20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

902 Emil Ţîrcomnicuvorbim rumâneşte. Noi ne scriem bălgari dar vorbim rumâneşte. Până nuvorbeşti o ţâră româneşte parcă nu te-ai săturat de vorbă” 8 .The Romanians of the Danube valley, closer to those from Timok, areaware that they came from the villages of the left shore of Danube, fromRomania. Many of them have relatives in Romania and they have oftenpassed through Romania, especially in the last years. Example: “No, peromână, aicea unde este, sânt Diricov. Io, ce-o să-ţi spui, tata-l meu cumeste. Se spune Ilie Vişinescu. El e rodit în România, născut în Rumânia cestnaturală ne româniţ. Taso, măsa, toţi sânt rumâni, fraţi are, surori are” 9 .Some communes in Northern Bulgaria, which had Romanian or Turkishsounding names, underwent a name changing process during the communistperiod. Examples: Besli-Baikal, Sărbeniţa-Sofronievo, Ermenlui-DragoşVoevoda, Boşneacu-Topolovăţ, Molălâia-Drujba, Chirimbeg-Pocraina andothers. A funny story is told by an interlocutor form Kozloduy: ”Therewas a rumor, a story here, that we had a village, Sofronievo, Sărbeniţa [theold name]. And it goes like this: «Starting from tomorrow, this will notbe called Sărbeniţa anymore, it will be called Sofronievo!» And then, thepolice officers asked an old man: «Hey, where are you from? «Well, I’mfrom S…» «Say it, where are you from?» «I am from S...», he did not knowhow to pronounce Sofronievo, he knew he was from Sârbeniţa. The old ripcost one hundred and one lei. «Come on, say it!» «To tell one hundred andone lei, it is still one hundred and one lei, but Sărbeniţa remains Sărbeniţa!Everybody knows it»” 10 .Regarding of the origin of the inhabitants on the Danube valley, wecan say that the emigration process of the Romanians from the left bankon the right bank was extremely intense in centuries XVIII and XIX, aswell as afterwards. There are historical documents regarding the peasants’8Ivanca Coleva, 74 years old, [born in] 1936, 10 years of school and laboratorycourses graduated; July 2009, Bulgaria, Hârleţ, field information. The text is in a roughRomanian language. Its translation is: “We all speak Romanian. Mother, father, and weall speak Romanian. I am Cazacovi, Cazasaca family, Cazacovi. Samo [only] Bulgariansare here, there are no Romanian. isti schi rumâniţ. [Speaks Romanian, but says he isBulgarian!] Yes, yes. In the whole Hârleţu it is like this. In Hârleţu and Ţâbul we speakRomanian. We say about ourselves that are Bulgarians, but we speak Romanian. Until youspeak a little Romanian, it seems you have not got enough talking”.9Margarita Vişinescu, 78 years old, Kozloduy, her father was born in Romania;July 2009, field information. The quote is in a rough Romanian. Its translation is: “Well,in Romanian, here, where I live, I am Diriciov. What can I tell you, how my father is,maybe. His name is Ilie Vişinescu. He was born in Romania. His father and mother areRomanians. He has brothers and sisters.”10Gheorghe Bodea Florea, 71 years old, Kozloduy; July 2009, field information.