Teodor Cotelnic: brave linguist and consummate patriot

Abstract

This year, 2023, Teodor Cotelnic, a valuable linguist from the Bessarabian region, would have turned 90 years old. Together with other colleagues from the faculty and the guild, he was at the foundation of the formation of the philological school in Chisinau, striving to research the phenomena of the Romanian language and equally to its teaching in the higher education institutions of the republic, as well as the cultivation, promotion and popularization of its form more neat and beautiful. Passionate about the Latin language and driven by the curiosity to know the origins and explanations of language phenomena, he tackled problems of the history of the language, with reflections and continuation in aspects of stylistics, lexicology or actual grammar. He manifested and advocated his love and appreciation for his own identity and for that of the Romanian language not only in specialized writings, but especially in public, in difficult times being one of the signatories of the famous letter of the 66 signatories. He was one of the researchers who connected his professional life with the Institute of Linguistics and dedicated his life to raising generations of Romanian language teachers: we managed to trace his presence both in the university auditorium and in schools in the country, in houses of culture or bodies of local administration, where he spoke about the Romanian language. The works signed by Teodor Cotelnic remain in the use of today’s students and researchers, as well as the interested reader. We believe that through the contribution of Teodor Cotelnic we can learn about the lost pages of our history and we can imagine the picture of Bessarabian philology in a clearer outline.