The names for the Romanians in Gesta Hungarorum and what surrounds them
Part 1
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18349/MagyarNyelv.2021.1.10Keywords:
Gesta Hungarorum, Romanians, ethnonyms, xenonyms, vlach, oláh, olaszAbstract
The three names for Vlachs (plur. Blachii, Blasii, Blaci) used by Anonymus (the anonymous notary of King Béla III), by removing the Latin endings, are actually the ethnonyms Blach (not Blachi), Blas (not Blasi) and Blac. None of them is a Hungarian language form (>oláh), and none of them can be directly related to the Slavic form, vlach (plur. vlasi > olasz). The author of the Gesta Hungarorum, who acted in official affairs not only when he was a notary but also in later times, could use his information in writing his chronicle. Anonymus refers to the lord of Transylvania, Gelou, as the prince of the Vlachs (dux Blacorum), which is in harmony with the fact that the form Blaci was used to denote the Vlachs of southern Transylvania in the charters of King Andrew II. Considering that the Latin literacy of Hungary was influenced by the papal chancellery, it is not surprising that the phrase Bulgarii et Blachii was modelled on the terms used in the papal chancellery, especially in the letters of Pope Innocent III, in which Bulgarians and Vlachs appear together (Bulgaria et Blachia, Bulgarorum et Blachorum, etc.). Anonymus borrowed the phrase Cumanorum et Bulgarorum atque Blacorum from a circular letter of the Latin emperor Henry of Flanders, which was also sent to the court of King Andrew II in 1213. The name Blas, which corresponds to the name used in French writings on the Fourth Crusade to denote Balkan Vlachs, was used for the Transylvanian Vlachs by Anonymus, who was in contact with the Walloon and French-speaking settlers in Hungary. The chronicler probably drew the three names in question from the sources of the first two decades of the 13th century.
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