Megleno-Romanian language

Megleno-Romanian is a member of the family of Romance languages. More specifically, it is an Eastern Romance language, a language formed after the retreat of the Roman Empire from the Balkans. Due to the fact that it is spoken by very few people and because of its similarities with the Aromanian, modern Romanian and Istro-Romanian languages, some linguists consider it to be an intermediary between Romanian and Aromanian, often being considered either a dialect of Romanian, a dialect of Aromanian, or an independent language. It is closer to standard Romanian than the Aromanian language, suggesting that it split from Common Romanian later than Aromanian. Megleno-Romanian has been strongly influenced by the neighbouring South Slavic varieties.

The term Megleno-Romanian has been used by linguists (mainly Romanians), who noticed the similarity to the Romanian language. The Megleno-Romanians identify themselves as {{lang|ruq|vlaș}} ("Vlach") or by local endonyms such as {{lang|ruq|liumnicean}} ("from Liumnița") or {{lang|ruq|umineț}} ("from Uma").{{Cite book|last=Berciu-Drăghicescu, Adina (coord.) |first=Frățilă, Vasile |trans-title= Aromanian, Megleno-Romanians, and Istro-Romanians: Aspects of Identity and Culture, chapter Meglenoromânii – aspecte istorice, geografice, etnoidentitare și etnodemografice |title=Aromâni, Meglenoromâni și Istroromâni: Aspecte identitare și culturale, capitolul Meglenoromânii – aspecte istorice, geografice, etnoidentitare și etnodemografice |publisher=Editura Universității din București |year=2012 |isbn= 978-606-16-0148-6 |page=311 }}

Megleno-Romanian is spoken in several villages in the Pella and Kilkis regional units of Macedonia, Greece, as well as in a handful of villages across the border in North Macedonia. In the village of Huma, the language was spoken by most inhabitants before they and other Megleno-Romanians from the region moved in the cities of Gevgelija and Skopje where some have preserved their native language.{{Cite web |last1=Nevaci |first1=Manuela |last2=Saramandu |first2=Nicolae |author2-link=Nicolae Saramandu |date=2014 |title=Aspectul verbal în dialectul macedoromân |trans-title=Verbal aspect in the Megleno-Romanian dialect |url=https://www.diacronia.ro/ro/indexing/details/A20026/pdf |access-date=14 February 2024 |website=diacronia.ro}} After World War I, some Megleno-Romanians moved to Romania, in Southern Dobruja, but were moved to the village of Cerna in Tulcea County (Northern Dobruja) after the population exchange between Bulgaria and Romania. In Cerna, about 1,200 people continue to speak Megleno-Romanian. In 1940, about 30 families moved from Cerna to the Banat region of Romania in the villages of Variaș, Biled and Jimbolia. Some speakers who identified as Muslim, from the village of Nânti (Nótia), were moved to Turkey from Greece as part of the population exchange between them of the 1920s.{{Cite web |last=Kahl |first=Thede |author-link=Thede Kahl |date=December 2014 |title=Language preservation, identity loss: The Meglen Vlachs |url=https://www.academia.edu/22526313 |page= 40 |access-date=14 February 2024 |website=Academia.edu}} Some also live in Serbia, specially in the village of Gudurica.{{Cite web |last1=Sorescu-Marinković |first1=Annemarie |last2=Maran |first2=Mircea |date=December 2014 |title=Megleno-Romanians in Gudurica: Language and Identity |url=https://www.academia.edu/10069098 |access-date=14 February 2024 |website=Academia.edu}}

Megleno-Romanian is not a standardised language and there are phonological differences across idioms.{{Cite web |last1=Nevaci |first1=Manuela |last2=Saramandu |first2=Nicolae |date=2014 |title=Le dialecte méglénoroumain. Une synthese |trans-title=The Megleno-Romanian dialect - a synthesis |url=https://www.diacronia.ro/ro/indexing/details/A31904/pdf |access-date=14 February 2024 |website=diacronia.ro |language=fr}}

• Sounds [{{IPA link|h}}] as well as [{{IPA link|β}}, {{IPA link|ð}}, {{IPA link|ɣ}}] can also occur from Greek borrowings.{{Cite book|last=Narumov|first=B. P.|title=Мегленорумынский язык / Диалект|year=2001|location=Романские языки|pages=671–681}}{{Cite book|last=Atanasov|first=Petar|title=Meglenoromâna astăzi|publisher=Bucharest: Romanian Academy|year=2002}}

Some particular phonetic characteristics of the Megleno-Romanian vowel system compared to other Eastern Romance languages are:

1. long vowels: ā, ē, ī, ǭ, ō, ū
2. use of the open-mid back rounded vowel [ɔ] in some words which in Romanian would use [ə] and [ɨ], for example: {{lang|ruq|italic=no|pǫ́nză}}
3. apheresis of [a] in initial position: {{lang|ro|italic=no|aveam}} → {{lang|ruq|italic=no|veam}} ("we had"), {{lang|ro|italic=no|aduc}} → {{lang|ruq|italic=no|duc}} ("I bring")

File:Викиекспедиција Бојмија 023.jpg, a village in North Macedonia]]

Much of the vocabulary is of Latin origin, and much of its phonetics and semantics are shared with Aromanian and Romanian: (n.b.: MR=Megleno-Romanian, DR=Daco-Romanian, i.e. Romanian)

• {{lang|la|basilica}} > MR {{lang|ruq|bisearică}}, DR {{lang|ro|biserică}} (church, originally "basilica")
• {{lang|la|lumen}} > MR {{lang|ruq|lumi}}, DR {{lang|ro|lume}} (world, originally "light")
• {{lang|la|monumentum}} > MR {{lang|ruq|murmint}}, DR {{lang|ro|mormânt}} (grave, originally "monument")
• {{lang|la|strigis}} > MR {{lang|ruq|strig}}, DR {{lang|ro|strig}} (I yell, originally "owl")
• {{lang|la|draco}} > MR {{lang|ruq|drac}}, DR {{lang|ro|drac}} (devil, originally "dragon")

Megleno-Romanian also contains some words that have cognates with Albanian. These words are present in Daco-Romanian too:

• MR {{lang|ruq|brad}}; DR {{lang|ro|brad}}; cf. Alb. {{lang|sq|bredh}} (fir tree)
• MR {{lang|ruq|monz}}; DR {{lang|ro|mânz}}; cf. Alb. {{lang|sq|mës}} (colt)
• MR {{lang|ruq|bucuros}}; DR {{lang|ro|bucuros}}; (happy) cf. Alb {{lang|sq|bukur}} (beautiful)

There are also some words which are of Slavic origin and which can be found in all the Eastern Romance languages:

• MR {{lang|ruq|stăpân}}; DR {{lang|ro|trup}} (body); cf. Sl. trupŭ
• MR {{lang|ruq|stăpon}}; DR {{lang|ro|stăpân}} (master); cf. Old Slavic. stopanŭ, today's Bulgarian {{lang|bg-latn|stopanin}} and Macedonian {{lang|mk-latn|stopan}}

There are a number of Byzantine and Modern Greek words, several dozens of which are also found in Daco-Romanian (Romanian language) and Aromanian and about 80 words that were borrowed via Macedonian and Bulgarian languages and other languages of the Balkans. Prior to the creation of the modern state of Greece, Megleno-Romanian borrowed very few words directly from Greek.

• Gr. {{lang|el-latn|prósfatos}} > MR {{lang|ruq|proaspit}}; DR {{lang|ro|proaspăt}} (fresh)
• Gr. {{lang|el-latn|keramídi}} > MR {{lang|ruq|chirămidă}}; DR {{lang|ro|cărămidă}} (brick)
• Gr. {{lang|el-latn|lemoni}} > MR {{lang|ruq|limonă}}, via Bulg. {{lang|bg-latn|limon}} (lemon); cf. DR {{lang|ro|lămâie}}

The most important influence on Megleno-Romanian was the East South Slavic languages, this influence being more profound than that exerted by Greek on Aromanian. Most Slavic terms are of Macedonian and Bulgarian origins. The linguist Theodor Capidan argued that the words borrowed show some phonetic features of the Bulgarian language dialect spoken in the Rhodope Mountains. There are many instances where basic words of Latin origin that can still be found in Daco-Romanian and Aromanian were replaced by Slavic words. In some cases, standard Romanian also independently borrowed the same word.

• Bulgarian (Slavic) {{lang|bg-latn|drob}} > MR {{lang|ruq|drob}}
• Bulgarian {{lang|bg-latn|neviasta}} > MR {{lang|ruq|niveastă}} (bride)
• Bulgarian {{lang|bg-latn|gora}} > MR {{lang|ruq|goră}} (forest)

== See also ==

• Istro-Romanian language
• Substrate in Romanian
• Balkan sprachbund
• Origin of the Romanians
• Thraco-Roman
• Daco-Roman
• Romance languages
• Legacy of the Roman Empire

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{{refbegin}}

• Capidan, Theodor, [https://fr.scribd.com/document/73277978/Theodor-Capidan-Meglenoromanii-in-3-volume-1925-1934 Meglenoromânii]
• vol. I: Istoria și graiul lor [Their history and speech], București, Cultura Națională, 1925;
• vol. II: Literatura populară la meglenoromâni [Popular literature of the Megleno-Romanians], București, Cultura Națională / Academia Română, Studii și Cercetări VII, 1928;
• vol. III: Dicționar meglenoromân [Megleno-Romanian dictionary], București, Cultura Națională / Academia Română, Studii și Cercetări XXV, 1935
• {{Cite book |last=Petrucci |first=Peter R. |title=Slavic Features in the History of Rumanian |date=1999 |publisher=LINCOM Europa |isbn=38-9586-599-0 |location=München |language=en}}

{{refend}}

{{Incubator|code= ruq}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090218231246/http://romanii.ro/NewSite/Macedo-Romanii%20din.htm Megleno-Romanii], by Dr. Emil Tarcovnicu {{in lang|ro}}
• [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Megleno-Romanian_Swadesh_list Megleno-Romanian Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words] (from Wiktionary's [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Swadesh_lists Swadesh list appendix])
• Asterios Koukoudis, [http://www.vlachs.gr/index.php?lang=en Studies on the Vlachs]

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Category:Megleno-Romanian language

Category:Eastern Romance languages

Category:Languages of Greece

Category:Languages of North Macedonia

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Category:Languages of Serbia

Category:Languages of Turkey

Category:Endangered Romance languages