Leon Levițchi (27 August 1918 – 16 October 1991) was a

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

n philologist and translator who specialised in the study of the

English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

Life

The son of Diomid Leu, a clergyman and teacher, and Zenovia Gârlea, a primary school teacher, he went to secondary school in

Chernivtsi Chernivtsi (, ; , ;, , see also #Names, other names) is a city in southwestern Ukraine on the upper course of the Prut River. Formerly the capital of the historic region of Bukovina, which is now divided between Romania and Ukraine, Chernivt ...

and Hotin, taking his baccalaureat exam in Chernivtsi in 1937. Due to his good results, he was rewarded with a journey to Norway. From 1937 to 1941 he studied at the School of English Studies at The Department of Letters and Philosophy, University of Bucharest. His major was English language and literature, while his minor was

aesthetics Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste (sociology), taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Ph ...

and

literary criticism A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature's ...

. During the Second World War, he was an interpreter and translator for the Romanian military. After the war, he started teaching English, first at high school level, and then at the University of Bucharest, where he ultimately became a professor. He retired in 1980. Alone, and with Dan Duṭescu, he translated

Eminescu Mihai Eminescu (; born Mihail Eminovici; 15 January 1850 – 15 June 1889) was a Romanian Romantic poet, novelist, and journalist from Moldavia, generally regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. Eminescu was an active memb ...

's poems into English. Together with fellow researcher Andrei Bantaș, Levițchi edited in 1991 what is so far the most comprehensive English-Romanian

dictionary A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged Alphabetical order, alphabetically (or by Semitic root, consonantal root for Semitic languages or radical-and-stroke sorting, radical an ...

on paper, with over 70,000 entries. The two had also previously published a bilingual Romanian-English edition of

Mihai Eminescu Mihai Eminescu (; born Mihail Eminovici; 15 January 1850 – 15 June 1889) was a Romanians, Romanian Romanticism, Romantic poet, novelist, and journalist from Moldavia, generally regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. Emin ...

's poems, translated into English by themselves. He had two daughters.

Works (selection)

* ''Dicționar român-englez'', București, Ed. Științifică, 1960, 1965, 1973 ("Romanian-English dictionary") * ''Gramatica limbii engleze'', București, Ed. Științifică, 1967 (with Ioan Preda) ("English grammar book") * ''Îndrumar pentru traducătorii din limba engleză în limba română''. București: Editura științifică și enciclopedică, 1975 ("A Guide for English to Romanian Translators") * ''Studii shakespeariene''. Cluj-Napoca: Dacia, 1976 ("Shakesperean Studies") * ''Istoria literaturii engleze și americane, vol. I-II''. Cluj-Napoca: Dacia, 1985-1994 ("A History of English and American Literature") * ''Limba engleză fără profesor''. București: Teora, 1997 ("Teach Yourself English") * ''Manualul traducătorului de limba engleză''. București: Teora, 1994 ("A Manual for English Translators") * ''Dicționar englez-român (edited with Andrei Bantaș), 1991 ("English-Romanian Dictionary") * ''A History of Romanian Literature'', 1989 (translation of

George Călinescu George Călinescu (; 19 June 1899 – 12 March 1965) was a Romanian literary critic, historian, novelist, academician and journalist, and a writer of classicist and humanist tendencies. He is currently considered one of the most important Romani ...

's ''Istoria literaturii române de la origini pînă în prezent'', 1941; re-edited by Al. Piru, 1982 * ''William Shakespeare, Opere complete'', 9 volumes, co-author (with Virgiliu Stefănescu-Drăgănești), 1988-1995

Memberships

*Romanian Writers' Union (since 1955) *International Association of University Professors of English

Awards

*Romanian Academy Award *Romanian Writers' Union's Translation Award, 1972 and 1978

References

External links

Interview with one of his daughters

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20160303211308/http://www.bvau.ro/manifestari/2008/0826/index.php Exhibition on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of his birth at the V.A. Urechia Library in Galati {{DEFAULTSORT:Levitchi, Leon English–Romanian translators Translators of William Shakespeare Academic staff of the University of Bucharest 1918 births 1991 deaths 20th-century Romanian translators 20th-century Romanian poets 20th-century Romanian linguists Romanian military personnel of World War II