Re: [tied] Proto Romanian Cradle

Dear Piotr,

No. The Dacians did not discover America.

No. The popularity of the first name Dacia in USA is not due to the fans
of Dacia Maraini (sorry Ms Maraini!). As a fad, one may expect it spread
relatively even among the population. In USA the first name Dacia is
found mostly related to Spanish (Mexican) surnames. So, in my opinion,
the Spanish colonists and immigrants brought this name to Americas over
the last five centuries from Europe.

About your opinion that, if genuinely old, it would be adjectival here
is a counter example: the name Argentina is fairly popular, not
Argentiniana.

Anyway, my point was that in Romanian there are not - at least not
popular - names like, let's say, Dalmatia, Dalmatiana or Dalmatian.

Best regards,

Paul Alesu


Piotr Gasiorowski wrote:

> ...........
> ...........> (Paul Alesu wrote:) 2. After leaving some place, people
> have some nostalgia that often generates some customs that are
> transmitted from generation to generation. One example is the girl
> name Dacia that is used today in Italy, Spain and Americas. While I do
> not know the story behind this name, it makes sense that the habit was
> started by nostalgic Dacians. It seems that the Romanian customs do
> not point to anything like that. By the way, the name Dacia is fairly
> popular in USA too. Actually, according to the census, more popular
> than Valentine. I don't follow: do you think was it started by
> nostalgic Dacians who emigrated to the USA, or what? First names
> spread like viruses; in our times they are given according to the
> latest fashion rather than ancient family traditions. I suspect the
> name became popular among Italian-speakers thanks to the feminist
> writer Dacia Maraini (b. 1936). It appears to be a pseudo-Classical
> modern name; if it were genuinely old, it would be something
> adjectival like Dacisca, Dacica or Daca.
> ...........
> ...........