20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

The first aromanian writers and their relationship with the Greek... 757skills and his religious speaker talent: “an educated man, the most learnedof his people, who productively studied languages, philosophy, andmathematics”, “archbishop or great preacher in Macedonia Moscopole”(Johann Thunmann 1774, Untersuchungen über die Geschichte derÖstlichen europäishen Völker, I, Leipzig, quoted by Papahagi Per. 1909:32). From the Greek historians, Zaviras characterized him as “brilliant”,Sathas saw him as a very good grammarian, and Vretos – as an educatedGreek teacher. (Papahagi Per, op.cit., 34-35; Papacostea, 1983: 374)Born in Moscopole, probably in 1728, he was a connoisseur ofAromanian, Albanian and Greek since childhood, which he spoke, accordingto Thunmann, “as mother tongues” (Papahagi, Per. op. cit., 32), TheodorCavalioti first studied at the Greek College from his hometown, having asteachers, among others, Chalkeus (former student of Moscopole College,and later, teacher in Venice), Joan Sevastos Leontiades, connoisseur ofDescartes’ philosophy and that of other Western illuminists. Brilliantlygraduating from the humanistic studies at his hometown college, Cavaliotiwas sent by his fellow-citizens, who had raised money for him throughpublic collection, to Marutian College in Ianina, where he shone throughhis bold ideas and sparkling eloquence, the Greek erudite EcghenieVulgaris. Translator of Voltaire and connoisseur of Leibniz’s, Wolf’s andLock’s philosophy, Evghenie Vulgaris produced, through his classes,an extraordinary echo in the surrounding world. His books circulated inmanuscripts in the entire region, the author’s fame reaching the RomanianPrincipalities. (Papacostea, 1983: 378)Under the guidance of Evghenie Vulgaris, Cavalioti studies at Ianinamathematical sciences and philosophy. Hearing the teacher’s commentson modern philosophy, Cavalioti could find out, among others, about theprinciples of natural law and equality of all men by birth, about the need oftheir cultural emancipation, about freedom.Most of all, Cavalioti was attracted and influenced by Leibniz’sideas, father of scientific philology and the precursor of comparativelinguistics. Concerned to research the common origin of languageswhich “take place of the books and are the oldest monuments of humangenius”, Leibniz said: “All languages of this world must be groundedinto dictionaries, grammars and compared to each other… Through theetymologies and language comparison we will know the peoples’ origin”(ibidem: 387) 6 . With such a vision, the philosopher addressed to missionaries,ambassadors, travellers etc., asking them to make dictionaries, beginning6The information is taken from Paul Janet et Gabriel Séailles 1920, Histoire de laPhilsoophie, Paris.