Nicolas Trifon (born Sorin Cătălin Edmond Nicolae Dumnorix Mihai Trifon; 29 May 1949 – 18 August 2023) 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-born academic, editor and linguist in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

of partial Aromanian descent. 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 ...

and having studied at 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 ...

, he moved in 1977 to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France, where he completed a

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

doctorate at the

School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences The School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (, EHESS) is a graduate ''grande école'' and '' grand établissement'' in Paris focused on academic research in the social sciences. The school awards Master and PhD degrees alone and conjo ...

(EHESS). Trifon had a prolific intellectual production. He published several

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

works, was an editor at the French-language

online newspaper An online newspaper (or electronic news or electronic news publication) is the electronic publishing, online version of a newspaper, either as a stand-alone publication or as the online version of a printed periodical literature, periodical. Goin ...

' and authored research works about

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

and the Aromanians. Trifon was a major specialist in the Aromanians, having written several books about them. He saw himself involved in Aromanian activist initiatives and was a member of the

Trâ Armânami Association of French Aromanians The Trâ Armânami Association of French Aromanians (; , ; meaning "for Aromanian-dom") is an Aromanian cultural organization in France headquartered at Paris. It was founded in 1978 by Iancu Perifan. The AFA became entangled shortly thereaf ...

(AFA).

Biography

Nicolas Trifon was born as Sorin Cătălin Edmond Nicolae Dumnorix Mihai Trifon on 29 May 1949 in

. His father was an economist while his mother was a

pediatrician Pediatrics (American English) also spelled paediatrics (British English), is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, pediatrics covers many of their youth ...

. He was of ethnic Aromanian descent on his father's side, with origins from the Aromanian village of

Malovište Malovište (, ) is an Aromanian village in the municipality of Bitola, North Macedonia. It used to be part of the former municipality of Capari. History Malovište is an old Aromanian settlement in the region and its establishment dates possi ...

() today in

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

. Trifon studied at the Faculty of Romance, Classical and Oriental Languages (today the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures) of the

with a specialization on the

French language French ( or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-R ...

. He then studied a doctorate at the

(EHESS) in

, which allowed him to move to the city in 1977 in the view of the increasingly authoritarian government of

Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( ; ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian politician who was the second and last Communism, communist leader of Socialist Romania, Romania, serving as the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 u ...

over Communist Romania. In 1983, Trifon finished his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

thesis on

at the EHESS. Titled ''Des blagues: masses parlantes et rhétorique marxiste-léniniste de pouvoir'' ("Jokes: Talking Masses and Marxist–Leninist Rhetoric of Power"), it dealt with the rigid language often used by

totalitarian Totalitarianism is a political system and a form of government that prohibits opposition from political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and completely controls the public sph ...

regimes. Trifon would travel to the countries of the

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...

but also to

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

, living for some time in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. In December 1989, Trifon went to Bucharest to witness 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 ...

that toppled Romania's communist regime. In 2021, Trifon was diagnosed with

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

and

pulmonary fibrosis Pulmonary fibrosis is a condition in which the lungs become scarred over time. Symptoms include shortness of breath, a dry cough, feeling tired, weight loss, and nail clubbing. Complications may include pulmonary hypertension, respiratory ...

, which would ultimately lead to his death in the morning of 18 August 2023 in Paris, having lived his last months in his house in the neighborhood of

Butte-aux-Cailles The Butte-aux-Cailles ( is a hilltop neighbourhood of Paris, France, located in Paris' south-eastern 13th arrondissement of Paris, 13th arrondissement. The name of the hill could be translated as "quail hill", but it actually originates from it ...

. He was outlived by his artist wife Cristina Passima Trifon, his daughter Laurie and three grandchildren.

Work

Trifon was a

proofreader Proofreading is a phase in the process of publishing where galley proofs are compared against the original manuscripts or graphic artworks, to identify transcription errors in the typesetting process. In the past, proofreaders would place co ...

and member of the

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

of proofreaders CGT Correcteurs. He was a regular collaborator of the French

radio station Radio Libertaire. From 1983 to 1991, Trifon was the director of the anarchist

journal A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of personal secretive thoughts and as open book to personal therapy or used to feel connected to onesel ...

', the staff of which was composed at the time of Eastern European exiles. He published several articles in the French-language

', having been secretary of the newspaper's publisher for some time. Several of his articles in the newspaper were republished in its Central European equivalent '. As a linguist, Trifon wrote a book focused on

together with the French Romanian historian . Titled ''La République de Moldavie, un État en quête de nation'' ("The Republic of Moldova, a state in search of nation"), it was published in 2010 by the French

publishing house Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

Éditions Non Lieu.

Aromanian research and activism

Trifon researched extensively on the Aromanians, with ''Le Courrier d'Europe centrale'' defining him as "the best specialist in France of the Aromanian people". He started his research in 1993 with the publication of ''Les Aroumains, un cas de figure national atypique dans les Balkans'' ("The Aromanians, an atypical case of national figure in the Balkans") by the French publishing house Acratie. Starting from the same year, Trifon would participate in activities of the

Aromanian diaspora The Aromanian diaspora () is any ethnically Aromanian population living outside its traditional homeland in the Balkans. The Aromanians are a small Balkan ethnic group living scattered throughout Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, North Macedonia, Roman ...

for the recognition of proper rights for the Aromanians living in their native countries, which include

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, North Macedonia and

. In 2005, Trifon published the book ''Les Aroumains, un peuple qui s'en va'' ("The Aromanians, a people on the move"). In 2007, an article by Trifon titled ''Les Aroumains en Roumanie depuis 1990: comment se débarrasser d'une (belle-)mère patrie devenue encombrante'' ("The Aromanians in Romania since 1990: how to get rid of a (step)mother country that has become cumbersome"), treating the Aromanian minority in Romania, was published in the French journal ''Revue d'études comparatives Est-Ouest''. In 2012, the Moldovan publishing house published Trifon's book ''Aromânii. Pretutindeni, nicăieri'' ("Aromanians. Everywhere, nowhere"), in which he discussed sensitive topics about the Aromanians such as their origins.

Ovidius University Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the three ...

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position ...

Enache Tușa argued that Trifon made a relevant and comprehensive analysis on the situation of the Aromanians in the

Balkan The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

countries in which they live and that this was possible because he wrote his book in France, free from any political or institutional pressure often present in these Balkan countries. In 2014, Editura Cartier published the book by Trifon ''Unde e Aromânia? Interventii, dezbateri, cronici, 1994–2014'' ("Where is Aromania? Interventions, debates, chronicles, 1994–2014"). In the book, among other things, Trifon attempted to answer a rhetorical question that the Romanian Aromanian actor, director and politician

Ion Caramitru An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by convent ...

asked himself during a 2011 television broadcasting of where a country called "Aromania" was located. Trifon was an editor of ''armanami.org'', the official website of the

(AFA). He received and approved the website's new articles together with the website's webmaster Nelu Puznava. In 2015, together with Niculaki Caracota, Trifon founded the N. C. Batzaria Aromanian Library (), named after the Aromanian cultural activist Nicolae Constantin Batzaria, in Paris. It was later formally inaugurated by the AFA on 10 April 2016. Trifon was among the Aromanian figures living in Paris that donated books to the library.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Trifon, Nicolas 1949 births 2023 deaths People from Bucharest Romanian people of Aromanian descent Romanian emigrants to France French people of Aromanian descent French academics Romanian academics Linguists from Romania French newspaper editors Romanian newspaper editors French trade unionists French anarchists Romanian anarchists University of Bucharest alumni School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences alumni Aromanian studies Deaths from cancer in France