The Solomonar or Șolomonar (German phonetization: Scholomonar) is a wizard believed in Romanian folklore to ride a dragon (zmeu[a] or a balaur) and control the weather, causing rain, thunder, or hailstorm.
[1] The Solomonars are said to be tall, red-haired, wearing long white robes of peasants,[2] sometimes woolen,[3] or clad in ragged attire made from patches,[2] a small version of a Semantron, which serves to summon the Vântoase (alternatively the winds are contained in a little wooden jar).
[4] The contents of their magic bag are instruments such as an iron axe used as lightning rod (also as a wand to summon them or his mount), birchbark reins or a golden bridle, and a book of wisdom which contained all their knowledge, and is the source of their power.
[19][20] "Scholomance" and "Scholomonariu" appeared in print in the Austrian journal Österreichische Revue in 1865, written by Wilhelm Schmidt (1817–1901)[21] The piece is discussed as a belief present in the Central Romanian Fogarasch (Făgăraș) district and beyond, with additional lore from Hermannstadt.
[10] Emily Gerard later wrote on the topic of "Scholomance", although she only referred to its attendees as "scholars", and did not specifically employ the term Solomanari or the equivalent.
[9] Romanian ethnobotanist Simion Florea Marian described the Solmonari in his article on "Daco-Romanian Mythology" in the Albina Carpaților [ro] (1879.
[28] An old dictionary form in the plural Șolomonariu occurs in a lexicon published in 1825, where the term is glossed as Latin: imbriciter,[g] Hungarian: garabantzás deák, and German: der Wettermacher, Wettertreiber, Lumpenmann.
In an account given by Friedrich von Müller the "Kaiser Salomo" has the ability to control the weather, and the inheritors of his art are called "Scholomonar".
[36] Gaster, more complicatedly, suggested a hybrid of the word for the magic school Scholomantze (Romanian orthography: Şolomanţă) from association with Salamanca, and Solomonie (from Solomon).
[37][38] An alternate derivation from the German Schulmänner ("scholars"), in reference to the popular belief that solomonars attended a school, is credited to J.
[2][42] Similarity with the Geto-Dacian ascetics called the ktistai described by Strabo was noted by Traian Herseni (d. 1980) who hypothesized that they were the original Solomonari.
[i] He points out that a tradition kept alive from Caesar's time to the 19th century presents a credibility issue, since there is a complete vacuum in the records about any of it for the 1900-year interim.
[47] Parallels with the legend of the Serbo-Croatian garabancijaš dijak (Hungarian: garabonciás diák) "necromantic scholar" had been sought in Moses Gaster's paper, which is one a major source for the Solomanari folkloristics.
[citation needed] Friedrich von Müller (1857) reported a story from Schäßburg (Sighișoara in Transylvania) in which a Romanian mistook a robed student for a solomonar.