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Vlachs

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File:Vlachs-bgiu.jpg
White = Romanians
Green = Istro-Romanians
Yellow = Aromanians
Orange = Megleno-Romanians

Vlachs (also called Wlachs, Wallachs, Olahs) is a blanket term covering several distinct modern Latin people descending from the Latinised population in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. Groups that have historically been called Vlachs include modern-day Romanians, Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians and Istro-Romanians, but since the creation of the Romanian state, the term has mostly been used for those living south of the Danube river (i.e. excluding Romanians).

Although most linguists agree that their languages share a common origin, the origins of the Vlachs themselves are disputed, as is the notion that all Vlach groups have the same ethnic origins. According to the dominant theory, they are descended from the Roman colonists and/or the Romanised Dacian, Thracian and Illyrian local populations (see Origin of Romanians for more about the dispute about the origin). Some scholars also include the Greeks among their possible ancestors, especially in regard to the Aromanians.

Through history, the term "Vlach" was often used for groups which were not ethnically Vlachs, often pejoratively - for example for any shepherding community, or for Christians by Muslims.

Etymology

Main article: Etymology of Vlach

The word Vlach is of Germanic origin, sharing this origin with the words "Welsh" and "Walloons" in other parts of Europe. Slavic people initially used the name Vlachs when referring to Romanic people in general. Later on, the meaning got narrower or just different. For example Italy is called Włochy in Polish, and Olaszország ("olas' country") in Hungarian. The term was originally an exonym, as the Vlachs used various words derived from romanus to refer to themselves (români, rumâni, rumâri, aromâni, arumâni etc). Only the Megleno-Romanians adopted the term Vlashi to describe themselves.

Wallachia

Many Vlachs were shepherds and they always looked for better pastures. This explains the pockets of Vlachs that could be found all over the Balkans and as far north as Poland and as far west the Czech Republic, and Croatia. These regions inhabited by Vlachs were called "Wallachia" or "Vlashka" by the Slavs.

People

Culture

Many Vlachs were shepherds in the medieval times, driving their sheep through the mountains of Southeastern Europe. The Vlachs shepherds reached as far as Southern Poland and Moravia in the north (by following the Carpathian range), Dinaric Alps in West and the Pindus mountains in South.

In many of those areas, although with time their descendants lost the language, but their legacy can still be found today in the cultural influences: in the customs, folklore and the way of living of the mountain people, as well as in the placenames of Romanian or Aromanian origins that are spread all across the region.

Another part of the Vlachs, especially those in the northern parts, in Romania and Moldova, were traditional farmers growing cereals. Linguists believe that the large vocabulary of Latin words related to agriculture shows that there has always been a farming Vlach population, unlike the Albanians, who have many of these words borrowed from Slavic.

Just like the language, the cultural links between the Northern Vlachs (Romanians) and Southern Vlachs (Aromanians) were broken by the 10th century, and since then, there were different cultural influences:

  • Romanian culture remained virtually uninfluenced by occupating people such as Hungarians and Slavs and developed itself to what it is today. The 19th century saw an important opening toward Western Europe and cultural ties with France.
  • Aromanian culture developed initially as a pastoral culture, later to be greatly influenced by the Byzantine and Greek culture.

Religion

The religion of the Vlachs is predominantly Eastern Orthodox Christianity, but there are some regions where they are Catholics and Protestants (mainly in Transylvania) and a few are even Muslims (former converts from Greece, living in Turkey since the 1923 exchange of populations).

History

(to be written)

See also

Further reading

  • Koukoudis, Asterios I. - The Vlachs: Metropolis and Diaspora, 2003, ISBN 9607760867

External links

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