I wonder what if vlachs in greece convert in judaism like rabbi benjamin of tudela describe in 13 century they give even in their kids jewish names http://users.clas.ufl.edu/fcurta/tudela.html!
I have a strange feeling of deja-vu...
Also, isn't "Vlach" nowadays considered to be a derogatory term? I think "Aromanian" is the preferred terminology, unless I am mixing up two different groups... I think @Zagan could help here.
Also, isn't "Vlach" nowadays considered to be a derogatory term? I think "Aromanian" is the preferred terminology, unless I am mixing up two different groups... I think @Zagan could help here.
"Vlach" is a derogatory term used by Balkan Muslims (mostly Bosniaks) to refer to Serbs and Orthodox Christians in general. On a similar note, Bosnian Croats are given the derogatory nickname of "Shkutor" (which is a Catholic Albanian tribe), while the Muslim Bosniaks are simply called "Turks" by their neighbors.
So yeah, today it is (sometimes) means as an insult, though not just against Aromanians.
In the middle ages "Vlachs" could mean any one of 3 things:
-(A)Romanians
-other Romance-speakers, such as Latins
-a specific economic class which was (probably) once monopolized by Aromanians, but soon came to encompass a huge number of Slavs as well
Back then it was rarely, if ever, derogatory. It was an official term and documents would use it in entirely non-derogatory contexts, like when mentioning "Vlach aristocracy" and so on.
I have never heard about Serbs to be called Vlachs... I know that there are a "Vlach" big minority in Serbia![]()
I have never heard about Serbs to be called Vlachs... I know that there are a "Vlach" big minority in Serbia![]()
Absolutely impossible absent some ASB mind-control powers. No rationale, no incentive, no means, nothing. I mean, the Czechs might have converted en masse to Buddhism but...I wonder what if vlachs in greece convert in judaism like rabbi benjamin of tudela describe in 13 century they give even in their kids jewish names http://users.clas.ufl.edu/fcurta/tudela.html!
Butterfly genocide?Why they would convert? I don't see about that being any benefit for them.
And even if they convert their situation probably is much worse, at least during Nazi occupation.
Yes, I can help. Yes, we percieve the term as derogatory. And, frankly nothing else matters. It is like in the USA for example, no matter how much would some racists would try to rationalize that "nigger" is not derogatory, the fact that the Blacks view it that way is enough to settle matters for good.I have a strange feeling of deja-vu...
Also, isn't "Vlach" nowadays considered to be a derogatory term? I think "Aromanian" is the preferred terminology, unless I am mixing up two different groups... I think @Zagan could help here.
It was derogatory in the Middle Ages as well. The Greeks who called themselves "Romans" could not accept other ethnic group in their Empire calling themselves "Romans" as well, so they started to use a Germanic word for the disenfrancized Romanic population of the Byzantine Empire. The verbal abuse was coordinated with the systemic abuse in an organic way from the 7th century all the way to the present day.Well, if you refer to the 12-13 century romance Balkan population, no, the Vlachs term is not derogatory because it was the historical term many people addressed to them (however they do not call themselves in this way).
However, today, Vlach is used in a derogatory term to refers to the Romanian Balkan populaces, especially very useful when you do not want to grant them rights and you do not want another country (aka Romania) to say: "Hey, they are our Romanian brothers, don't be nasty and let them use their language, religion, etc., otherwise we will do it the same for our minorities, which might be your brothers". So, if you are a country which have many minorities, is easier to split those minorities in : Romanians (with cultural agreements with Romania), Vlachs (nobody to defend them), Aromanians, Istroromanians, Megleromanians, etc...
Also, Vlach is used in a derogatory way when there are disputes on who were the first in.... let say Transylvania... Call them Vlachs, so they are not Romanians, so they are the same with the other Vlachs spread in the Balkans, so they all came from there, then voila, you were here the first and were always the majority.
Edit: @Zagan will definitely give you an even better answer.
Correct.Agree with @aegis03florin on the general lines, although I´m not sure if the term didn`t carry, even long before the 12/13 century, derogatory meanings, since it has a Germanic etymology, and "walhaz" was a derogatory term for speakers of Roman even since the days of the Goths, sharing a word stem with the German word for a castrated male horse. In this sense, Vlachi and Wallachia are etymologically kin to the Walser and Wallis, to the Welsh and Wales etc. Romanised people, at some point in time, basically.
Yes, Serbs were sometimes called Vlachs as well all the way to the 18th century. One clear example is the Austro-Hungarian Military Frontier and the Statuta Valachorum in force there.I have never heard about Serbs to be called Vlachs... I know that there are a "Vlach" big minority in Serbia![]()
For the Daco-Romanians, the term Vlach was never so insulting as for the Macedo-Romanians (Aromanians) because its usage was not paralleled with widespread ethnic and linguistic persecution.Hm... I've learned new things from your post @Zagan !
I have never tought that using Vlach in historical context might be perceived as derogatory (and I am a Romanian so I should have known it better). I always considered that the English consecrated form for the low to high middle-age Romanians (and other Romance and Romanian Balkan populaces) was Vlachs, later Wallachians.
So... the same is applied to Wallachia ?
Personally I found it too far-fetched... I would perhaps take offence if someone would call me Vlach in a derogatory or offending way but I would not bother if an English speaker will refer to my ancestors in 11 - 14 century as Vlachs... I even used the term in my own medieval timeline where I wanked a little bit the "Vlachs".
Wouldn't we exaggerate?
But blood isn't kosher!So Dracula becomes Jewish?
So Dracula becomes Jewish?
But blood isn't kosher!View attachment 316779