Samuel Miku-Klein (September 1745 - May 13, 1806) - Romanian Greek Catholic theologian , philologist , historian and philosopher , representative of the so-called Transylvanian school .
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Born with the name Maniu Miku in the Transylvanian village of Sadu, the Austrian Empire (now in the Sibiu County , Romania), was the son of a Greek Catholic archpriest and nephew of Bishop Inoceniu Miku-Klein.
He was initially educated in the seminary of the city of Blazh and in 1762 entered the Basilian Order of St. Jazaphat, where on October 14 he received the monastic name Samuel. Later he received a scholarship to continue his studies in the same year and entered the Catholic Pasmanaeum of Vienna. Little details have been preserved about his life in Vienna, but it is known that he was engaged in science, studying experimental physics, mechanics, and mathematics in addition to theology and philosophy.
In 1772, returning to Blazh as a teacher of ethics and mathematics at the seminary, Klein met and made friends with Bishop Grigory Mayor, whom he accompanied on trips through his diocese, the purpose of which was to preach Greek Catholicism. These trips proved to be useful in Klein's research of the Romanian language, especially the dialect spoken by the peasants, and during them he collected materials for his future work on grammar. Kline was also interested in Romanian folklore; his works were one of the earliest works on this subject.
In 1774, he finished a historical work called De ortu progressu conversione valachorum episcopis item archiepiscopis et metropolitis eorum , in which he expressed his views on the origin of Romanians from the ancient Romans and on the origins of the practice of Catholicism in Dacia. Apparently, his goal was to make the bishopric a metropolis so that it would no longer be part of the Archdiocese of Esztergom .
He traveled to Vienna in 1779 to become the prefect of studies at St. Barbara College; in 1780, together with George Sinkai, he published the first grammar of the Romanian language, Elementa linguae Daco-romanae sive valachicae .
Klein returned to Blazh and from 1782 to 1804 wrote several scientific works and completed a number of translations.
In 1804, Miku-Klein moved to Buda , where he became editor of Romanian-language book printing at a local university, in the hope that this would allow him to publish his historical works, but died two years later, as a result of which his plans were not implemented.
Bibliography
- Keith Hitchins, "Samuel Clain and the Rumanian Enlightenment in Transylvania", Slavic Review , Vol. 23, No. 4. (Dec., 1964), pp. 660-675.
- Pompiliu Teodor, Sub semnul luminilor. Samuil Micu Editura Presa Universitară Clujeană, Cluj, 2000, 507 p.