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Balaur
A balaur (pl. ''balauri'') in Romanian folklore is a type of many-headed dragon or monstrous serpent, sometimes said to be equipped with wings. The number of heads is usually around three, but they can also have seven heads or even twelve heads according to some legends. The balaur in folktale is typically evil, demanding or abducting young maidens or the princess, and defeated by the hero such as Saint George or the fair youth Făt-Frumos. There is some lore in which the balaur is considered weather-making, and living in an airborne state, but these types of balaur are sometimes interchangeably called ''hala'' or ''ala'', being confounded with the pan-Slavic air and water demon. The balaur (instead of the zmeu) is the vehicle of the weather-controlling Solomonari according to some sources. There are also legends about the balaur in which they can produce precious stones from their saliva. Also, it is said that whoever manages to slay it will be forgiven a sin. General ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Balaur Brasov 1
A balaur (pl. ''balauri'') in Romanian folklore is a type of many-headed dragon or monstrous serpent, sometimes said to be equipped with wings. The number of heads is usually around three, but they can also have seven heads or even twelve heads according to some legends. The balaur in folktale is typically evil, demanding or abducting young maidens or the princess, and defeated by the hero such as Saint George or the fair youth Făt-Frumos. There is some lore in which the balaur is considered weather-making, and living in an airborne state, but these types of balaur are sometimes interchangeably called ''hala'' or ''ala'', being confounded with the pan-Slavic air and water demon. The balaur (instead of the zmeu) is the vehicle of the weather-controlling Solomonari according to some sources. There are also legends about the balaur in which they can produce precious stones from their saliva. Also, it is said that whoever manages to slay it will be forgiven a sin. General ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Romanian Folklore
The folklore of Romania is the collection of traditions of the Romanians. A feature of Romanian culture is the special relationship between folklore and the learned culture, determined by two factors. First, the rural character of the Romanian communities resulted in an exceptionally vital and creative traditional culture. Folk creations (the best known is the ballad Miorița) were the main literary genre until the 18th century. They were both a source of inspiration for cultivated creators and a structural model. Second, for a long time learned culture was governed by official and social commands and developed around courts of princes and boyars, as well as in monasteries. Overview Creation of the world Stories suggest God made the earth with the help of animals, while the Devil was trying to thwart his plans.Cosma, Aurel. ''Cosmogonia poporului român'' (The Cosmogony of the Romanian People) (1942). Bucharest: Tipografia Ziarului "Universul".Leeming, David Adams. ''Creation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Făt-Frumos
Făt-Frumos (from Romanian ''făt'': son, infant; ''frumos'': handsome) is a knight hero in Romanian folklore, usually present in fairy tales. Akin to Prince Charming, he possesses such essential attributes as courage, purity, justness, physical and spiritual strength, cleverness, passion, and unshakable love. Făt-Frumos also displays some minimal abilities in performing miracles, as well as total commitment to a task once his word is given and to the monarch he serves. In some tales, he is so precocious as to be able to weep before he is born. Făt-Frumos is usually the youngest son of a king. In the Romanian folk stories it is common that all the sons of a king try to defeat the ''Zmeu'' or the ''Balaur'', the older sons failing before the younger one succeeds. Făt-Frumos has to go through tests and obstacles that surpass ordinary men's power. With dignity, he always brings these to a positive resolution. He fights demonic monsters and malevolent characters (''zmeu'', ''b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solomonari
The Solomonar or Șolomonar (German phonetization: ''Scholomonar'') is a wizard believed in Romanian folklore to ride a dragon (zmeu or a balaur) and control the weather, causing rain, thunder, or hailstorm. They are recruited from common folk and taught their magic at the Solomonărie or Şolomanţă (German phonetization: Scholomance). General description The Solomonars are said to be tall, red-haired, wearing long white robes of peasants, sometimes woolen, or clad in ragged attire made from patches, a small version of a Semantron, which serves to summon the Vântoase (alternatively the winds are contained in a little wooden jar). When not helping the Devil, they are most often seen around begging for alms, and the collected coins are then thrown into rivers, as offerings to the water spirits. The contents of their magic bag are instruments such as an iron ax used as lightning rod (also as a wand to summon them or his mount), birchbark reins or a golden bridle, and a book o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zmeu
The ''Zmeu'' (plural: ''zmei'', feminine: ''zmeoaică'' / ''zmeoaice'') is a fantastic creature of Romanian folklore and Romanian mythology. Though referred by some sources as a dragon, the zmeu is nevertheless distinct, because it usually has clear anthropomorphic traits: it is humanoid and has legs, arms, the ability to create and use artifacts such as weapons, and to ride a horse, and has the desire to marry young girls. There are commentators that class it as a giant (equivalent of an ogre), or a devil, or even a vampire. In some stories, Zmeu appears in the sky and spits fire, or has the ability to change form. In other stories, it has a magical precious stone on its head that shines like the sun. It likes beautiful young girls, whom it kidnaps, usually for the purpose of marrying them. It is almost always defeated by a daring prince or knight-errant. The zmei has also been conflated with or confused with the ''dracu'' or with the '' balaur'' type dragon. Etymology Mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polycephaly
Polycephaly is the condition of having more than one head. The term is derived from the Greek stems ''poly'' (Greek: "πολύ") meaning "many" and ''kephalē'' (Greek: "κεφαλή") meaning "head". A polycephalic organism may be thought of as one being with a supernumerary body part, or as two or more beings with a shared body. Two-headed animals (called bicephalic or dicephalic) and three-headed (tricephalic) animals are the only type of multi-headed creatures seen in the real world, and form by the same process as conjoined twins from monozygotic twin embryos. In humans, there are two forms of twinning that can lead to two heads being supported by a single torso. In dicephalus parapagus dipus, the two heads are side by side. In craniopagus parasiticus, the two heads are joined directly to each other, but only one head has a functional torso. Survival to adulthood is rare, but does occur in some forms of dicephalus parapagus dipus. There are many occurrences of mul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thracian Language
The Thracian language () is an extinct and poorly attested language, spoken in ancient times in Southeast Europe by the Thracians. The linguistic affinities of the Thracian language are poorly understood, but it is generally agreed that it was an Indo-European language with satem features. A contemporary, neighboring language, Dacian is usually regarded as closely related to Thracian. However, there is insufficient evidence with respect to either language to ascertain the nature of this relationship. The point at which Thracian became extinct is a matter of dispute. However, it is generally accepted that Thracian was still in use in the 6th century AD: Antoninus of Piacenza wrote in 570 that there was a monastery in the Sinai, at which the monks spoke Greek, Latin, Syriac, Egyptian, and Bessian – a Thracian dialect. Other theories about Thracian remain controversial. A classification put forward by some linguists, such as Harvey Mayer, suggests that Thracian (and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bellerophon
Bellerophon (; Ancient Greek: Βελλεροφῶν) or Bellerophontes (), born as Hipponous, was a hero of Greek mythology. He was "the greatest hero and slayer of monsters, alongside Cadmus and Perseus, before the days of Heracles", and his greatest feat was killing the Chimera, a monster that Homer depicted with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail: "her breath came out in terrible blasts of burning flame." Bellerophon was also known for capturing the winged horse Pegasus with the help of Athena’s charmed bridle, and earning the disfavour of the gods after attempting to ride Pegasus to Mount Olympus to join them. Etymology One possible etymology that has been suggested is: Βελλεροφόντης (Bellerophóntēs) from Ancient Greek βέλεμνον (bélemnon), βελόνη (belóne), βέλος (bélos, "projectile, dart, javelin, needle, arrow") and -φόντης (-phóntēs, "slayer") from φονεύω (phoneúō, "to slay"). However, Geoffrey Kir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albanian Language
Albanian (endonym: or ) is an Indo-European language and an independent branch of that family of languages. It is spoken by the Albanians in the Balkans and by the Albanian diaspora, which is generally concentrated in the Americas, Europe and Oceania. With about 7.5 million speakers, it comprises an independent branch within the Indo-European languages and is not closely related to any other modern Indo-European language. Albanian was first attested in the 15th century and it is a descendant of one of the Paleo-Balkan languages of antiquity. For historical and geographical reasons,: "It is often thought (for obvious geographic reasons) that Albanian descends from ancient Illyrian (see above), but this cannot be ascertained as we know next to nothing about Illyrian itself." the prevailing opinion among modern historians and linguists is that the Albanian language is a descendant of a southern Illyrian dialect spoken in much the same region in classical times. Alternative ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aromanian Language
The Aromanian language (, , , or ), also known as Macedo-Romanian or Vlach, is an Eastern Romance language, similar to Megleno-Romanian, Istro-Romanian and Romanian, spoken in Southeastern Europe. Its speakers are called Aromanians or Vlachs (a broader term and an exonym in widespread use to define Romance communities in the Balkans). Some scholars, mostly Romanian ones, consider Aromanian a dialect of Romanian. Aromanian shares many features with modern Romanian, including similar morphology and syntax, as well as a large common vocabulary inherited from Latin. An important source of dissimilarity between Romanian and Aromanian is the adstratum languages (external influences); whereas Romanian has been influenced to a greater extent by the Slavic languages, Aromanian has been more influenced by Greek, with which it has been in close contact throughout its history. Geographic distribution Aromanian is native to Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, North Macedonia, Romania and Serb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians. Wallachia is traditionally divided into two sections, Muntenia (Greater Wallachia) and Oltenia (Lesser Wallachia). Dobruja could sometimes be considered a third section due to its proximity and brief rule over it. Wallachia as a whole is sometimes referred to as Muntenia through identification with the larger of the two traditional sections. Wallachia was founded as a principality in the early 14th century by Basarab I after a rebellion against Charles I of Hungary, although the first mention of the territory of Wallachia west of the river Olt dates to a charter given to the voivode Seneslau in 1246 by Béla IV of Hungary. In 1417, Wallachia was forced to accept the suzerainty of the Ottoman Emp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grammatical Number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, adjectives and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions (such as "one", "two" or "three or more"). English and other languages present number categories of singular or plural, both of which are cited by using the hash sign (#) or by the numero signs "No." and "Nos." respectively. Some languages also have a dual, trial and paucal number or other arrangements. The count distinctions typically, but not always, correspond to the actual count of the referents of the marked noun or pronoun. The word "number" is also used in linguistics to describe the distinction between certain grammatical aspects that indicate the number of times an event occurs, such as the semelfactive aspect, the iterative aspect, etc. For that use of the term, see " Grammatical aspect". Overview Most languages of the world have formal means to express differences of number. One widespread distinction, found in English ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
