''Walhaz'' is a reconstructed
Proto-Germanic
Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages.
Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic bran ...
word meaning 'foreigner',
or more specifically 'Roman', 'Romance-speaker' or '(romanized) Celt', and survives in English as '
Welsh'.
The term was used by the ancient Germanic peoples to describe inhabitants of the former
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...
, who were largely
romanised and spoke Latin languages (cf.
Valland
In Norse legend, Valland is the name of the part of Europe which is inhabited by Celtic and Romance peoples. The element ''Val-'' is derived from *''Walhaz'', a Proto-Germanic word whose descendants were used in various Germanic languages to refe ...
in
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...
).
The adjectival form is attested in Old Norse ', meaning 'French';
Old High German
Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050.
There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...
', meaning 'Romance';
New High German
New High German (NHG; german: Neuhochdeutsch (Nhd.)) is the term used for the most recent period in the history of the German language, starting in the 17th century. It is a loan translation of the German (). The most important characteristic o ...
', used in
Switzerland and
South Tyrol
it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol
, settlement_type = Autonomous area, Autonomous Provinces of Italy, province
, image_skyline = ...
for
Romance
Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to:
Common meanings
* Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings
* Romance languages, ...
speakers;
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
' '
Walloon';
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...
', ', ', meaning '
Brythonic'. The forms of these words imply that they are descended from a Proto-Germanic form ''*walhiska-''.
From ''*Walhaz'' to ''welsch''
is a
loanword
A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because t ...
derived from the name of the Celtic tribe which was known to the Romans as
Volcae (in the writings of
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, ...
) and to the Greeks as (
Strabo and
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...
).
[Ringe, Don.]
Inheritance versus lexical borrowing: a case with decisive sound-change evidence
" ''Language Log,'' January 2009. The Volcae tribe occupied territory neighbouring that of the Germanic people and seem to have been referred to by the
proto-Germanic
Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages.
Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic bran ...
name (plural , adjectival form ). It is assumed that this term specifically referred to the
Volcae, because application of
Grimm's law
Grimm's law (also known as the First Germanic Sound Shift) is a set of sound laws describing the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) stop consonants as they developed in Proto-Germanic in the 1st millennium BC. First systematically put forward by Jacob Gr ...
to that word produces the form . Subsequently, this term was applied rather indiscriminately to the southern neighbours of the Germanic people, as evidenced in geographic names such as
Walchgau and
Walchensee
Walchensee or Lake Walchen is one of the deepest and largest alpine lakes in Germany, with a maximum depth of and an area of . The lake is south of Munich in the middle of the Bavarian Alps. The entire lake, including the island of Sassau, ...
in Bavaria.
Place names containing the element *walbaz denote communities or enclaves in the Germanic-speaking world where Romance was spoken, such as
Waalwijk in
North Brabant
North Brabant ( nl, Noord-Brabant ; Brabantian: ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to the w ...
, Netherlands and Walcbensee in
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
, Germany.
From ''*Walhaz'' to ''Vlach''
In Old English, *:walbaz developed into wealh, retaining the inherited meaning ‘a foreigner, more particularly a pre-Anglo-Saxon inhabitant of Britain who spoke Celtic or Latin or both’. It also came to imply the 'social position of the British natives that in the West Saxon dialect of Old English' and came to mean ‘(British) slave’. The old feminine derivative of *walhaz, Old English wiln < *wielen < * wealh-in-, even exclusively means ‘a female slave’ and is likewise concentrated in the Saxon south of England.
From the Slavs the term passed to other peoples, such as the
Hungarians
Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Urali ...
(, referring to
Vlachs
"Vlach" ( or ), also "Wallachian" (and many other variants), is a historical term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate mainly Romanians but also Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, Istro-Romanians and other E ...
, more specifically
Romanians
The Romanians ( ro, români, ; dated exonym '' Vlachs'') are a Romance-speaking ethnic group. Sharing a common Romanian culture and ancestry, and speaking the Romanian language, they live primarily in Romania and Moldova. The 2011 Roman ...
, , referring to Italians),
Turks
Turk or Turks may refer to:
Communities and ethnic groups
* Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages
* Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
* Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic ...
() and
Byzantines ( ) and was used for all Latin people of the
Balkans
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
.
Notable people
*
Jeremiah of Wallachia (Italian: ''Geremia da Valacchia'') (Jon Stoika, 1556–1625),
Capuchin priest, b. in Tzazo,
Moldavia
Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and for ...
("Vallachia Minor" or "Piccola Valacchia", i.e. ''Small Wallachia'') Romania, beatified in 1983
*
Nicolaus Olahus (Latin for ''Nicholas, the Vlach''; Hungarian: ''Oláh Miklós'', Romanian: ''Nicolae Valahul'') (1493–1568), Archbishop of Esztergom
*
Marie Countess Walewska (née Łączyńska; Polish: Maria Walewska; 7 December 1786 – 11 December 1817) was a Polish noblewoman and a mistress of Emperor Napoleon I
See also
*
Vlachs
"Vlach" ( or ), also "Wallachian" (and many other variants), is a historical term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate mainly Romanians but also Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, Istro-Romanians and other E ...
, also known as Wallachs
*
Theodiscus
' (in Medieval Latin, corresponding to Old English þēodisc, Old High German diutisc and other early Germanic reflexes of Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz, meaning "popular" or "of the people") was a term used in the early Middle Ages to refer to t ...
*
Names of the Celts
The various names used since classical times for the people known today as the Celts are of disparate origins.
The names (''Keltoí'') and are used in Greek and Latin, respectively, to denote a people of the La Tène horizon in the region of ...
References
{{Reflist
Ethnonyms
Germanic words and phrases
Germania
Ancient Roman culture
Wallonia
History of Wales
Wallachia
Reconstructed words