“The Romanian language does not need acclamation and pompous words said only on the occasion of this holiday. Our language should be cared for, protected, cultivated. It should be spoken correctly so that it feels at home in the Republic of Moldova,” said the president of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova Ion Tighineanu. In a festivity held to celebrate the national holiday “Our Romanian Language”, Ion Tighineanu said the Academy of Science’s position on the Romanian language remained firm and univocal, IPN reports.
“The mother tongue is the most precious inheritance left by our ancestors. The words combined in charming rows, through the fineness and profoundness of the multitude of meanings, reflect the history, traditions, experiences and the most sincere emotions and feelings of the human beings, keeping our identify of nation. Today, on the Romanian Language Day, we should remember those who in 1994 had the courage to say that we speak and write Romanian and adopted the correct name of the language,” stated the academician.
According to him, on February 28, 1996, the General Assembly of the Academy of Sciences confirmed the philologists’ argued scientific opinion that the correct name of the official language of the Republic of Moldova is Romanian.
Academician Mihai Cimpoi said the holiday atmosphere is affected by the effects of the pandemic caused by a virus that endangers lives and destinies. In such conditions, everyone should know that the struggle for the Romanian language continues and involves the Academy of Sciences. Two anniversaries are celebrated this year – 180 years of the birth of Titu Maiorescu and 170 years of the birth of Mihai Eminescu.
Director of the Romanian Cultural Institute in Chisinau “Mihai Eminescu” Valeriu Matei, a member of honor of the Romanian Academy, said that among the elements that define our identity and specific features, the language plays the most important role, alongside other constituents, such as traditions, customs, history and even the national territory.
“Today we should indeed remember all those who defended the Romanian language in the 19th century, while under the tsarist domination, primarily Nicolae Caso, Bogdan Petriceicu Hașdeu and Constantin Stere, the splendid generation of 1905-1907, who were the partisans of the act of March 27, 1918, those who, during 51 years of Soviet occupation, knew to keep the standard up, the writers who in 1965 proposed returning to the Latin scrip, all the resistance groups that existed in this area. But we cannot yet neglect the realities that affect us very painfully,” stated Valeriu Matei.
In the event, Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu, the first Romanian cosmonaut and a member of honor of the Romanian Academy, gave a public lecture titled “Cosmogony, Myth and Science in Mihai Eminescu’s Works”. There was also presented an online exhibition mounted by the Romanian Cultural Institute “Mihai Eminescu”, entitled “Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu – First Romanian in Cosmos”.
The ninth World Congress of Eminescologists under the theme “Eminescu Universal” was opened officially during the festivity.