"" (), known in English as "Our Language", is the

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European ...

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

. It has been used since 1994 and was officially adopted on 22 July 1995. For a brief period of time in the early 1990s, the national anthem of Moldova was "

Deșteaptă-te, române! "" (; ) is the national anthem of Romania. It originated from a poem written during the Wallachian Revolution of 1848. The lyrics were composed by Andrei Mureșanu and published during the Wallachian Revolution of 1848, 1848 revolution, initiall ...

", which was and remains the national anthem of

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 ...

. The lyrics were written by Alexei Mateevici (1888–1917) a month before his death. Mateevici contributed significantly to the national emancipation of

Bessarabia Bessarabia () is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Bessarabia lies within modern-day Moldova, with the Budjak region covering the southern coa ...

. The music was composed by Alexandru Cristea.

Lyrics

The focus of "Limba noastră" is language, hence its namesake; in this case, the official language of Moldova, namely Romanian. The

Constitution of Moldova The current Constitution was adopted on 29 July 1994 by the Moldovan Parliament and represents the supreme law of Moldova. It came into force on 27 August 1994 and has since been amended 10 times. The Constitution established the Republic of ...

refers to the country's official language as ''Romanian'', and similarly in December 2013, a decision of the

Constitutional Court of Moldova The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Moldova () represents the sole body of constitutional jurisdiction in the Moldova, Republic of Moldova, autonomous and independent from the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. The task of the ...

ruled that the Declaration of Independence takes precedence over the Constitution and that the state language is therefore ''Romanian''. In

Transnistria Transnistria, officially known as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic and locally as Pridnestrovie, is a Landlocked country, landlocked Transnistria conflict#International recognition of Transnistria, breakaway state internationally recogn ...

and by older populations, however, the language is often referred to as ''Moldovan''. Additionally, in Transnistria, the

Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet The Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet is a Cyrillic alphabet designed for the Romanian language spoken in the Soviet Union ( Moldovan) and was in official use from 1924 to 1932 and 1938 to 1989 (and still in use today in the breakaway Moldovan region ...

is still used, and the

Russian language Russian is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is ...

is spoken by a majority in the region. The anthem calls for the people to revive the usage of their native language. The poem does not refer to the language by name; it is poetically called "our language". "Limba noastră" is based on a 12-verse poem. For the officially-defined national anthem used today, the verses were selected and reorganised into 5 verses of 4 lines each; namely, the first, second, fifth, eighth and twelfth verses, respectively, which are highlighted in bold.

Images

File:Stamp of Moldova 430.gif, Moldovan stamp depicting a Romanian language class and teacher. The blackboard features a quatrain from "Limba noastră". File:Stamp of Moldova md004st.jpg, Moldovan stamp bearing the first verses of the anthem. File:Stamp of Moldova 247.gif, Mateevici, author of the poem. The background features quatrains from "Limba noastră". File:Limba_noastră_graffiti_in_Moldova.jpg, A "Limba noastră" mural in

Chișinău Chișinău ( , , ; formerly known as Kishinev) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Moldova, largest city of Moldova. The city is Moldova's main industrial and commercial centre, and is located in the middle of the coun ...

(with the word '' ROMÂNĂ s''prayed onto it).

Notes

References

External links

* Wikisource
"Limba noastră"
full text of Mateevici's poem
State Symbols of the Republic of Moldova
– The official page of the Republic of Moldova features a page about the flag and anthem, which include vocal and instrumental versions
President's House
– The official website of the President of Moldova has a page with information about the anthem
The Romanian version
of the page also contains the music score of the anthem.
Moldova: ''Limba noastră'' – Audio of the national anthem of Moldova, with information and lyricsarchive link

"Romanian Nationalism in the Republic of Moldova"
by Andrei Panici, American University in Bulgaria, 2002 {{DEFAULTSORT:Limba Noastra Moldovan songs National symbols of Moldova European anthems National anthems Songs about language Compositions in F major

Lyrics

Images

See also

Notes

References

External links