Chronology of the breakup of Common Romance [long]

[Eduard Selleslagh]

[ moderator re-formatted ]

-----Original Message-----
From: Rick Mc Callister

>> "Vlach" or "Wallach" seems to be descended from a name that was commonly
>> applied to Celts.

> It has long been proposed that the name Volcae, a Gaulish tribe, was the
> source of Anglo-Saxon Wealh, Balkans Vlakh, Polish WLochy, etc.  The point
> I've generally seen is something to the extent that supposedly the Volcae
> were the first Gaulish tribe to fall under Roman rule.

[Ed Selleslagh]

That seems highly unlikely since the term was originally used exclusively by
non-Romans, non-Celts, and applied to Celtic and Latin languages speaking
peoples.  That excludes a Roman origin of the word.
All this sounds like a typical 19th century invention by Latin-worshippers

> Some popular writers have also proposed Volcae as the source of
> English "folk" but I've never seen this proposal from professional
> linguists.

[Ed]

Even less likely : the peoples that used the word had probably never heard
of the Volcae, not even second-hand.

>> Appearing as "Walh" or "Walah" in OHG, it has interpreted as meaning
>> "foreigner", sometimes Roman, but in usage it is closely associated with
>> Celts and regions of Celtic habitation - e.g., "Wales", "Walloon".  I seem
>> to recall an suggestion that there may be a tie here to L. vallum (fortified
>> wall, the earliest meaning of "wall") and refer to the Celtic or
>> Romano-Celtic oppidum or walled town.

> You'd have to account for the ending in Vlakh, WLochy, etc.

[Ed]

Indeed, and a derivation from a Latin word is unlikely for the reasons given
above.

Note that the form with -ch is East-European, while the 'Wal-' form is
Western, mainly Germanic and in loanwords of Germanic origin, e.g. in Latin
languages (Walen-Wallons, Wallis-Valais, Wales...).

>> The strong Celtic presence along the Danube is attested by Classical writers
>> well before the common era.  E.g., Alexander fights them before turning
>> against the Persians and meets Celts who are from Illyria.  Galicia in
>> southern Poland is a region whose name remembers a Celtic presence even
>> farther north.  I remember an old passage where Vlachs are identified as
>> "the shepherds of the Romans" and in this role they may also have been
>> imported help as they were in northern Italy.

> Isn't the term Vlakh anachronistic in this sense? Vlakh is first
>documented in the middle ages, isn't it?

[Ed]

Indeed. The medieval use of 'Vlach' probably referred to the 'Latin'
Rumanians, cf. Wallachia.
In modern Greece, the word is also used to refer to the local nomads/gypsies
of unclear (i.e. to me) ethnic origin (maybe Rumanian Gypsies, 'Roma', or
from Pannonia? Maybe Albanians?).

>> The ancient ethnic designations in that part of the world are a little
>> difficult to follow, but it seems clear that the whole region from Illyria
>> to present day Romania was under Rome by 250 ace.  And there is some
>> possibility that Vlachs represented Romanized Celts across those regions.
>> In any case, the small difference in time between Rome's entry into Illyria
>> and into Dacia would be a de minimis factor.

> My guess is that any Celtic element in the Balkan would have been extremely
> thin.

> The Celts raided the Balkans and stormed through the region on the way to
> Galatia but my understanding is that they lived north of the Balkans in
> Galatia and Pannonia

[Ed]

See my last remark above.

[snip]

Ed. Selleslagh<edsel at glo.be>