From c734d4ba431a451979e30701fe0009aee5229ad1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Lucian Mogosanu Date: Tue, 1 Oct 2019 16:11:55 +0300 Subject: [PATCH] posts: 0a4 --- posts/y06/0a4-targoviste.markdown | 169 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++- 1 file changed, 165 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-) diff --git a/posts/y06/0a4-targoviste.markdown b/posts/y06/0a4-targoviste.markdown index fb07f38..d82d856 100644 --- a/posts/y06/0a4-targoviste.markdown +++ b/posts/y06/0a4-targoviste.markdown @@ -6,14 +6,61 @@ author: Lucian Mogoșanu tags: in-the-flesh --- +For the record, this photoblog was scheduled to be posted in the last +weekend of September; alas, due to multiple overlapping interrupts in +both the saecular and [personal][logz-1938822] spheres, that schedule +was pushed forward, so here I am, documenting September's trip in +early October. Anyways, the woman and I celebrated this year's +autumnal equinox by going on what hipsters nowadays call a "city +break" over in the tiny town of Târgoviște. + +Aside from being a common toponym in this region of Europe, the name +"târgoviște" is a (seemingly) convoluted (and at the same time very +short) way of saying "that place/town where they hold a +marketplace". So let's deconstruct it together: the first part of the +word, "târg", literally means "marketplace", although in some other +contexts it means "bargain". The "ov" particle is Slavic in origin; +[wiktionary][ov-wiktionary] says it must have something to do with +patronyms, though it's unlikely this is the case here; rather, the +second etymological explanation from Russian, i.e. the genitive plural +desinence thingie, might be closer to the truth, which would make +"târgov" something along the lines of "of marketplace". + +Now, Romanian (among others) has this mechanism where affixing +something to a word indicates a new related thing. For example +"târgoveț" is a person who spends their time in a marketplace, or more +generally someone who lives in a town -- which would make the English +translation of "târgoviște" more along the lines of "the place where +they have a town"[^1], or rather, "the capital", which, redundantly +enough, is what our Târgoviște was for some centuries before Bucharest +became fashionable. This might indicate that the town's name came into +existence through usage rather than through some bureaucratic decree, +but anyway. As for the "iște" suffix, it's common in agriculture, +where it denotes bunches of things, e.g. "grâiște" is where they +cultivate "grâu", i.e. grain. + +So then, a târgoviște is a bunch of târgoveți; or a bunch of +marketplaces; or put in simpler terms, the place where most business +goes -- actually, the main place for business during medieval times in +the Wallachian state. This is where, say, your beloved "Dracula" held +court during his reign, and so where the lordly[^2] court can be +found. And now that we're done with this lengthy intro, let's get to +the meat of this short journey. + +Below: look ma, no arms! + + + - +Above: to be honest, I find this combination of disparate elements +rather disconcerting; the citizens of Târgoviște seem to like it +though, so who am I to argue. Below: creepy old house. @@ -27,21 +74,71 @@ class="thumb" src="/uploads/2019/10/targoviste-06-thumb.png"> +Above: noods, courtesy of one Vasile Blendea, painter and +sculptor. They, by which I mean the cute lady guiding us through the +museum, say he was good friends with Nicolae Iorga, who also helped +Blendea with his studies. This should explain the following: + +Some people told me my "arfistic" choices with respect to photo +processing are very weird: either the subject is too dark, too light, +too contrasty, not constrasty enough, too colourful, too desaturated +and so on and so forth. All this tells me is that they never sat to +wonder what exactly leads me to such choices, what else. + +Take the photo above for example, and try to answer: what does it +represent and why is there no colour in there? Is it that I wanted to +make it look old because the man -- cela n'est pas un homme, n'est-ce +pas? -- is old? Is it that I wanted to make it look "noir" for some +unknown reason, or what? And now that we've uttered these questions, +let's take a closer look at the subject, a white gypsum statuette: +what do you think would be gained by adding colours (other than the +shades of gray we see) to it? and how is it relevant to the photo? + +Well, there you have it. Below: a list of medieval Wallachian +rulers. Now, let's be honest with ourselves, dear people who call +yourselves Romanians: a few of those names represent actual people, +yes, but you don't need more than a hand to cound the subset of actual +people in that list, as opposed to the cocksucker derpity-derps who've +derped around all the way since Mircea to Constantin. Take Vlad IV for +example: there's a reason they call him "Înecatul", namely that that's +the most notable event of his life. And with this, I think we're +settled on these guys' importance -- and since we're here, with the +importance of the guys you're voting for in your time. + + + +Above: Romanian writing, approximately mid and (respectively) late +nineteenth century. Notice the mixed script in that first one? Funnily +enough, the same Treboniu Laurian would (just a bit later) hate on any +and everything non-Latin in this Romanian language, to the point of +acute [uncleftishness][logz-1935969]. + +Below: a sunny day in ye olde Târgoviște. + +Further below: pornography straight from the Paleolithic, exposed (as +reproductions, I suspect) in this little cute "museum of human +evolution" downtown. Speaking of which, the museum was built "to +European standards", they say, which yes, puts it a notch above [that +shit in Sibiu][altemberger]. On the other hand I don't know what to +say about the low-quality photos and Google Maps screenshots... only +that I bet they siphoned a lot of money through this project. + @@ -51,8 +148,9 @@ class="thumb" src="/uploads/2019/10/targoviste-14-thumb.png"> - +Above: pornography of a different kind. Below: the history museum +hosts some paintings, among which one by a dude I've never heard about +before. Let's give him a moment in the tarpitian spotlight. @@ -60,5 +158,68 @@ class="thumb" src="/uploads/2019/10/targoviste-17-thumb.png"> +Above: two planes crossing the sky in the sunset, above ye olde +Târgoviște. Below: the last photo in this series... + + +... what they call "the old centre" there, namely a bunch of cafés and +pubs lined together on a couple of streets. That's how you know you're +in a town populated by orcs: they sheepishly distort the meaning of +something towards anything other than what it actually means, on the +basis of the (actual) item in question looking vaguely similar to +something they've seen before, somewhere else. They went to "da big +town" -- they call it "la oraș" around those parts, I'm not shitting +you! --, you see, and saw how one of those "centru vechi" looks, so +they decided to make a "centru vechi" of their own. Only there's no +vechi whatsoever in their centru; or if that's old, then what the fuck +have you to say about those ruins you so proudly expose in that +*other* centre, you dumbasses? + +And here's another sign of deeply ingrained orcishness in this little +town: if you're there unmotorized and want to leave, do it before +seventeen hours, or else prepare to be stranded until the next day: +the last train to Bucharest leaves around five PM, and while there are +supposedly buses available, none of them stick to any schedule, either +displayed online or as communicated through phone. Sure, Bucharest is +less than two hours away and we have a meatwot, so the extra hours +spent sipping on hot chocolate didn't bother us. This ain't about us +though. + +Long story short: Târgoviște is a clean little town, fulla young ones +and plenty of stuff to see. It takes more than a day to see +everything, but even if you plan to go there for a short trip, the +second one isn't really worth it. + +[^1]: "Târg" may also denote a small town in this language. Hey, don't + blame me, I'm just the messenger. + +[^2]: I don't know how else to put it, so who knows, someone apter + than me at this linguistics/history thing might illuminate me. + + "Curtea Domnească" is literally "the court of the Domn", where + "Domn" is what local rulers called themselves. The word comes from + the Latin "Dominus", i.e. a master, ruler, king, etc. However, + Wallachia and Moldavia weren't ever really sovereign, much like, + despite tons of pretense, today's Romania isn't really a sovereign + -- sovereign entities don't abide by whatever random rules are set + in place by external parties, do they? And so, much like today's + Romania sucks up to NATO and the EU, medieval Wallachia sucked up + to the High Porte. Yes, Vlad and Ștefan did burn and impale a few + thousands of Ottoman fuckers when they tried to undermine their + religious independence, but they still paid that tribute to keep + their heads in place. + + So then, I think it'd way too much to say that Wallachian and + Moldavian voyvods were "Domini" in the true sense of the + word. Lords, surely, and "pământeni", i.e. of the land, as opposed + to the more recent Phanariote rule; but they paid well to hold + their castles and, as can be seen in Vlad the Third's case, they + otherwise paid with their life once external (and local, for that + matter) support ceased to exist. + +[logz-1938822]: http://logs.nosuchlabs.com/log/trilema/2019-09-28#1938822 +[ov-wiktionary]: http://archive.is/YJRl4 +[logz-1935969]: http://logs.ossasepia.com/log/trilema/2019-09-13#1935969 +[altemberger]: /posts/y05/07d-klausenburg.html#selection-296.0-296.3 -- 1.7.10.4