The Eastern Romance languages, sometimes known as the Vlach languages, are a group of Romance languages that developed in Southeastern Europe from the local eastern variant of Vulgar Latin. It is generally considered that sometime between 800 and 1,200 years ago, the Vulgar Latin spoken in the Balkan provinces of the Roman Empire, often named Proto-Romanian by scholars, split into four separate languages: Daco-Romanian (today's Romanian), Aromanian, Megleno-Romanian and Istro-Romanian. In addition, in the Soviet Union the Moldovan language was officially introduced, to draw a distinction between the Romanian and Moldovan nations, an attempt that had eventually failed. Vlachs (also called Wlachs, Wallachs, Olahs) are the Romanized population in Central and Eastern Europe, including Romanians, Aromanians, Istro-Romanians and Megleno-Romanians, but since the creation of the Romanian state, this term was mostly used for the Vlachs living south of the Danube river. ... The Romance languages, also called Romanic languages or New Latin languages, are a subset of the Italic languages, specifically the descendants of the Latin dialects spoken by the common people in what is known as Latin Europe (Italian/Portuguese/Spanish Europa latina, Catalan Europa llatina, French Europe latine, Romanian Europa... The Balkans is the historic and geographic name used to describe southeastern Europe (see the Definitions and boundaries section below). ... Vulgar Latin (in Latin, sermo vulgaris) is a blanket term covering the vernacular dialects of the Latin language spoken mostly in the western provinces of the Roman Empire until those dialects, diverging still further, evolved into the early Romance languages — a distinction usually assigned to about the ninth century. ... Common Romanian (also known as Proto-Romanian) is a hypothetical language considered to have been spoken by the Romanians after the breakdown of the Roman Empire and before it was broken into modern Balkan Romance languages and dialects: Romanian Aromanian Megleno-Romanian Istro-Romanian The place where this language was... The Romanians (români in present-day Romanian and rumâni in historical contexts) are an ethnic group; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania and of Moldova (where they are also called Moldovans, a disputed term); each of these countries also have other significant ethnic minorities, and the Romanians... Map of areas inhabited by Aromanians Aromanian (also known as Macedo-Romanian in Romania or Vlach in most other countries; in Aromanian: armâneashti or armãneshce) is a language in the eastern group of the Romance languages, spoken in the Balkans. ... Megleno-Romanian (known as Vlaheshte by speakers and Moglenitic, Meglenitic or Megleno-Romanian by non-speakers) is a Romance language, similar to Aromanian, spoken in the Moglená region, located in the Kilkis and Serres prefectures in Macedonia, Greece, as well as in the Republic of Macedonia. ... Map of Istro-Romanian, made by Puşcariu in 1926 Istro-Romanian is a Romance language used in a few villages in the peninsula of Istria, on the upper northern part of the Adriatic Sea, in Croatia. ... This page is protected from editing until disputes have been resolved on the discussion page. ...

The languages that are part of this group have some features that differentiate them from the other Romance languages, notable being the grammatical features shared within the Balkan linguistic union as well as some semantic peculiarities, such as lume ("world") being derived from Latin lumen ("light"), inimă ("heart") being derived from Latin anima ("soul"), etc. Balkan linguistic union or Balkansprachbund is a name given to the similarities in grammar, syntax, vocabulary and phonology found in the languages of the Balkans, which belong to various Indo-European branches, such as Albanian, Greek, Romance and Slavic. ...

Map of Balkans with regions inhabited by Romanians/Vlachs highlighted

They also contain a Paleo-Balkanic substrate of a few hundreds of words, shared with Albanian (considered to be of Dacian origin) and 70 early Slavic borrowings, but the Hungarian language words are found only in Romanian and Istro-Romanian. Ethnic map of regions inhabited by Romanians/Vlachs. ... The Eastern Romance languages contain around 300 words considered by many linguists to be of substratum origin [1]. Including place-names and river-names, and most of the forms labelled as being of unknown etymology, the number of the substratum elements in Eastern Romance may surpass 500 basic roots. ...

Languages

• Romanian (known officially as Moldovan in the Republic of Moldova)
• Aromanian
• Megleno-Romanian
• Istro-Romanian

Map of areas inhabited by Aromanians Aromanian (also known as Macedo-Romanian in Romania or Vlach in most other countries; in Aromanian: armâneashti or armãneshce) is a language in the eastern group of the Romance languages, spoken in the Balkans. ... Megleno-Romanian (known as Vlaheshte by speakers and Moglenitic, Meglenitic or Megleno-Romanian by non-speakers) is a Romance language, similar to Aromanian, spoken in the Moglená region, located in the Kilkis and Serres prefectures in Macedonia, Greece, as well as in the Republic of Macedonia. ... Map of Istro-Romanian, made by Puşcariu in 1926 Istro-Romanian is a Romance language used in a few villages in the peninsula of Istria, on the upper northern part of the Adriatic Sea, in Croatia. ...

See also

• Origin of Romanians
• Romanian substratum words

The Romanians (also sometimes referred to along with other Balkan Latin peoples as Vlachs) are a nation speaking Romanian, a Romance language and living in Central and Eastern Europe. ... The Romanian language contains at least 300 words considered by many linguists to be of substratum origin [1]. If one adds place-and river-names, and most of the forms labelled of unknown etymology, the number of the substratum elements in Romanian may surpass 500 basic roots. ...