Eminescu and the Baron of Trei Sarmale

Between Mihai Eminescu and Dimitrie Petrino there was an open enmity, quite well known at the time. Eminescu criticized one of Petrino's books, in an article in Albina, and later Petrino replaced the poet as director of the central library.

Eminescu invented a nickname for his rival: Baron de trois sarmaux because he was almost living his life at the Trei Sarmale Inn in Iași (now demolished).

The famous tavern, with a long history, got its name from the local custom: customers were served with three sarmals each. (there are a lot of pubs like this whose reputation stemming from different facts and habits have become their brand: one of the nicest examples is the Bucharest pub "la trei ochi sub palupuma" - after a painting depicting the two entrepreneurs - she with one eye, she had lost the other in a fight with two robbers who had tied up her husband and wanted to rob them, thieves put on the run by the woman with the help of a prankster).

About the Inn of Trei Sarmale, emblematic of the capital of Moldova and which is now in ruins, claimed by several parties in an endless series of lawsuits, it is known that it existed since 1675-1680, when an act of the time debating the tenancy of the place between two Armenian merchants. The document discovered by Nicolae Iorga in the archive of the Armenian Church in Iași attests to the antiquity of the premises. As I have not yet researched the original manuscript, I am skeptical about the fact that all sources on the Internet give the name of the inn "three sarmals" from that time. As far as I know, the neologism of Turkish origin had not entered the Moldovan vocabulary at that time, and even the sarmales did not have that much notoriety in Moldova at the end of the 17th century (even if, as I wrote before, in Transylvania we meet them in the second half of 15th century, and even more often, including in Banat, in the following century).

Until I find out exactly how it is with the document (if you have it, I remain grateful, it is the many volumes of documents collected by Nicolae Iorga) my assumption is that the name of the inn was given and that was it - probably with an address or location clues - and the press took over the story of the name as having been attested since 1685 to facilitate communication and indicate unequivocally the establishment in question, recognized even now under this title.