propose ourselves to elaborate further on it. We shall only add that we do not see the
etymon Dunaris, proposed by V. P^ arvan, who most likely thought it to be specific to
the Thracian area of the Indo-European framework, as a form which could thus
justify possible intermediary stages that had proved valid in the case of other forms
from the nearby area: D(u)nister > Dnister > Nistru and D(u)
niper > Dniper > Nipru. For our own ancestors, we invoke the theme dana, cu
a > a ˚ > o > u: Dana > Da ˚ na > Dona > Duna. The final part of the word, Àre,
could rather be a case desinence. This particle appears in several words inherited
from the Dacian language: brusture, maza ˘re, viezure etc.
19 The name of the citadels
in –ris, mentioned in the bibliography, may be Latinized or Hellenized, and
therefore bookish.
Now we return to the relation of Cassius Dio, LXVIII, 12.2, who tells us, in
Greek, that, in the year 105, that is before the second Daco-Roman war, Decebalus
demanded that Trajan return him “the land to the Danube” (τήν τε χω ρανμε χρι τoυ
Ίστρoυ), a very precious piece of information, because this must have been the true
name of the province. We recognize it in the name of the thema Paristrion/
Paradunavion as well, an exact copy of the autochthonous name (the land) to the
Danube), which, in the process of the symbiosis and bi-lingualism, the
denationalized Slavs calqued and thus brought into Romanian. The Byzantines
calqued it in the same manner. They could use both variants, yet, in the end,
borrowed the autochthonous population’s form, because, by 1000, the Slavs in
Dobrudja had already been absorbed by the Romanians.
In conclusion, in the period preceding its being taken over by the Turks, the
name Dobrogea was a calque, followed by an adaptation to a language totally
different, both typologically, and genealogically.
Turkish, a language with vowel harmony, acquired the real name from the
autochthonous population: Dobrega. This name presented a vowel discordance
o...e... a. Through assimilation, the front vowel e turned into o, a back, round
vowel. In Turkish toponymy (that of Dobrudja included) there are numerous topical
names in -c ˇe and -g˘e: Ag˘ig˘a, Borung˘a, C ˇ almag˘a, Sarag˘a, Hasanc ˇa, Nazarc ˇa,
Omurc ˇa, Tulc ˇa etc. Framed in the Turkish system of toponymy, and in order to
19 The vowel
a from the etymon *D anare, became u buy means of an intermediary phase a ˚ , can be
met in the names of the rivers Mures ¸, the final evolution of M aris, as it appears, together with other
close forms, in the documents of Antiquity. The same vowel
a became o in Olt, Somes ¸ a.s.o. The
phenomenon is not Slavic, as it was believed, for the reasons shown by E. Petrovici, namely that in
Slavic the vowel
a was preserved. Starting with the third century BC, in inscriptions, the name of
some Dacian fortresses present the oscillation
a/ o: Sucid ava/Sucid ova, Pelend ava/Pelend ova. The
problem is thoroughly commented upon by V. Fra ˘t ¸ila ˘ (2002: 13–19), who pleads for the idea that,
in this case, we are faced with a phenomenon that probably occurred in the Dacian language. It has
survived in the Daco-Romanian dialectal space, in an idiom from north-western Oltenia: ca ˚ p,
ca˚ ´ sa ˘. It also appears in south-western Banat, and in the in the Country of Hat ¸eg, i.e., over a
territory that correspond to historical Dacia. The same phenomenon appear in Istro-Romanian, a
dialect that severed from what Sextil Pus ¸cariu called the area of western Romanian (Petris ¸or 1994:
106–107, 190–191, notes 28 and 29).
38
M. Petris ¸or
etymon Dunaris, proposed by V. P^ arvan, who most likely thought it to be specific to
the Thracian area of the Indo-European framework, as a form which could thus
justify possible intermediary stages that had proved valid in the case of other forms
from the nearby area: D(u)nister > Dnister > Nistru and D(u)
niper > Dniper > Nipru. For our own ancestors, we invoke the theme dana, cu
a > a ˚ > o > u: Dana > Da ˚ na > Dona > Duna. The final part of the word, Àre,
could rather be a case desinence. This particle appears in several words inherited
from the Dacian language: brusture, maza ˘re, viezure etc.
19 The name of the citadels
in –ris, mentioned in the bibliography, may be Latinized or Hellenized, and
therefore bookish.
Now we return to the relation of Cassius Dio, LXVIII, 12.2, who tells us, in
Greek, that, in the year 105, that is before the second Daco-Roman war, Decebalus
demanded that Trajan return him “the land to the Danube” (τήν τε χω ρανμε χρι τoυ
Ίστρoυ), a very precious piece of information, because this must have been the true
name of the province. We recognize it in the name of the thema Paristrion/
Paradunavion as well, an exact copy of the autochthonous name (the land) to the
Danube), which, in the process of the symbiosis and bi-lingualism, the
denationalized Slavs calqued and thus brought into Romanian. The Byzantines
calqued it in the same manner. They could use both variants, yet, in the end,
borrowed the autochthonous population’s form, because, by 1000, the Slavs in
Dobrudja had already been absorbed by the Romanians.
In conclusion, in the period preceding its being taken over by the Turks, the
name Dobrogea was a calque, followed by an adaptation to a language totally
different, both typologically, and genealogically.
Turkish, a language with vowel harmony, acquired the real name from the
autochthonous population: Dobrega. This name presented a vowel discordance
o...e... a. Through assimilation, the front vowel e turned into o, a back, round
vowel. In Turkish toponymy (that of Dobrudja included) there are numerous topical
names in -c ˇe and -g˘e: Ag˘ig˘a, Borung˘a, C ˇ almag˘a, Sarag˘a, Hasanc ˇa, Nazarc ˇa,
Omurc ˇa, Tulc ˇa etc. Framed in the Turkish system of toponymy, and in order to
19 The vowel
a from the etymon *D anare, became u buy means of an intermediary phase a ˚ , can be
met in the names of the rivers Mures ¸, the final evolution of M aris, as it appears, together with other
close forms, in the documents of Antiquity. The same vowel
a became o in Olt, Somes ¸ a.s.o. The
phenomenon is not Slavic, as it was believed, for the reasons shown by E. Petrovici, namely that in
Slavic the vowel
a was preserved. Starting with the third century BC, in inscriptions, the name of
some Dacian fortresses present the oscillation
a/ o: Sucid ava/Sucid ova, Pelend ava/Pelend ova. The
problem is thoroughly commented upon by V. Fra ˘t ¸ila ˘ (2002: 13–19), who pleads for the idea that,
in this case, we are faced with a phenomenon that probably occurred in the Dacian language. It has
survived in the Daco-Romanian dialectal space, in an idiom from north-western Oltenia: ca ˚ p,
ca˚ ´ sa ˘. It also appears in south-western Banat, and in the in the Country of Hat ¸eg, i.e., over a
territory that correspond to historical Dacia. The same phenomenon appear in Istro-Romanian, a
dialect that severed from what Sextil Pus ¸cariu called the area of western Romanian (Petris ¸or 1994:
106–107, 190–191, notes 28 and 29).
38
M. Petris ¸or