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Names and Ethnicities in Plasa Oltului (1838): An Anthroponymic View on the Catagraphy of Romanati County

Iustina NICA 
Scientific Researcher II, PhD.
Institute of Socio-Human Research from Craiova – C.S. Nicolăescu-Plopșor, of the Romanian Academy
E-mail: iustinaburci@yahoo.com

orcid logo https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3931-8863
DOI: https://doi.org/10.59277/CSNPISSH.2025.01

Copyright (c) 2025.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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Published on December 28, 2025

Abstract
The study investigates the anthroponymic system in Plasa Oltului (plasa/ă = district), based on the Census of Romanaţi County (1838), in order to identify the ethnic indices reflected in onomastics. The analysis concerns the frequency, the structure and the distribution of names with foreign ethnic origin, continuing the comparative approach started on Plasa Câmpului and Plasa Mijlocului, with the aim of reconstructing the anthroponymic and ethnic profile of the county in the first half of the 19th century.

Keyword
Census of Romanaţi County, Plasa Oltului (Olt District), historical anthroponymy, ethnicities, linguistic interferences.

References:

  1. Barbu, Paul-Emanoil, Comănescu, Mirela, Catagrafia din 1838 a județului Romanați, vol. I. Plasa Câmpului, Bucharest, Romanian Academy Press, 2022, 812 p.; vol. II, Plasa Mijlocului, Craiova, Alma Press, 2023, 638 p.; vol. 3, Plasa Oltului, Craiova, Alma Press, 2024, 662 p.
  2. Constantinescu, N.A., Dicționar onomastic românesc, Bucharest, Academy of the Romanian People’s Republic Press, 1963.
  3. Nica, Iustina, Interferențe etnice în antroponimia din Oltenia. Observații pe baza Catagrafiei județului Romanați (1838), Paper presented at the Annual Conference “C. S. Nicolăescu-Plopşor” Institute for Research in Social Studies and Humanities from Craiova, November 6-8, 2024.
  4. Nica, Iustina, Catagrafia Romanațiului – sursă cheie în studiul antroponimiei etnice actuale din Oltenia, In print in “Yearbook of Linguistics and Literary History” (ALIL), “Alexandru Philippide” Institute of Romanian Philology, Iași, Issue LXV, 2025.
  5. https://dexonline.ro/definitie/arvat
  6. https://dexonline.ro/definitie/m%C3%A2rzac/definitii
  7. https://tinyurl.com/58c2hxtv

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