Alex Drace-Francis

@alexdrace

Cultural historian of modern Europe. Associate Professor @uvahumanities.bsky.social Books: "The Making of Mămăligă", "Networks, Narratives and Nations", “Un boem la Bucureşti” &c.

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Alex Drace-Francis@alexdrace· Jul 12

I had yellow mirabelles for many years, great for jam

Alex Drace-Francis@alexdrace· Jul 12

Capsella EN: shepherd's purse DE: Hirtentäschel 'shepherd's purse' FR: Bourse à pasteur 'shepherd's purse' IT: Borsa di pastore 'shepherd's purse' HU: pásztortáska 'shepherd's purse' RO: Coaiele popii 'priest's bollocks'

Capsella bursa pastoris 'shepherd's purse'

Alex Drace-Francis@alexdrace· Jul 12

In my plant studies I came across fosókásszilva for the mirabelle plum

Alex Drace-Francis@alexdrace· Jul 12

Utagawa Kunimori II, Corn transforms to a cock at Shinagawa. Woodblock print, c.1844.

Alex Drace-Francis@alexdrace· Jul 12

Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861), Comic Corn Swinging the Hair, Private Collection. Exhibited in 2021 at Ōta Memorial Museum of Art, Shibuya, Japan. www.ukiyoe-ota-muse.jp/kuniyoshi21-...

"Here, a corn is dancing with its hair swaying in the air. The corn is painted in imitation of the lion spirit which appears in a dance of the Kabuki play called “Shakkyō-mono”. You may have seen Kabuki actors on TV swinging their long red and white hair wildly. The same kind of dance is performed by a corn in this painting.
A singer and a flute player in the back are also painted as anthropomorphic vegetables, perhaps a pumpkin and a sweet potato. This innovative work of vegetables performing a kabuki play is a perfect example of Kuniyoshi’s sense of humor."
Description taken from the exhibit in 2021 at Ōta Memorial Museum of Art, Shibuya, Japan: https://www.ukiyoe-ota-muse.jp/kuniyoshi21-eng/

Alex Drace-Francis@alexdrace· Jul 11

Victor Mihăilescu-Craiu, Woman making mămăligă (1969) Iasi Art Museum culturalia.ro/search/33013...

Alex Drace-Francis@alexdrace· Jul 11

Nice to read such a deservedly positive review of this excellent book on "Towns Between Empires" The book is Open Access here: www.aup.nl/en/book/9789...

B O O K R E V I E W
“Towns between Empires: Good Governance and “Police” in
Case Studies from Transylvania, Wallachia, and Moldavia,
1500s–1800s. By Mária Pakucs-Willcocks and Julia Derzsi. Budapest/Vienna: Central European University Press, 2025.
Scott O. Moore
Eastern Connecticut State University
This superb collection, curated by Mária Pakucs-Willcocks and Julia Derzsi, provides fourteen chapters that examine local administration of Transylvanian and Wallachian towns from the early modern period through the nineteenth century. Town governments were shaped, in part, by the fact that these territories were at the forefront of the struggle between the Ottoman and Habsburg empires until the eighteenth century. Yet, as contributors demonstrate, local officials were not merely reactive agents of imperial control; they had agency and purpose, and strove to administer their towns according to the best principles of good governance. The fact that these chapters prioritize the motivations and actions of local leaders is this collection’s most impressive strength. Each contribution is steeped in thorough use of town records, local archives, and sources that are all too often overlooked by historians. Moreover, this collection’s emphasis on a border region that is underexamined in English-language historiography only enhances its value.
In their introduction, Pakucs-Willcocks and Derzsi make clear that their goal is not only to broaden the scope of historical inquiry by collecting chapters that bridge regions and time, but also to enhance the dialogue between scholars from different regions. In doing so, they purposefully select unpublished work as well as articles that appeared in non-English journals with limited exposure. Their intention is to push existing historiography into new directions while also breaking down the linguistic and institutional barriers that hamper the study of Transylvania and Wallachia. These are ambitious goals, and the collection exceeds them.

Alex Drace-Francis@alexdrace· Jul 10

Finally ("Ecoul", Oradea, 1928) Still doesn't say what made of digital.bibliotecaarad.ro/files/origin...

Advertisement for "Sphinx" cooking oil, Romania 1928

Alex Drace-Francis@alexdrace· Jul 10

Has anyone heard of Sphinx, a brand of oil? Used to dress an "Albanian salad" served on the Lafayette terrace, Bucharest 1938. www.dcnews.ro/reteta-de-sa...

Albanian Salad: Bell peppers sliced fine as noodles, sliced tomatoes, sliced boiled potatoes, spring onions, dill, parsley, salt, pepper, dressed with a vinaigrette of Margina-Resita wine vinegar, Sphinx vegetable oil, 2 spoons sour cream and mustard

Alex Drace-Francis@alexdrace· Jul 10

"If you feed a greedy person, he will claim that, instead of beef, you should have served him wild boar sausages and roe deer kebabs." (Odobescu, 1874)

Extract from Odobescu, translation:
"If you feed a greedy person, he will claim that, instead of beef, you should have served him wild boar sausages and venison kebabs, and that, instead of roasted chicken legs, he should have had quails rolled in cornmeal and woodcock fried in their own juice."
(Odobescu, 1874)

Alex Drace-Francis@alexdrace· Jul 10

Fun kebab fact for World Kebab Day: In 19th-century Wallachia, kebabs - chiabapuri, fripturi turceşti - were perceived as an elite food, served at the Prince's table. (Filimon, Ciocoii vechi si noi)

— Bine adăogă Păturică, asigurat acum prin cuvintele voinicului Satârgi-Bașa; dar ce să mâncăm, căci, dacă e vorba de mâncare aș mânca şi eu bucuros.
— Hei! dacă e aşa, lasă-te pe: mine; o să te fac să mănânci un miel fript hoţeşte.
— Ba zău!... Și ce fel frig hoţii mieii?
— Ce-ţi pasă domniei-tale! la să vedi; îţi făgăduiesc o friptură, care să întreacă toate chiabapurile* de la masa lui Vodă.
Zicând aceste vorbe, se întoarse către idiclii şi alegând pe doi mai chipeşi şi mai voinici le zise:
— Mă, luaţi pitacul acesta, duceți-vă cu dânsul in cel dintâi sat ce veţi întâlni, şi cereți să vă dea cinci miei graşi, unt proaspăt, ouă și vre-o patru-cinci vedre de vin...
* Fripturi turceşti

Alex Drace-Francis@alexdrace· Jul 4

Proud that our son is quoted in this!

"I am very grateful that my parents decided to make sure I learned
Romanian. Being bilingual is an extraordinary gift. It isn't just useful
for getting around Romania. It's a lens into another culture which
helps to broaden my mind in an increasingly globalised society. I
enjoy being able to speak Romanian with my grandmother and
understand the energy of phrases that are difficult to translate
literally like "vai de capul meu"."
(Testimony of J (bilingual heritage speaker from a mixed household, 19 years old)

Alex Drace-Francis@alexdrace· Jul 2

⤴️Doublet of Slavic чорногуз. The term is commonly applied to the stork (Ciconia ciconia), so as an anthroponym may not have pejorative associations en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D1%87%...

Alex Drace-Francis@alexdrace· Jul 2

Also Curnegru 'black-ass' (1570) Documenta Romaniae Historica, Series B, vol. 6, doc. 207, p. 256.

Charter confirming land transactions and donations, Wallachia 1570.
Slavonic original

Charter confirming land transactions and donations, Wallachia 1570.
Modern Romanian translation

Alex Drace-Francis@alexdrace· Jul 1

Best early modern Romanian name: Glegorcea Laptiacru (1620). Wd be something like "Gregson Curdmilk" Documente privitoare la oraşul Iaşi, vol. I, p. 187-188 (Slavonic original with modern Romanian translation)

Mention of a man called Glegorcea Laptiacru in a charter from Moldavia, 1620 (Slavonic original)

Mention of a man called Glegorcea Laptiacru in a charter from Moldavia, 1620 (modern Romanian translation)

Alex Drace-Francis@alexdrace· Jul 1

Lazare Sainéan (subject of N Zemon Davis's final book)?

Alex Drace-Francis@alexdrace· Jun 29

Oldest I have found is 1830 ꙞИ (also Curierul rumanesc - in 1829 Ꙟ still used for <În>

Curierul rumanesc, 0ct 12 1830, front page
(Dspace, Cluj)

Alex Drace-Francis@alexdrace· Jun 29

Already in 1836 we have ꙞN News item about Ottoman forces quelling a revolt of Albanian bandits (Curierul rumânesc, An. 7, nr. 5, 17 February 1836, Bucharest)

Example of Romanian 'transition alphabet' (mixing Cyrillic and Roman script from 1836). The news item is accompanied by a French version which reads:
"La Gazette turque donne les détails suivans sur les nouveaux troubles d'Albanie . Tandis que les troupe» étaient en garnison à Scutari , une bande de rebelles passa furtivement de Dobra et Matt, dans les environs d'Elbassan, avec l'intention de couper la retraite à l'armée turque. Le gouverneur de Rumélie , Mahmud Ramdi pacha
en ayant reçu avis, expédia aussitôt contre les rebelles deux bataillons de ses troupes régulières, sous les ordres du général de brigade Achmed pacha. Celui-ci se rendit proinpteinent à Elbassan , où se trouvaient deux autres bataillons de troupes régulières, y arriva le ;nèn:e jour et défit les rebelles dès la première attaque. De cette manière, la tranquillité fut promptement rétablie

Alex Drace-Francis@alexdrace· Jun 28

Then in the 'transition alphabet' (mixture of Cyrillic and Latin) it becomes much closer to <î>. Example from Bucharest, 1845.

"Istoria încă ne ar arăta că părinţii nostrii se aflară în vremi cu mult mai grele de căt acelea în care ne aflăm noi acum."
Sample of Romanian printed in 'transition alphabet' (mixture of Cyrillic and Latin letters), Bucharest, 1845.

Alex Drace-Francis@alexdrace· Jun 28

Now I can't seem to find a digitized copy of the above. But here is the 2nd edition (1840), where the title is changed from "Grammaire vallaque" to "Grammaire roumâne" dspace.bcu-iasi.ro/handle/12345...

J.A. Vaillant, Grammaire roumâne à l'usage des français (Bucharest, 1840), title page

Alex Drace-Francis@alexdrace· Jun 27

Some cloud cover at last

Alex Drace-Francis@alexdrace· Jun 27

In the 1860s Bukovinian scholars Aron Pumnul and I.G. Sbiera argued that that î should be used throughout, for consistency

A table illustrating different historical transliteration practices. From I.G. Sbiera, Die Orthographie im Romänischen (Czernowitz, 1867)

Alex Drace-Francis@alexdrace· Jun 27

A different pressure was etymological, coming from the Transylvanian School. They argued e.g. that the words today spelt bând (“drinking”) and dând (“giving”), should be spelt differently to reflect their origins (Latin bibens > bind, but dans > dand)

Samuil Klein, ABC sau alfavit romanesc (Romanian spelling book, Blaj, 1783)

Alex Drace-Francis@alexdrace· Jun 27

But in some iterations of the ‘transition alphabet’ (which mixed Cyrillic and Latin letters in the 19thc), Ꙟ came to stand just for the vowel and a Latin n was added. It is possible that Ꙟ's visual similarity to <î> influenced later spelling conventions in the Latin alphabet.

Alex Drace-Francis@alexdrace· Jun 27

Older influences on <â> and î in Romanian: in Cyrillic, the vowel /ɨ/, was represented by the letter Ꙟ in initial position but ѫ in medial, e.g. Ꙟтѫмпинаре întâmpinare. NB: Ꙟ originally represented not just the initial vowel but initial <în-> or <îm->.

Sample of Romanian Cyrillic (Golescu, 1826). Transliteration: "-meni de neamuri luminate, săl Ꙟ[îm]părtăşim compatrioţilor noştri, şi săl sădim Ꙟ [în] pămѫ[â]ntul nostru, spre rodire Ꙟ[în]mulţită"

Alex Drace-Francis@alexdrace· Jun 27

I would put it rather differently: The symbols <â> and <î> do not represent distinct vowels, but different orthographic representations of the same vowel. Also often misunderstood - <î> was not introduced in 1953. Many publications from the 19th century used it.

Acte și fragmente cu privire la istoria romînilor adunate din depozitele de manuscrise ale Apusului de Neculai Iorga. Vol. I. București. Imprimeria Statului, 1895.

Istoria românilor din Dacia Traiană de A.D. Xenopol. Volumul I. Iaşi, 1896.

Alex Drace-Francis@alexdrace· Jun 26

A rare document attesting to the emancipation of slaves in Wallachia #OnThisDay in 1848. Bears the stamp of the Commission for the Liberation of Slaves (via National History Museum of Romania)

Nr. 14 26 iulie 1848.
Oprea Matei de ani 16 care a fost până acum rob în posesia D. I. Ghica se liberează, potrivit principelor constituţiei ţării, şi intră de acum înainte în clasa locuitorilor liberi ai Ţării Româneşti
Ioasaf Zlagoveanu
C. Boliac
P. Poenaru.

Alex Drace-Francis@alexdrace· Jun 25

But Swift did satirize the stupidity of using machines to create language in 1726, so maybe it was inevitable

Illustration of a wooden contraption to make sentences from words on rotating blocks of wood (Swift, Gulliver's Travels)

"The professor then desired me “to observe; for he was going to set his engine at work.” The pupils, at his command, took each of them hold of an iron handle, whereof there were forty fixed round the edges of the frame; and giving them a sudden turn, the whole disposition of the words was entirely changed. He then commanded six-and-thirty of the lads, to read the several lines softly, as they appeared upon the frame; and where they found three or four words together that might make part of a sentence, they dictated to the four remaining boys, who were scribes. This work was repeated three or four times, and at every turn, the engine was so contrived, that the words shifted into new places, as the square bits of wood moved upside down. Six hours a day the young students were employed in this labour; and the professor showed me several volumes in large folio, already collected, of broken sentences, which he intended to piece together, and out of those rich materials, to give the world a complete body of all arts and sciences; which, however, might be still improved, and much expedited, if the public would raise a fund for making and employing five hundred such frames in Lagado, and oblige the managers to contribute in common their several collections."

Alex Drace-Francis@alexdrace· Jun 15

Great conference on the Phanariots, the Greek-speaking elite who came from Istanbul to govern Moldavia and Wallachia in the eighteenth century. Historians of Britain shd attend too, because as Nicolae Iorga pointed out, Britain too was ruled by Phanariots, from Hanover.

N. Iorga, Four lectures on the history of England (1926) - frontispiece

"When the Elector of Hanover was chosen, they had something else in mind, which in fact came to pass, and became an entirely practical reality. When we consider that George I, George II, George III, and George IV, and later William IV, were also Electors of Hanover, while Victoria was only Queen of England—though she possessed an inheritance in Germany, which later passed to the Duke of Cumberland—we do not attach too much importance to this apparently trivial circumstance. But the principal concern of the Georgian dynasty was Hanover. It was for them what, in the government of our own countries during the eighteenth century, was the special phenomenon of Phanariotism. A Phanariot was interested in Moldavia and Wallachia because that was where the money came from, but the classic Phanariot was, before all else, a man of the Phanar. In England, these people were from Hanover."

Alex Drace-Francis@alexdrace· Jun 15

And now for an MA thesis which is it my job to read properly..