Lucreţia Panaitescu – un etnolog român din Iaşi la Zürich, în 1897
Lucreţia Panaitescu – A Romanian Ethnologist in Zurich 1897

Summary/Abstract: Lucreţia Panaitescu was born in Iaşi (Romania) in 1869. She graduated from high school in Iaşi and went to Zurich where she graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy of the main university in 1896. In 1897 she earned a doctorate in Philosophy with the thesis Zur Ethnologie der heutigen Rumänen. Professor Otto Stoll was her scientific advisor and Professor Hans Schinz a member of the approval committee. Both of them were highly appreciated professors from the University of Zurich: the former was an ethnologist and a linguist while the later was a botanist and also the director of the botanical gardens of Zurich. No biographical data are to be found for Lucreţia Panaitescu after her earning her PhD degree in 1897. Her thesis reveals nevertheless a close relationship with Thereza Strătilescu, a professor from her former high school from Iaşi, who might have been her professor and her scientific counsellor. Published in Altenburg in 1897, the thesis (42 p.) focuses on the following major themes: the Romanian language as a Romanic language; ethnography topics such as the Romanian costumes, dwellings, home structures, professions or food; wedding and funeral ceremonies. Moreover, identifying similarities between Romania’s case and that of Ural-Altaic cultures, the author insists on the necessity for comparing the Romanian ethnographic data to those of classical or Slavic cultures. Panaitescu’s thesis represents the earliest work on Romanian anthropology and ethnography to be written by a Romanian author in a major language, using both the pre-existing literature and the ethnographic solid knowledge of the author. Its translation into Romanian should be strongly recommended.

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