Nicolae Saramandu (also Niculae; born 1 July 1941) is a

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

n linguist and

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

of Aromanian ethnicity. He has been professor in several universities and vice president and later president of the ''

Atlas Linguarum Europae The ''Atlas Linguarum Europae'' (literally ''Atlas of the Languages of Europe'', ALE in acronym) is a linguistic atlas project launched in 1970 with the help of UNESCO, and published from 1975 to 2007. The ALE used its own phonetic transcription sy ...

'' ("Atlas of the Languages of Europe"), also being a corresponding 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 ...

. Saramandu has undertaken extensive research on the Aromanians, and has involved himself in several activities related to their cultural development.

Biography

Nicolae Saramandu was born on 1 July 1941 in

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 ...

. He was born in an Aromanian family that had fled from

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

to Romania. Saramandu's family was from Livadia ( rup, Giumala de Jos or ), and part of it had studied in Romanian schools in the Balkans. In a 2018 interview, he stated that there were documents evidencing the execution of five people with the surname Saramandu in Greece "because they resisted the authorities which wanted to change their ethnicity". Saramandu studied from 1955 to 1959 at the Gheorghe Șincai National College in Bucharest and from 1959 to 1964 at the Faculty of Romanian Language and Literature of the

University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea din București), commonly known after its abbreviation UB in Romania, is a public university founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princel ...

. In 1964, he became researcher at the Center of Phonetic and Dialectal Research of the Romanian Academy. He obtained a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

in 1970. From 1972 to 1974, Saramandu worked as an

intern An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and gove ...

at the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-W� ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. From 1983 to 1985, he was a professor of

Romanian language Romanian (obsolete spellings: Rumanian or Roumanian; autonym: ''limba română'' , or ''românește'', ) is the official and main language of Romania and the Republic of Moldova. As a minority language it is spoken by stable communities in ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

at the

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemb ...

in West Germany, being from 1993 to 1995 invited professor of

Romance studies Romance studies or Romance philology ( an, filolochía romanica; ca, filologia romànica; french: romanistique; eo, latinida filologio; it, filologia romanza; pt, filologia românica; ro, romanistică; es, filología románica) is an acade ...

at the same university and invited professor in 2004, 2005, 2010 and 2014 at the universities of Bamberg and

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approxima ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. In 1991, he became

doctoral advisor A doctoral advisor (also dissertation director, dissertation advisor; or doctoral supervisor) is a member of a university faculty whose role is to guide graduate students who are candidates for a doctorate, helping them select coursework, as well ...

at the University of Bucharest, being appointed in 1999 as university professor and in 2014 as '' emeritus'' professor. He was vice president of the ''

'' ("Atlas of the Languages of Europe") from 2001 to 2003 and then president in 2004. Furthermore, since 2018, he is a corresponding member of the

. Saramandu has done extensive research in the field of the Aromanians. Among his scholarly activities are included his participation in ''Atlasului lingvistic al dialectului aromân'' ("Linguistic Atlas of the Aromanian Dialect") and the publication under his lead of ''Dicționar meglenoromân'' ("Megleno-Romanian Dictionary") and ''Dicționarul toponimic al României. Muntenia (DTRM)'' ("Toponymic Dictionary of Romania. Muntenia (TDRM)"). Other activities of Saramandu relevant to the Aromanians include his collaboration with in

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

, the formation of journalists for the Aromanian-language edition of

Radio Romania International Radio România Internaţional ( ro, Radio România Internaţional, or ) is a Romanian radio station owned by the Romanian public radio broadcaster Societatea Română de Radiodifuziune (SRR, the national public radio in Romania) that broadcasts ...

which started broadcasting in March 1991, the publication in

Skopje Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and List of cities in North Macedonia by population, largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. The territory of Sk ...

in 1997 of a manual of Aromanian to be used in courses of the language in

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Yugoslavia. It ...

, and his participation in the efforts for the standardization of the Aromanian language that took place in Bitola in 1997. Saramandu holds the position that the Aromanians are an ethnic subgroup of the

Romanians The Romanians ( ro, români, ; dated exonym '' Vlachs'') are a Romance-speaking ethnic group. Sharing a common Romanian culture and ancestry, and speaking the Romanian language, they live primarily in Romania and Moldova. The 2011 Roman ...

that speak a dialect of Romanian rather than an independent language of their own.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saramandu, Nicolae 1941 births Living people People from Bucharest Romanian people of Aromanian descent Aromanian linguists Linguists from Romania Aromanian philologists Romanian philologists University of Bucharest alumni Academic staff of the University of Freiburg Academic staff of the University of Bucharest Corresponding members of the Romanian Academy Pro-Romanian Aromanians