Csángó
 |
|
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (1,266 persons declared to be Csangos (2002 census)) |
|
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Romania (Moldavia), Hungary (Tolna) | |
| Languages | |
|
Romanian (the biggest part of the Csángós are monolingual Romanian speakers) Csango, an old dialect of Hungarian; |
|
| Religion | |
| Roman Catholics (almost exclusively) |
Romanian (the biggest part of the Csángós are monolingual Romanian speakers)
The Csango people (Hungarian: Csángók, Romanian: Ceangăi) are a ethnographic group of Roman Catholic faith living mostly in the Romanian region of Moldavia, especially in Bacău County. Their traditional language, Csango, an old Hungarian dialect, is currently used by only a minority of the Csango population group. Because of the lack of Hungarian-language education in public school system, there has been a sharp decline in the number of native or second language speakers of the Csango language, making it a severely endangered language by the 2000s.
It is has been suggested that the name Csángó is the present participle of a Hungarian verb csángál meaning "sound unpleasant"; purportedly a reference to sibilation, in the pronunciation of some Hungarian consonants by Csángó people.
Alternative explanations include the Hungarian word elcsángált, meaning "went to", or the phrase csángatta a harangot "ring the bell".
Perugia, 14 November 1234: Pope Gregory IX to Béla IV, king of Hungary
"In the Cuman bishopric - as we were informed - is living a people called Vallah and others, Hungarians and Germans as well, who came here from the Hungarian Kingdom."
Roman, 13 April 1562: Report of the Habsburg Agent, John Belsius, to the Emperor Ferdinand the First
"On the day of the 10th of April, Despot Vodă left Hîrlău (Horlo) to Tîrgul Frumos (Zeplak = Széplak) finally on the 12th to the fortress of Roman (Románváros)" Despot Vodă ordered me to write these: Alexandru Moldoveanul forced all the nations, with no exceptions, to be baptized again and to follow the religion of the Moldavians, taking them away from their own religion, he appointed a bishop of the Saxons and the Hungarians, to rebuild the confiscated churches and to strengthen their souls in their beliefs, and his name is Ian Lusenius, and is Polish."
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Wikipedia