Gheorghe Marin Fontanin (October 1825–April 24, 1886) was an Imperial Austrian-born

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 so ...

n and

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

n educator. Born in

Brașov Brașov (, , ; german: Kronstadt; hu, Brassó; la, Corona; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the administrative centre of Brașov County. According to the latest Romanian census (2011), Brașov has a popu ...

, in the

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

region, his father Dumitru Marin was a merchant from Izvoarele,

Dâmbovița County Dâmbovița County (also spelt ''Dîmbovița'', ) is a county ( județ) of Romania, in Muntenia, with the capital city at Târgoviște, the most important economic, political, administrative and cultural center of the county. It has an area of ...

, who fled north during the 1821 uprising. His mother, ''née'' Hagi-Panteli, was from

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

. Gheorghe added ''Fontanin'' to his name; this was a latinization of his father's native village, Izvoarele ("the streams").Pătrașcu, pp. 74-75 Associated with the Latinist school of Romanian culture, he later helped edit a Latin-Romanian dictionary. He studied in Brașov and in a private boarding school at

Sibiu Sibiu ( , , german: link=no, Hermannstadt , la, Cibinium, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'', hu, Nagyszeben ) is a city in Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Ci ...

. He continued his education at

Cluj ; hu, kincses város) , official_name=Cluj-Napoca , native_name= , image_skyline= , subdivision_type1 = Counties of Romania, County , subdivision_name1 = Cluj County , subdivision_type2 = Subdivisions of Romania, Status , subdivision_name2 ...

and at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

, where he took a doctorate in philosophy. In 1848, he was in Bucharest, a participant in that year's revolution, but fled to Sibiu for a few months after the city was occupied by the Ottomans. He later returned to Bucharest and in 1851 moved to

Craiova Craiova (, also , ), is Romania's 6th Cities in Romania, largest city and capital of Dolj County, and situated near the east bank of the river Jiu River, Jiu in central Oltenia. It is a longstanding political center, and is located at approximatel ...

, where he became director of the

Central School A central school was a selective secondary education school with a focus on technical and commercial skills in the English education system. It was positioned between the more academic grammar schools and the ordinary elementary schools where m ...

, which had shut down during the revolution. In 1853, early in the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

, the Russian Army closed the school and turned it into a hospital. Fontanin protested and was imprisoned for seven months, but managed to reopen the following year. He ardently supported the

Union of Wallachia with Moldavia Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

, and in 1857 presided over the election of

Dolj County Dolj County (; originally meant ''Dol(no)- Jiu'', "lower Jiu", as opposed to ''Gorj'' (''upper Jiu'')) is a county ( județ) of Romania on the border with Bulgaria, in Oltenia, with the capital city at Craiova. Demographics In 2011, the cou ...

deputies for the ad-hoc divan."Fontanin, George Marin"
at the Alexandru and Aristia Aman County Library Fontanin was noted for his considerable knowledge and reserved demeanor, and only formed a few friendships. Preoccupied by scientific problems and uncommunicative, he was seen as a legendary figure by the students. He taught various subjects: in the 1850s, he was responsible for Romanian, Latin, history and geography for one grade, and also served as inspector. In 1864, he took on the newly introduced subject of philosophy. His penchant for latinization extended to the schoolboys' names. He often spent summer vacations in Rome, deepening his studies and purchasing books in Latin, Italian, French, German and English, all languages he knew well, in addition to Hungarian and Old Church Slavonic. He was a gifted translator from Latin, also working on Greek philosophy and literature, as well as modern languages. Due to Fontanin's almost pathological reticence, many of his writings remained unpublished. In 1870, he was elected a titular member of the

Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its byl ...

.Membrii Academiei Române din 1866 până în prezent
at the Romanian Academy site He founded a professor's club at Craiova and served as its president. In 1881, he edited its magazine, ''Vocea română'', where eleven of his poems appeared. Fontanin retired as school director the same year. He died in Bucharest.

Notes

References

*Ion Pătrașcu, "Le professeur G. H. Fontanin de Craiova et son 'École linguistique'", in ''Analele Universității din Craiova: Științe filologice'', vol. 10/1982, pp. 73–78 {{DEFAULTSORT:Fontanin, Gheorghe Marin 1825 births 1886 deaths People from Brașov University of Vienna alumni Emigrants from the Austrian Empire Writers from the Principality of Wallachia Immigrants to the Principality of Wallachia Titular members of the Romanian Academy Organizers of the Wallachian Revolution of 1848 Romanian magazine editors Romanian schoolteachers Heads of schools in Romania Romanian translators Romanian prisoners and detainees 19th-century Austrian translators