Alexandru Rosetti
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Alexandru Rosetti (October 20, 1895 – February 27, 1990) was a
Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
n linguist, editor, and memoirist. Born in
Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...
, his parents were Petre Rosetti Bălănescu, a lawyer and landowner, and his wife Zoe (''née'' Cornescu), whose father wrote the 1874 ''Manualul vânătorului'', prefaced with ''Pseudo-cynegeticos'' by
Alexandru Odobescu Alexandru Ioan Odobescu (; 23 June 1834 – 10 November 1895) was a Romanian author, archaeologist and politician. Biography He was born in Bucharest, the second child of General Ioan Odobescu and his wife Ecaterina. Ecaterina belonged to the ...
. He attended primary school in
Câmpulung Câmpulung (also spelled ''Cîmpulung'', , , Old Romanian ''Dlăgopole'', ''Длъгополе'' (from Middle Bulgarian), or ''Câmpulung Muscel'') is a municipiu, city in Argeș County, Muntenia, Romania. It is attested on the Fra Mauro map fro ...
, followed by his native city's Gheorghe Lazăr High School, from which he graduated in 1914. Between 1916 and 1920, he studied at the literature faculty of the
University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest (UB) () is a public university, public research university in Bucharest, Romania. It was founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princely Academy of Bucharest, P ...
. His time there was interrupted by World War I: sent to the front, he was wounded in 1917 during the
Battle of Mărășești The Battle of Mărășești (6 August 1917 – 3 September 1917) was the last major battle fought by the Central Powers against the Kingdom of Romania and Russian Empire, Russia on the Romania in World War I, Romanian front during World War I. ...
. His professors included Ovid Densusianu,
Ioan Bianu Ioan or Ion Bianu (1856 or 1857 – February 13, 1935) was an Imperial Austrian-born Romanian philologist and bibliographer. The son of a peasant family from Transylvania, he completed high school in Blaj, where he became a disciple of Timotei ...
, , and
Dimitrie Onciul Dimitrie Onciul (26 October / 7 November 1856 – 20 March 1923) was a Romanian historian. He was a member of the Romanian Academy and its president from 1920 until his death in 1923. Biography Onciul was born in Straja, at the time in the Duch ...
. His first published work appeared in 1920 upon graduation; titled "Colindele religioase la români", the study was published in ''Analele Academiei Române. Memoriile secțiunii literare''. On scholarship in Paris from 1920 to 1928, he first attended the
École pratique des Hautes Études École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...
, completing the program with a 1924 thesis on
rhotacism Rhotacism ( ) or rhotacization is a sound change that converts one consonant (usually a voiced alveolar consonant: , , , or ) to a rhotic consonant in a certain environment. The most common may be of to . When a dialect or member of a language f ...
in Romanian. He went on to the Sorbonne, submitting two theses in 1926: one on 16th-century Romanian phonetics, and another on Romanian letters from the late 16th and early 17th centuries in the
Bistrița (; , archaic , Transylvanian Saxon: , ) is the capital city of Bistrița-Năsăud County, in northern Transylvania, Romania. It is situated on the Bistrița River. The city has a population of 78,877 inhabitants as of 2021 and administers s ...
archives. Upon his return home, Rosetti was named associate professor of general and experimental phonetics at Bucharest in 1928. He became full professor in 1932 and secured a tenured position in the Romanian department in 1938, upon the death of Densusianu. A friend of
King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...
Carol II Carol II (4 April 1953) was King of Romania from 8 June 1930, until his forced abdication on 6 September 1940. As the eldest son of Ferdinand I of Romania, King Ferdinand I, he became crown prince upon the death of his grand-uncle, King Carol I, ...
, he undertook a sustained activity within the Royal Foundations for Literature and Art, heading the foundation from 1933 to 1940, its press from 1933 to 1947 and ''
Revista Fundațiilor Regale ''Revista Fundațiilor Regale'' ("The Review of Royal Foundations") was a monthly literary, art and culture magazine published in Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and ...
'' from 1945 to 1947. In 1944, during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, he was among the signers of a memorandum urging the
Ion Antonescu Ion Antonescu (; ; – 1 June 1946) was a Romanian military officer and Mareșal (Romania), marshal who presided over two successive Romania during World War II, wartime dictatorships as Prime Minister of Romania, Prime Minister and ''Conduc ...
regime to withdraw Romania from fighting alongside the
Axis powers The Axis powers, originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, was the military coalition which initiated World War II and fought against the Allies of World War II, Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Ge ...
. Following a change in government later that year, he served as dean of the literature faculty (1945–1946) and university rector (1946–1949). He joined the
Romanian Communist Party The Romanian Communist Party ( ; PCR) was a communist party in Romania. The successor to the pro-Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave an ideological endorsement to a communist revolution that would replace the social system ...
in 1946,
Lucian Boia Lucian Boia (born 1 February 1944) is a Romanian historian. He is mostly known for his debunking of historical myths about Romania, for purging mainstream Romanian history of deformations arising from ideological propaganda, and as a fighter ag ...
(ed.), ''Miturile comunismului românesc'', p. 332. Bucharest: Editura Nemira, 1998.
and acquired the nickname of "red ''
boyar A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Bulgaria, Kievan Rus' (and later Russia), Moldavia and Wallachia (and later Romania), Lithuania and among Baltic Germans. C ...
''".Barbu Ollănescu-Orendi, ''Așa a fost să fie'', p. 264. Bucharest,
Humanitas (from the Latin , "human") is a Latin noun meaning human nature, civilization, and kindness. It has uses in the Enlightenment, which are discussed below. Classical origins of term The Latin word corresponded to the Greek concepts of (loving ...
, 2014.
In 1948, under the new
communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...
, he was elected a titular member of the Romanian Academy. Although an unhesitating adherent to the ruling party—indifferent to a succession of dictatorships, he was primarily concerned with using them to the advantage of his studies—his liberal Europeanism caused him to be excluded from the university between 1951 and 1954, a period of high
Stalinism Stalinism (, ) is the Totalitarianism, totalitarian means of governing and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953), 1927 to 1953 by dictator Jose ...
. In 1961, he established the Academy's Center for Phonetic and Dialectological Research, formerly a department within
Iorgu Iordan Iorgu Iordan (; also known as ''Jorgu Jordan'' or ''Iorgu Jordan''; – September 20, 1986) was a Romanian linguist, philologist, diplomat, journalist, and left-wing agrarian, later communist, politician. The author of works on a large variety o ...
's Institute of Linguistics.Coordonate istorice
at the Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti Institute of Linguistics site
He was a member of the
Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (; , HAZU) is the national academy of Croatia. HAZU was founded under the patronage of the Croatian bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer under the name Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts (, JAZU) since its ...
, a corresponding member of the
Swedish Academy The Swedish Academy (), founded in 1786 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. Its 18 members, who are elected for life, comprise the highest Swedish language authority. Outside Scandinavia, it is best known as the body t ...
, and doctor honoris causa of the universities of
Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...
and Aix-Marseille. Rosetti promoted modern approaches to research in phonetics, phonology and general, mathematical and structural linguistics. He headed specialist publications such as ''Bulletin linguistique'', ''Studii și cercetări lingvistice'', ''Fonetică și dialectologie'', ''Revue roumaine de linguistique'' and ''Cahiers de linguistique theorique et appliquée''. He authored the monumental ''Istoria limbii române'', which appeared in six volumes between 1938 and 1946, and was frequently re-edited; as well as other valuable linguistic works. In the field of literature, he was among the foremost editors of the interwar period and lent support to numerous authors, and also an anthologist (''Cronicarii români'', 1944; ''Schiță de istorie socială a limbii române'', 1975). However, his main contribution was as a subtle memoirist: ''Note din Grecia'' (1938), ''Diverse'' (1962), ''Cartea albă'' (1968), ''Călătorii și portrete'' (1977). Other works touch on problems of a modern approach to literature: ''Le Mot. Esquisse d'un théorie générale'' (1943; published in Romanian as ''Filosofia cuvântului'', 1946); ''Istoria limbii române literare'', vol. I (in collaboration), 1966. In 1977, Rosetti published his correspondence with
George Călinescu George Călinescu (; 19 June 1899 – 12 March 1965) was a Romanian literary critic, historian, novelist, academician and journalist, and a writer of classicist and humanist tendencies. He is currently considered one of the most important Romani ...
, revealing his role in the composition of the latter's 1941 magnum opus, ''Istoria literaturii române de la origini până în prezent''. He was awarded the
Herder Prize The Herder Prize (), named after the German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803), was a prestigious international prize awarded every year from 1964 to 2006 to scholars and artists from Central and Southeast Europe whose life and wor ...
in 1980.Aurel Sasu (ed.), ''Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române'', vol. II, p. 489-90. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004. A man of robust health, the 94-year-old Rosetti suffered a burn accident soon after the
Romanian Revolution The Romanian revolution () was a period of violent Civil disorder, civil unrest in Socialist Republic of Romania, Romania during December 1989 as a part of the revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several countries around the world, primarily ...
of 1989. Taken to , he continued making plans for the future during his final days. He married Maria Rallet, of an old ''boyar'' family; her father Ion D. Rallet was a professor of mathematics at the
University of Iași The Alexandru Ioan Cuza University (; acronym: UAIC) is a public university located in , Romania. Founded by an 1860 decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, under whom the former was converted to a university, the University of , as it was named ...
.Lucian Nastasă, ''Intelectualii și promovarea socială'', p. 40. Cluj-Napoca: Editura Limes, 2004. In 1944, she became vice president of the Democratic Federation of Women of Romania; from 1948, she was president of the Union of Democratic Women of Romania. Rosetti's research center was named after him in 1992. In 2002, it merged with the Iordan institute to form the Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti Institute of Linguistics.


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosetti, Alexandru 1895 births 1990 deaths
Alexandru Alexandru is the Romanian form of the name Alexander. Common diminutives are Alecu, Alex, and Sandu. Origin Etymologically, the name is derived from the Greek "Αλέξανδρος" (Aléxandros), meaning "defending men" or "protector of m ...
Gheorghe Lazăr National College (Bucharest) alumni University of Bucharest alumni Academic staff of the University of Bucharest Rectors of the University of Bucharest Romanian military personnel of World War I Romanian anthologists Romanian magazine editors Romanian publishers (people) Romanian writers in French Phoneticians Romanian Communist Party politicians Titular members of the Romanian Academy Herder Prize recipients 20th-century Romanian linguists 20th-century Romanian memoirists Accidental deaths in Romania