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v t e

Vlachs (also called Wallachians, Wlachs, Wallachs, Olahs or Ulahs) is a blanket term covering several modern Latin peoples descending from the Latinised population in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. Groups that have historically been called Vlachs include: modern-day Romanians, Aromanians, Morlachs, Megleno-Romanians and Istro-Romanians. Since the creation of the Romanian state, the term in English has mostly been used for those living ouside Romanian border.

Important to mention is that the term "Vlach" is an exonym. All vlach groups used various words derived from romanus to refer to themselves: Români, Rumâni, Rumâri, Aromâni, Arumâni etc. (note: the Megleno-Romanians nowadys call themselves "Vlaşi", but historically called themselves "Rămâni"; The Istro-Romanians have adopted the names Vlaşi, but still use Rumâni and Rumâri to refer to themselves).

Vlachs descend from the Romanised Thracians (and possibly Illyrians), the indigenous populations of the Balkans, and Roman colonist (from various provinces of the Roman Empire).

The Vlach languages have a common origin from the Proto-Romanian language. Over the centuries, the Vlachs split into various Vlach groups (see Romania in the Dark Ages) and mixed with neighbouring populations: Slavs, Greeks, Albanians, Cumans, and others. Almost all modern nations in Central and Southeastern Europe, either South Slavic, West Slavic or other, have Vlach populations, either native (in the case of Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia, Ukraine) or a later addition (Greece, Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Poland, Slovakia), or both (Serbia, Ukraine, Hungary).

Etymology

Main article: History of the term Vlach

The word Valach is of Germanic origin, and was taken by Slavic people as Vlach and 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.

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. In Greece, the word Βλάχος (Vláhos) is often used as a slur against any supposedly uncouth or uncultured person. However, in recent years there has been a concerted effort by Greek Vlachs to reclaim the term from its negative connotations and to proclaim openly and proudly their Vlach identity.

[[Image:Vlachs-bgiu.jpg|thumb|400px|White = Romanians<