Abstract
The history of salt exploitation in the Carpathian arc area is far from being complete regarding certain periods of Romania’s historical provinces, although a lot has been written on this topic. A map of the salt deposits drafted in 1780 represents one of the most important achievements in this field. One of the mandatory aspects of this historical approach is the identification of places from where salt is or was extracted. Following a short history of the primary documentations of the exploitation of salt on the territory of Romania, this study presents Fichtel’s (1780) contribution to identifying the salt deposits on this territory. The updating of the toponyms on the map poses no difficulties for the historical provinces Moldavia and Wallachia, yet the situation is different in the case of the toponyms in Transylvania, since the nomenclature from the Hungarian domination period (until 1918) was mostly modified starting with the year 1919. Correspondences from the current nomenclature were provided for all these toponyms. The study offers an update of the localization of salt wells or springs and sedimentary deposits of salt, as indicated by Fichtel, by identifying present corresponding toponyms for the ones indicated on the map.
Highlights
The history of salt exploitation in the Carpathian arc area is far from being complete regarding certain periods of Romania’s historical provinces, a lot has been written on this topic
We know for sure that the only official documentation of a salt exploitation area from that period is contained in Tabula Peutingeriana, where there occurs the indication in the ablative Salinis
The study of mineralogist Fichtel represents the first notable work dedicated to salt deposits in Romania, despite the fact that the extra-Carpathian area is only represented by the most important salt pits and deposits
Summary
The salt deposits in the Carpathian arc are the biggest in Europe, which explains why the interest in them spread beyond the local population, the exploitation of these salt deposits becoming one of the main objectives of the empires that once dominated parts of this region. The first written information relating to the exploitation of salt in the Carpathian arc dates from the Roman Dacia. Mureș and Uioara de Sus—, yet he only mentions it as a reference point for Felvincz: “Felvincz [...] a salinis quæ etiamnunc durant ad vicum proximum Maros-Ujvár” 89), the indicated toponyms are not always easy to identify within the present nomenclature This is not the case with the ones from the extra-Carpathian area, where one only deals with transliterations. The objective of this study is to correlate the toponyms indicated by Fichtel—noted mostly with their Hungarian or sometimes German correspondents—with present-day toponyms Some of these shall prove useful when consulting certain works published before 1918, such as Ackner (1856), Ackner & Müller (1865) sau Gooss Some of these shall prove useful when consulting certain works published before 1918, such as Ackner (1856), Ackner & Müller (1865) sau Gooss (1876, p. 264–330)
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