Gheorghe Șincai (; February 28, 1754 – November 2, 1816) was a

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

historian,

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

, translator, poet, and representative of the Enlightenment-influenced

Transylvanian School The Transylvanian School ( ro, Școala Ardeleană) was a cultural movement which was founded after part of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Habsburg-ruled Transylvania accepted the leadership of the pope and became the Greek-Catholic Church (). The ...

. As the director of

Greek Catholic The term Greek Catholic Church can refer to a number of Eastern Catholic Churches following the Byzantine (Greek) liturgy, considered collectively or individually. The terms Greek Catholic, Greek Catholic church or Byzantine Catholic, Byzantine Ca ...

education in Transylvania he brought a fundamental contribution to the process of promoting culture in rural environments. He revised before publishing

Samuil Micu Samuil Micu Klein (September 1745 – 13 May 1806) was a Romanian Greek-Catholic theologian, historian, philologist and philosopher, a member of the Enlightenment-era movement of Transylvanian School (Şcoala Ardeleană). He is the author of Elem ...

's first

grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes domain ...

of the

Romanian language Romanian (obsolete spellings: Rumanian or Roumanian; autonym: ''limba română'' , or ''românește'', ) is the official and main language of Romania and the Republic of Moldova. As a minority language it is spoken by stable communities in ...

: '' Elementa linguae daco-romanae sive valachicae'' (''The elements of the

Daco-Roman The term Daco-Roman describes the Romanized culture of Dacia under the rule of the Roman Empire. Etymology The Daco-Roman mixing theory, as an origin for the Romanian people, was formulated by the earliest Romanian scholars, beginning with Doso ...

Vlach "Vlach" ( or ), also "Wallachian" (and many other variants), is a historical term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate mainly Romanians but also Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, Istro-Romanians and other Easter ...

/Wallachian language'') (

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, 1780), in which they demonstrated the Latin origins of the

.N. Felecan - Considerations on the First Books of Romanian Grammar
/ref>

Biography

Born in Mezősámsond, (now Râciu de Câmpie,

Mureș County Mureș County (, ro, Județul Mures, hu, Maros megye) is a county (''județ'') of Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania, with the administrative centre in Târgu Mureș. The county was established in 1968, after the administrative ...

, Romania), he studied at Marosvásárhely,

Kolozsvár ; hu, kincses város) , official_name=Cluj-Napoca , native_name= , image_skyline= , subdivision_type1 = County , subdivision_name1 = Cluj County , subdivision_type2 = Status , subdivision_name2 = County seat , settlement_type = City , l ...

, Beszterce, Balázsfalva,

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

(in the last two cities together with

, nephew of

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

Inocențiu Micu-Klein Ioan Inocențiu Micu-Klein, also known by his lay name Ioan Micu (1692 – 22 September 1768), was a Bishop of Făgăraș and Primate of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church from 1730 to his resignation in 1751. He played an instrumental role in t ...

). He turned out to be a

polyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all Eu ...

, thoroughly mastering

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Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, Hungarian,

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and French. His knowledge and culture allowed him to occupy the function of librarian of the

Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples A congregation is a large gathering of people, often for the purpose of worship. Congregation may also refer to: * Church (congregation), a Christian organization meeting in a particular place for worship *Congregation (Roman Curia), an administr ...

in Rome, having permission to research any type of document. In the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

, and later in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

and in Vienna (the capital of the Habsburg domains), he carried out research work in various libraries, copying and transcribing exactly any reference to the history of the Romanians. Șincai assiduously worked to educate commoners, dedicating himself to a career in teaching, and contributing to the establishment of an impressive number of Greek-Catholic parochial schools (in all, over 300). In 1784 he was named general director of Romanian Uniate schools in all of Transylvania. He translated and expanded the following basic textbooks for educational purposes: ''Abecedarul'' (''The Book of ABCs''), ''Gramatica'' (''Grammar''), ''Aritmetica'' (''Arithmetic'') and ''Catehismul'' (''The Catechism''), adapting or creating the terminology necessary for pupils to understand these. He proved himself to be a remarkable translator, rendering the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

into Romanian (in 1789, under the name of ''The Blaj Bible''). In 1794 Șincai came into direct conflict with Bishop

Ioan Bob Ioan Bob, (1739 – 2 October 1830) was Bishop of Făgăraş and Primate of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church from 1783 to his death in 1830. Life Ioan Bob was born from a noble Romanian family in October or November 1739 in Orman, near Iclod ...

; he was thrown into the harsh prison of

Aiud Aiud (; la, Brucla, hu, Nagyenyed, Hungarian pronunciation: ; german: Straßburg am Mieresch) is a city located in Alba County, Transylvania, Romania. The city's population is 22,876. It has the status of municipality and is the 2nd-largest c ...

, being followed and persecuted by the Habsburg authorities after his release in 1796. In 1811 Șincai published a work of history, written in the form of annals and amply titled: ''Hronica românilor și a mai multor neamuri în cât au fost ele amestecate cu românii, cât lucrurile, întâmplările și faptele unora față de ale altora nu se pot scrie pre înțeles, din mai multe mii de autori, în cursul a treizeci și patru de ani culese'' (''The chronicle of the Romanians and of other peoples insofar as they were mixed with the Romanians, as the things, events and facts of the one regarding the other cannot be written as if everyone understands them, from several thousand authors, gathered over the course of thirty-four years''). Șincai died at Szinye, near Kassa (today Košice in present-day

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

Bibliography

* Dionis Popa, ''Gheorghe Șincai'', Blaj, 1944

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sincai, Gheorghe 19th-century Romanian historians Romanian male poets Romanian Greek-Catholics Catholic poets Romanian schoolteachers Transylvanian School Age of Enlightenment Romanian people in the Principality of Transylvania (1711–1867) Romanian Austro-Hungarians People from Mureș County 1754 births 1816 deaths Linguists from Romania 18th-century linguists Linguists of Indo-European languages Romanian translators 18th-century male writers 18th-century translators Eastern Catholic poets