20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

The contributions of the Aromanian scholars... 859scholar Anton Pann. A lot of studies about the life and work of the author ofDeşteaptă-te române were written but concerning his origin nothing clearwas stated. George Călinescu is the first who makes a statement regardinghis Aromanian origin: ” The fact that he knew so well Romanian is a signthat he was Romanian (a true Vlach) or that he came here while still achild.”The majority of the literary historians subscribe to the statements ofGeorge Călinescu, this theory being the closest to the truth. Anton Pannwas born in 1796 in the small town of Silven, Bulgaria, from a brazierfather and a Greek mother, Tomaida. His native town lies in the south partof the Balkans and was inhabited throughout the history by Aromanians.Even his name Antonie Pantoleon Petroveanu denotes that he was not ofBulgarian, Greek or Turkish origin. Historians N. Iorga, Al.T. Dumitrescu,Al Piru 30 , also bring arguments to support this.The facts that he came to the north of Danube in 1806, after his fatherPandele Petroveanu passed away, he integrated rapidly in the Romaniansociety (in Chisinau where he lived a while with his mother and brother,then came to Bucharest in 1812 and left for Brasov in 1821) and that hetravelled easily through many places, can be explained by his origin and thenthe fact that he worked in domains that required an advanced knowledge ofRomanian (he was a singer in the church choir, student at a Psalter school, aprinter, music professor and collector of folklore). All these are argumentswhich support the idea that Anton Pann was Aromanian.His activity in the domain of books (editing and spreading of publishedbooks) took place from 1816 until his death in 1854. We will not dwell onhis work as the majority of his writings were published after 1830, and as hiswork is already pretty well known (collections, versifications, remakings,original work). His work is one of the main sources for Romanian traditionsand language. We can enumerate the following works: Versuri muziceştice să cântă la naşterea mântuitorului nostru Is. Hs. şi în alte sărbătoriale anului (Bucharest, 1831 followed by other editions); Poezii deosebitesau cântece de lume (Selected poems or Society songs (Bucharest. 1831),Fables and little stories (volume 1, 2, Bucureşti, 1841); Popular poems(Bucharest. 1846), Collection of Proverbs or the Legend of language(Bucureşti, 1847), Năzdrăvăniile lui Nastratin Hogea (Bucureşti, 1853).Anton Pann deserves the eminescian epithet “son of Pepelea, wise as aproverb” epithet which makes him a part of the Romanian spiritualitywhich he proudly represented, regardless of the geographic area in whichhe was born.30The dictionary of Romanian Literature…, 655-658.