> Romanian folkore makes reference to a couple of fabulous beings
>having some "vampire" attributes. There is "vârcolac" (the closest
>equivalent of `vampire`) -- an undetermined being "eating" the Sun
>or the Moon during eclipses but also a non-dead blood-sucking guy;
>obviously, the etymon is Slavic (Bulgarian "vãrkolak"). There are
>also other kinds of non-dead guys (merely kinds of ghosts) from
>which the most vampire-like word could be "strigoi" (still Slavic).
Indeed. But are you sure of the blood-sucking component?
I've heard/read of various kind of figures, ghosts
such as <strigoi>, <$tima> etc., but according to popular
beliefs among their characteristics/features there's quite
nothing of the kind in "count Dracula" and "Nosferatu."
A few years ago, I watched on German TV a documentary
on this leitmotif, vampirism, and the researchers tried
to get links to Romania too, but they couldn't find
anything satisfactory in the Romanian folklore -- only
the already known... historic paths to Vlad the Impaler.
But dealing with the South-Western neighbors, esp. in
former Yugoslavia, they seemed (to me) to have found
enough folklore and superstitions stuff resembling vaguely
to this bunch of leitmotifs: vampirism, the undead etc.
I didn't pay much attention to the footage, though, so
I can't give details on those features (Serbian etc.).
But, apart from Dracula's... specialty, superstitions
or beliefs, legends or myths (in some areas even religious
ones) referring to ghosts tormented due to various reasons
are quite common and similar or the same in most cultures (and
gives much inspiration to world's fiction literature :^).
> For `the Devil`, Daco-Romanian uses "Necuratul" (or, sometimes,
>"Nefârtatul", literally meaning `the one who's not in brotherhood
Oh, yes, of course. Although, nefârtatul isn't widespread.
But now, as you mention this one, it looks pretty close
to "nosferatu". :)
> Actually, Bram Stoker's Count Dracula is not Romanian but Szekler
>(Hungarian-speaking population in Eastern Transylvania).
Hehe.
> It depends in what. The name "Dracula" is ultimately a deformation
>of "Drãculea" (`devilish`) which was Vlad(islav) Basarab II's
>nickname in Romanian.
I'm not sure that Dr&culea was used during his time
or, say, 100-200 years later. I'd rather suppose that
this nickname is a modern one (given by recent people,
scholars or not: 100-200 years ago). Strange that
Germans wrote Dragole, with an [o], although the
primeval sources, the Transylvanian Germans (with whom
Vlad the Impaler had conflicts, based on some trade
quarrels). OTOH, some researchers assume (based on
some documents) a further etymology for Dracula: an
additional first name Dragul; in a variant Dr&golea
it'd explain the German spelling. I don't know if
this is a mere speculation by some scholars or if
it has some plausibility. What seems more plausible
is the fact that this Vlad Junior and Vlad Senior,
i.e. his father, were knights of the Dragon, and
this would be the explanation no. 1 for their
nicknames. For, as we know, but few foreigners know,
Vlad's father's nickname is "Dracul": Vlad Dracul
= Vlad the Devil (actually, the Dragon). Hence,
Dr&culea is then a diminutive: the father Dracul,
the son Draculea (the little devil).
> There was more. German survivors of some punishment expedition of
>Vlad in Brasov (Kronstadt) spread away the idea that Vlad was so
>cruel because he used to suck victims' blood (during that ages,
>this kind of ideas were successful enough...).
But the pamphlets counted. And the horror stories therein
rather referred to boiling cooking and impaling of Vlad's
victims. And, while his victims suffered such treatment
(even mothers with their children), he allegedly had
his lunch in front of them; but that didn't mean that he
ate from what his underlings cooked. :^)
> Marius Iacomi
George