Aromanians

Aromanians
Armãnji, Rrãmãnji
	The coat-of-arms of Moscopole, an Aromanian cultural and business center (1742).
Total population
	c. 250,000 (Aromanian-speakers)
Languages
	Aromanian
Religion
	Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Related ethnic groups
	Other Latin-speaking peoples such as Romanians, Moldovans, Megleno-Romanians, and Istro-Romanians

The Aromanians (Aromanian: Armãnji, Rrãmãnji) are an ethnic group who speak an Eastern Romance language and are native to the southern Balkans. There are several theories about them. The strongest theory says that they are descendants of Latin-speaking Greeks from areas of Ancient Greece like Macedonia. The Aromanians are called Vlachs but call themselves Aromani or Arumani. In one of their songs called the Song of Metsovo, Aromanians sing: "Νόι ντι του μούντσι χίμου Ελάσλι" (transliteration: "Nói nti tou moúntsi chímou Elásli", "We highlanders are the Hellenes").

References

Citations

↑ Puig, Lluis Maria de (17 January 1997). "Report: Aromanians". Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly. Doc. 7728.
↑ Mantouvalos 2017, p. 30: "The Aromanians (Vlachs) are a Latin-speaking ethnic group native to the southern Balkans."
1 2 3 4 Binder 2004, pp. 115–116: "Vlachs are sometimes assumed to be the Romanized descendants of autochthonous ethnic groups, the Illyrians, Thracians, Dacians and Greeks, though the Greek connection is undoubtedly the strongest. Oddly perhaps, the denomination Vlach, by which they are most widely known, is plainly not of Vlach origin, coming, as far as scholars of linguistics can determine, either from Celtic or Germanic roots (variously Welsh or Welsch). Vlachs generally refer to themselves among themselves as Aromani (or Arumani)."
↑ Liakos 1965.
↑ Charanis 1976, p. 16: "[A]ccording to one scholar, Latin had made such an inroad into Macedonia that that province had become perhaps bilingual. This lends some support to the view held by Greek scholars, that the Vlachs now in that country are actually the descendants of Latinized Macedonians and as a consequence Greeks by origin."
↑ Exarchos 2001, pp. 61, 153.
↑ Exarchos 2001, p. 61: "τραγούδι του Μετσόβου: <<Νόι ντι του μούντσι χίμου Ελάσλι>> (<<Εμειίς οι ορεινοί είμαστε οι Έλληνες>>)."

Sources

Binder, David (2004). "Vlachs, A Peaceful Balkan People". Mediterranean Quarterly. 15 (4): 115–124.
Charanis, Peter. "The Slavs, Byzantium, and the Historical Significance of the First Bulgarian Kingdom". Balkan Studies. 17 (1): 5–24.
Exarchos, George. ΟΙ ΕΛΛΗΝΟΒΛΑΧΟΙ (ΑΡΜΑΝΟΙ) [THE HELLENOVLACHS (ARMANOI)] (in Greek). Athens: Kastaniotis. ISBN 978-96-00-32784-7.
Liakos, Socrates N. (1965). Η ΚΑΤΑΓΩΓΗ ΤΩΝ ΒΛΑΧΩΝ Η ΑΡΜΑΝΙΩΝ [THE ORIGIN OF THE VLACHS OR AROMANIANS] (in Greek). Thessaloniki: ΜΙΚΡΕΥΡΩΠΑΙΚΕΣ (ΒΑΛΚΑΝΙΚΕΣ) ΜΕΛΕΤΕΣ.
Mantouvalos, Ikaros (2017). "Greek Immigrants in Central Europe: A Concise Study of Migration Routes from the Balkans to the Territories of the Hungarian Kingdom (From the Late 17th to the Early 19th Centuries)". In Katsiardi-Hering, Olga; Stassinopoulou, Olga (eds.). Across the Danube: Southeastern Europeans and Their Travelling Identities (17th–19th C.). Leiden and Boston: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-33544-8.

[1] Puig, Lluis Maria de (17 January 1997). "Report: Aromanians". Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly. Doc. 7728.

[2] Mantouvalos 2017, p. 30: "The Aromanians (Vlachs) are a Latin-speaking ethnic group native to the southern Balkans."

[Binder-3] 1 2 3 4 Binder 2004, pp. 115–116: "Vlachs are sometimes assumed to be the Romanized descendants of autochthonous ethnic groups, the Illyrians, Thracians, Dacians and Greeks, though the Greek connection is undoubtedly the strongest. Oddly perhaps, the denomination Vlach, by which they are most widely known, is plainly not of Vlach origin, coming, as far as scholars of linguistics can determine, either from Celtic or Germanic roots (variously Welsh or Welsch). Vlachs generally refer to themselves among themselves as Aromani (or Arumani)."

[4] Liakos 1965.

[5] Charanis 1976, p. 16: "[A]ccording to one scholar, Latin had made such an inroad into Macedonia that that province had become perhaps bilingual. This lends some support to the view held by Greek scholars, that the Vlachs now in that country are actually the descendants of Latinized Macedonians and as a consequence Greeks by origin."

[6] Exarchos 2001, pp. 61, 153.

[7] Exarchos 2001, p. 61: "τραγούδι του Μετσόβου: <<Νόι ντι του μούντσι χίμου Ελάσλι>> (<<Εμειίς οι ορεινοί είμαστε οι Έλληνες>>)."

Armãnji, Rrãmãnji
The coat-of-arms of Moscopole, an Aromanian cultural and business center (1742).
Total population
c. 250,000 (Aromanian-speakers)
Languages
Aromanian
Religion
Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Other Latin-speaking peoples such as Romanians, Moldovans, Megleno-Romanians, and Istro-Romanians