Historical names of Transylvania
Transylvania has had different
names applied to it in several traditions.
The first document in which the
Medieval Latin term
Ultra siluam ("beyond the forest") is used in reference to the area dates from
1075. The term
Partes Transsylvanæ ("parts beyond the forest") dates from the same century (used in
Legenda Sancti Gerhardi, and subsequently, as
Transsilvania by Medieval Latin documents compiled in the
Kingdom of Hungary).
The names of
Ardeal in
Romanian and
Erdély in
Hungarian are believed to be connected. However, the original source and meaning are disputed and claimed by both Romanians and Hungarians.
The first Hungarian form recorded was
Erdeuelu (12th century, in the
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").
Hungarian view
The consensus of Hungarian linguists and Hungarian historians on the etymology of both
Erdély and
Transylvania is as follows:
* The modern Hungarian form
Erdély was derived from
Erdő-elve ("beyond the forest").
Erdő comes from the Hungarian
ered ("to originate from"). According to some sources, the
elve suffix is itself a derivative of the older form
elü (Benkő, Kiss & Papp 1984).
* The Medieval 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) (Engel 2001).
* The Romanian form
Ardeal was probably derived from an old Hungarian form,
Ardó/
Erdő "forest"; cf.
Végardó).
Romanian view
Several Romanian perspectives argue that the meaning of the term is unknown, and have suggested alternative etymologies:
* origins may lie in the
Roman Empire province name of
Dacia Aureliana, set up by Roman Emperor
Aurelian in the
3rd century(with
Aureliana having turned into both "Ardeal", and "Erdély").
*
arde appears to be an
Indo-European (
Proto-Indo-European language) word meaning "forest" (akin to the meanings of
Arden and the
Ardennes).
*
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 fires started by
Vlach 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.
There exist a number of theories on the etymology of
Siebenbürgen, the
German name for Transylvania.
The most widely accepted theory is that
Siebenbürgen refers to the seven principal fortified towns of the
Transylvanian Saxons. The name first appeared in a document from
1296. An alternate Medieval Latin version,
Septem Castra ("Seven fortresses") was also used in documents. The towns alluded to are: Bistritz (
Bistriţa, Beszterce), Hermannstadt (
Sibiu, Nagyszeben), Klausenburg (
Cluj-Napoca, Kolozsvár), Kronstadt (
Braşov, Brassó), Mediasch (
Mediaş, Medgyes), Mühlbach (
Sebeş, Szászsebes), and Schässburg (
Sighişoara, Segesvár).
Other theories include:
*
Siebenbürgen means "Seven Castles" but does not refer to the towns of the
Transylvanian Saxons . Transylvania and the Maros valley seem to have been the first portion of land within the Carpathians where Magyars gained a foothold. According to legend, each of the seven Magyar chieftains erected an earthen 'castle' in this region (Kontler 1999).
*
Siebenbürgen means explicitly "Seven Towns" or "Seven Castles". However, this etymology seems to originate in the dialectical tradition of the first, mainly Low German, Flemish and Dutch settlers, in whose homelands there are hilly regions called "Zevenbergen" (in southern Holland) and "Sevenbergen" (east of the town of Hameln on the river Weser, Germany) (Popa 1996).
* Saxon settlement in Transylvania began in
Sibiu. An early German name for the town was
Cibinburg (akin to the
Cibiniensis Latin name of the area). The alternate name
Cibinburg was corrupted into
Siebenbürgen, and became the name for the whole region (Engel 2001).
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 translations of the German one.
* Benkő Loránd, Kiss Lajos & Papp László (1984).
A magyar nyelv történeti-etimológiai szótára, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó. ISBN 9630538105
* Engel, Pál (2001).
Realm of St.Stephen: History of Medieval Hungary, 895-1526 (International Library of Historial Studies), London: I.B Taurus. ISBN 1860640613
* Kontler, László (1999).
A History of Hungary: Millennium in Central Europe, Budapest: Atlantisz. ISBN 9639165379
* Popa, Klaus (1996).
"An Outline of Transilvanian-Saxon History" retrieved
August 9,
2006
