Re: Greetings from Sylvan Glen

["Brett W. McCoy" <bmccoy@CapAccess.org>]

On Fri, 7 Apr 1995, Brent Kellmer wrote:

> Just a point of curiousity here -- I know that most Hungarian names are 
> usually reversed, in your case the locative and then proper name (such as 
> Dragosani Istvan, or the hero Hunyadi Janos).  Unfortunately, most of my 
> research on Hungary is centered around Buda and Pest, as well as 
> Transylvania -- I know very little about Walachian customs.  Are naming 
> customs there different from other parts of Hungary?  Or have you adopted 
> the western form of naming after studying with the Holy Brothers?

You are correct regarding the Hungarian style of naming.  However,
Walachia is not part of Hungary, but a principality of modern Romania,
whose language is very closely related to Latin.  The surname, Istvan, is
from my Hungarian mother's insistence of using a Hungarian name, while
Dragosani is not Hungarian (as far as I can tell from what research I've
done).  Istvan, BTW, is "Steven" -- compare to the Spanish Esteban.  The
Romanians (or Dacians) seem to use the Western style of naming (like Vlad
Tepes Draculea, who lived in the very same region of Walachia as Istvan
Dragosani).

I'm usually called Vanni, also, a nickname which was given unto by Nuala,
and, as it turns out, a character from somewhere in Dante.

You know, I don't remember where I read it (it may have been in
alt.culture.romanian newsgroup), but the word 'Walachia' derives from the
same root that Wales does, which I think ultimately means 'foreigner'. 
Can anyone confirm this for me?


Istvan Dragosani                     | "Go not to the Elves for counsel,
bmccoy@capaccess.org                 |  for they will say both yes and no"
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