Editing Moldova (section)

==Etymology==
{{main|Names of Moldavia and Moldova}}

The name ''Moldova'' is derived from the [[Moldova (river)|Moldova River]] ({{Langx|de|Moldau}}); the valley of this river served as a political centre at the time of the [[founding of Moldavia|foundation]] of the [[Moldavia|Principality of Moldavia]] in 1359.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.moldova.md/en/istorie/ |title=History |publisher=Republic of Moldova |access-date=9 October 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131222142800/http://www.moldova.md/en/istorie/ |archive-date=22 December 2013}}</ref> The origin of the name of the river remains unclear. According to a legend recounted by Moldavian chroniclers [[Dimitrie Cantemir]] and [[Grigore Ureche]], Prince [[Dragoș, Voivode of Moldavia|Dragoș]] named the river after hunting [[aurochs]]: following the chase, the prince's exhausted hound ''Molda (Seva)'' drowned in the river. The dog's name, given to the river, extended to the principality.<ref>{{cite book |last=King |first=Charles |author-link=Charles King (professor of international affairs) |title=The Moldovans: Romania, Russia, and the politics of culture |publisher=Hoover Press |year=2000 |chapter=From Principality to Province |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ldBFWtuv8DQC&pg=PA13 |page=[https://archive.org/details/moldovansromania00king_0/page/13 13] |isbn=0-8179-9792-X |access-date=31 October 2010 |url=https://archive.org/details/moldovansromania00king_0/page/13 }}</ref>

For a short time in the 1990s, at the founding of the [[Commonwealth of Independent States]], the name of the current Republic of Moldova was also spelled ''Moldavia''.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/23/world/end-soviet-union-text-accords-former-soviet-republics-setting-up-commonwealth.html?pagewanted=all |date=23 December 1991 |title=The End of the Soviet Union; Text of Accords by Former Soviet Republics Setting Up a Commonwealth |work=[[The New York Times]] |quote=...Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Kirghizia, the Republic of Moldavia, the Russian Federation... |access-date=17 February 2017 |archive-date=9 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309042542/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/23/world/end-soviet-union-text-accords-former-soviet-republics-setting-up-commonwealth.html?pagewanted=all |url-status=live }}</ref> After the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]], the country began to use the Romanian name, {{lang|ro|Moldova}}. Officially, the name ''Republic of Moldova'' is designated by the United Nations.