Unsere Deutsche Wurzeln - Our German Roots
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TRANSYLVANIAN Placenames in transition

In general

Genealogy is the study of people in relationships to each other. However, every person is also associated with places in time, at all the significant signposts of life.

Proper practise is to use the placenames and jurisdictions that applied at the time of the event, using the format: village, county, province, country (or local equivalents). To develop a consistant approach to placenames in your database, consider the following points:

If only the village name is used, there is potential confusion as to which of several places with similar names is meant or, if a placename is unfamiliar, even which country it is in. If only today's name and jurisdiction are used, the result will be anachronistic: making countries and other administrative units appear to exist that were not created until much later. Using the correct jurisdictions may help to locate archived records, but that is more relevant in some countries than others.

Transylvania

The Germans in Transylvania were a minority in their country, but usually a majority within their own communities. This means that although Transylvania (as a Principality, Grand Duchy, Province, etc.) changed ruling hands over the centuries, there is also a continuity through the German language. Each place has had many official names and was part of changing larger administrative units.

When recording Transylvanian placenames in a genealogical database, what formula(s) should be used? What are the transition dates between the various forms?

Until about 2005, I used only the (simplistic) forms German village name, Siebenburgen, Hungary & German village name, Siebenburgen, Romania. Then came an effort to fill gaps and correct inaccuracies and resolve inconsistencies. In order to provide continuity, I wanted to keep the German placename as primary identifier, but also include the correct official designation.

When I began to gather information to identify counties, I found that the political history of Transylvania was more complex than I had realized. By late 2007, there was a great amount of relevant material accessible on the web. Below are the results of my research (subject to further revision!):

Trigger event 
(starting at present)
Year range Primary Placename (German, if available) Official Name (if different), County Province or Region (German) Country (English) (1)
New Romanian constitution - re-organization of counties (regiunea to judete) (2) Feb 16 1968 - present village name (Romanian name), Judeţul Siebenbürgen Romania
Examples: Dunesdorf (Daneş, Judeţul Mureş), Siebenbürgen, Romania; 
Schäßburg (Sighişoara, Judeţul Mureş), Siebenbürgen, Romania
Re-organization of counties - judete to regiunea & raions (Soviet-style) (3) 1950 - 
Feb 15, 1968
village name (Romanian name), Reg. Siebenbürgen Romania
Examples: Dunesdorf (Daneş, Reg. Braşov), Siebenbürgen, Romania;
Burghalle (Orheiu Bistritei, Reg. Cluj), Siebenbürgen, Romania
Abdication of King Michael of Romania - Kingdom to Republic Dec 30 1947 -
1950
village name (Romanian name), Jud. Siebenbürgen Romania (Republic)
Example: Großlasseln (Laslea), Jud. Târnava-Mare, Siebenbürgen, Romania (Republic)
Peace treaties, border changes - previous event reversed, portions of Transylvania from Hungary back to Romania Feb 10 1947 - Dec 30 1947 village name (Romanian name), Jud. Siebenbürgen Romania (Kingdom)
Example: Burghalle (Orheiu Bistritei), Jud. Bistrita-Nasaud, Siebenbürgen, Romania (Kingdom) 
Second Vienna award - portions of Transylvania from Romania back to Hungary (4) Aug 30 1940 - Feb 10 1947 village name (Hungarian name (varos)), megye Nordsiebenbürgen Hungary
Example: Sankt Georgen (Sepsi-Szent-György), Háromszék, Nordsiebenbürgen, Hungary
Treaty of Trianon (WWI) - Transylvania from Hungary to Romania (Kingdom) (5) Jun 05 1920 -
Dec 29 1947
village name (Romanian name), Jud. Siebenbürgen Romania (Kingdom)
Examples: Dunesdorf (Daneş), Jud. Târnava-Mare, Siebenbürgen, Romania (Kingdom);
Kreisch (Criş), Jud. Târnava-Mare, Siebenbürgen, Romania (Kingdom)
Re-organization of counties 1905 - 
Jun 04 1920
village name (Hungarian name (varos)), járás, megye Siebenbürgen Hungary
 
Re-organization of counties (6) 1876 - 1905 village name (Hungarian name (varos)), járás, megye Siebenbürgen Hungary
Examples: Dunesdorf (Dános), Keresdi, Nagy-Küküllõ, Siebenbürgen, Hungary;
Halvelagen (Holdvilág), Keresdi, Nagy-Küküllõ, Siebenbürgen, Hungary;
Jakobsdorf (Gyákos), Erzsébetvárosi, Kis-Küküllõ, Siebenbürgen, Hungary
Transylvania in Hungary (dual monarchy) 1867 - 1876 village name (Hungarian name (varos)), vármegye Siebenbürgen Hungary
 Example: Großlasseln, Küküllõ Comitat, Siebenbürgen, Hungary
Transylvania from Austria to Hungary in Austria-Hungary 1687 - 1867 village name (Hungarian name (varos)), vármegye Siebenbürgen Hungary
 Example: Großlasseln, Küküllõ Comitat, Siebenbürgen, Hungary
Transylvania from Ottoman empire to Austrian empire
(Battle of Vienna - September 12, 1683)
(1765 Principality to Grand Principality)
1687 - 1867 village name German
Kreis/ Stuhl/ Comitat
Siebenbürgen Austrian (Habsburg) Empire
 Example: Großlasseln, Kokelburg Comitat, Siebenbürgen, Austrian Empire
Battle of Mohács - Transylvania from Hungary to Ottoman empire / semi-autonomy Aug 29 1526 - 1687 village name German
Kreis/ Stuhl/ Comitat
Siebenbürgen (Principality) (Ottoman Empire)
Example: Großlasseln, Kokelburg Comitat, Siebenbürgen (Principality)
Settlement of Transylvania by Hungarians, Szeklers and Germans bef 1526 village name German
Kreis/ Stuhl/ Comitat
Siebenbürgen Hungary
 Example: Großlasseln, Stuhl Schäßburg, Siebenbürgen, Hungary
Notes:

(1) It may seem illogical to mix languages for the largest units, especially after detailing the reasons for using German and whatever official language designation for the smaller units. However, English is both neutral and relatively widely understood for country names. On the other hand, the English-language name of the region, Transylvania, is also applicable to a county in Kentucky and is less likely to be searched by those of Saxon-descent. Including the region name, Erdély (Hungarian) or Transilvania (Romanian) with the official placename designation would not be helpful and result in excessive length.

(2) Amalgamation of many village together into communs has resulted in lower visibility and status for some placenames (i.e. the commun of Daneş includes the villages of  Criş, Daneş, Stejărenii and Seleuş). This extra administrative unit is not reflected in my table.

(3) No date available of when the judet boundaries changed to regiunea. Assumption that it was shortly after Romania's absorption into the Soviet sphere of influence. No information has been found on the raions. Assignment of villages to the various regiunea is on the basis of a 1968 map in the Encyclopaedia Britannica Atlas of the World.

(4) The second Vienna Award affected a large portion of Transylvania north of the Grosse Kokel River. Still need to locate a map with village or county details for this event. Bild:Northern Transylvania yellow shows the general region of this change. 

(5) It appears as if the counties of Transylvania were not re-organized at the time of the hand-over to Romania: only that the names were converted into the Romanian equivalents. This may have been due to the reality that some changes relating to the transition took place before the official signing of the treaty.

(6) Per Comitatus (Kingdom of Hungary): "In the 15th century, the borders of the counties stabilised and basically remained unchanged till 1918", although disfunctional during the period of Ottoman occupation and Transylvanian semi-autonomy. "...In 1868 Transylvania was definitely reunited to the Kingdom of Hungary proper, ...Some greater reorganisation (incl. some changes of county borders) occurred in 1876 and smaller border changes followed in 1877, 1882 and 1884."

 

Conclusion:

Generally, placenames are not given as much scrutiny as I have detailed above. This makes searching in published works (print or on-line) more difficult.

The table above can certainly be modified as more information is found. Please contact me if you have additional information on any of the above events relating to Transylvania.

 

Sources:

  

 

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