common Roman origin among the inhabitants of Moldavia and neighbouring Wallachia and Transylvania . Georg Reicherstorffer (1495–1554), a Transylvanian Saxon, was the emissary of Ferdinand I of Habsburg in Wallachia and Moldavia. Reicherstorffer had traveled in 1527 and 1535 in the Principality of Moldavia and wrote his travel memoirs - Moldaviae quae olim Daciae pars, Chorographia (1541) and also Chorographia Transylvaniae(1550). Describing the geography of Moldavia he finds that "besides this name it is also called Wallachia" and then speaking about the Moldavian people he says that "the Roman [Italian] language still endures in this nation...so the Wallachians [from Moldavia] are an Italian nation, as they claim, from the old Romans". A chronicler and mercenary from Verona, Alessandro Guagnini (1538–1614), traveled twice in Moldavia and helped Despot Vodă (Ioan Iacob Heraclid) gain the throne in 1563. In his biography of the prince, "Vita despothi Principis Moldaviae", he described to the people of Moldavia:"This nation of Wallachians refer to themselves as Romana and say that they originate from exiled Romans of Italy. Their language is a mixture of Latin and Italian languages, so that an Italian can easily understand a Wallachian". After a visit to Moldavia an anonymous traveler, probably an Italian Jesuit, wrote in 1587 a description of the people and found that "these people [Moldavians] belong to the Greek faith, they take kindly to everything that is Roman, maybe because of their corrupted language from Latin, or for the belief they have about their descent from the Romans, as they call themselves Romans". Also, according to these sources, the Slav neighbours called Moldovans "VlachsVlachs
Vlach is a blanket term covering several modern Latin peoples descending from the Latinised population in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. English variations on the name include: Walla, Wlachs, Wallachs, Vlahs, Olahs or Ulahs...
" or "Volokhs", a term equally used to refer to all the Romance speakers from Wallachia, Transylvania, and the Balkan peninsula. Nicolaus Olahus
Nicolaus Olahus
Nicolaus Olahus ; January 10, 1493, Sibiu-January 15, 1568, Trnava/Nagyszombat) was the Archbishop of Esztergom, Primate of Hungary, and a distinguished Roman Catholic prelate.-Early life:...
(1493–1568), proeminent humanist
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
, writes in Hungaria et Attila that the Moldavians have the same language, rituals and religion as the Wallachians and that the only way to distinguish them is by their clothes. He also mentions that the language of Moldavians and other Vlach peoples was once Roman (Latin), as they all were colonies of the Roman Empire.
Thomas Thornton
Thomas Thornton (merchant)
Thomas Thornton was a British merchant in the Near East and writer on Turkey.-Life:Thornton was born in London, the eldest child of Thomas and Dorothy Thornton . Because his parents died when he was only 7 years, a family friend ensured the education at Christ's Hospital for Thornton and his four...
(1762–1814) wrote a book in 1807 about his numerous travels inside the Ottoman Empire and says that the Wallachian and Moldavian peasants call themselves "Rumun, or Roman", to distinguish themselves from boyars (local nobles), and that their language is a corrupt Latin.
Early works in the local language of Moldavia
Similarly, in 1643, The Moldavian Prince Vasile LupuVasile Lupu
Vasile Lupu was a Moldavian Voivode between 1634 and 1653. Vasile Coci surnamed "the wolf" who ruled as Prince of Moldavia had secured the Moldavian throne in 1634 after a series of complicated intrigues and managed to hold it for twenty years. Vasile was of Albanian origin and Greek education...
sponsored a book of homilies translated by Metropolitan Varlaam of Moldavia from Slavonic
Slavic languages
The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...
into Romanian (pre limba Romeniască) and titled Carte Românească de Învăţătură (Romanian Book of Learning) . The foreword by Prince Lupu
Vasile Lupu
Vasile Lupu was a Moldavian Voivode between 1634 and 1653. Vasile Coci surnamed "the wolf" who ruled as Prince of Moldavia had secured the Moldavian throne in 1634 after a series of complicated intrigues and managed to hold it for twenty years. Vasile was of Albanian origin and Greek education...
says that it is addressed to the entire Romanian nation everywhere (la toată semenția românească de pretutindeni). The book, also known as "Cazania of Varlaam" (Varlaam's Homiliary), was the very first printed in Moldavia and large numbers of copies spread in the neighboring provinces inhabited by Romanian speakers. Furthermore, as a reaction to the translation in Transylvania of the Calvinist catechism into Romanian, Metropolitan Varlaam wrote in 1645 a "Response to the Calvinist Catechism" (Răspuns la Catehismul calvinesc) addressed to "the beloved Christians and with us one Romanian nation" from Transylvania Moldavian PrinceVasile Lupu
Vasile Lupu
Vasile Lupu was a Moldavian Voivode between 1634 and 1653. Vasile Coci surnamed "the wolf" who ruled as Prince of Moldavia had secured the Moldavian throne in 1634 after a series of complicated intrigues and managed to hold it for twenty years. Vasile was of Albanian origin and Greek education...
sponsored the printing in 1646 of the first code of laws in Moldavia titled Romanian Book of Learning (Carte românească de învăţătură de la pravilele împărăteşti şi de la alte giudeţe). The book was inspired by Byzantine tradition and in 1652 a virtually identical code of laws appeared in Wallachia, sponsored by Prince Matei Basarab
Matei Basarab
Matei Basarab was a Wallachian Voivode between 1632 and 1654.-Reign:Much of Matei's reign was spent fighting off incursions from Moldavia, which he successfully accomplished in 1637, 1639, and 1653 - see Battle of Finta...
.
Moldavian Metropolitan Dosoftei
Dosoftei
Dimitrie Barilă, better known under his monastical name Dosoftei , was a Moldavian Metropolitan, scholar, poet and translator....
printed Dumnezaiasca Liturghie (Divine Liturgy) in Romanian (tiparita româneste). In his "Foreword to the Romanian nation" (Cuvânt depreuna catra semintia rumaneasca), Dosoftei calls the book a gift to the Romanian language (acest dar limbii rumânesti) translated from Greek (de pre elineasca) into Romanian (pre limba rumâneasca).
Later, after the annexation of Bessarabia by the Russian empire, religious books written in the region commonly called the language "Moldavian". Thus a menologium
Menologium
Menologion , also written menology and menologe, is a service-book used in the Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Rite of Constantinople.From its derivation, menologium means "month-set"; in other words, a book arranged according to the months...
printed in Chişinău in 1819 states it was translated from Slavonic into Moldavian (тълмъчиндуль де пре лимба Словенѣскъ пре чѣ Молдовенѣскъ), as does a typicon from 1821 (Сау тълмъчить Молдовенеще де пре чель Словенескь).
Diplomats' opinion
Joseph IIJoseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...
, Ruler of the Austrian Empire
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
and Catherine II, Empress of Russia between 1762–1796, were willing to unite Moldavia and Wallachia, then under Ottoman sovereignty, in order to create an independent buffer state between Russia and Austria. The proposed independent state, named Dacia
Dacia
In ancient geography, especially in Roman sources, Dacia was the land inhabited by the Dacians or Getae as they were known by the Greeks—the branch of the Thracians north of the Haemus range...
, would have been contained Moldavia, Bessarabia and Wallachia, but Catherine wished it under Russian influence as it was presented in the so-called "Greek Project". During the British Parliament debates of 1793, Mr. Whitebread, speaking about the initiative of France to erect an independent Belgium from Austro-Hungaria, mentions Edmund Burke's
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke PC was an Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist and philosopher who, after moving to England, served for many years in the House of Commons of Great Britain as a member of the Whig party....
initiative to form an independent state from the Ottoman Empire, named Circle of the Danube comprising Wallachia, Moldavia and Bessarabia.
Also, the memoirs of Sir James Porter
James Porter (English diplomat)
-Career:Porter was a business associate of Lord Carteret, and in 1741 joined the staff of the English embassy to Austria, in Vienna, and then became British ambassador to the Sublime Porte of the Ottoman Empire in Istanbul...
(1720–1786), British diplomat, ambassador to the Sublime Porte in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
from 1747 to 1762, mentions that, inside the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, next in number to the Slavonians are the Rumelians or Romani, to whom the Moldavians and Wallachians belong, who call themselves Rumuryi.
Bessarabia in the Russian Empire (1812–1918)
In 1812, the eastern part of the Principality of MoldaviaMoldavia
Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...
, called Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
, which includes the current territory of Republic of Moldova (except for Transnistria
Transnistria
Transnistria is a breakaway territory located mostly on a strip of land between the Dniester River and the eastern Moldovan border to Ukraine...
) was ceded by the Ottomans to the Russian empire.
The idea of a unified state including all Romanian speakers from Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia did not emerge before the 18th century, as it was "foreign to the spirit of the age" Starting with the 18th century, a pan-Romanian national idea appeared, inspired by the German and French romantic nationalism
Romantic nationalism
Romantic nationalism is the form of nationalism in which the state derives its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs...
. The young boyar
Boyar
A boyar, or bolyar , was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Moscovian, Kievan Rus'ian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, and Moldavian aristocracies, second only to the ruling princes , from the 10th century through the 17th century....
s from Moldavia and Wallachia educated in western universities returned home with ambitious political goals to modernize their countries, and sought to accomplish the ideal of a unified Romanian nation state. One important step was achieved in 1859, in a favorable international context, with the election of Alexander John Cuza
Alexander John Cuza
Alexander John Cuza was a Moldavian-born Romanian politician who ruled as the first Domnitor of the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia between 1859 and 1866.-Early life:...
as a common ruler of the autonomous principalities of Wallachia and (western) Moldavia. The newly formed Romanian state set among its primary tasks to inculcate the sentiment of belonging to a common Romanian nation to the illiterate rural majority through state-funded universal elementary school. The Romantic historical discourse reinterpreted history as a march towards the unified state. The creation of a standardized Romanian language and orthography, the adoption of the Roman alphabet to replace the older Cyrillic
Romanian Cyrillic alphabet
The Romanian Cyrillic alphabet was used to write the Romanian language before 1860–1862, when it was officially replaced by a Latin-based Romanian alphabet. Cyrillic remained in occasional use until circa 1920...
were also important elements of the national project. Although still under foreign rule, the masses of Romanians in the multiethnic Transylvania developed a Romanian national consciousness, owing to their interaction with the ethnic groups, and as a reaction to the status of political inferiority and the aggressive nationalist politicies of the later Hungarian national state.
Such developments were not reflected in the Russian controlled Bessarabia. The Russification policy of the regime, more successful among the higher strata of the society, did not have an important effect on the majority of rural Moldavians. As Romanian politician Take Ionescu
Take Ionescu
Take or Tache Ionescu was a Romanian centrist politician, journalist, lawyer and diplomat, who also enjoyed reputation as a short story author. Starting his political career as a radical member of the National Liberal Party , he joined the Conservative Party in 1891, and became noted as a social...
noted at the time, "the Romanian landlords were Russified through a policy of cooptation, the government allowing them to maintain leading positions in the administration of the province, whereas the peasantry was indifferent to the national problem: there were no schools for de-nationalization, and, although the church service was held in Russian, this was actually of little significance" Furthermore, as University of Bucharest
University of Bucharest
The University of Bucharest , in Romania, is a university founded in 1864 by decree of Prince Alexander John Cuza to convert the former Saint Sava Academy into the current University of Bucharest.-Presentation:...
lecturer Cristina Petrescu noted, Bessarabia missed "the reforms aimed at transforming the two united principalities [Wallachia and Moldavia] into a modern state" Irina Livezeanu claims that, moreover, at the beginning of the 20th century, peasants in all regions of the former principality of Moldavia were more likely to identify as Moldavians than the inhabitants of the cities.
In 1849, George Long writes that Wallachia and Moldavia are separated only by a political boundary and that their history is closely connected. About the latter he says that it is inhabited mainly by Wallachians who call themselves Roomoon (Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
). Ethnologist Robert Gordon Latham
Robert Gordon Latham
Robert Gordon Latham FRS was an ethnologist and philologist.Born at Billingborough, Lincolnshire, Latham studied philology in Scandinavia. He graduated from King's College, Cambridge in 1833, becoming a Fellow of King's...
, writes in 1854, that the name by which a Wallachian, Moldavian or a Bessarabian designates himself is Roman or Rumanyo (Romanian), a name the author also applies to the Romance speakers of Macedonia
Macedonia (region)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, but nowadays the region is considered to include parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, as...
. Similary, in 1845, German brothers Arthur Schott and Albert Schott (historian) write in the beginning of their book - Walachische Mährchen (Wallachian Fairy Tales) - that Wallachians
Vlachs
Vlach is a blanket term covering several modern Latin peoples descending from the Latinised population in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. English variations on the name include: Walla, Wlachs, Wallachs, Vlahs, Olahs or Ulahs...
live in Wallachia, Moldavia, Transylvania, Hungary, Macedonia
Macedonia (region)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, but nowadays the region is considered to include parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, as...
and Thessaly
Thessaly
Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....
. The authors also mentions that Wallachians respond Eo sum Romanu (I am Romanian
Romanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....
) when asked what they are.
Bessarabia within Greater Romania (1918–1940)
In 1918, Sfatul ŢăriiSfatul Tarii
Sfatul Țării was, in 1917-1918, the National Assembly of the Governorate of Bessarabia of the disintegrating Russian Empire, which proclaimed the independent Moldavian Democratic Republic in December 1917, and then union with Romania in April 1918.-Russian participation in World War I:In August...
voted for the union
Union of Bessarabia with Romania
On , the Sfatul Ţării, or National Council, of Bessarabia proclaimed union with the Kingdom of Romania.-Governorate of Bessarabia:The 1812 Treaty of Bucharest between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empires provided for Russian annexation of the eastern half of the territory of the Principality...
of Bessarabia with the Kingdom of Romania
Kingdom of Romania
The Kingdom of Romania was the Romanian state based on a form of parliamentary monarchy between 13 March 1881 and 30 December 1947, specified by the first three Constitutions of Romania...
. At the time, the Romanian army was already present in Bessarabia. US historian Charles Upson Clark
Charles Upson Clark
Charles Upson Clark was a professor of history at Columbia University. He discovered the Barberini Codex, the earliest Aztec writings on herbal medicines extant.-Biography:...
notes that several Bessarabian ministers, Codreanu, Pelivan and Secara, and the Russian commander-in-chief Shcherbachev had asked for its intervention to maintain order. He also mentions that after the arrival of Romanian army "all classes in Bessarabia, except the Russian revolutionaries, breathed a sigh of relief". However, he adds that, at the beginning, the intervention had "roused great resentment among those who still clung to the hope of a Bessarabian state within the Russian Federated Republic" such as Ion Inculet
Ion Inculet
Ion C. Inculeț was a Bessarabian politician and the president of the Moldavian Democratic Republic. Also, he was a minister in Romania.-Early career:...
, president of Sfatul Tarii
Sfatul Tarii
Sfatul Țării was, in 1917-1918, the National Assembly of the Governorate of Bessarabia of the disintegrating Russian Empire, which proclaimed the independent Moldavian Democratic Republic in December 1917, and then union with Romania in April 1918.-Russian participation in World War I:In August...
and prime-minister Pantelimon Erhan
Pantelimon Erhan
Pantelimon Erhan was a Moldovan politician and prime minister of the Moldavian Democratic Republic .-Biography:Pantelimon Erhan was born in 1884 in Tănătari, Căuşeni District...
who initially demanded the prompt withdrawal of the Romanian troops to avoid a civil war. However, Inculet later welcomed Romanian general Brosteanu, who was in charge with the intervention, to a formal reception at Sfatul Tarii
Sfatul Tarii
Sfatul Țării was, in 1917-1918, the National Assembly of the Governorate of Bessarabia of the disintegrating Russian Empire, which proclaimed the independent Moldavian Democratic Republic in December 1917, and then union with Romania in April 1918.-Russian participation in World War I:In August...
.
Given the complex circumstances, some scholars such as Cristina Petrescu and US historian Charles King
Charles King (author)
Charles King is Professor of International Affairs and Government at Georgetown University, where he previously served as Chairman of the Faculty of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service....
considered controversial the Bessarabian vote in favor of the union with Romania. On the contrary, historian Sorin Alexandrescu thinks that the presence of the Romanian army "did not cause the unification, [...] but only consolidated it".
. Similarly, Bernard Newman
Bernard Newman (author)
Bernard Charles Newman was a British author of over 100 books, both fiction and non-fiction. An historian, he was considered an authority on spies, but also wrote travel books and on politics. His fiction included children's books, mystery novels and science fiction.-Biography:Bernard Newman was...
, who traveled by bike in the whole of Greater Romania
Greater Romania
The Greater Romania generally refers to the territory of Romania in the years between the First World War and the Second World War, the largest geographical extent of Romania up to that time and its largest peacetime extent ever ; more precisely, it refers to the territory of the Kingdom of...
, claimed there is little doubt that the vote represented the prevailing wish in Bessarabia and that the events leading to the unification indicate there was no question of a "seizure", but a voluntary act on the part of its people.
Quoting Emmanuel de Martonne, historian Irina Livezeanu
Irina Livezeanu
Irina Livezeanu is a Romanian-born American historian. Her research interests include Eastern Europe, Eastern European Jewry, the Holocaust in Eastern Europe, and modern nationalism. Several of her publications deal with the history of Romania, Moldova, and Bessarabia. Since 1996, she is Associate...
mentions that, around the time of the union, Bessarabian peasants "still called thesemlves Moldovans". She adds Ion Nistor
Ion Nistor
Ion Nistor was a prominent Romanian historian and politician. He was a member of the Romanian Academy after 1911, and served as administrator of its Library.-Biography:...
's explanation from 1915 of a similar earlier phenomenon in the Austrian-ruled Bukovina
Bukovina
Bukovina is a historical region on the northern slopes of the northeastern Carpathian Mountains and the adjoining plains.-Name:The name Bukovina came into official use in 1775 with the region's annexation from the Principality of Moldavia to the possessions of the Habsburg Monarchy, which became...
, where peasants had called themselves Moldovans but "under the influence of the [Romanian] literary language, the term 'Moldovan' was then replaced by 'Romanian'", while "in Bessarabia this influence has not penetrated yet"
After the unification, a few French and Romanian military reports from the period mentioned the reticence or hostility of the Bessarabian ethnic minorities, at times together with Moldovans, towards the new Romanian administration. Livezeanu also notes that, at the beginning, the Moldovan urban elite educated under Russian rule spoke predominantly Russian, and despised Romania as "uncivilized" and the culture of its elite, of which it knew very little.
Owing partly to its relative underdevelopment compared to other regions of Greater Romania
Greater Romania
The Greater Romania generally refers to the territory of Romania in the years between the First World War and the Second World War, the largest geographical extent of Romania up to that time and its largest peacetime extent ever ; more precisely, it refers to the territory of the Kingdom of...
, as well as to the low competence and corruption of some of the new Romanian administration in this province, the process of "turning Bessarabian peasants into Romanians" was less successful than in other regions and was soon to be disrupted by the Soviet occupation. Cristina Petrescu thinks that the transition between the Tsarist-type of local administration to the centralized Romanian administration alienated many Moldovans, and many of them felt they were rather occupied than united with "their alleged brothers". Based on the stories told by a group of Bessarabians from the villages of the Balti county, who, notably, chose to move to Romania rather than live under the Soviet regime, Cristina Petrescu suggests that Bessarabia seems to be only region of the Greater Romania where the central authorities did not succeed "in integrating their own coethnics", most of whom "did not even begin to consider themselves part of the Romanian nation, going beyond their allegiance to regional and local ties" .
Bessarabia within the Soviet Union (1940–1992)
In 1940, Bessarabia, along with northern BukovinaBukovina
Bukovina is a historical region on the northern slopes of the northeastern Carpathian Mountains and the adjoining plains.-Name:The name Bukovina came into official use in 1775 with the region's annexation from the Principality of Moldavia to the possessions of the Habsburg Monarchy, which became...
, was incorporated into the USSR following an ultimatum sent to the Romanian government. The Soviet authorities took several steps to emphasize the distinction between the Moldovans and the Romanians, at times using the physical elimination of pan-Romanian supporters, deemed as "enemies of the people". They were repressed by the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
and KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
for their "bourgeois nationalism". The Soviet propaganda also sought to secure a separate status for the varieties of the Romanian language spoken in the USSR. Thus, it imposed the use of a Cyrillic script derived from the Russian alphabet, and promoted the exclusive use of the name "Moldovan language", forbidding the use of the name "Romanian language". The harsh anti-Romanian Soviet policy left a trace on the identity of Moldovans.
Linguistic dispute
There is essentially no disagreement that the standard form of the official language in MoldovaMoldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
(called Moldovan
Moldovan language
Moldovan is one of the names of the Romanian language as spoken in the Republic of Moldova, where it is official. The spoken language of Moldova is closer to the dialects of Romanian spoken in northeastern Romania, and the two countries share the same literary standard...
by the Constitution of 1994, also called Romanian or "the official language"/"limba de stat") is identical to standard Romanian. The spoken language of Moldova, in spite of small regional differences, is completely understandable to speakers from Romania and viceversa. The slight differences are in pronunciation and the choice of vocabulary. For example, cabbage
Cabbage
Cabbage is a popular cultivar of the species Brassica oleracea Linne of the Family Brassicaceae and is a leafy green vegetable...
, drill
Drill
A drill or drill motor is a tool fitted with a cutting tool attachment or driving tool attachment, usually a drill bit or driver bit, used for drilling holes in various materials or fastening various materials together with the use of fasteners. The attachment is gripped by a chuck at one end of...
and water melon are respectively "curechi", "sfredel" and "harbuz" in Moldova and Moldavia (Romania), but their synonyms "varză", "burghiu" and "pepene" are preferred in Transylvania and Wallachia. However, Daco-Romanian
Daco-Romanian
Daco-Romanian is the term used to identify the Romanian language in contexts where distinction needs to be made between the various Eastern Romance languages...
speakers might know and understand both forms of each term.
Moldovan is widely considered merely the political name used in the Republic of Moldova for the Romanian language.
Popular perception
A poll conducted in Moldova by IMAS-Inc Chişinău in October 2009 presented a somewhat detailed picture of the perception of identity inside the country. The participants were asked to rate the relationship between the identity of Moldovans and that of Romanians on a scale between 1 (entirely the same) to 5 (completely different). The poll shows that 26% of the entire sample, which includes all ethnic groups, claim the two identities are the same or very similar, whereas 47% claim they are different or entirely different. The results vary significantly among different categories of subjects. For instance, 33% of the young respondents (ages 18–29) chose the same or very similar, and 44% different or very different. Among the senior respondents (aged over 60), the corresponding figures were 18.5% and 53%. One of the largest deviation from the country average was among the residents of capital ChişinăuChisinau
Chișinău is the capital and largest municipality of Moldova. It is also its main industrial and commercial centre and is located in the middle of the country, on the river Bîc...
, for whom the figures were 42% and 44%. The poll also shows that, compared to the national average (25%), people are more likely to perceive the two identities as the same or very similar if they are young (33%), are native speakers of Romanian (30%), have higher education (36%) or reside in urban areas (30%), especially in the capital city (42%).
Until 2007, some 120 000 Moldovan citizens received Romanian citizenship. In 2009, Romania granted 36 000 more citizenships and expects to increase the number up to 10 000 per month.
Romanian president Traian Băsescu
Traian Basescu
Traian Băsescu is the current President of Romania. After serving as the mayor of Bucharest from June 2000 until December 2004, he was elected president in the Romanian Presidential Elections of 2004 and inaugurated on December 20, 2004...
claimed that over 1 million more have made requests for it, and this high number is seen by some as a result of this identity controversy. The Communist government (2001–2009), a vocal advocate of a distinct Moldovan ethnic group, deemed multiple citizenship a threat to Moldovan statehood.
Political positions
The major Moldovan political forces have diverging opinions regarding the identity of Moldovans. This contradiction is reflected in their stance toward the national history that should be taught in Moldovans schools. Forces such as the Liberal Party (PL), Liberal Democratic Party (PLDM) and Our Moldova Alliance (AMN) support the teaching of the history of Romanians. Others, such as the Democratic Party (PD) and the Party of Communists (PCRM) support the history of Republic of Moldova.Moldovan presidents on the language and identity of Moldovans
Mircea SnegurMircea Snegur
Mircea Ion Snegur was the first President of Moldova 1990-1996. Before that he was Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet 1989-1990 and Chairman of the Supreme Soviet from 27 April to 3 September 1990...
, the first Moldovan President (1992–1996), a somewhat versatile supporter of the common Romanian-Moldovan ethnic and linguistic identity
"În suflet eram (şi sunt) mai român decât mulţi dintre învinuitori."
"In my soul I was (and am) more Romanian than most of my accusers."
Vladimir Voronin
Vladimir Voronin
Vladimir Nicolaevici Voronin is a Moldovan politician. He was the third President of Moldova from 2001 until 2009 and has been the First Secretary of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova since 1994...
, President of Moldova (2001–2009), an adversary of the common Romanian-Moldovan ethnic identity, acknowledged at times the existence of a common language.
«Limba moldovenească este de fapt mama limbii române. S-o numeşti română înseamnă să înşeli istoria şi să-ţi nedreptăţeşti propria mamă.»
"Moldovan is in fact the mother of the Romanian language. To call it Romanian is to betray history and to commit injustice to your own mother."
"Vorbim aceeaşi limba, chiar dacă o numim diferit."
"We speak the same language [in Romania and Moldova], even though we call it differently."
Mihai Ghimpu
Mihai Ghimpu
Mihai Ghimpu Mihai Ghimpu Mihai Ghimpu (born 19 November 1951, Coloniţa, Moldova, is a Moldovan politician. He was Speaker of Parliament from 28 August 2009 to 30 December 2010 and Acting President from 11 September 2009 until 28 December 2010.-Family:...
, speaker of the Moldovan Parliament and interim president (2009–2010), a staunch supporter of the common Romanian-Moldovan ethnic identity:
"Dar ce am câştigat având la conducere oameni care ştiau că limba e română şi că noi suntem români, dar au recunoscut acest adevăr doar după ce au plecat de la guvernare? Eu nu am venit să manipulez cetăţenii, ci să le spun adevărul."
"What have we gained having as leaders people who knew that the language is Romanian and that we are Romanians, but acknowledged this truth only after they left office? I have not come to manipulate the citizens, but to tell them the truth."
Moldovanism
The Soviet attempts, which started after 1924 and were fully implemented after 1940, to strongly emphasize the local Moldovan identity and transform it into a separate ethnicity, as well as its reiteration in the post-independence Moldovan politics, especially during the Communist government (2001–2009), is often referred to as Moldovanism. The Moldovanist position refutes the purported Romanian-Moldovan ethnic identity, and also at times the existence of a common language. US historian James Stuart Olson, in his book - An Ethnohistorical dictionary of the Russian and Soviet empires - considers that Moldavians and Romanians are so closely related to the Romanian language, ethnicity and historical development that they can be considered one and the same people.Since "Moldovan" is widely considered merely a political term used to designate the Romanian language, the supporters of a distinct language are often regarded as anti-scientific or politicianist. A typical example is the Moldovan-Romanian dictionary
Moldovan-Romanian dictionary
The Moldovan–Romanian dictionary is a dictionary compiled by Vasile Stati and published in Chişinău, Moldova in 2003 that contains 19,000 Moldovan words that are explained in Romanian...
.
See also
- A language is a dialect with an army and navyA language is a dialect with an army and navy"A language is a dialect with an army and navy" is a description of the distinction between dialect and language. It points out the influence that political conditions can have over a community's perception of the status of a language or dialect...
- Movement for the unification of Romania and Moldova
- The case of Moldova is not singular. For instance, similar controversies exist in some republics originating from the former YugoslaviaYugoslaviaYugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
. In spite of their linguistic and religious identity, there is a question whether Montenegrin and SerbianSerbsThe Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
are the same or different ethnic groups. In most such cases, the tension seems to be between a stronger local identity and a weaker but wider identity. The questions are not solely cultural, but also political.