Origins of the Changos

by Dumitru Martinas, Vasile M. Ungureanu (Editor)

Overview

The term Chango (Csángó) is the name of a population whose ethnic origin has been the subject of much controversy. The term originates from the Magyar language in which it means “mixed” or “impure.” Most Changos live on the territory of Romania, the largest number in Moldavia. Many are bilingual, speaking Romanian and Magyar, and their religion is Catholic. This book makes an important contribution to the scholarly discussion of the origin of the Changos and sheds new light on the history of this little known, but fascinating people.

The only work on the subject written by a Chango scholar, this book disputes the theory that the Changos are of Magyar origin, a theory based, to a large extent, upon their Catholicism, demonstrating that they are, in fact, of Romanian origin.

The author, Dumitru Martina?, was born to a Chango family in Romania. He dedicated his life to the study of the origins of the population to which he belonged.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781592111251
Publisher:	Center for Romanian Studies
Publication date:	12/31/2020
Sold by:	INDEPENDENT PUB GROUP - EPUB - EBKS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	568 KB

About the Author

The author, Dumitru Martina?, was born to a Chango family in Romania. He dedicated his life to the study of the origins of the population to which he belonged.

Table of Contents

	Introduction	7
	Author's Preface	11
Part I	Historical Considerations
Chapter 1	An Old Historical Controversy: The Origins of the Changos	17
Chapter 2	Old Catholic Settlements in Moldavia	33
Chapter 3	A New Stratification of the Population: The Changos	40
Chapter 4	Petru Zold about the Changos	47
Chapter 5	The Romanian Gospel Book from Kalocsa	60
Chapter 6	The Origin and Meaning of the World Chango	63
Chapter 7	Controversies among Italian and Hungarian Missionaries	67
Chapter 8	The Szecklerization of the Romanians and the Origins of the Chango Phenomenon	73
Chapter 9	The Changos in Moldavia	84
Chapter 10	A New Process of Magyarization (The Nineteenth Century)	92
Chapter 11	Historical and Ethnographic Considrations	101
Part II	Linguistic Aspects
Chapter 12	The Two Linguistic Aspects of the Chango Phenomenon	109
Chapter 13	The Sibilant Character of the Chango Dialect	111
Chapter 14	Gabor Szarvas's Research on the Dialect of the Changos	119
Chapter 15	The Transylvanian-Moldavian Phonetical Dualism	123
Chapter 16	A Description of the Dialect: Phonetics	129
Chapter 17	A Description of the Dialect: Vocabulary	155
	Conclusions	164
Appendix	Romanian Phonetical Elements in the Hungarian Chango Dialect	168
	Bibliography	173
	Index	195

Editorial Reviews

Reviews the historical and linguistic scholarship expended over the past couple centuries seeking the original people of a population in Romania. From linguistic evidence they seem to have been absorbed into the Magyars at some point, then later largely but not entirely denationalized by the Moldavian Romanians. The puzzle of their ultimate origin has yet to be solved. Martinas contributes a preface to the synthesis of his work, but the editors refer to him in the past tense; he and Ungureanu are both Changos themselves. Distributed in the US by ISBS. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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