Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Julieta Rotaru is senior researcher in Romani Studies at the Centre for Baltic and East
European Studies (CBEES), Södertörn University-Stockholm, Alfred Nobels Allé 7, 141 89
Huddinge, Sweden. E-mail: julieta.rotaru@sh.se
Romani Studies 5, Vol. 28, No. 1 (2018), 41–78 issn 1528–0748 (print) 1757–2274 (online)
doi: https://doi.org/10.3828/rs.2018.3
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It was Francis Hinde Groome, founding member of the Gypsy Lore Society
and its first editor, together with David MacRitchie, of the society’s journal,
who bridged the path between folklorists and the scholars of Romani studies.
Groome is credited until today as having offered a so far unchallenged theory
of folklore diffusion (Jones 1967: 72), having acknowledged the Roms as the
disseminators of many beliefs and tales. His theory epitomizes a synthesis of
two contemporary different disciplines, one represented by Theodor Benfey,
the German translator of the Sanskrit fable collection Pañcatantra, in the
introduction of which he expounds his theory about the story’s migration
theme and the wandering Roms bridging the gap between India and the
European traditions. The second approach is represented by the linguistic
and philological studies of Franz Miklosich who could determine, based on
lone words in current Romani dialects, the routes of the Romani historical
migration. Groome’s diffusion theory was strongly opposed in the epoch
by the mythological and anthropological schools, who assigned prehistoric
antiquity to folktales, as seen, for instance, in the Transactions of the Interna-
tional Folk-lore Congress, a congress held in London in 1891 (Transactions
1891, vol. II: 374). However, Groome was then supported by a very prominent
member of the Folklore Society, and a contributor to the Journal of the Gypsy
Lore Society, Moses Gaster.1
In the first issue of the first volume of the Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society
(JGLS),2 Groome rendered in English a Romani tale collected and published
by Barbu Constantinescu in 1878, “The bad mother,” and described it as “one
of the best Gypsy folk tales that we have, and … probably the best known
among the Gypsies themselves.”3 In the sixth issue of the first volume (345–9),
Groome published his English translation of another tale from Constan-
tinescu’s collection, “The red King and the witch,” described as “the very
best Gypsy folk-tale that we have.” Groome went on to publish an English
translation of two other tales from the same collection, “The Vampire” (JGLS
1891 II (3): 142), and “The Master Chief” (JGLS 1893 III (3): 142–52). Notably,
1. This was a polymath scholar of Jewish origin, born in Romania, covering many fields, from
Romanian philology and apocrypha of old Romanian popular literature, European folklor-
istics, Jewish studies, and even Romani studies, collaborating on the latter with F. Miklosich
who published “a story of the Romanian Roms, from Dr. M. Gaster” ([259], 17–8) in “Proben
von Zigeunermundarten” in Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Zigeunermundarten. IV, Wien: Karl
Gerold’s Sohn. 1878, 54. When Gaster was expelled from Romania on ethnic grounds, he was
received at Oxford by the leading Indologist and father of comparative mythology, Friedrich
Max Müller. He was by then an expert on the migration story theme theory supported by Max
Müller and T. Benfey. These are the grounds on which Moses Gaster supported Groome in the
open criticism debate mentioned above, in 1891.
2. JGLS (1898) 1 (1): 25–9.
3. In Groome’s anthology (1899), there are two Hungarian, one Greek, one Lithuanian, one
Norwegian, and two Russian variants of this tale.
the first romanian scholar of romani studies 43
Groome knew all the Romani and sometimes non-Romani variants of these
stories available in published collections. The reason for selecting the variant
recorded by Barbu Constantinescu is explicitly discussed by Groome in the
respective articles in JGLS, as well as in his anthology of Gypsy Folk-tales
(1899), wherein he includes 13 tales of the Romanian scholar, out of which 11
are rendered in full, and only two are summarized, along with the full version
recorded in other “better” variants. Groome considered the tales collected by
Barbu Constantinescu as the best-preserved variants, accurate as transmitted
by the Romani raconteurs.
Regarding the role of the Roms as lăutari or “wandering minstrels,”
thus described by E.C. Grenville Murray, the first English translator of
Romanian popular poetry (Murray 1854: xxviii), Groome aptly quoted it in
the introduction of the anthology of Gypsy Folk-tales (1899: xlv) in support of
his transmission theory. E.C. Grenville Murray’s first anthology of Romanian
folk songs draws hugely on the collection of the most acknowledged Romanian
poet and folklore collector of that time, Vasile Alecsandri. Quite recently, a
manuscript was discovered of Vasile Alecsandri’s Romanian folk songs
collection with the musical notation of these songs, by the hand of Barbu
Constantinescu and his brother.4 Barbu Constantinescu may have heard
the songs from the Roms, in his journeys in Romania, in search of Romani
settlements in order to collect historical and ethnological data. As will be
further shown, he used to record the music, along with the text of the Romani
songs, as he intended to have a separate chapter on Romani music in his
projected comprehensive book “Gypsies in Romania,” an endeavour which
never came into being.
4. The manuscript was discovered by the late musicologist Viorel Cosma in 1976, but it was
only while writing the preface to the edition of Barbu Constantinescu (Rotaru 2016: X) that he
identified the thus far unknown author of the musical notations.
5. Rom. Probe de limba și literatura Ţiganilor din România publicate de Dr. Barbu Constatinescu.
Bucureşti: Tipografia Societăţii Academice Române (Laboratorii Români), 1878.
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I have gathered these songs from various regions of Romania with the utmost
accuracy. I tried to faithfully reproduce them in writing, as I heard them from
the mouths of the Gypsies, refraining from correcting them even when certain
grammatical constructions proved to be clearly erroneous. (Constantinescu
1877a: 606)
In the next issue of the Columna lui Traian, the general editor wrote that
he had received the manuscript of the article “The folk literature of the
Gypsies. Unedited texts with a glossary” (“Literatura populară a ţiganilor,
texturi inedite cu glosar”) by Barbu Constantinescu, which was scheduled
to be published in the next issue, covering the months January–March 1878.
Unfortunately, the journal was temporarily interrupted until 1882, and the
promised article was actually never published. It stands to reason that these
materials might have been included by Barbu Constantinescu in the volume,
as were the other 14 pieces already published in Columna lui Traian.
6. Koós 1890: 86–7. In some quarters of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Constantinescu’s
relations with cultural personalities and theologians from Transylvania have raised concerns
half a century after his death, as will be further shown.
7. For example, twenty years after Constantinescu’s death, St Tuțescu, the founder of the
ethnological journal Ghilușul, wrote in the first issue that the journal would also publish Gypsy
folklore, which had been “much neglected” up until that time. He greatly acknowledged Barbu
Constantinescu as “the only specialist who has dealt with Gypsy lore” (Tuțescu 1912, I (1): 3).
For two years, Tuțescu published monthly pieces in the Romani language and with Romanian
translation, indicating the dialect and providing information about the respondents.
the first romanian scholar of romani studies 45
Stătescu, acknowledged that this is the only scholarly book in the field in
Romania and that is was written by “the erudite professor Barbu Constan-
tinescu, the only Romanian that, we may say, studied and deepened, with
notable success, the Gypsy language.”
Four years after his death, in 1895, the tales collected by Barbu Constan-
tinescu were analyzed by one of B.P. Hașdeu’s disciples, Lazăr Șăineanu, a
brilliant philologist and linguist, a Romanian born of Jewish origin who
resided in France after being expelled from Romania on ethnic grounds. In
the field of folkloristics, Șăineanu’s major contribution is represented by the
work Romanian tales in relation to antique classical legends and in relation to
the tales of the neighbouring people and all the Romance people, 1895, a work
awarded the Romanian Academy prize. In this work, Șăineanu refers to all
the tales published by Barbu Constantinescu, comparing them to the Balkan
and East Central European traditions, and to the tales from the Romance
world, going back to their mythological prototypes. However, this first
collection of Romanian Romani folklore was reedited only once, sui generis,
by Gheorghe Sarău in 2000, in Romani standard alphabet and with Barbu
Constantinescu’s Romanian literal translation substituted with a far-fetched
interpretation.
Outside Romania, the work was first presented by the author himself, in
September 1878, at the 4th Congress of the Orientalists, in Florence. The
congress was attended by 120 scholars and organised into seven sections:
North African studies; ancient Semitic studies; Arabic studies; general
linguistics; Iranistics; Indian studies; and Chinese–Tibetan studies. It was
chaired by the Arabist M. Amari, and the Sanskrit scholars Angelo de
Gubernatis and Gaspare Gorresio. The section on general linguistics was
chaired by Graziadio Isaia Ascoli, pioneer of Romani language studies. In this
section, Barbu Constantinescu presented his work together with his friend,
Bogdan Petriceicu Hașdeu, a prominent cultural personality, accurate scholar
and polymath dominating scholarship on nineteenth-century Romania, who
wrote this report:
For Romania, it is further written that the delegate selected by the Congress and
then officially confirmed by our government, was Bogdan Petriceicu Hașdeu
who in turn had recommended Mr. Dr. Barbu Constantinescu, acknowledged
for his works on the Gypsy language, works cordially approved by the illustrious
Miklosich, one of the paramount contemporary scholars of Gypsy studies. The
Congress opened on September 12, in the presence of His Royal Highness, the
Duke Amedeu of Aosta.
The two representatives of Romania, both registered in the language section,
presented their latest works in this branch to the Congress, namely Bogdan
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Petriceicu Hașdeu Words from the ancestors,8 and Mr. Dr. Barbu Constantinescu
Samples of Gypsy language and literature. Regarding the latter, see what the bulletin
of the Congress says about the session of September 17 th, 1878: “Mr. Dr. Barbu
Constantinescu communicates to the section the plan of his work on Gypsy dialects
from Romania, a collection that is proposed from both a philological, as well as a
linguistic and literary point of view. As an example of this statement, he read some
passages from those published Gypsy songs, translated into German, alongside
linguistic and grammatical observations. His personal collection comprises over
3000 songs. Assembly receives the speaker’s presentation with applause. The Vice
President, prof. Ascoli, thanks Dr. Constantinescu for his important collection,
hoping that the extensive work that he has been dealing with will much benefit the
linguistic studies, in general, and, he acknowledges in particular, his advanced study
in Gypsy dialects, which is yet so hard to attain, and rarely tackled. As a linguist,
however, he takes the liberty to make a slight phonological observation. The form of
associative case, rumeia, does not seem to be a special form with the suffix ya, but is
a mere amplification of the vowel of the previous form rume-a (rume-ha, rume-sa)
therefore all getting back to the suffix sa. … See what de Gubernatis writes in Nuova
Anthologia of October 15th, 1878: “The fourth Congress of Orientalists … offered us
the pleasant opportunity to come to know another Romanian eminent philologist,
Mr. Dr. Barbu Constantinescu, who presented an important work dealing on
the language and literature of Gypsies from Romania.” In this way, at the fourth
Congress of Orientalists, Romania was represented not only by names [underlined
by the author, n. J.R.], but by some works, that attracted the attention of foreign
scholars. (Hașdeu 1878: 1064–5)
In the same year, Franz Miklosich personally wrote many times to Hașdeu
urging him to send the volume of Barbu Constantinescu. Through Moses
Gaster, Miklosich asked for other related articles by the same author. In fact,
Barbu Constantinescu acknowledged the influence of the Slovenian linguist
in his formation. He had taken part in the 1873 World Exhibition in Vienna, as
the Director of Studies at an important educational institution in Bucharest,
the orphanage “Asylum Elena Doamna,” which received a noteworthy prize
and the “appreciation of the most important German didactic authorities”
(Slavici 1884: 205). There, he came to know F. Miklosich, who recommended
he study Romani.
In a letter dated 12 May 1878, Hașdeu wrote to F. Miklosich:
Je vous envoie demain par poste le volume de la Columna pour l’année expirée,
ou il se trouve tout ce qu’y a été publié relativement au Tziganes, et beaucoup de
textes slaves ou roumains qui pourraient avoir pour vous quelque intérêt. Mon ami
B. Constantinescu, le seule tziganiste en Roumanie [underlined by J.R.], possède une
However, one should take Hașdeu’s words “diablement paresseux” cum grano
salis, as an informal expression of affection for his friend and collaborator.
As described by contemporaries, Barbu Constantinescu was a hard-working
person, capable of displaying great creative force when it came to fighting the
outdated and indolent Romanian authorities, and to creating new institutions,
as will be further shown. (He is reported to have died of a nervous breakdown
due to overwork.) We are now in the position to infer that Barbu Constan-
tinescu sent the requested materials to Miklosich, as the former used to
write the name of the Slovenian scholar in the margins of many songs that
remained in manuscripts (Rotaru 2016).
As far as the “foule de matériaux de toutes espèces” is concerned, Barbu
Constantinescu would soon report, as shown above, at the 4th Congress of
the Orientalists, on 17 September 1878, that he possessed a collection of “over
3000 Romani songs.” Out of these, not even a tenth were published in 1877
and 1878.
As already shown in the introduction, Barbu Constantinescu’s volume was
well received by F.H. Groome, who wrote about the Romanian scholar:
He must have known Romani thoroughly, and may have left large collections.
(Groome 1899: liv)
At that point, His Majesty the King gave the floor to Mr. Professor Barbu Constan-
tinescu, who entertained the audience on Gypsies, on their probable origin and their
dispersion in Europe and especially in our country. Mr. Constantinescu explained
the customs, beliefs and traditions of the Gypsies in Romania, and concluded his
interesting presentation by reciting the prayer “Our Father” in Gypsy language, and
some original songs of longing. At 11 p.m., after His Majesty the King congratulated
the speakers on their interesting presentations … he asked them to publish these
studies in the Society’s Bulletin. (BSGR X, 1 (1889): 15)
his scholarly and educational projects unfinished. He also left behind many
unpublished works. It is said (Negulescu 1896: 365) that his manuscripts
were taken by his pupil, Dragomir Demetrescu, a doctor in Theology and
the future dean of the Faculty of Theology, and a great nomophylax of the
Romanian Orthodox Church.
9. Two decades after they entered the Library of the Romanian Academy, mss. 3923, 3924 and
3925 were acknowledged by researchers in the field: in 1930 Popp-Şerboianu mentions the work
plan drawn up by Barbu Constantinescu, entitled “Gypsies in Romania.” One decade later, in
1939, George Potra made use of the names contained therein for his study on the onomastics
of the Roms and of some words for his Romani glossary. Yet another decade later, in 1944, Ion
Chelcea refers to mss. 3923 in particular, without making use of any data contained therein.
10. Comparable with mss. BAR 4973 and 5048.
the first romanian scholar of romani studies 49
contains many tables drawn by different hands with various types of ink,
written on papers of variable length. The work represents the first project of a
demographic and ethnologic investigation on Romanian Roms.11
Barbu Constantinescu, upon Haşdeu’s recommendation, that time General
Director of the State Archives and member in the Commission of the
National Statistical Office,12 was employed by the Interior Ministry for the
interpretation and compilation of statistics on Roms in former Wallachia.
The investigation was conducted by sending a circular to the sub-prefects
of the Wallachian counties in the year 1878. The responses are preserved
in ms. 3923, in tabular form. There is evidence that this manuscript is
incomplete and that Barbu Constantinescu had more material in hand. The
manuscript contains responses sent between 2 March and 19 April 1878, by
local authorities from only five counties: Brăila (Division Vădeni), Buzău
(Division Sarata), Mehedinți (Division Câmpu, Division Dumbrava and
Division Plaiul Cloşani) and Mușcel (Division Podgoria) and from one
locality from Argeș (Division Râuri). The tables are structured as follows:
name and surname of the Roms living in the village; their social status
(residents or itinerants), the locality where they pay taxes; their occupation;
their ethnic group (Romanian neam ‘nation’). Although incomplete, these
statistics are somehow representative, as they include data about Roms from
various counties of Wallachia, including two counties that were part of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire (Mehedinți, from 1718 to 1738) and part of the
Ottoman Empire (Brăila, until 1828), respectively.
In the summer of the same year, 1878, statistics on Roms in another
historical province of Romania, Bukovina − a part of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire − (statistics renewed in 1889),13 were gathered. For the Roms in
11. I have edited ms. 3923 as a part of the reconstruction of Barbu Constantinescu’s projected
work, “Gypsies in Romania,” in my forthcoming volume Contributions to the history
of Wallachian Roms of the XIXth century. (Rom. Contribuții la istoria romilor din Ţara
Românească în secolul al XIX-lea). The manuscript is not complete, containing data from
only five counties, and we know from mss. 3924 and 3925 that Barbu Constantinescu travelled
in 17 Wallachian counties in search of Romani lore. Hence, I have reconstructed the map of
Barbu Constantinescu’s itineracy in the years 1877–1987, and I have also documented localities
that are not in the extant 1878 statistics on Wallachian Roms. I have corroborated this
information with data from the unpublished nominal statistics of 1838, in Cyrillic, preserved
at the Romanian State Archive, wherein many times I have found the ancestors of the Roms
recorded in the 1878 statistics. I have also added data regarding realia on the Roms, and the
ethnic attitudes of the Romanians towards Roma, from the two famous socio-mythological
Questionnaires undertaken by B.P. Hașdeu in 1878 and 1882 respectively, which are also
unpublished (c.1,200 and 20,000 pages respectively).
12. I came across this previously unknown information on Haşdeu’s biography in an
accounting record at the Romanian State Archive (ANIC, fond Ministerul de Interne, Dir.
Contabilitate, inv. 3132, dos. 114/1876).
13. Ficker 1879: 249–65 and Karpeles 1891: 31–3.
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Notebooks no. 1 and 2 contain songs and tales in Romani and Romanian
translations,18 collected from all the counties of Romanian principalities:
17 counties of Wallachia (Argeș, Brăila, Bucureşti, Buzău, Dâmboviţa, Dolj,
Ilfov, Gorj, Mehedinți, Muscel, Olt, Prahova, Râmnicu Sărat, Romanaţi,
Teleorman, Vâlcea, Vlaşca), from 89 urban and/or rural localities, and eight
urban and/or rural localities from Moldavia (Bacău, Fălciu, Iași, Neamţ,
Roman, Boghicea, Tecuci, Vrancea).
(Roms belonging to the State; those belonging to the monasteries, and those belonging to
the boyars), further divided into six professional classes: art. 68 from the Constitution called
the “Organic Statute” (Rom. “Regulamentul Organic/Reglement Organique”), rendered
bilingually, in Romanian and French and issued in 1831 for Wallachia, and in 1832 for Moldavia
by the Russian administration.
18. These songs were critically edited, with English translation (Rotaru 2016).
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Figure 1. Manuscript BAR 3923. Plan of the work “Gypsies in Romania”
the first romanian scholar of romani studies 53
19. He actually held the chair of “Universal Church History” at the Faculty of Theology upon
Barbu Constantinescu’s death. The course, taught from 1 December 1866 by Constantinescu,
included history of the Romanian Orthodox Church. Dragomir Demestrescu’s course was
published as “Istoria bisericii române,” 1942, from the notes taken by his student, Veniamin
G. Ploeșteanu, who became patriarchal vicar.
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Barbu attended one of the four Greek primary schools in Ploiesti. One
day, Bishop Stratonichias Calistrat, the vicar of the Primate Metropolitan
(i.e. patriarch), having passed through Ploiesti and having attended a service
officiated by the priest Constandin, assisted by his son, was attracted by the
boy’s “wisdom and humbleness” (Negulescu 1896: 332). Upon the bishop’s
request, Barbu’s father consented to leave his son in Bucharest in order to
study at the Theological College. Graduates of four classes were admitted
to this college; the study duration was four years, and after graduation, the
graduates were directly ordained priests. After graduation, Barbu’s father
decided to find him a fiancée in order to be ordained a priest in Ploiesti.
A contemporaneous anecdote says that Barbu, who wished to continue his
education, ran away to Bucharest on the engagement evening. He remained
a studious bachelor until he was 45 years old, when he married one of
his students, Ecaterina Ioanovici, a graduate who became a teacher at the
prestigious college “Asylum Elena Doamna,” where he was Director of
Studies. His marriage took place in the same year as the marriage of his good
friend, Ioan Slavici, one of the chief Romanian novelists, who also married a
graduate and teacher at the same college.
Regarding the four years’ training in the Theological College, Barbu Constan-
tinescu always maintained that it was insufficient for becoming a priest, people
who he expressly described in his writings as the illuminators of the nation.
His project to change that to eight years’ training for theological secondary
education became a reality through his disciple, Petre Gârboviceanu, who
supported the law for the reorganization of the institution, 2230/29 May 1893.
Yet, at that time, there was not a Faculty of Theology where Constantinescu,
as a Theological College graduate, could continue his education.20 Hence, he
pursued his training at the “Saint Sava” College, the most important institution
of secondary education in Romania, completing the four years in two. He was
an eminent pupil, and in 1860, he won a scholarship to study at the University
of Leipzig, at the Faculty of Theology and Faculty of Philosophy. He studied
there for 11 semesters (April 1861–August 1866) and was licentiate of Theology
and earned a Ph.D. in Philosophy.
20. Nonetheless, the Faculty of Theology was founded in Bucharest on 11 November 1881 at
the Metropolitan Calinic’s initiative, with the intercession of Bishop of Arges, Gennady, and
Barbu Constantinescu’s instrumental efforts.
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The Theological College was not much better than the overall situation of
general civic education already described. The following anecdote, told by
one of the first disciples of Barbu Constantinescu, Boroianu, a future priest,
may best describe the state of affairs of two Romanian institutions of vital
importance, improperly re-relocated to inadequate locations:
The third day, around 9.00 a.m. we all21 were wandering on the streets, two by
two, visiting Bălăceanu’s houses on [street] Șerban Vodă. Here we found the state
archive and Mr. Hașdeu, its director. The yard was jammed with bullock carts. We,
too, helped to load the archive which was relocated to Mihai Vodă. In two days,
everything was set and the place was emptied for the college. Within a week, the
courses started to the great contentment of all and to the special satisfaction of those
who struggled to reopen the school. (Călinescu and Boroianu 1904: 114)
21. i.e. a group of collegians from the final year, who were undertaking negotiations with the
Minister to reopen the Theological College, which had been delayed for two years due to lack
of premises and other basic requirements.
22. “Project of law regarding education in Prussia.” [Rom. “Proiect de lege pentru instrucțiune
în Prusia.”] Societatea pentru învăţătura poporului român. Foaie mensuală. I, 9 (1870): 74–150;
I; 12 (1870): 50ff.
23. The 19th Congress of German school teachers held in Vienna. [Rom. Congresul XIX al
învăţătorilor germani ţinut în Viena (27–30 mai)]. Societatea pentru învăţătura poporului
român. Foaie mensuală. I, 6 (1870): 20–32; I; 8 (1870): 41–3; II, 1 (1871): 13–21; II, 3 (1871): 169–73;
II, 4 (1872): 249–66; II, 5 (1872): 344–50.
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for long time; all these may require special journals to be debated in, in order to see
how these problems are to be solved, based on the principles of pedagogical sciences
as well as on the experiences made by other countries that have progressed further
than us on the path of culture. (Constantinescu 1883a: 1)
24. Barbu Constantinescu was chief editor of the semi-monthly journal Învețatorul between
1 November 1879 and 15 February 1880. He was chief editor from 1890 until the death of
the monthly journal Lumina pentru toti, revista enciclopedica ilustrată pentru luminarea
poporului.
25. He founded the journal Educatorul. Ziar pedagogic şi literar. Organ al corpului didactic
din azilul „Elena Doamna” şi „Ateneul Elisabeta,” Bucureşti: Tipografia Academiei Române,
Laboratorii României I (1883), nr. 1–43 and II (1884) 1–27, which was issued for only two years.
26. He occupied this position from 13 November 1877 until 10 June 1888, when he presented his
the first romanian scholar of romani studies 61
There is no doubt that dr. Barbu Constantinescu was in touch with everything that
had been done and was done abroad for such schools, and he wished Society’s school
to be a model school in every respect. This results from all directives he undertook
and his entire activity as a school Director. Besides the disciplines from the official
curriculum, he introduced French, so that future teachers may have access to the
French pedagogical literature. (Gârboviceanu 1906: XLV)
What the primary school graduates, aspiring to enter the Pedagogical College,
were to do until 17 years old? Many of them repeated the primary classes until
they got bored, and others, from the time of graduation from primary school until
the age when they could be admitted to the Pedagogical College, lost whatever
little knowledge they had learned. These were the sound reasons that urged Barbu
Constantinescu to create the preparatory class. (Gârboviceanu 1906: LXXV–VI)
In spite of this progress, in 1886, the preparatory class was stopped and new
disciplines from the curriculum (including French)27 of the Pedagogical
College and the final qualification examination were removed by the Ministry.
However, a few decades later, these progressive measures taken by Barbu
Constantinescu for this school were ultimately adopted by the Ministry for
the entire system of education.
On 1 April 1881, Barbu Constantinescu created the Romanian Association
for Kindergarten, also called Froebelian school. On 23 April, the first
Froebelian school in Romania opened, in the quarters of Saint Ekaterina
Church, where Barbu Constantinescu also lived. It was soon visited by the
King, who assured Barbu Constantinescu of his support for this enterprise
(Învățătorul IV (21) 1 July 1881: 529). Barbu Constantinescu opened the next
demission. However, he was professor there for two decades, teaching the following disciplines:
history (1870–April 1871, and March 1885–June 1888); geography (1870–1871 and October
1878–2 September 1880); pedagogy (January 1874–June 1888); Romanian language (1874–June
1878); French (1879–October 1884); and religion (1 September 1885–24 September 1885).
27. It is precisely French, among other disciplines, which was removed from the curriculum
enriched by Barbu Constantinescu at the Theological College, in 1872, despite its necessity felt
by the collegians. “Nonetheless, good pupils taught themselves French and sciences which
were deleted from the curriculum. With this curtailed curriculum, the Theological College
continued from 1872 to 1893, exactly 21 years” (Călinescu and Boroianu 1904: 137).
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Catholics have gone too far with their institutions of all kinds. They have established
schools of all kinds and for both sexes, and I am sure that most of our citizens’
children attend those Catholic schools. Well, it is not enough of tolerance? (Mărzescu
1884: V)
They all voted to make a resolution against the Catholic Bishop, except for
Orleanu. The Metropolitan Primate asked him to explain his refusal to vote,
and he replied that it was his legal right. This led to conflict, as a result of
the first romanian scholar of romani studies 63
which Orleanu was excluded from the Synod; he was prohibited to serve
further as a priest. At that time Calistrat Orleanu was involved in a trial
against the Synod, during which we see Barbu Constantinescu supporting
his brother who somehow attracted the latter’s demission from the position of
dean of the Faculty of Theology. As an anecdote, Orleanu’s advocate was one
Mărzescu, who exactly one decade earlier defended Calinic Miclescu, who
was similarly, abusively excluded from the Synod. That time, justice decided
in favour of the future Metropolitan Primate Calinic Miclescu. The same
justice decided just the opposite, in a similar case, ten years later.
This unfair trial made Barbu Constantinescu extremely unpopular in some
quarters of the Church. However, he continued his reformation of religious
education. Although he was not a staunch Orthodox, he advocated for the
teaching of religion in primary and secondary schools:
28. For 1st grade he published Romanian Primer [Rom. Abecedar românesc prelucrat, de
Dr. Barbu Constantinescu. Carte aprobată de Onor. Minister al Cultelor şi Instrucţiunei
Publice pentru Şcoalele primare din România. Bucureşti: Tipografia Statului, 1874. 116 pp.]
He acknowledges the sources of the book, namely Albert Hästers’ Lehr- und Lesebuch, oder,
Der sinnliche und sittliche Anschauungsunterricht für die Mittelklassen katholischer Volkss-
chulen, Bädeker, 1863, and Karl Ferdinand Ranke’s Chrestomathie aus lateinischen Dichtern
vorzüglich aus Ovidius, Berlin, 1850. The successful manual was published in 39 editions until
1891, the last three with illustrations. In the preface to the eighth edition he writes: “The first
two editions of 70,000 copies printed at State Typography having passed in less than three
years, I thought thereby encouraged publishing this primer at Publishing House Socec and
here we are in front of the VIIIth edition of 20,000 copies, which shows quite clearly that it
is one of the most methodical manuals.” (Constantinescu 1880: 4). In the year of his death,
he publishes The new Romanian primer (with illustrations), which is meant for rural schools.
[Rom. Noul abecedar românesc (cu ilustraţiuni) de Dr. Barbu Constantinescu. Prelucrat
conform programei oficiale. Destinat pentru clasa I primară-rurală şi clasa I (divisiunile I, II)
primară de ambe sexurile. Ploeşti, Edit. stab. Progresul I. Gheorghiu, D. Hernia & Co., 1891.
108 pp.]
29. Barbu Constantinescu was the chief editor of a panel which published a Reader in three
parts, for 2nd to 4th grade. [Rom. Carte de citire prelucrată de o asociaţie de învăţători.
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A reader should display the living speech of the people with ideas, feelings, customs
and habits, its material and intellectual needs. Therefore, the reader should be
written in the current language. When such a book does not reflect the people in its
entireness, then it does not reach its goal.
A reform of our reading books has been needed for a long time, and the teaching
staff from certain intellectual quarters tried their best to accomplish this task.
Nevertheless, only a few were well-trained and, often, without any principles, they
worked troubling children’s minds with an alien language, feelings and reality, so
that the gap between school and people became increasingly large. The practical
part of life was completely neglected, so the child, learning with no interest at all,
by the completion of schooling, also forgot the book. The reader written by a panel of
associated teachers from Bucharest, to which I greatly contributed, was an exception
to that. (Constantinescu 1891: 1)
As hinted in this preface, his methods were not always accepted. It was
the time when a unitary Romanian language was crystalized. At some
conferences of Romanian teachers,30 Barbu Constantinescu was accused of
having used in his manuals the “Romanian spoken in Bucharest,” which was
not true. Yet, this accusation reflected his vision of using a standard language,
free of regionalisms.
He was a critic of the dogmatic ways of teaching religion in schools and
colleges, hence, one year before his death, he was the head a panel of authors
for a manual of the Sacred history of the New Testament [Rom. Istoria Sacră a
Noului Testament] for secondary schools, pedagogical colleges, gymnasiums
and high schools.
The problem that we meet in the development of religious feeling is on the one hand,
the lack of good books of religion, which should guide, in the process of learning,
Bucuresci: Edit. Librăriei Socecu şi C-nia, 1875, In-8°, 180 p., cu ilustraţii, 45 bani.] The book
was issued in 21 editions until 1889. “They were the best readers in the epoch, and as for
their content, they will always remain appropriate.” (Gârboviceanu 1906: LXX–LXXI) In
1889, the volume was revised with substantial additions by A. Odobescu, one of the greatest
Romanian historians, and I. Slavici, one of the paramount novelists. Curiously, the name of
Barbu Constantinescu was removed from the authors. This is probably due to the fact the
Barbu Constantinescu did not consent to the changes made by his friends and long-time
collaborators. He issued in the next years, 1890–1891, the Romanian Reader in a panel together,
among others, with the famous poet George Coșbuc. Nevertheless, in the next year, after
Barbu Constantinescu’s death, the 24th edition of his first original reader, without Odobescu’s
and Slavici’s revision, appeared.
30. “From the Congress of the teaching staff, held on 26th, 27th, and 28th March, current year,
in Bucharest” [Rom. “De la Congresul corpului didactic, ținut în zilele de 26, 27 și 28 martie
a.c. în București”], Lumina pentru toți V, 10 (1890): 631.
the first romanian scholar of romani studies 65
both, teacher and pupil, and on the other hand, inexperience regarding the methods
of teaching religion. The method should enable the teaching of religion to the extent
that it should make this study a pleasure and should also elevate the pupil’s heart to
the extent, where everything is but life … As a rule, for teaching religious ideas to the
youth in school, it should be understood that dogmatic ideas are not essential, but
are more practical moral training, ensuing from dogmatic ideas. Regarding religion,
and other knowledge, which we teach to children in school, we must have in mind
the old principle of education: “Not for school, but for life we learn.” (Constantinescu
1890a: IV)
There was no field of education into which Barbu Constantinescu did not
contribute. This was due to his vast teaching experience. Whatever discipline
he taught, he felt the need to write a manual. Thus, he taught history and he
subsequently created a new discipline and wrote together with other authors,
Ancient history through biographies [Rom. Istoria Antică în Biografii] for
secondary schools, pedagogical colleges, gymnasiums and high schools:
History, by reproducing the events of the past, has no other purpose but to make
us to justly judge, and to strengthen our will and character, so as to be useful to
ourselves, our fellows, and our country, by taking the model of the most significant
men of all time and emulating their actions. This is the reason for introducing in
the school curricula the study of history through biographies. Explaining the facts
should be simple, up-to-date, and based on truth. There should be taught, especially
at the earliest age of the child, legends, maxims and stories that are valuable food for
the vivid imagination of the child. (Constantinescu 1890b: 2–3)
village, town; Part 2, 3rd grade: Romanian mountains, valleys, rivers, flora, fauna etc;
Part 3, 4th grade: The earth and other heavenly bodies. … Language must be fair and
written with phonetic spelling. (BSGR II, 1, (1877): 68–71)
After a 10-minute break, upon the reopening of the meeting, the King gave the
floor to Dr. Barbu Constantinescu, who entertained the assembly on the issue of
[Romanian] geographical designations … The conference focused on a practical
issue, on how one must reproduce geographical designations. After he shows the
general rules, he explains that it is impossible for these designations to be reproduced
precisely and uniformly by all nations, but each nation adjusts them according to the
peculiarities of its language, and he concludes on the following:
a) the geographical proper names, long popular among people and attested in the
Romanian literature, must remain in this form. Thus, one says Viena and not Wien,
Lipsca and not Leipzig, Florența rather than Firenze, Londra and not London,
Germania and not Deutschland etc.
b) for geographic proper names which were simplified, belonging to the nations that
admitted the Latin alphabet, we should admit their official spelling: thus, one should
say Franche Comté, Langue doc, Canterbery and not Franco-contea, Language doc,
Canturia etc.
c) in the countries where Romanians live as well and where they employ Romanian
names for geographical locations, we should admit the Romanian proper names,
such as: Sibiu, Cluj, Oradea Mare instead of Hermanstadt, Clausemburg or Kolosvar,
Grosswardein and others.
d) for geographic proper names from countries which do not use the Latin alphabet,
such as Russia and the peoples of the Balkan Peninsula, Asia, Africa and Oceania, we
reproduce them as they sound in their local pronunciation, leading us more from the
form admitted in the Italian geographical literature, since the Italian pronunciation
adjusts better than any other to our language.
e) for geographic proper names, phonetic spelling should be used, as it is accepted by
the Society for its geographical dictionary, avoiding etymologies like Târgu-Vestei,
Selatina and others.
(Minutes of the meeting, 13 February 1887. BSGR 1887 VIII, 1 (1))
the first romanian scholar of romani studies 67
31. “Fragmente din Noua carte a înțelepciunii de B. Antonin Roques, traduse de Dr. Barbu
Constantinescu. Cartea I. cugetări asupra instrucțiunei, educațiunei, ignoranței, studiului
și muncei. – Consilii și precepe, – Florile nemuririi, – Ciocârlanul. Cartea II. Consilii și
macsime. Cartea III. Poesia, artea in genere. Cartea IV. Consilii morale. Templul, moartea,
nemurirea.” Federațiunea 22–4, 26–7, 29, 1874, Budapesta.
32. Goethe, Povestea lui Achille, Prometheus. Poeme în traducere de Barbu Constantinescu,
Biblioteca pentru toţi, 922, Bucureşti: Librăria Universală Alcalay & co. 72 pp. [1908?]. Goethe,
Hermann şi Dorothea. Traducere de B.C., Biblioteca pentru toţi, 922, Bucureşti: Librăria
Universală Alcalay & co. 112 p., cu ilustraţii. [1908]. Preface date February 1908.
33. Chamisso, Omul care şi-a pierdut umbra, traducere de Barbu Constantinescu, Biblioteca
pentru toţi, 462, Bucureşti: Librăria Universală Alcalay & co. 1909.
34. Edgar Alan Poe, Nuvele extraordinare. Cele două asasinate din str. Morgue. Scrisoare
furată. Cărăbuşul de aur. Eleonora, Metyengertsein, Morella. Zigeia, traducere de Barbu
Constantinescu, Biblioteca Populară Socec, no. 101–103, Bucureşti: Editura Librăriei Socec &
co, 1910, 269 pp.
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In this work we encountered great difficulties because the Greek text is written in
common Greek, which at that time lacked scholarly awareness, and thus the style
is very rough. I translated the quotations from the Old and New Testament from
the original Greek … With the publication of this new translation I had no other
purpose than to give my modest contribution to the development of Romanian
literature … With the progress of the language, the need of a new translation of
this Catechesis was felt, because the old Romanian translations that had been good
in their time, nowadays are almost incomprehensible. (Constantinescu 1872: XXII)
One can sense the dimension of the reaction from some quarters of the
Romanian Orthodox Church from the blind criticism of two priests who
attempted a new translation, 70 years after Barbu Constantinescu’s translation:
This unsuccessful attempt to overcome the “old Romanian translations” that Dr.
B.C. wrongly deemed as “almost incomprehensible” for his time, caused bitter
shortcomings within several series of collegians, for they were provided with a
manual written in an incomprehensible language and totally alien from common
parlance in the villages from where they were hailing. And the painful consequences
immediately started to be seen in the vocabulary of our priests and in all the church
writings at the end of the XIXth century, because instead of the clean Romanian
language, preserved in the old service books, it now emerged a corrupted and
incomprehensible language which was not understood not only by the people, but
sometimes even by those who used it. (Popescu and Moisescu 1942: LXI)
35. By that time, the Latin version was not available to scholars. It is only in 1927, that the
codex 1265, Parisinus, containing Greek and Latin versions, was discovered at the National
Library of France. The Latin version was edited by Antoine Malvy and Marcel Viller (Rome
& Paris 1927).
36. In 1886, one of Barbu Constantinescu’s famous disciples, Dr Dragomir Demetrescu,
published a book on dogmatics and in the preface, he pledged for the utility of this volume
that could successfully replace Barbu Constantinescu’s Catechesis, which was per se, a difficult
work (Demetrescu 1886: V).
the first romanian scholar of romani studies 69
Perhaps his titles of Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Theology at the University
of Leipzig helped him to enjoy a major influence in our Church over the mountains.
Hence in 1877, when the Romanian Principalities were in the middle of the
Independence War, a new edition appeared in the typography of the Archbishopric
in Sibiu, we do not know under which circumstances … (Popescu and Moisescu
1942: lxii)
Indeed, the book was published with the approval of His High-Grace, the
Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Greek-Oriental Romanians in Hungary
and Transylvania (part of the Austrian Empire), Miron Romanolu, from the
Metropolitan chair in Sibiu city. Barbu Constantinescu’s book had never
received such ecclesiastical endorsement in Wallachia. The fact that a book
of fundamental importance for Eastern Orthodoxy was published in the
middle of the Second Russian-Turkish War which brought independence to
Wallachia and Moldavia, should be considered a great achievement for Barbu
Constantinescu and for the Archbishopric in Sibiu, alike.
In the very same year of the war, 1877, Barbu Constantinescu was once
more belittled by the Romanian authorities. He was Director of Studies at
the orphanage “Asylum Elena Doamna” and the right hand of its founder,
General Carol Davila, a French naturalized Romanian, the founder of the
Romanian Military Medical Service. Carol Davila had to leave for his war
mission and he left Barbu Constantinescu as stand-in general manager.
Each summer holiday, the orphan girls were taken to a camp in a popular
mountain resort. In the summer of 1877, Barbu Constantinescu was accused
by the Ministry that he had organized the camp without its official approval
and he was dismissed. Upon Carol Davila’s return from the battlefield, Barbu
Constantinescu was restored to his position.
Mutatis mutandis, in 1828, in the middle of the First Russian-Turkish War,
Ion Heliade Rădulescu was forced to leave Bucharest for Sibiu, the centre
of Romanian Eastern Orthodox spirituality, wherein he published the first
Romanian grammar, supporting the Latin alphabet and phonetic spelling,
and neologisms borrowed from Latin and Romance languages.
To conclude about Barbu Constantinescu’s Catechesis, the unfathomable
hatred against the book is demonstrated in the following:
This time [i.e. in 1879, third and last edition, n. J.R.] the book was printed by a
bookstore, out of futile mercantile interests, hence we suspect that enough copies
were published until 1891, when Barbu Constantinescu died, so there was no need for
a new edition. (Popescu and Moisescu 1942: lxii)
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The language book will simply be that of the Romanian old ritual books, removing
precisely and carefully the neologisms that today stealthy slipped into our literature
and speech and which shook people’s language from its old Romanian historical
grounds.
Father Pimen Georgescu, the spokesman of His Eminence the Metropolitan Primate,
delivered a speech that ended with the words: “All those assembled here should ask
those whom the deceased upset to forgive him and we should also pray to God to
forgive him.” These last words made an ugly impression on the audience mostly
composed of teachers and pupils. The undersigned could not keep quiet in regard of
these, so I said: “Grieved assembly, there is no need to say who Dr. Barbu Constan-
tinescu was. I do not believe that there exists any Romanian with as little education
as possible, who has not heard the name of the illustrious deceased … In fact, you
can walk around all the schools in towns, villages, and the most remote corners
of the country, go to all the churches of Romania and you will see that all priests,
all teachers and pupils, all small children in the kindergartens know him and
uphold him in high esteem. Moreover, go beyond our country’s borders and visit
the Romanian schools across the Carpathian Mountains, the Romanian schools
of the Macedonians in Turkey, and you will hear them all in one voice uttering his
name with respect … This is mainly due to the fact that in the matters of culture
and propagation of light, the deceased sacrificed his time, rest, interests and the last
penny. He even took debts; it was enough for him to see a poor young man willing
to pursue his study and he would immediately give him all possible assistance, either
through his high relations, or by giving him his last penny. However, that young man
would not have been left helpless. … In his colossal activity, our respected deceased
encountered numerous obstacles, which distressed his soul and body, bringing him
here, where we see him today. … Due to his voluntary sacrifice for the cause of the
culture and the enlightenment of the Romanian nation, our duty is not to pray for
his forgiveness, because such a man could not willingly do wrong, and God, who
is always just, does not need our prayers; but what is dutiful for us now is to keep
indelible in our souls the respected name of the man who was Dr. Barbu Constan-
tinescu. May his memory last forever.”
(Bălteanu 1891: 419–23)
the first romanian scholar of romani studies 71
37. I came across the books donated by Constantinescu’s disciple, Partenie Clinceni, to the
Library “V.A. Urechia” from Galati city in 1896, as well as the donation act. Nowhere is it
mentioned that these books belonged to Barbu Constantinescu, although some of them have
his signature. A comparison of these books with the titles from the unpublished catalogue of
his library proves beyond doubt that the library of the first Romanian Romani specialist is
nowadays in Galati city.
72 julieta rotaru
Synod member, who was for a period, parish priest at the Romanian Chapel
in Paris. However, his philological translation from Greek of a fundamental
Christian text, Cathechesis by Peter Moghila, needs to be reconsidered,
as it was criticized merely for the neologisms he introduced, ignoring the
erudition of the author and his Hellenistic knowledge which attracted
B.P. Hașdeu’s appreciation. His study about the culture of the Phanariot
rulers published in Columna lui Traian II (1871) is very poorly known,
although it is significant, as it draws on an unedited text of the eighteenth
century found by him in the Library of the Theological College. Equally,
he was the first librarian here, and he composed the first catalogue of its
books and manuscripts. This was unfairly copied by his successors, as can
be seen by a simple comparison of the ample and accurate bibliographical
descriptions entered in ms. BAR 4973 (described above in § 2.6), with the
catalogue published in 1890 (Catalogul Bibliotecii Seminarului Central din
București, așezat după alfabet și după limbi, făcut și tipărit cu cheltuiala
P.S. Silvestru Bălănescu, Episcop de Huși, București: Tipografia cărților
bisericești).
His name is mentioned several times in the Preface of the Great
Geographical Dictionary (1898–1902), underlining his overlooked significant
contribution to the first encyclopaedia of its kind in Romania, which
remains a very important reference work. This article, dedicated to Barbu
Constantinescu’s life and work – published or in planning – highlights a
complex cultural personality, acting in various fields, in many of which he
was a pioneer.
Acknowledgement
I am very thankful to Professor Yaron Matras, who read a previous version
of this article, and to the learned anonymous reviewer, for their useful
suggestions.
References
Manuscripts
Romanian State Archive: Ms. ANIC, fond Ministerul de Interne, Dir. Contabilitate,
inv. 3132, dos. 114/1876.
Romanian State Archive: Ms. ANIC, Catagrafii, Partea I, inv. 501, dos. 75/1838,
Orașul Ploiești.
Romanian State Archive: Ms. BAR, A 1057. Barbu Constantinescu’s Library Book
Catalog. [Rom. Catalogul cărţilor din Biblioteca Barbu Constantinescu].
the first romanian scholar of romani studies 73
Romanian Academy Library: Ms. BAR, Mss. Rom. 3923. Year 1878. Barbu Constan-
tinescu, Gypsies in Romania. Volume I. [Rom. Barbu Constantinescu, Ţiganii
în România, Vol. I].
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about Gypsies in Romania, gathered by Barbu Constantinescu. Volume II.
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