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{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[File:Théodore Valerio, Pâtre valaque de Zabalcz, Romanian shepherd from Zăbalț, 1852.jpg|300px|thumb|
'''Vlach''' ({{IPAc-en
Although it has also been used to name present-day [[Romanians]], the term "Vlach" today refers primarily to speakers of the [[Eastern Romance languages]] who live south of the Danube, in [[Albania]], [[Bulgaria]], northern [[Greece]], [[North Macedonia]] and eastern [[Serbia]]. These people include the ethnic groups of the [[Aromanians]], the [[Megleno-Romanians]] and, in Serbia, the [[Romanians of Serbia|Timok Romanians]].<ref name="britannica">{{Britannica|631511|Vlach}}</ref> The term also became a synonym in the [[Balkans]] for the social category of shepherds,<ref name="sugar">{{Cite book |last=Sugar |first=Peter F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gYsVCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA39 |title=Southeastern Europe under Ottoman Rule, 1354–1804 |date=1996 |publisher=University of Washington Press |isbn=0-295-96033-7 |page=39}}</ref> and was also used for non-Romance-speaking peoples, in recent times in the [[Balkans#Western Balkans|western Balkans]] derogatively.{{sfn|Tanner|2004|p=203}} The term is also used to refer to the ethnographic group of [[Moravian Wallachia|Moravian Vlachs]] who speak a Slavic language but originate from Romanians, as well as for [[Morlachs]] and [[Istro-Romanians]].<ref name=":21">{{cite book| url=http://www.muzic-ivan.info/hrvatska_kronika.pdf| title=Hrvatska kronika u Ljetopisu pop Dukljanina| author=Ivan Mužić| publisher=Muzej hrvatski arheoloških spomenika| location=Split| year=2011| page=66 (''Crni Latini''), 260 (''qui illo tempore Romani vocabantur, modo vero Moroulachi, hoc est Nigri Latini vocantur.'')| quote=In some Croatian and Latin redactions of the [[Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja]], from 16th century.}}</ref>
== Etymology ==
{{further|Walhaz}} The word ''Vlach''/''Wallachian'' (and other variants such as ''Vlah'', ''Valah'', ''Valach'', ''Voloh'', ''Blac'', ''
[[File:Bosniangraves bosniska gravar februari 2007 stecak stecci3.jpg|thumb|250px|Medieval necropolis in [[Stećak necropolis Radimlja|Radimlja]], Bosnia and Herzegovina]]
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In the [[Western Balkans]], during the [[High Middle Ages]], the word also acquired a socio-economic component, being used as an internal name for the pastoral population in the [[Kingdom of Serbia (medieval)|medieval Kingdom of Serbia]], one that was also often engaged in the transport of goods, colonisation of empty lands, and military service. It will then expand to local interpretations with religious, ethnic, and social status particularities across the wider region, being employed as a name for [[Eastern Romance languages|Eastern Romance]] speaking people, [[Eastern Orthodoxy|Eastern Orthodox]] population in opposition to Catholic population, for the rural population of the hinterlands, the Christian population in general as opposed to Muslim population, or a combination of these aspects.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kursar |first=Vjeran |date=2013 |title=Being an Ottoman Vlach: On Vlach Identity(ies), Role and Status in Western Parts of the Ottoman Balkans (15th–18th Centuries) |url=https://www.academia.edu/7453833 |access-date=14 March 2024 |website=Academia.edu |pages=116–118}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Škegro |first=Ante |date=2004-01-01 |title=Zef Mirdita, Vlasi u historiografiji [Vlachs in historiography], "Hrvatski institut za povijest", Zagreb 2004., 562 str. |url=https://www.academia.edu/73544097 | page= 506 |journal=Časopis za suvremenu povijest}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gavrilović|first=Danijela|title=Elements of Ethnic Identification of the Serbs|journal=Facta Universitatis. Series: Philosophy, Sociology and Psychology|year=2003|volume=2|issue=10|pages=717–730|url=http://facta.junis.ni.ac.rs/pas/pas2003/pas2003-02.pdf}}</ref> During the early history of the [[Ottoman Empire]] in the Balkans, there was a military class of [[Vlachs (social class)|Vlachs]] in Serbia and [[Macedonia (region)|Ottoman Macedonia]], made up of Christians who served as auxiliary forces and were exempted of certain taxes until the beginning of the 17th century.<ref name="sugar" /> In this context, a large part of the [[Dalmatian Hinterland|Dalmatian hinterland]] was repopulated by Slavic settlers, both Orthodox and Catholic, speaking the [[Shtokavian]] dialect and called Vlach or [[Morlachs|Morlach]] by the inhabitants of the Dalmatian coast and islands. In these areas, the term ''Vlah'' evolved to ''Vlaj'' ({{Plural abbr|''Vlaji''}}) and is still used as a derogatory term to refer to the rural inhabitants of the hinterland, both Croats and Serbs, as "peasants" and "ignorants".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stjepanović |first=Dejan |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1004716379 |title=Multiethnic regionalisms in Southeastern Europe: statehood alternatives |date=2018 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-1-137-58585-1 |location=London |oclc=1004716379 |page=110}}</ref> In [[Istria]], the ethnonym Vlach is used by the [[Chakavian|Chakavian-speaking]] Croatian inhabitants to refer to the Istro-Romanians and the Slavs who settled in the 15th and 16th centuries.<ref>{{cite book |last=Spicijarić Paškvan |first=Nina |chapter=Vlasi i krčki Vlasi u literaturi i povijesnim izvorima |trans-chapter=Vlachs from the Island Krk in the Primary Historical and Literature Sources |year=2014 |page=348 |title=Studii şi cercetări. Actele Simpozionului "Banat – istorie şi multiculturalitate". Zrenianin – 2012, Reşiţa – 2013 |publisher=Editura Fundaţiei |location=Novi Sad, Zrenjanin |chapter-url=https://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/926881.studii_si_cercetari_2014.pdf |language=hr}}</ref>
Nowadays, the term ''Vlachs'' (also known under other names, such as "Koutsovlachs", "Tsintsars", "Karagouni", "Chobani", "Vlasi", etc.<ref>[https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/balkan-vlachs-born-assimilate The Balkan Vlachs: Born to Assimilate?] at culturalsurvival.org</ref>) is used in scholarship for the [[Eastern Romance languages|Eastern Romance]]-speaking communities in the Balkans, especially those in Greece, Albania and North Macedonia.{{sfn|Demirtaş-Coşkun|2001}}{{sfn|Tanner|2004}} In Serbia the term ''Vlach'' (Serbian ''Vlah'', plural ''Vlasi'') is also used to refer to Romanian speakers, especially those living in eastern Serbia.<ref name="britannica"/>
In modern [[Slovak language|Slovak]], ''Valasi'', other than denoting people of Vlachian ethnicity or origin, is synonymously and even more prominently used to describe [[shepherd]]s, more commonly apprentice shepherds. The term originated following Vlachian arrival in mounts and hills of present-day Slovakia in 14th century and coinciding development in sheep herding and dairy industry.<ref name="horváth">{{Cite web |last=Horváth |first=Stanislav |title=Valasi |url=https://www.ludovakultura.sk/polozka-encyklopedie/valasi/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230529152407/https://www.ludovakultura.sk/polozka-encyklopedie/valasi/ |archive-date=29 May 2023 |access-date=29 May 2023 |website=Centrum pre tradičnú ľudovú kultúru |date=9 October 2017 |language=sk}}</ref> Further west, in [[Czech Republic]], the area of Moravian Wallachia is known as [[Moravian Wallachia|Valašsko]] and the inhabitants as Valaši, names usually translated in English as Wallachia and Wallachians, respectively.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Košťálová |first=Petra |date=2022 |title=Contested Landscape: Moravian Wallachia and Moravian Slovakia |url=https://journals.openedition.org/res/5138 |access-date=9 August 2023 |journal=Revue des Études Slaves|volume=93 |pages=99–124 |doi=10.4000/res.5138 |s2cid=249359362 }}</ref>
== History ==
{{POV section|talk= Order of entries |date=December 2024}}
{{See also|History of Romania|Origin of the Romanians|History of the Aromanians}}
[[File:Language influence border between Latin and Hellenic.png|thumb|right|alt=Map of southeastern Europe, delineating Roman and Greek influence|The [[Jireček Line]] between Latin- and Greek-language Roman inscriptions]]
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According to the [[Origin of the Romanians|theory of Daco-Roman continuity]], the ancestors of modern Vlachs and Romanians originated from [[Dacians]].<ref name=":15">{{cite book |last=Fine |first=John V. A. Jr. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0NBxG9Id58C |title=The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=1991 |isbn=0-472-08149-7 |location=Ann Arbor |page=10 |quote= |author-link=John Van Antwerp Fine Jr. |orig-year=1983}}</ref> For proponents of this theory, Eastern Romance languages prove the survival of the [[Thraco-Roman]]s in the lower Danube basin during the [[Migration Period]].<ref>According to Cornelia Bodea, Ştefan Pascu, Liviu Constantinescu: "''România: Atlas Istorico-geografic''{{-"}}, Academia Română 1996, {{ISBN|973-27-0500-0}}, chap. II, "Historical landmarks", p. 50 (English text), the survival of the [[Thraco-Roman]]s in the Lower [[Danube]] basin during the [[Migration Period]] is an obvious fact: Thraco-Romans haven't vanished in the soil & Vlachs haven't appeared after 1000 years by spontaneous generation.</ref> On the other hand, opponents of this theory say that the Romanians and the Vlachs, including the ancestors of present-day Aromanians, were originally part of the same group of speakers of Eastern Romance languages, and that their origins should be sought in the southern Balkans. Early Romanian-speakers would have then moved northwards from the 12th century onwards.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Malcolm |first=Noel |url=http://macedonia.kroraina.com/en/nm/kosovo.html |title=Kosovo, a short history |publisher=Macmilan |year=1998 |location=London |pages=22–40 |quote=The name 'Vlach' was a word used by the Slavs for those they encountered who spoke a strange, usually Latinate, language; the Vlachs' own name for themselves is 'Aromanians' (Aromani). As this name suggests, the Vlachs are closely linked to the Romanians: their two languages (which, with a little practice, are mutually intelligible) diverged only in the ninth or tenth century. While Romanian historians have tried to argue that the Romanian-speakers have always lived in the territory of Romania (originating, it is claimed, from Romanized Dacian tribes and/or Roman legionaries), there is compelling evidence to show that the Romanian-speakers were originally part of the same population as the Vlachs, whose language and way of life were developed somewhere to the south of the Danube. Only in the twelfth century did the early Romanian-speakers move northwards into Romanian territory.}}</ref><ref name=":9" />
=== 7th century ===
The first likely attestation of Romanian language and implicitly of Vlachs/Romanians comes from [[Theophylact Simocatta|Theophylactus Simocatta]] Histories, written {{circa}} 630, narrating an episode from [[Maurice's Balkan campaigns]]: <ref>Al. Rosetti, "Despre torna, torna, fratre" ("About ''torna, torna, fratre''"), Bucharest, 1960, p. 467–468</ref>
{{Blockquote|A beast of burden had shucked off his load. It happened as his master was marching in front of him. But the ones who were coming from behind and saw the animal dragging his burden after him, had shouted to the master to turn around and straighten the burden. Well, this event was the reason for a great agitation in the army, and started a flight to the rear, because the shout was known to the crowd: the same words were also a signal, and it seemed to mean "run", as if the enemies had appeared nearby more rapidly than could be imagined. There was a great turmoil in the host, and a lot of noise; all were shouting loudly and goading each other to turn back, calling with great unrest in the language of the country "torna, torna", as a battle had suddenly started in the middle of the night.<ref>Theophylacti Simocattae Historiae, II, 15, 6–9, ed. De Boor, Leipzig, 1887; cf. FHDR 1970</ref>}}
=== 10th century ===
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[[John Skylitzes]] mentioned the Vlachs in 976, as guides and guards of Byzantine caravans in the Balkans. Between [[Prespa]] and [[Kastoria]], they met and fought with [[David of Bulgaria]]. The Vlachs killed David in their first documented battle.<ref>Spinei, V. (2009). The Romanians and the Turkic Nomads North of the Danube Delta from the Tenth to the Mid-Thirteenth Century. Brill, p. 152</ref>
[[Ibn al-Nadīm]] published in 998 the work ''[[Kitāb al-Fihrist]]'' mentioning "Turks, Bulgars and ''Blaghā''". According to B. Dodge the ethnonym ''Blaghā'' could refer to Wallachians/Romanians.<ref>Ibn al Nadim, al-Fihrist. English translation: The Fihrist of al-Nadim. Editor și traducător: B. Dodge, New York, Columbia University Press, 1970, p. 37 with n.82</ref><ref>Spinei, Victor, The Romanians and the Turkic Nomads North of the Danube Delta from the Tenth to the Mid-Thirteenth Century. Brill. 2009, p. 83</ref> It is important to note, however, that the original Arabic text does not contain the word "Blaghā" but rather "البلغار," which translates to "'''al-Bulghār'''," the term used in contemporary Arabic texts to refer to [[Volga Bulgaria]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=István |first=Zimonyi |title=The Origins of the Volga Bulgars |publisher=Soros Foundation |year=1989 |pages=90}}</ref> The new Arabic edition also features the word "al-Bulghār" ("البلغار") instead of "Blaghā."<ref>{{Cite book |last=محمد بن إسحاق |first=أبو الفرج |title=الفهرست |pages=12 |language=arabic |quote=الكلام على الترك وما جانسهم فأما الترك والبلغر والبلغار والبرغز والخزر واللان وأجناس الصغار الأعين المفرطي البياض فلا قلم لهم يعرف سوى البلغر والتبت فإنهم يكتبون بالصينية والمنانية والحزر تكتب بالعبرانية والذي تادى إلى من أمر الترك ما حدثني به أبو الحسن محمد بن الحسن بن أشناس قال حدثني حمود حرار التركي المكلي وكان من التوزونية ممن خرج عن بلده على كبر وتنفط أن ملك الترك الأعظم إذا أراد أن يكتب إلى ملك من الأصاغر وزيره وأمر بشق نشابه ونقش الوزير عليها نقوشا يعرفها أفاضل الأتراك تدل على المعاني التي يريدها الملك ويعرفها المرسل إليه وزعم أن النقش اليسير يحتمل المعاني الكثيرة وإنما يفعلون ذلك عند مهادناتهم ومسالماتهم وفي أوقات حروبهم أيضا وذكر أن ذلك النشاب المكتوب عليه يحتفظون به ويفون من أجله والله أعلم |postscript=}}</ref> Furthermore, the first critical edition edited by [[Gustav Flügel]] in 1871, which includes the original Arabic text, likewise uses the designation "البلغار" ("al-Bulghār").<ref>{{Cite book |last=Johannes Roediger |first=Gustav Flügel, August Müller |title=Kitab al-Fihrist |publisher=Leipzig: F. C. W. Vogel, German Oriental Society |year=1872 |edition=II. |pages=702 |editor-first2= |editor-first3=}}</ref> Thus, Bayard's translation is incorrect, as he mistakenly read "البلغار" ("al-Bulghār") as "البلغم" ("al-Blagham"). Therefore, the original Arabic text refers to Volga Bulgaria, not the Vlachs.<ref name=":0" />
A monastic document from [[Mount Athos]] mentions that 300 Vlach families live near the mountain, and in their own language they call their settlements "Catuns".<ref name=":17">{{Cite book |last=Földes |first=János |title=Az Oláh erdei pásztornépről |publisher=Székely és Illés |pages=4–7 |language=Hungarian}}</ref>
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Traveler [[Benjamin of Tudela]] (1130–1173) of the [[Kingdom of Navarre]] was one of the first writers to use the word ''Vlachs'' for a Romance-speaking population.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://users.clas.ufl.edu/fcurta/tudela.html|title=Tudela}}</ref> In his work he mentions that these Vlachs live high up in the mountains of [[Thessaly]], and from there they sometimes come down to plunder, which they do quickly, as swift as deers, for which reasons there is no king to rule them.{{sfn|Miskolczy|2021|p=96}}
In 1167, Vlachs living by the border of the [[Principality of Halych]] during the reign of [[Yaroslav Osmomysl]], captured Andronicus and returned him to [[Manuel I Komnenos|Emperor Manuel]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Curta |first=Florin |date=2022-01-01 |title=Aging levee. On the 25th anniversary of Gottfried Schramm's Ein Damm Bricht |url=https://www.academia.edu/91856550/Aging_levee_On_the_25th_anniversary_of_Gottfried_Schramms_Ein_Damm_Bricht |journal=Historical Studies on Central Europe|p=193}}</ref>
Byzantine historian [[John Kinnamos]] described Leon Vatatzes' military expedition along the northern Danube, where Vatatzes mentioned the participation of Vlachs in battles with the Magyars (Hungarians) in 1166.<ref>A. Decei, op. cit., p. 25.</ref><ref>V. Spinei, The Romanians and the Turkic Nomads North of the Danube Delta From the Tenth to the Mid-Thirteenth Century, Brill, 2009, p. 132. {{ISBN|9789004175365}}.</ref> [[John Kinnamos]] says Vlachs were "colonists brought from Italy".<ref>Florin Curta: Imaginea vlahilor la cronicarii cruciadei a IV-a, page 40, 2015</ref>▼
▲Byzantine historian [[John Kinnamos]] described Leon Vatatzes' military expedition along the northern Danube, where Vatatzes mentioned the participation of Vlachs in battles with the Magyars (Hungarians) in
[[File:Prosek.png|right|thumb|200px|Plan of the fortress [[Prosek, North Macedonia|Prosek]], seat of Dobromir Chrysos]]
The uprising of brothers Asen and Peter was a [[Uprising of Asen and Peter|revolt of Bulgarians and Vlachs]] living in the theme of Paristrion of the Byzantine Empire, caused by a tax increase. It began on 26 October 1185, the feast day of St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki, and ended with the creation of the [[Second Bulgarian Empire]], also known in its early history as the Empire of Bulgarians and Vlachs.<ref name="Florin Curta page 37"/>
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*An Italian writer called the [[Banat]] ''Valachia citeriore'' ("Wallachia on this side") in 1550.<ref name="MușatArdeleanu1985">{{cite book|author1=Mircea Mușat|author2=Ion Ardeleanu|title=From Ancient Dacia to Modern Romania|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jPsJAQAAIAAJ|year=1985|publisher=Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică|quote=that in 1550 a foreign writer, the Italian Gromo, called the Banat "Valachia citeriore" (the Wallachia that stands on this side).}}</ref>
*''Valahia transalpina'', including [[Făgăraș]] and [[Hațeg]]
*[[Moravian Wallachia]] ({{
== Shepherd culture ==
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[[Category:Eastern Romance people]]
[[Category:Transhumant ethnic groups]]
[[Category:Exonyms]]
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