Iorgu Iordan
Encyclopedia
Iorgu Iordan (ˈjorɡu jorˈdan; also known as Jorgu Jordan or Iorgu Jordan; –September 20, 1986) was a Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

n linguist
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....

, philologist
Philology
Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...

, diplomat, journalist, and left-wing
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...

 agrarian
Agrarianism
Agrarianism has two common meanings. The first meaning refers to a social philosophy or political philosophy which values rural society as superior to urban society, the independent farmer as superior to the paid worker, and sees farming as a way of life that can shape the ideal social values...

, later communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...

, politician. The author of works on a large variety of topics, most of them dealing with issues of the Romanian language
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...

 and Romance languages
Romance languages
The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...

 in general, he was elected a full member of the Romanian Academy
Romanian Academy
The Romanian Academy is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 acting members who are elected for life....

 in 1945. He was head of its Institute of Linguistics (currently named after him and Alexandru Rosetti) between 1949 and his retirement in 1962.

He was the author of several Romanian language instruments, published under the aegis of the Romanian Academy (including Dicţionarul limbii române - "Dictionary of the Romanian Language", Micul Dicţionar Academic - "Concise Dictionary of the Academy" and Îndreptar ortografic, ortoepic şi de punctuaţie - "Guide to Orthography
Orthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...

, Orthoepy
Orthoepy
Orthoepy means the doctrine of correct pronunciation within a specific oral tradition. The term is from the Greek ὀρθοέπεια, from ὀρθός orthos "correct" and ἔπος epos "speech." The antonym is cacoepy "bad or wrong pronunciation"...

 and Punctuation
Punctuation
Punctuation marks are symbols that indicate the structure and organization of written language, as well as intonation and pauses to be observed when reading aloud.In written English, punctuation is vital to disambiguate the meaning of sentences...

").

Biography

Born in Tecuci
Tecuci
Tecuci is a city in the Galaţi county of Romania , situated among wooded hills, on the right bank of the Bârlad River, and at the junction of railways from Galaţi, Bârlad and Mărăşeşti.-History:...

 to a Bulgarian
Bulgarians
The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...

 father and a Romanian
Romanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....

 mother, Iordan graduated from the lyceum
Lyceum
The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies between countries; usually it is a type of secondary school.-History:...

 in Iaşi
Iasi
Iași is the second most populous city and a municipality in Romania. Located in the historical Moldavia region, Iași has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Romanian social, cultural, academic and artistic life...

 in 1908. He completed studies of Letters, Philosophy and Law at the University of Iaşi in 1911 (where he attended the course on Constitutional law
Constitutional law
Constitutional law is the body of law which defines the relationship of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the legislature and the judiciary....

 held by Constantin Stere
Constantin Stere
Constantin G. Stere or Constantin Sterea was a Romanian writer, jurist, politician, ideologue of the Poporanist trend, and, in March 1906, co-founder Constantin G. Stere or Constantin Sterea (Romanian; , Konstantin Yegorovich Stere or Константин Георгиевич Стере, Konstantin Georgiyevich Stere;...

) and had a few months' practice at the University of Berlin later in the same year. After World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, he took up advanced studies in Letters at the universities of Bonn
University of Bonn
The University of Bonn is a public research university located in Bonn, Germany. Founded in its present form in 1818, as the linear successor of earlier academic institutions, the University of Bonn is today one of the leading universities in Germany. The University of Bonn offers a large number...

, Paris
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...

, Florence
University of Florence
The University of Florence is a higher study institute in Florence, central Italy. One of the largest and oldest universities in the country, it consists of 12 faculties...

, and Rome
University of Rome La Sapienza
The Sapienza University of Rome, officially Sapienza – Università di Roma, formerly known as Università degli studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a coeducational, autonomous state university in Rome, Italy...

, while completing his doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...

 (1919); Iordan also worked as a lyceum teacher in Iaşi and Galaţi
Galati
Galați is a city and municipality in Romania, the capital of Galați County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, in the close vicinity of Brăila, Galați is the largest port and sea port on the Danube River and the second largest Romanian port....

, before becoming an assistant professor at Iaşi University in 1926 — a titular professor in 1927.

A Poporanist
Poporanism
The word “poporanism” is derived from “popor”, meaning “people” in the Romanian language. The ideology of Romanian Populism and poporanism are interchangeable. Founded by Constantin Stere in the early 1890s, populism is distinguished by its opposition to socialism, promotion of voting rights for...

 who had joined the circle formed around Viaţa Românească
Viata Româneasca
Viaţa Românească, originally Viaţa Romînească , is a monthly literary magazine published in Romania...

, Iordan engaged in politics during 1918, and was active, alongside Paul Bujor, Constantin Ion Parhon
Constantin Ion Parhon
Constantin Ion Parhon was a Romanian neuropsychiatrist, endocrinologist and politician. He was the President of the Provisional Presidium of the People's Republic of Romania from its proclamation on December 30, 1947 to April 13, 1948, and Chairman of the Presidium of the Great National Assembly...

, Octav Băncilă
Octav Bancila
Octav Băncilă was a Romanian realist painter and left-wing activist. He was the brother of Sofia Nădejde, a feminist journalist, and the brother-in-law of Ion Nădejde .-Biography:...

, Ioan Borcea, and Nicolae Costăchescu, in the short-lived Laborer Party (Partidul Muncitor). Iordan followed it into the merger with the Peasants' Party
Peasants' Party (Romania)
The Peasants' Party was a political party in post-World War I Romania that espoused a left-wing ideology partly connected with Agrarianism and Populism, and aimed to represent the interests of the Romanian peasantry. Through many of its leaders, the party was connected with Romanian populism , a...

 (PŢ), and, after 1926, sat on the Left of the National Peasants' Party
National Peasants' Party
The National Peasants' Party was a Romanian political party, formed in 1926 through the fusion of the Romanian National Party from Transylvania and the Peasants' Party . It was in power between 1928 and 1933, with brief interruptions...

 (PNŢ, created as the union between the PŢ and the Romanian National Party
Romanian National Party
The Romanian National Party , initially known as the Romanian National Party in Transylvania and Banat , was a political party which was initially designed to offer ethnic representation to Romanians in the Kingdom of Hungary, the Transleithanian half of Austria-Hungary, and especially to those in...

).

Four years later, he quit the PNŢ for unknown reasons, and was subsequently active in marginal anti-fascist
Anti-fascism
Anti-fascism is the opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals, such as that of the resistance movements during World War II. The related term antifa derives from Antifaschismus, which is German for anti-fascism; it refers to individuals and groups on the left of the political...

 political groupings connected with the Romanian Communist Party
Romanian Communist Party
The Romanian Communist Party was a communist political party in Romania. Successor to the Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to communist revolution and the disestablishment of Greater Romania. The PCR was a minor and illegal grouping for much of the...

 (PCR), encouraged by the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...

 as an effect of the Popular Front
Popular front
A popular front is a broad coalition of different political groupings, often made up of leftists and centrists. Being very broad, they can sometimes include centrist and liberal forces as well as socialist and communist groups...

 doctrine. He contributed to the leftist press, took part, alongside Petre Constantinescu-Iaşi and Ion Niculi
Ion Niculi
Ion Niculi , Romanian communist politician, served as vice president of the Presidium of the Romanian People's Republic .-Underground activist:...

, in forming the Amicii URSS
Amicii URSS
Amicii URSS was a cultural association in interwar Romania, uniting left-wing and anti-fascist intellectuals who advocated a détente between their country and Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union Amicii URSS (Romanian for "[The] Friends of the Soviet Union"; , occasionally known as Prietenii URSS , which...

("Friends of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

") society, and was believed by the far right
Far right
Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...

 to be a communist. In 1933, he was engaged in the transformation of the Teachers' Association into a trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

 (during a congress in Chişinău
Chisinau
Chișinău is the capital and largest municipality of Moldova. It is also its main industrial and commercial centre and is located in the middle of the country, on the river Bîc...

).

He was a staunch adversary of the fascist
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...

 Iron Guard
Iron Guard
The Iron Guard is the name most commonly given to a far-right movement and political party in Romania in the period from 1927 into the early part of World War II. The Iron Guard was ultra-nationalist, fascist, anti-communist, and promoted the Orthodox Christian faith...

, and supported Rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...

 Traian Bratu in his confrontation with the latter. When the Guard came to power in 1940 (see National Legionary State
National Legionary State
The National Legionary State was the Romanian government from September 6, 1940 to January 23, 1941. It was a single-party regime dictatorship dominated by the overtly fascist Iron Guard in uneasy conjunction with the head of government and Conducător Ion Antonescu, the leader of the Romanian...

), Iordan was subject to an inquiry, which decided in favor of his early retirement; he was reinstated in 1941, when the government was replaced at the end of the Legionary Rebellion
Legionnaires' Rebellion and Bucharest Pogrom
The Legionnaires' rebellion and the Bucharest pogrom occurred in Bucharest, Romania, between 21 and 23 January 1941.As the privileges of the Iron Guard were being cut off by Conducător Ion Antonescu, members of the Iron Guard, also known as the Legionnaires, revolted...

, and, despite later claims that he was an active opponent, kept a low profile during Ion Antonescu
Ion Antonescu
Ion Victor Antonescu was a Romanian soldier, authoritarian politician and convicted war criminal. The Prime Minister and Conducător during most of World War II, he presided over two successive wartime dictatorships...

's dictatorship (see Romania during World War II
Romania during World War II
Following the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939, the Kingdom of Romania officially adopted a position of neutrality. However, the rapidly changing situation in Europe during 1940, as well as domestic political upheaval, undermined this stance. Fascist political forces such as the Iron...

).

After Romania's withdrawal from the Axis camp
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...

 and the start of Soviet occupation
Soviet occupation of Romania
The Soviet occupation of Romania refers to the period from 1944 to August 1958, during which the Soviet Union maintained a significant military presence in Romania...

 in late 1944, he joined the Romanian Social Democratic Party
Romanian Social Democratic Party (defunct)
The Romanian Social Democratic Party was a social-democratic political party in Romania. It published the magazine România Muncitoare, and later Socialismul, Lumea Nouă, and Libertatea.-Early party:...

 (PSD), which was falling under PCR control. He supported the eventual merger of the PSD and the PCR, and was a member of the latter after 1947, and affiliated with the Romanian Society for Friendship with the Soviet Union.

Iordan was appointed ambassador to the Soviet Union in August 1945 — during a period when left-leaning intellectual
Intellectual
An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.- Terminology and endeavours :"Intellectual" can denote four types of persons:...

s became the predilect candidates for the diplomatic corps
Diplomatic corps
The diplomatic corps or corps diplomatique is the collective body of foreign diplomats accredited to a particular country or body.The diplomatic corps may, in certain contexts, refer to the collection of accredited heads of mission who represent their countries in another state or country...

. He resigned in 1947, a gesture which coincided with moves by the PCR to have diplomatic offices placed under tighter political control.

Before his appointment to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

, Iordan was placed at the head of committees which were overseeing the purging of real or alleged pro-Nazis
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

 from educational institutions; although he faced criticism over his initial PSD affiliation (which was attributed to "his low ideological level at the time"), following the establishment of a communist regime
Communist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...

 in 1947-1948, he was engaged in a campaign to uncover and take measures against political opponents and critics of totalitarianism
Totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a political system where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible...

.

In 1946, he moved to Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....

, and was dean
Dean (education)
In academic administration, a dean is a person with significant authority over a specific academic unit, or over a specific area of concern, or both...

 of the University of Bucharest
University of Bucharest
The University of Bucharest , in Romania, is a university founded in 1864 by decree of Prince Alexander John Cuza to convert the former Saint Sava Academy into the current University of Bucharest.-Presentation:...

's Faculty of Letters and Philosophy (1947-1948; 1956-1957), as well as rector (1957-1958). His appointment in the capital, together with those of Andrei Oţetea and Constantin Balmuş, was in itself a measure to combat the presence of anti-communist
Anti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...

 dissident
Dissident
A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When dissidents unite for a common cause they often effect a dissident movement....

s inside the university's structure. At the same time, Iordan's admission to the Academy (like those of Gala Galaction
Gala Galaction
Gala Galaction was a Romanian Orthodox clergyman and theologian, writer, journalist, left-wing activist, as well as a political figure of the People's Republic of Romania...

, Victor Eftimiu
Victor Eftimiu
Victor Eftimiu was an Albanian-Romanian poet, playwright, and a contributor to Sburătorul, a Romanian literary magazine. His works have been performed in the State Jewish Theater of Romania....

, Alexandru Rosetti, and Ion Agârbiceanu) was compensation for the massive purge inside the institution.

Among those whose career was affected a result of Iordan's verdicts was the writer Paul Goma
Paul Goma
Paul Goma is a Romanian writer, also known for his activities as a dissident and leading opponent of the communist regime before 1989. Forced into exile by the communist authorities, he became a political refugee and currently resides in France as a stateless person...

 (expelled from the Literature Institute for, among others, having questioned the scientific value of Moldovenism
Moldovenism
Moldovenism is a political term used to refer to the support and promotion of the Moldovan identity and Moldovan culture.Some of its supporters ascribe this identity to the medieval Principality of Moldavia...

 and the status of Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

 as the foreign language of choice in Romanian schools). After briefly serving as head of the National Theater Iaşi (in 1945, during the time when it had taken refuge in Sibiu
Sibiu
Sibiu is a city in Transylvania, Romania with a population of 154,548. Located some 282 km north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Cibin River, a tributary of the river Olt...

), Iordan was also present on the board of Editura Cartea Rusă, which published works of Russian literature
Russian literature
Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia or its émigrés, and to the Russian-language literature of several independent nations once a part of what was historically Russia or the Soviet Union...

.

In 1955, following Ion Nestor and Eugenia Zaharia's thesis regarding the Romanian specificity of the 9th-11th century Dridu culture (see Origin of the Romanians), he was appointed head of Comisia pentru studierea formării poporului român ("Committee for the Study of the Romanian People's Formation"), which signified an early move against the Stalinist
Stalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...

 rhetoric encouraged during the previous years, and an official rejection of Mihail Roller's views on the role of the Slavs
Slavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...

 in Romanian ethnogenesis
Ethnogenesis
Ethnogenesis is the process by which a group of human beings comes to be understood or to understand themselves as ethnically distinct from the wider social landscape from which their grouping emerges...

. Iordan himself supported the view that Romanians had been formed both north and south of the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....

.

Iordan is buried at Bellu
Bellu
Bellu is the most famous cemetery in Bucharest, Romania.It is located on a plot of land donated to the local administration by Baron Barbu Bellu...

cemetery, in Bucharest.

Published works

  • Rumanische Toponomastik, Bonn & Leipzig, Kurt Schroeder Verlag, 1924.
  • Istoria literaturii italiene, Iaşi, Universitatea din Iaşi, 1928.
  • Introducere în studiul limbilor romanice. Evoluţia şi starea actuală a lingvisticii romanice, Iaşi, Institutul de Filologie Română, 1932.
  • Gramatica limbii române, Bucharest, 1937 (2 nd ed. 1946).
  • Limba română actuală. O gramatică a „greşelilor” , Iaşi, Institutul de Arte Grafice „Alexandru A. Terek”, 1943 (2 nd ed. 1947).
  • Stilistica limbii române, Bucharest, Institutul de Linguistică Română, 1944 (2 nd ed. 1975).
  • Lingvistica romanică. Evoluţie. Curente. Metode, Bucharest, Editura Academiei, 1962 (2 nd ed. 1970).
  • Toponimia românească, Bucharest, Editura Academiei, 1963.
  • Istoria limbii literare spaniole, Bucharest, Editura Didactică şi Pedagogică, 1963.
  • Introducere în lingvistica romanică, Bucharest, Editura Didactică şi Pedagogică, 1965 (in collaboration with Maria Manoliu).
  • Structura morfologică a limbii române contemporane, Bucharest, Editura Ştiinţifică, 1967 (in collaboration with Valeria Guţu Romalo, Alexandru Niculescu).
  • Scrieri alese, Bucharest, Editura Academiei, 1968.
  • Alexandru I. Philippide, Bucharest, Editura Ştiinţifică, 1969.
  • Crestomaţie romanică, vol. I-III, Bucharest, Editura Academiei, 1962-1974 (co-ordination).
  • Memorii, vol. I-III, Bucharest, Editura Eminescu, 1976-1979.
  • Limba română contemporană, Bucharest, Editura Didactică şi Pedagogică, 1978 (in collaboration with Vladimir Robu).
  • Dicţionar al numelor de familie româneşti, Bucharest, Editura Ştiinţifică şi Enciclopedică, 1983.
  • Istoria limbii române (Pe-nţelesul tuturora), Bucharest, Editura Ştiinţifică şi Enciclopedică, 1983.
  • Manual de linguistica romanica, Madrid, Gredos, 1989 (in collaboration with Maria Manoliu, Manuel Alvar).
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