Etymology of the name “Romania”

The name Romania is a derivative of the “Rumanian” name which in its turn derives from the town of Rome and the Roman Empire, in particular of the adjective romanus which means “Roman” in Latin.

Etymology of the ethnonyme " roumain" (român)

During the transition from the Vulgar Latin to the Rumanian between IV-ième and VIII-ième century of the sound changes transformed “romanus” into “român”:

the final consonant " - s" (heritage of the specific vulgar Latin for all the Romance languages)
is lost the termination " - u" disappears (though old Rumanian still kept the " - u" dumb man)
" a" → " â" (Rumanian specific sound change for " a" preceding a nasal Consonant)
" o" → " u" (Rumanian specific sound change)

the Song of Nibelungen could contain a first reference to the name " roumain": " The duke Ramunc de Valachie/with seven hundred men comes to him in the opposition while running/like wild birds, thus see them one galoper" . Certain authors see in the duke " Ramunc" a character symbolic system whose name would evoke “Rumanian” (român).

The first certificates of Rumanian indicating themselves with the name of “Roman” date the XVI century, whereas Italian Humanistes start to return accounts written on their voyages in Transylvania, Valachie and Moldavie. Thus, Tranquillo Andronico writes into 1534 that Rumanian (" Valachi") " themselves are called romains" . In 1532 Francesco della Valle accompanying the governor Aloisio Gritti through Transylvania, Valachie and Moldavie note that the Rumanian preserved their Roman name of and that " they are called themselves Rumanian (Romei) in their langue" . It quotes even a Rumanian sentence: " Sti rominest? " (" do you know Rumanian? " , roum. : " ştii româneşte? "), Shoeing Capeci writes towards 1575 that the inhabitants of these Provinces are called themselves Rumanian (romanesci), while Pierre Lescalopier notices into 1574 that " All this country Wallachie and Moldavie and more the share of Transilvanie esté populated colony Romans of the time of Traian the emperor… Those of the country tells truth successors of the Romans and names their speech romanechte, i.e. Roman… "

Other testimonys on the name which Rumanian gave each other themselves come from the intellectuals having known meadows or having very lived in Rumanian countries. Thus the Transylvanian Saxon Johann Lebel notes into 1542 that Rumanian indicates themselves under the name of “Romuini “, whereas the Polish chronicler Orichovius (Stanislaw Orzechowski) observes in 1554 qu' “in their language Rumanian are called romin, according to the Romans and Wallachian in Polish, according to Italian” , Croatian Anton Verancsics notices towards 1570 that Rumanian living in Transylvania, Moldavie and Valachie names themselves Roman (Rumanian) and the Transylvanian Hungarian Martinus Szent-Ivany quotes into 1699 the Rumanian expressions: " Sie noi sentem Rumeni" (" we also, we are roumains" , for the roum. : " Şi noi suntem români") and " Noi sentem di sange Rumena" (" we are of blood roumain" , for the roum.: " Noi suntem of sânge român").

The historical documents present two C-Ws communication of the “Rumanian” word: " român " and " rumân ". During several centuries, the two forms coexist and are employed in an interchangeable way, sometimes in the same document.

With the Middle Ages, the ethnolinguistic denomination rumân/român also meant “commoner “. During the XVII-ième century, when the institution of serfdom knows a significant extension, “commoner” revêt more and more the direction of “serf “. In a process of differentiation semantic during the XVII - XVIII centuries, the form rumân , probably more common among the peasants, ends up identifying the direction of “serf”, while the form " român" kept its direction ethnolinguistic. After the abolition of serfdom by the Prince Constantin Mavrocordat in 1746, the form " rumân" , remaining without socio-economic support disappears gradually whereas the form " român, românesc" is established definitively.

In the others Eastern Romance Langues (the Aroumain, the Mégléno-Rumanian and the Istro-Rumanian) the ethnonyme is also derived from Latin “romanus “: armâni , arumâni , rămăni or rumâri .

Etymology of " Roumanie" (România)

The oldest document known in Rumanian attesting the denomination " Roumain" country; is a letter that Neacşu written in 1521 with the mayor of Braşov to warn it against the movements of the Othomans at the south of the Danube. In this Rumanian text, the principality named by the foreigners “Valachie” is called “Rumanian Country” (Ţara Românească). As in the case of the “Rumanian” ethnonyme, the C-W communication of the name of the country is not fixed yet, until the beginning of XIX-ième century the texts presenting the two forms: Ţara Românească and Ţara Rumânească .

Among the first explicit references to a “Rumanian territory ethnolinguistic” including/understanding Valachie, Moldavie and Transylvania one finds the work “Of the race of the Moldavians” of the chronicler Miron Costin at the XVII-ième century.

In XVIII-ième century the prince scholar Dimitrie Cantemir indicates in a systematic way the three principalities inhabited by Rumanian (Moldavie, Transylvania and Valachie) under the name of “Rumanian Country” ( Ţara Românească ).

The name " Roumanie" (" România") in its modern meaning is attested for the first time in a work going back to 1816.

Etymology of the word " România" does not follow the standards of Rumanian lexical construction for the names of the countries, which add the suffix - ia to the ethnonyme while keeping the initial accent, as in: " grec" → " Grecia" , " bulgar" → " Bulgaria" , " rus → " Rusia" , etc Relating to a car-designation, the word " România" has an older history which returns at the end " românie" which comes from the ethnonyme " român" and of the suffix - IE , indicating a derived condition as in " moş → moşie" , " domn" → " domnie" , " boier" → " boierie" (lord → seigniory) or " rumân" → " rumânie" (serf → serfdom, until XVIII-ième century). Before indicating the common fatherland of the Roumanians, the word " românie" had a direction more restricted and local, with which the social and ethnolinguistic significances intermingled.

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