Romania -- Description and travel; Romania -- History
On the other hand, when we come to examine the words of barbarian
origin, we find that they relate to the character of the dominant race
and their rule over the natives. If we take, for example, the words of
Magyar or Hungarian origin, we find them to denote war, conquest,
mining, taxation, punishment, &c., such as _baia_, mine; _bănui_,
repent, rue; _bereǔ_, a wood; _bicao_, fetters (on the feet); *_bir_,
poll-tax; _birâu_, a judge; _bitangu_, wandering about; _bucni_, to
strike; _buzdugány_, war-club; _cătănie_, soldiers, soldiers' habits;
_cheltúi_, to give or spend lavishly; _făgădău_, drink-shop; _giulus_,
the Reichstag, or national assembly; _hodnogiǔ_, lieutenant (from _had_,
war); _hotar_, boundary; *_lanțĭǔ_, chain; _odorbireu_, headsman;
*_tábără_, camp, war, army; _varda_, watch-house; and so on.[68]
Besides these words and phrases derived from the Latin and barbarian
languages, there are others relating to ecclesiastical matters imported
from the Greek; indeed, an examination of the language is itself an
interesting historical study, and if now we turn to the arts and customs
of the Roumanians, we find the same interesting relations with her past
history.
Of the music of the Laoutari we have already spoken. It is weird and
plaintive, and no one who has listened attentively to the airs played by
some of those bands can have failed to be struck with their 'telling'
character, how they give vent alternately to feelings of joy and sorrow,
of mourning and rejoicing, and, like the music of Poland, &c., call to
mind the conquered condition of the people in the past. As with the
music, so with the dances. A writer, to whom we shall refer later on, M.
Opitz, described the 'Hora,' the national dance of the Roumanians, as
being illustrative of their conquered condition, and a recent acute
observer has left us his impressions on the same subject.
'I remember one dance (says he) of which I forget the name, but
which pleased me exceedingly. After the dancers had gone one or two
paces in pairs in a circle, the men separated from the women. The
latter moved singly round the men, as though they were seeking some
object dear to them. The men then drew together and moved their
feet like marching soldiers; next using their long sticks, they
made irregular springs and uttered loud cries, as though they were
engaged in battle. The women wandered about like shadows. At last
the men with joyful gestures rushed towards them as though they had
found them after great danger, led them back into the circle, and
danced with joy and animation. Here we see how mighty is tradition.
This dance is a complete poem! Who knows of what long-forgotten
incursion of the barbarians it is a reminiscence?'[69]
[Illustration: THE 'HORA,' NATIONAL DANCE OF ROUMANIA.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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