Re: Vlachs
| From: | John Cowan <jcowan@...> |
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| Date: | Wednesday, May 15, 2002, 22:31 |
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Andreas Johansson scripsit:
> So either "Vlachs" and "Vlax" aren't the same, whoever said (lost the
> original mail, sorry) the "Vlax" were Romani was wrong, or something is
> really strange somewhere.
"Vlax Romani" refers to the language of those Romani who were enslaved
in Romania, 1300-1860. It seems clear to me (though I cannot find
authority for it) that this is indeed the same word as "Vlach", applied
to Romanian-speakers in Greece, Albania, and (Slavic) Macedonia. (Their
language is not mutually intelligible with, though closely related to,
the Romanian of Romania.) Of course, Vlax Romani is an Indic language,
not closely related to Vlach.
Old Norse also used "valas" for Romans and Romance-speakers; only in
Britain did the word in the form "wealas" come to refer to Brythonic
speakers.
--
John Cowan <jcowan@...> http://www.reutershealth.com
I amar prestar aen, han mathon ne nen, http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
han mathon ne chae, a han noston ne 'wilith. --Galadriel, _LOTR:FOTR_
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