Neacşu's letter

The letter of Neacşu of Câmpulung is the oldest surviving document available in Romanian. Written using the Cyrillic alphabet, it was sent by Neacşu Lupu to Johannes Benkner of Braşov, Transylvania, warning him about the imminent attack of the Ottoman Empire.

It was discovered by Nicolae Iorga in the Braşov archives, and today the document housed by the Museum of Printing and Old Romanian Books from Târgovişte, being a document of major importance in the Romanian history, literature, and culture.

History

The Letter of Neacşu of Câmpulung to Hans Begner of Braşov was most probably written on the 29th or 30th of June, 1512, in the city of Dlăgopole (the Slavonic name of today's Câmpulung). The date is not mentioned within the letter itself, it being inferred from the historic events described and the people mentioned.

Later on, the Romanian historian Nicolae Iorga found it in the early XXth century, in the archives of Braşov.

Contents

The text of the letter was written in Cyrillic letters, and is composed of three parts. The introduction in Slavonic, translated: "To the most wise and venerable and by God endowed master Hanas Benger of Braşov, all the best, from Neacşu of Câmpulung.".

Following the introduction, the content of the letter, written in the old Romanian language. As opposed to the first documents of other languages, the Romanian used in this letter is very similar to the Romanian spoken nowadays. The Romanian linguist Aurel Nicolescu stated that no less than 175 words of the 190 present in the letter, have Latin origins, this not counting the repeated words, and names. Some incorrect forms of different words appear due to the difficulty of representing some Romanian sounds like "ă" and "î", while using the Cyrillic alphabet. [cite news | title=Epistola lui Neacsu| publisher=Jurnalul Naţional | url = http://www.jurnalul.ro/index.php?section=rubrici&article_id=17747| pages = 1| language = Romanian]

Neacşu Lupu’s letter contained a secret of great importance, warning Johannes Benkner of Braşov about a Turkish invasion over Transylvania and Wallachia, who were preparing south of the Danube. Various Slavonic expressions are also present throughout the content of the letter, such as "I pak", which has a similar meaning to the Latin "Idem", but is also used to mark the beginning of a new sentence, as no punctuation marks are present in the text. Another Slavonic word is "za", meaning "about".

The letter ends with another sentence written in Slavonic, which means: "And may God bring happiness upon you. Amen.".

References

* [http://www.cimec.ro/Istorie/neacsu/eng/default.htm The letter of Neacşu from Câmpulung]

External links

* [http://www.muzee-dambovitene.ro/ro/muzeu_tipar_prezentare.php Museum of Printing and Old Romanian Books] , where the document is currently located.