At their coming on the seashore of Pontus Euxinus, starting with the seventh
century BC., the Greek colonists called the Getic province Mικρά Σκυθία (Micra
Scythia), which the conquering Romans translated into Scythia Minor, which
lasted throughout the whole period of Antiquity and the beginning of the Middle
Ages in the Balkans. It was an artificial name, which the autochthonous population
did not use, but which, in the manner of other names, circulated in administration,
history and geography and nautical books. It disappeared when, at the end of the 1st
millennium AD, the Byzantine Empire, defeated and obliterated the Bulgarian
Empire of King Simeon. Pushing the border to the Danube, the empire regained
the province and organized it administratively as the thema of Paristrion or
Paradunavion, after the name of the river in its Greek and Latin pronunciation
respectively. We recognize in these names two derived nouns, with the following
structure: the prefix/the preposition para (demanding the genitive case) + the
lexical root Istr(os)/Dunav + desinence -ion. This name lasted from the year 1000
(approximately) until 1417, when the province was conquered by the Turks and
incorporated into the Ottoman Empire.
During the four centuries when it bore these official names, the province was
also known White Wallachia or Asen’s Walalchia, in the chronicles of the French
crusaders Guillaume de Rubrouquis (1253) and Geoffroy de Villehardouin (1212),
both terms being bookish (Petris ¸or 1965: 434). In the fourteenth century,
Leunclavius calls it Dobritza and Dobritze (435).
Leaving aside other fanciful etymologies, we should mention that some prestigious Romanian philologists and historians, such as Vasile Bogrea, Nicolae Iorga,
Radu Vulpe, Constantin Bra ˘tescu, Nicolae Ba ˘nescu, believe that Dobrogea has its
etymon in the name of Dobrotic ˇ, despot of the whole province from 1354 to 1386,
before coming under the rule of Mircea the Elderly, and was then conquered by the
Turks (Petrișor 1965: 435).
Our intervention in the above-mentioned work came after we studied the article
of the linguist Vasile Bogrea (1921, II: 33), who, although a defender of the
Dobrotic ˇ etymon, gives a detail, as a matter of mere curiosity, namely that the
wife of Svyatoslav, Prince of Kiev, who fought in favor of Byzantium against
Simeon, the Bulgarian king, was called Dobrodeja. Although there are some
difficulties to explain, especially the final part of the word, we thought that this
name might be the much-searched for etymon, considering that, after entering into
the possession of the Ottoman Porte, Dobrudja was the apanage of another woman
of high rank, Valide Sultan (mother -sultana) (Bogrea 1921, II: 33).
Not long after that, we saw the closeness between the two names as a simple
paronymy, because the passing of de from Dobrodeja to g˘e could not convincingly
accounted for, either in the Ukrainian that was spoken in Kiev, or in Romanian. Our
mistrust in the Dobrotic ˇ etymon turned into conviction, when we reread the travel
journal of Idrisi,
14 who, during his lifetime (1110–1164), passed through the
province and made a stopover in „Bergean”, on his way to Kiev. This happened
14 In our article of 1965, we treated the information of Idrisi superficially, as a mere curiosity.
34
M. Petris ¸or
century BC., the Greek colonists called the Getic province Mικρά Σκυθία (Micra
Scythia), which the conquering Romans translated into Scythia Minor, which
lasted throughout the whole period of Antiquity and the beginning of the Middle
Ages in the Balkans. It was an artificial name, which the autochthonous population
did not use, but which, in the manner of other names, circulated in administration,
history and geography and nautical books. It disappeared when, at the end of the 1st
millennium AD, the Byzantine Empire, defeated and obliterated the Bulgarian
Empire of King Simeon. Pushing the border to the Danube, the empire regained
the province and organized it administratively as the thema of Paristrion or
Paradunavion, after the name of the river in its Greek and Latin pronunciation
respectively. We recognize in these names two derived nouns, with the following
structure: the prefix/the preposition para (demanding the genitive case) + the
lexical root Istr(os)/Dunav + desinence -ion. This name lasted from the year 1000
(approximately) until 1417, when the province was conquered by the Turks and
incorporated into the Ottoman Empire.
During the four centuries when it bore these official names, the province was
also known White Wallachia or Asen’s Walalchia, in the chronicles of the French
crusaders Guillaume de Rubrouquis (1253) and Geoffroy de Villehardouin (1212),
both terms being bookish (Petris ¸or 1965: 434). In the fourteenth century,
Leunclavius calls it Dobritza and Dobritze (435).
Leaving aside other fanciful etymologies, we should mention that some prestigious Romanian philologists and historians, such as Vasile Bogrea, Nicolae Iorga,
Radu Vulpe, Constantin Bra ˘tescu, Nicolae Ba ˘nescu, believe that Dobrogea has its
etymon in the name of Dobrotic ˇ, despot of the whole province from 1354 to 1386,
before coming under the rule of Mircea the Elderly, and was then conquered by the
Turks (Petrișor 1965: 435).
Our intervention in the above-mentioned work came after we studied the article
of the linguist Vasile Bogrea (1921, II: 33), who, although a defender of the
Dobrotic ˇ etymon, gives a detail, as a matter of mere curiosity, namely that the
wife of Svyatoslav, Prince of Kiev, who fought in favor of Byzantium against
Simeon, the Bulgarian king, was called Dobrodeja. Although there are some
difficulties to explain, especially the final part of the word, we thought that this
name might be the much-searched for etymon, considering that, after entering into
the possession of the Ottoman Porte, Dobrudja was the apanage of another woman
of high rank, Valide Sultan (mother -sultana) (Bogrea 1921, II: 33).
Not long after that, we saw the closeness between the two names as a simple
paronymy, because the passing of de from Dobrodeja to g˘e could not convincingly
accounted for, either in the Ukrainian that was spoken in Kiev, or in Romanian. Our
mistrust in the Dobrotic ˇ etymon turned into conviction, when we reread the travel
journal of Idrisi,
14 who, during his lifetime (1110–1164), passed through the
province and made a stopover in „Bergean”, on his way to Kiev. This happened
14 In our article of 1965, we treated the information of Idrisi superficially, as a mere curiosity.
34
M. Petris ¸or