[gothic-l] Re: gothic traces in the east?

[czobor at CANTACUZINO.RO]

Dear Tiefi,

Don't say "sorry for the semi-nomad", because it seems that the early
Romanian ("Vlach") shepherds were indeed semi-nomad (or at least
transhumant, as are even today the Romanian and "Aromun" shepherds),
and that they represented then the greater part of the Romanian
population.
There is evidence that the semi-nomad "Vlach" shepherds reached in the
early Middle-Age also parts of Ukraina, Czechia, and Poland. There is
today an ethnic group in Moravia (Czech Republic), that is called
"Vlach". They speak the Chech language today, but they were originally
such semi-nomad Vlach shepherds.
Regarding the South-Danubian Romanians, it is necessarily to mention
that the East-Romanic peoples are divided into four branches, one
north-danubian and three south-danubian. Their languages are regarded
either as dialects of a single language, or closely related, but
distinct Romance languages.
1. Daco-Romanians, or simply Romanians, the north-danubian branch, are
the majoritary inhabitants of Romania and of the Republic of Moldova
(the so-called "Moldavians" speak the same language as the Romanians).
2. Macedo-Romanians or "Aromuns", living mainly in Northern Greece (in
the Pindus Mountains), but also in South Albania, in the southern part
of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), and also a few
in south-west Bulgaria, as well as immigrants in Romania. Their number
is between 300,000 and 500,000, and a great part of them still speak
(at least at home) the Macedo-Romanian or "Aromun" dialect.
3. Megleno-Romanians (closely related to the Macedo-Romanians), that
live in the Meglen region, that is shared by Greece (North-East)and
Fyrom (South-East). Their number is several thousands, and at least
half of them still speak the Megleno-Romanian dialect at home.
4. Istro-Romanian, in Istria Peninsula (belonging to Coratia). They
are a few thosand, and their Istro-Romanian dialect (that is more
closely related to Daco-Romanian than to the other two south-danubian
dialects) is nearly extinct.
It is worth to mention that the Macedo-Romanians (Aromuns) and
Megleno-Romanians are still today called by their Greek and Slavic
neighbors with the name "Vlach".
There were also another major Romance-speaking groups in the mediaeval
Balkans. like the Maurovlachoi ("Black Vlachs", in Greek), or Morlacs,
but they were from long time assimilated by other Balkanic peoples.

The origin of the Romanians is indeed very disputed. There are two
main theories:
1. The Romanians are the descendants of romanized Dacians, and they
lived continuously on this territory. This is the "continuity theory",
the official one in Romania. The south-danubian Romanians (Aromuns and
others), according to thhis theory, emigrated there later, form Dacia,
unnder the pressuure of the Slavic migration.
2. Dacia was depopulated during the migrations. The Romanian people
was formed somewhere south of the Danube, and (re-)immigrated in Dacia
during the Middle-Age. The south-danubian Romanians are the remnants
of those that did not emigrate to Dacia. This is the "immigrationist
theory".

Regarding the origin and use of the term "Vlach" and the few
presumably East-Germanic (Gothic-Gepidic) words preserved in Romanian,
see my previous messages on this subject.

Best regards,

Francisc

GUTANI WIHAILAG

--- In gothic-l at y..., tiefi at y... wrote:
> sorry for the semi-nomad.
>
> Albanians and Vlachs were wandering herdsmen in their early times,
> and there are interesting theories that most of Bosnian Serbs and
> many Kosovar Albanians & Serbs descend from the wandering Vlachs
> (lots of evidence around Ohrid and in Turk documents), and that they
> are the forefathers of the Romanians (rather than romanized
> Dacians...)
> this is heavily disputed, but would deprive the base of Serb and
> Albanian nationalism.
>
> but however:
> what i meant is that Vlach routes span over big parts of the Balkans
> and they have formed from 'backwardish' Roman settlers, fleeing the
> Slav expansion.
> maybe Goths have joined them (or they were Goths originally).
>
> I don't know if there have been studies on their language regarding
> possible germanic influence, because few kept their language (there
> are some in northern Greece, "Aromuns" i think, and some in
Bulgaria,
> Bosnia, Dalmatia but most gave up their tounge for the dominating
one)


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