LE SYMPOSIUM INTERNATIONAL LE LIVRE. LA ROUMANIE. L ...

The Social Being of the Aromâni... 257
in the work of Arnold Beuermann 35 on the geography of transhumant
pastoralism; of rupprecht rohr for romance studies; and of Johannes
Kramer and Wolfgang Dahmen who have re-vitalised Weigand’s journal,
the Balkan Archiv. the German tradition has also given hospitality to the
romanian Institute and library in Freiburg.
the first-hand data which Weigand collected in the field retains its
value for our times. like eliot he could cut through cultural cant. he prints
a woodcut taken from a photograph, showing two Albanians defined by
their distinctive costumes, one Geg and one tosk, flanking a typical Greek
orthodox priest in pill-box hat and robes. he points out with some glee
that all three were in fact Aromâni. Cultural affiliation is not so easily to
be judged.
tosk, Greek, and Geg? or perhaps not?
In the great diaspora of “Greek Merchants” throughout the Austrohungarian
empire, as well as outside it, Aromâni everywhere rose to
positions of eminence. they included scholars and churchmen such as
Şaguna [infra], and statesmen such as Dr l. Dumba [from Vlatsi] who
became Counsellor to the emperor Franz-Josef and Ambassador in
Washington. nicolaos Dumba [1830–1900] was a notable patron of the arts
in Imperial Vienna, amassing a collection of Schubert manuscripts which
he bequeathed to the city. Schubert, Brahms and the Strauss dynasty played
35 BeueMAnn, A., Ferneweidewirtschaft in Südosteuropa (Braunschweig, 1967).