Gheorghe Șincai (; – November 2, 1816) was a Romanian historian,

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 strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...

, translator, poet, and representative of the Enlightenment-influenced Transylvanian School. As the director of Greek Catholic education in Transylvania he brought a fundamental contribution to the process of promoting culture in rural environments. He revised before publishing Samuil Micu's first

grammar In linguistics, grammar is the set of rules for how a natural language is structured, as demonstrated by its speakers or writers. Grammar rules may concern the use of clauses, phrases, and words. The term may also refer to the study of such rul ...

of the

Romanian language Romanian (obsolete spelling: Roumanian; , or , ) is the official and main language of Romania and Moldova. Romanian is part of the Eastern Romance languages, Eastern Romance sub-branch of Romance languages, a linguistic group that evolved fr ...

: '' Elementa linguae daco-romanae sive valachicae'' (''The elements of the Daco-Roman or Vlach/Wallachian language'') (

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, 1780), in which they demonstrated the Latin origins of the

Biography

He was born in Mezősámsond (now Șincai, Mureș County), though some sources put his birthplace at the nearby Râciu de Câmpie village. He studied at Târgu-Mureș, Cluj, Bistrița, Blaj,

, and

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

(in the last two cities together with Samuil Micu, nephew of

Bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

Inocențiu Micu-Klein). He turned out to be a polyglot, thoroughly mastering Greek,

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, Hungarian, German, Italian and French. His knowledge and culture allowed him to occupy the function of librarian of the

Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (CEP; ) was a congregation (Roman Curia), congregation of the Roman Curia of the Catholic Church in Rome, responsible for Catholic missions, missionary work and related activities. It is also kn ...

in Rome, having permission to research any type of document. In the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; ; ), officially the State of the Church, were a conglomeration of territories on the Italian peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope from 756 to 1870. They were among the major states of Italy from the 8th c ...

, and later in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

and in Vienna (the capital of the Habsburg domains), he carried out research work in various libraries, copying and transcribing exactly any reference to the history of the Romanians. Șincai assiduously worked to educate commoners, dedicating himself to a career in teaching, and contributing to the establishment of an impressive number of Greek-Catholic

parochial school A parochial school is a private school, private Primary school, primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathem ...

s (in all, over 300). In 1784 he was named general director of Romanian Uniate schools in all of Transylvania. He translated and expanded the following basic textbooks for educational purposes: ''Abecedarul'' (''The Book of ABCs''), ''Gramatica'' (''Grammar''), ''Aritmetica'' (''Arithmetic''), and ''Catehismul'' (''The Catechism''), adapting or creating the terminology necessary for pupils to understand these. He proved himself to be a remarkable translator, rendering the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

into Romanian (in 1789, under the name of ''The Blaj Bible''). In 1794 Șincai came into direct conflict with Bishop Ioan Bob; he was thrown into the harsh Aiud Prison, being followed and persecuted by the Habsburg authorities after his release in 1796. In 1811 Șincai published a work of history, written in the form of annals and amply titled: ''Hronica românilor și a mai multor neamuri în cât au fost ele amestecate cu românii, cât lucrurile, întâmplările și faptele unora față de ale altora nu se pot scrie pre înțeles, din mai multe mii de autori, în cursul a treizeci și patru de ani culese'' (''The chronicle of the Romanians and of other peoples insofar as they were mixed with the Romanians, as the things, events and facts of the one regarding the other cannot be written as if everyone understands them, from several thousand authors, gathered over the course of thirty-four years''). Liceul Sincai Bucuresti 48

Șincai died at Svinica, near Kassa (today

Košice Košice is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of approximately 230,000, Košice is the second-largest cit ...

in present-day

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

). There are two Romanian national colleges named after him: one in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

and one in Baia Mare.

Bibliography

* Dionis Popa, ''Gheorghe Șincai'', Blaj, 1944

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sincai, Gheorghe 1754 births 1816 deaths People from Mureș County 19th-century Romanian historians Romanian male poets Romanian Greek-Catholics Catholic poets Romanian schoolteachers Transylvanian School Age of Enlightenment 18th-century Romanian people in Transylvania Romanian Austro-Hungarians Linguists from Romania 18th-century linguists Linguists of Indo-European languages Romanian translators 18th-century male writers 18th-century translators Eastern Catholic poets Poet priests 19th-century Romanian people in Transylvania