PREHISTORIC DACIA

by Nicolae Densusianu

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TRANSLATOR’S FOREWORD

Since first reading Prehistoric Dacia, many years ago in Romania, I became almost obsessed with Densusianu’s theory. Years later in Australia, upon reading much of what had been, and was being published in English on the topic of European and world civilizations, I often found myself frustrated by those authors’ total ignorance of this great work, only because it had never been translated in English. So I took upon myself this task, first for my own enjoyment, then with more purpose. This is a monumental work, and its translation proved to be a huge challenge, considering that it took me roughly 2 years to complete it, but the opportunity to popularize it through the medium of the Internet could not be missed.

A word about how I did it:

I translated from the text first published in 1913. The translation has followed very closely the original. I did not comment on his theories at all. Generally, I kept the original spelling of Romanian names and words (as used around 1900), because I find it more relevant to Densusianu’s linguistic argumentation. Unfortunately, I did not have the means to type the extra letters of the Romanian alphabet (either actual or old characters), but I do not think this will make any difference to foreign readers, while I hope that Romanian readers shall easily recognize the words and their meanings. I used bold type for the words emphasized in the original text, while the words originally written in the Greek alphabet (of which there are many), have been presented in bold, italic, Latin alphabet. I excluded a very small number of the original illustrations (photos and drawings), where I considered suitable, and I added (TN), translator’s note, where necessary.

Footnotes take a prominent place in Densusianu’s work. The author’s documentation and argumentation is vast, occupying maybe a quarter of the entire material, or even more.

So, this is what I did about it: the original footnotes have been placed in the text right where they belong, but in a way which differentiates them from the rest. I ignored a small number of footnotes, mostly those which cite at length from Latin, Greek or German texts. I tried my best to translate in verse form the many renditions of Romanian folk poems, carols, ballads, incantations, etc.

Densusianu’s writing style was unsophisticated and straight to the point, as he tried to express and demonstrate as clearly as possible, what he wanted to say.

It must be also said that I am an amateur, albeit a passionate one (I am an architect by profession).

I therefore hope that the readers will forgive occasional awkward translation or turns of the phrase, keeping in mind that substance is what counts here.

Alexandra Ioana Furdui

February 2007

P.S. – I must stress that, although I have translated this material, I am not an exponent of any present Romanian political agenda. I am not interested in fruitless argumentation, and I abhor abuse. What I have done is the result of a deep, innate attachment to the Carpatho - Danubian space and its environs, and a firm belief in the role it played during prehistory in the birth and evolution of civilizations in Europe and around the Mediterranean, due to its unique geographical position at the gates of Europe, its unique geographical diversity and richness.