Romanian language

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not to be confused with Romani language or Romansh language.
Romanian
Daco-Romanian
limba rom n

Pronunciatio
n
ro

m

n

!
Nati"e to Romania, #oldo"a, $ransnistria
%disputed region&' minority in(
)srael, *erbia, +kraine, ,ungary,
-roatia, diaspora in )taly, *pain,
Portugal, and other parts of
Western .urope
Nati"e
speakers
/0 million %/112&
3!/!
*econd language( 0 million
3!
4anguage
family
)ndo-.uropean
)talic
o Romance
.astern
Romance
Romania
n
.arly forms Proto-Romanian
Romanian
Writing
system
4atin %Romanian alphabet&
Romanian 5raille
6fficial status
6fficial
language in
Romania
#oldo"a
nb 3!
7o8"odina
.uropean +nion
%*ee 4ist.&
Recognised
minority
language in
,ungary
*erbia
Regulated b
y
9cademia Rom n

9cademy of *ciences of
#oldo"a
4anguage codes
)*6 :;<-3 ro
)*6 :;<-/ rum %5&
ron %$&
)*6 :;<-; ron
4inguasphere =3-99D-c %"arieties( =3-
99D-ca to -ck&
5lue( region where Romanian is the dominant
language. >reen( areas with a notable minority
of Romanian speakers.
$his article contains )P9 phonetic symbols.
Without proper rendering support, you may
see ?uestion marks, bo@es, or other symbols
instead of +nicode characters.
Romanian %or Daco-Romanian' obsolete spellings Rumanian,
Roumanian' autonym( rom n

, limba rom n

limba ro

m

n

! % listen&,
Athe Romanian languageA, or rom ne

te, lit. Ain RomanianA& is a
Romance language spoken by around /0 million people as a nati"e
language, primarily in Romania and #oldo"a, and by another 0 million
people as a second language.
;!0!
)t has official status in Romania,
the Republic of #oldo"a, the 9utonomous Pro"ince of 7o8"odina in
*erbia, and in the autonomous #ount 9thos in >reece.
Romanian speakers are scattered across many other countries,
notably 9ustralia, )taly, *pain, +kraine, 5ulgaria, the +nited *tates,
-anada, 9rgentina, )srael, Russia, Portugal, the +nited Bingdom,
France, and >ermany.
-ontents
3 ,istory
o 3.3 Prehistory
o 3./ .arly history
o 3.; #odern history
o 3.0 ,istorical grammar
/ >eographic distribution
o /.3 4egal status
/.3.3 )n Romania
/.3./ )n #oldo"a
/.3.; )n 7o8"odina
/.3.0 Regional *tatus in +kraine
/.3.= )n other countries and organiCations
o /./ 9s a second and foreign language
o /.; Popular culture
o /.0 Dialects
; -lassification
o ;.3 Dacian language
o ;./ 5alkan language area
o ;.; *la"ic languages
o ;.0 6ther influences
o ;.= French, )talian and .nglish words
0 4e@is
= >rammar
: Phonology
o :.3 Phonetic changes
2 Writing system
o 2.3 Romanian alphabet
o 2./ Pronunciation
o 2.; Punctuation and capitaliCation
o 2.0 *pelling issues between Romania and #oldo"a
D *ample te@t
< *ee also
31 Notes
33 References
3/ 5ibliography
3; .@ternal links
,istory
#ain article( ,istory of Romanian
Prehistory
Further information( .astern Romance languages, Proto-Romanian,
.astern Romance substratum, *la"ic superstratum in Romanian, 4ist
of Romanian words of possible Dacian origin and 6rigin of the
Romanians
.astern Romance languages, like the other branches of Romance
languages, descend from 7ulgar 4atin, adopted in Dacia by a
process of RomaniCation during early centuries 9D.
=!:!
$he Roman
.mpire withdrew from Dacia in 9D /23-=, lea"ing it to the >oths.
2!
D!
$he history of .astern Romance between the ;rd century and
the de"elopment of Proto-Romanian by the 31th century, when the
area came under the influence of the 5yCantine .mpire, is unknown.
)t is a matter of debate whether Proto-Romanian de"eloped among
RomaniCed people that were left behind in Dacia by the Roman
withdrawal or among 4atin-speakers in the 5alkans south of the
Danube.
#ap of the 5alkans with regions inhabited by RomaniansE7lachs
highlighted
During the #iddle 9ges, Romanian became influenced by the *la"ic
languages
<!
and to some degree by >reek. Romanian remains
unattested throughout the #iddle 9ges, and only enters the
historical record in the early 3:th century.
.arly history
$he oldest e@tant document written in Romanian is Neac

uFs letter


%3=/3& and was written using -yrillic letters %which remained in use
up until the late 3<th century&. $here are no records of any other
documents written in Romanian from before 3=/3.
$he language remains poorly attested during the .arly #odern
period.
#iron -ostin, in his De neamul moldo"enilor %3:D2&, while noting that
#olda"ians, Wallachians, and the Romanians li"ing in the ,ungarian
-ountry ha"e the same origin, says that although people of #olda"ia
call themsel"es #olda"ians, they name their language Romanian
%rom ne

te& instead of #olda"ian %moldo"ene

te&.
31!
Dimitrie -antemir, in his Descriptio #olda"iae %5erlin, 3230&, points
out that the inhabitants of #olda"ia, Wallachia and $ransyl"ania
spoke the same language. ,e notes, howe"er, some differences in
accent and "ocabulary.
33!
-antemirFs work pro"ides one of the
earliest histories of the language, in which he notes, like +reche
before him, the e"olution from 4atin and notices the >reek, $urkish
and Polish borrowings. 9dditionally, he introduces the idea that some
words must ha"e had Dacian roots. -antemir also notes that while
the idea of a 4atin origin of the language was pre"alent in his time,
other scholars considered it to ha"e deri"ed from )talian.
#odern history
Further information( National awakening of Romania
$he first Romanian grammar was published in 7ienna in 32D1.
3/!

Following the anne@ation of 5essarabia by Russia %after 3D3/&,
#olda"ian was established as an official language in the
go"ernmental institutions of 5essarabia, used along with Russian,
3;!

$he publishing works established by 9rchbishop >a"ril 5

nulescu-

5odoni were able to produce books and liturgical works in #olda"ian
between 3D3= 3D/1.
30!
$he linguistic situation in 5essarabia from 3D3/ to 3<3D was the
gradual de"elopment of bilingualism. Russian continued to de"elop as
the official language of pri"ilege, whereas Romanian remained the
principal "ernacular.
$he period from 3<1= to 3<32 was one of increasing linguistic
conflict, with the re-awakening of Romanian national consciousness.
)n 3<1= and 3<1:, the 5essarabian Cemst"a asked for the re-
introduction of Romanian in schools as a Acompulsory languageA, and
the Aliberty to teach in the mother language %Romanian language&A.
9t the same time, the first Romanian language newspapers and
8ournals began to appear( 5asarabia %3<1:&, 7ia

a 5asarabiei
%3<12&, #oldo"anul %3<12&, 4umin

torul %3<1D&, -u" nt moldo"enesc

%3<3;&, >lasul 5asarabiei %3<3;&. From 3<3;, the synod permitted
that Athe churches in 5essarabia use the Romanian languageA.
Romanian finally became the official language with the -onstitution
of 3</;.
,istorical grammar
Romanian has preser"ed a part of the 4atin declension, but whereas
4atin had si@ cases, from a morphological "iewpoint Romanian has
only three( the nominati"e-accusati"e, the geniti"e-dati"e, and
marginally the "ocati"e. Romanian nouns also preser"e the neuter
gender, although instead of functioning as a separate gender with
its own forms in ad8ecti"es, the Romanian neuter became a mi@ture
of masculine and feminine. $he "erb morphology of Romanian has
shown the same mo"e towards a compound perfect and future
tense as the other Romance languages. -ompared with the other
Romance languages, during its e"olution, Romanian simplified the
original 4atin tense system in e@treme ways,
3=!unreliable sourceG!
in
particular the original 4atin absence of se?uence of tenses.
3:!
>eographic distribution
*ee also( 4ist of countries where Romanian is an official language
and Romanian-9merican
>eographic distribution of
Romanian
-ountry *peake
rs
%H&
*peakers
%nati"e&
-ountry
Population
World
World 1.;;H/;,:/;,D<1 2,1;=,111,11
1
official(
-ountries where Romanian is an official
language
Romania <1.:=H 32,/:;,=:3

32!
3<,10;,2:2
#oldo"a
/
2:.0H /,=DD,;== ;,;DD,123
$ransnistria
%.astern
#oldo"a&
;
;3.<H 322,1=1 ===,=11
minority regional co-official language(
+kraine
=
1.DH ;/2,21; 0D,0=2,111
7o8"odina
%*erbia&
3.;/H /<,=3/ 3,<;3,D1<
not official(
6ther neighboring .uropean states
%e@cept for -)* where Romanian is not
official&
,ungary 1.30H 3;,DD:
3D!
<,<;2,:/D
-entral
*erbia
1.0H ;=,;;1 2,3D:,D:/
5ulgaria 1.1:H 0,=2=
3<!
2,;:0,=21
6ther countries in .urope %e@cept for
-)*&
)taly 3.=H <<2,111
/1!
:1,:11,111
*pain 3.2H 2<D,310
/3!
0:,::3,<=1
>ermany 1./H ;11,111
//!
D3,2<<,:11
+nited
Bingdom
1.33=H :2,=D:
/;!
=D,2D<,3<0
Portugal 1.=1H =/,D<D
/0!
31,=:3,:30
France 1.12H =1,111
/=!
:=,;=1,111
5elgium 1.0=H 0=,D22
/:!
31,/<:,;=1
9ustria 1.0=H ;:,111
/2!
D,1;/,</:
>reece 1.;:H ;=,/<=
/D!
<,<1;,/:D
-yprus /.<3H /0,;2:
/<!
D;D,D<2
)reland 1.0=H /1,:/=
;1!
0,=DD,/=/
Rest of
.urope
1.12H 2=,111
;3!
330,1=1,111
-)*
not official(
Russia
3
1.3/H 3=<,:13
;/!
30/,D=:,=;:
BaCakhstan
3
1.3H 30,::: 30,<=;,3/:
9sia
)srael /.D:H /1D,011 2,03/,/11
+9. 1.3H =,111 0,31:,0/2
Iapan 1.11/H /,3D= 3/:,:=<,:D;
*outh
Borea
1.111:H ;11 =1,110,003
$he 9mericas
not official(
+nited
*tates
1.31H ;01,111 ;3=,1<3,3;D
-anada 1.;0H 331,111 ;/,/12,33;
9rgentina 1.1;H 3;,111 01,332,1<:
7eneCuela 1.1;:H 31,111 /2,3=1,1<=
5raCil 1.11/H 0,111 3<1,2;/,:<0
6ceania
not official(
9ustralia 1.1<H 31,D<2
;;!
/3,=12,232
New
Jealand
1.1DH ;,311 0,1/2,<02
9frica
not official(
*outh
9frica
1.112H ;,111 00,D3<,22D
3
#any are #olda"ian who were deported
/
Data only for the districts on the right bank
of Dniester %without $ransnistria and the city
of $ighina&. )n #oldo"a, it is sometimes referred
to as the A#oldo"an languageA
;
)n $ransnistria, it is officially called A#oldo"an
languageA and is written in #oldo"an -yrillic
alphabet.
0
6fficially di"ided into 7lachs and Romanians
=
#ost in Northern 5uko"ina and *outhern
5essarabia' according to a #oldo"a Noastr
study %based on the latest +krainian census&.
;0!
Romanian is spoken mostly in -entral and the 5alkan region of
*outhern .urope, although speakers of the language can be found all
o"er the world, mostly due to emigration of Romanian nationals and
the return of immigrants to Romania back to their original countries.
Romanian speakers account for 1.=H of the worldFs population,
;=!

and 0H of the Romance-speaking population of the world.
;:!
Romanian is the single official and national language in Romania and
#oldo"a, although it shares the official status at regional le"el with
other languages in the #oldo"an autonomies of >agauCia and
$ransnistria. Romanian is also an official language of the
9utonomous Pro"ince of 7o8"odina in *erbia along with fi"e other
languages. Romanian minorities are encountered in *erbia %$imok
7alley&, +kraine %-herni"tsi and 6dessa oblasts&, ,ungary %>yula&.
4arge immigrant communities are found in )taly, *pain, France, and
Portugal.
9s of 3<<=, the largest Romanian-speaking community in the #iddle
.ast is found in )srael, where Romanian is spoken by =H of the
population.
;2!;D!
Romanian is also spoken as a second language by
people from 9rabic-speaking countries who ha"e studied in Romania.
)t is estimated that almost half a million #iddle .astern 9rabs
studied in Romania during the 3<D1s.
;<!
*mall Romanian-speaking
communities are to be found in BaCakhstan and Russia. Romanian is
also spoken within communities of Romanian and #oldo"an immigrants
in the +nited *tates, -anada and 9ustralia, although they do not
make up a large homogeneous community state-wide.
4egal status
)n Romania
9ccording to the -onstitution of Romania of 3<<3, as re"ised in
/11;, Romanian is the official language of the Republic.
01!
Romania mandates the use of Romanian in official go"ernment
publications, public education and legal contracts. 9d"ertisements as
well as other public messages must bear a translation of foreign
words,
03!
while trade signs and logos shall be written predominantly
in Romanian.
0/!
$he Romanian 4anguage )nstitute %)nstitutul 4imbii Rom ne &,
established by the #inistry of .ducation of Romania, promotes
Romanian and supports people willing to study the language, working
together with the #inistry of Foreign 9ffairsF Department for
Romanians 9broad.
0;!
)n #oldo"a
#ain article( #oldo"an language
Romanian is the official language of the Republic of #oldo"a. $he
3<<3 Declaration of )ndependence names the official language
Romanian.
00!0=!
$he -onstitution of #oldo"a names the state
language of the country #oldo"an. )n December /13;, a decision of
the -onstitutional -ourt of #oldo"a ruled that the Declaration of
)ndependence takes precedence o"er the -onstitution and the state
language should be called Romanian.
0:!
*cholars agree that #oldo"an and Romanian are the same language,
with the glottonym A#oldo"anA used in certain political conte@ts.
02!

)t has been the sole official language since the adoption of the 4aw
on *tate 4anguage of the #olda"ian **R in 3<D<.
0D!
$his law
mandates the use of #oldo"an in all the political, economical,
cultural and social spheres, as well as asserting the e@istence of a
Alinguistic #oldo-Romanian identityA.
0<!
)t is also used in schools,
mass media, education and in the collo?uial speech and writing.
6utside the political arena the language is most often called
ARomanianA. )n the breakaway territory of $ransnistria, it is co-
official with +krainian and Russian.
)n the /110 census, out of the ;,;D;,;;/ people li"ing in #oldo"a,
3:.=H %==D,=1D& stated Romanian as their nati"e language, whereas
:1H stated #oldo"an. While 01H of all urban RomanianE#oldo"an
speakers identified their nati"e tongue as Romanian, in the
countryside under 3/H of RomanianE#oldo"an speakers indicated
Romanian as their nati"e language.
=1!
,owe"er, the group of
e@perts from the international census obser"ation #ission to the
Republic of #oldo"a concluded that the items in the ?uestionnaire
dealing with nationality and language pro"ed to be the most
sensiti"e ones, particularly with reference to the recording of
responses to these ?uestions as being A#oldo"anA or ARomanianA,
and therefore it concluded that special care would need to be
taken in interpreting them.
=3!
)n 7o8"odina
#ain article( 6fficial status of Romanian language in 7o8"odina
6fficial usage of Romanian language in 7o8"odina, *erbia
Romanian language in entire *erbia %see also Romanians of *erbia&,
census /11/
3 =H
= 31H
31 3=H
3= /=H
/= ;=H
o"er ;=H
$he -onstitution of the Republic of *erbia
=/!
determines that in the
regions of the Republic of *erbia inhabited by national minorities,
their own languages and scripts shall be officially used as well, in
the manner established by law.
$he *tatute of the 9utonomous Pro"ince of 7o8"odina
=;!
determines
that, together with the *erbo--roat language and the -yrillic
script, and the 4atin script as stipulated by the law, the ,ungarian,
*lo"ak, Romanian and Rusyn languages and their scripts, as well as
languages and scripts of other nationalities, shall simultaneously be
officially used in the work of the bodies of the 9utonomous
Pro"ince of 7o8"odina, in the manner established by the law. $he
bodies of the 9utonomous Pro"ince of 7o8"odina are( the 9ssembly,
the .@ecuti"e -ouncil and the Pro"incial administrati"e bodies.
=0!
$he Romanian language and script are officially used in eight
municipalities( 9libunar, 5iserica 9lb

%*erbian( 5ela -rk"a&, Jiti

te


%

iti te&, Jrenianin %Jren8anin&, Bo"

ci

a

%Bo"a

ica&, -u"in %Bo"in&,

Plandi

te

%Plandi te& and *e

an8

. )n the municipality of 7 r

e


%7r ac&, Romanian is official only in the "illages of 7oi"odin


%7o8"odinci&, #arco"

%#arko"ac&, *tra8a %*tra

a&, Iamu #ic %#ali

am&, *redi

tea #ic

%#alo *redi te&, #esici %#esi

&, Iablanka,
*

lci

a

%*al

ica&, R ti

or

%Riti e"o&, 6re

a

%6ra ac& and -o

tei


%Bu til8&.
==!
)n the /11/ -ensus, the last carried out in *erbia, 3.=H of
7o8"odinians stated Romanian as their nati"e language.
Regional *tatus in +kraine
)n parts of +kraine where Romanians constitute a significant share
of the local population %districts in -herni"tsi, 6dessa and
Jakarpattia oblasts& Romanian is being taught in schools as a
primary language and there are newspapers, $7, and radio
broadcasting in Romanian.
=:!=2!
$he +ni"ersity of -herni"tsi trains
teachers for Romanian schools in the fields of Romanian philology,
mathematics and physics.
=D!
)n ,ertsa Raion of +kraine as well as in other "illages of -herni"tsi
6blast and Jakarpattia 6blast, Romanian has been declared a
regional language alongside +krainian as per the /13/ 4egislation on
languages in +kraine.
)n other countries and organiCations
*ee also( Romanian diaspora
Romanian is an official or administrati"e language in "arious
communities and organisations, such as the 4atin +nion and the
.uropean +nion. Romanian is also one of the fi"e languages in which
religious ser"ices are performed in the autonomous monastic state
of #ount 9thos, spoken in the monk communities of Prodromos and
4acu.
Distribution of first-language nati"e Romanian speakers by country
%9ltele means FotherF&
9s a second and foreign language
Romanian is taught in some areas that ha"e Romanian minority
communities, such as 7o8"odina in *erbia, 5ulgaria, +kraine and
,ungary. $he Romanian -ultural )nstitute %)-R& has since 3<</
organised summer training courses in Romanian for language
teachers in these countries.
=<!
)n some of the schools, there are
non-Romanian nationals who study Romanian as a foreign language
%for e@ample the Nicolae 5

lcescu ,igh-school in >yula, ,ungary&.

Romanian is taught as a foreign language in "arious tertiary
institutions, mostly in .uropean countries such as >ermany, France
and )taly, as well as the Netherlands, and elsewhere, like the +*.
6"erall, it is taught as a foreign language in 0; countries around
the world.
:1!
Popular culture
Romanian has become popular in other countries through mo"ies and
songs performed in the Romanian language. .@amples of recent
Romanian acts that had a great success in non-Romanophone
countries are the bands 6-Jone %which had great success with
their No. 3 single Dragostea din teiENuma Numa across the world&,
9kcent %popular in the Netherlands, Poland and other .uropean
countries&, 9cti" %successful in some .astern .uropean countries&
and DI Pro8ect %popular as clubbing music& as well as high-rated
mo"ies like 0 #onths, ; Weeks and / Days, $he Death of #r.
4aCarescu, 3/(1D .ast of 5ucharest or -alifornia DreaminF %all of
them with awards at the -annes Film Festi"al&.
9lso some artists wrote songs dedicated to the Romanian language.
$he multiplatinum pop trio 6-Jone %originally from #oldo"a& released
a song called ANu m

las de limba noastr

A %F) wonFt forsake our

languageF&. $he final "erse of this song, .u nu m

las de limba
noastr

, de limba noastr

cea rom n

is translated in .nglish as )
wonFt forsake our language, our Romanian language. 9lso, the
#oldo"an musicians Doina and )on 9ldea $eodoro"ici performed a
song entitled A$he Romanian languageA.
Dialects
#ain article( Romanian subdialects
$he term Romanian is sometimes
:3!
used also in a more general
sense, which en"elops four languages or dialects( Daco-Romanian,
9romanian, #egleno-Romanian, and )stro-Romanian. $he four
languages, whose mutual intelligibility is difficult, are the offspring
of the Romance "arieties spoken both to the north and to south of
Danube, before the settlement of the *la"onian tribes south of the
ri"er( Daco-Romanian in the north, 9romanian and #egleno-
Romanian in the south, whereas )stro-Romanian is belie"ed to be
the offspring of an 33th-century migration from Romania. $hese
four are also known as the .astern Romance languages.
When the term Romanian is used in this larger sense, the term
Daco-Romanian is used for Romanian proper. $he origin of the term
Daco-Romanian can be traced back to the first printed book of
Romanian grammar in 32D1,
3/!
by *amuil #icu and >heorghe

incai

.
$here, the Romanian dialect spoken north of the Danube is called
lingua Daco-Romana to emphasiCe its origin and its area of use,
which includes the former Roman pro"ince of Dacia, although it is
spoken also south of the Danube, in Dobrud8a, -entral *erbia and
northern 5ulgaria.
$his article deals with the Romanian %specifically Daco-Romanian&
language, and thus only its dialectal "ariations are discussed here.
$he differences between the regional "arieties are small, limited to
regular phonetic changes, few grammar aspects, and le@ical
particularities. $here is a single written standard %literary& Romanian
language used by all speakers, regardless of region.
4ike most natural languages, Romanian can be regarded as a dialect
continuum. $he "arieties of Romanian are usually called subdialects
%see reasons for this terminology& and are distinguished primarily by
phonetic differences. Romanians themsel"es speak of the
differences as accents or speeches %in Romanian( accent or grai&.
Depending on the criteria used for classifying these subdialects,
fewer or more are found, ranging from / to /1, although the most
widespread approaches gi"e a number of fi"e subdialects. $hese are
grouped into two main types, southern and northern, further di"ided
as follows(
$he southern type has only one member(
o the Wallachian subdialect, spoken in the southern part
of Romania, in the historical regions of #untenia, 6ltenia
and the southern part of Dobru8a, but also e@tending in
the southern parts of $ransyl"ania.
$he northern type consists of se"eral subdialects(
o the #olda"ian subdialect, spoken in the historical region
of #olda"ia, now split among Romania, the Republic of
#oldo"a, and +kraine %5uko"ina and 5essarabia&, as well
as northern Dobru8a'
o the 5anat subdialect, spoken in the historical region of
5anat, including parts of *erbia'
o a group of finely di"ided and transition-like
$ransyl"anian "arieties, among which two are most
often distinguished, those of -ri

ana

and #aramure

.
6"er the last century, howe"er, regional accents ha"e been
weakened due to mass communication and greater mobility.
-lassification
*ee also( Romance languages
Romanian language in the Romance language family
Romanian is a Romance language, belonging to the )talic branch of
the )ndo-.uropean language family, ha"ing much in common with
languages such as French, )talian, *panish and Portuguese.
:/!
,owe"er, the languages closest to Romanian are the other .astern
Romance languages, spoken south of Danube( 9romanianE#acedo-
Romanian, #egleno-Romanian and )stro-Romanian, which are
fre?uently classified as dialects of Romanian. 9n alternati"e name
for Romanian used by linguists to disambiguate with the other
.astern Romance languages is ADaco-RomanianA, referring to the
area where it is spoken %which corresponds roughly to the onetime
Roman pro"ince of Dacia&.
-ompared with the other Romance languages, the closest relati"e
of Romanian is )talian'
:/!
the two languages show a limited degree
of asymmetrical mutual intelligibility, especially in their culti"ated
forms( speakers of Romanian seem to understand )talian more easily
than the other way around.
citation needed!
Romanian has ob"ious
grammatical and le@ical similarities with French, -atalan, *panish and
Portuguese, with a high phonological similarity with Portuguese in
particular' howe"er, it is not mutually intelligible with them to any
practical e@tent
citation needed!
. Romanian speakers will usually need some
formal study of basic grammar and "ocabulary before being able to
understand more than indi"idual words and simple sentences
citation
needed!
. $he same is true for speakers of these languages trying to
understand Romanian
citation needed!
.
*ome consider Romanian the closest li"ing language to 4atin due to
structure. ,owe"er, other studies ha"e disputed these claims,
showing that Romanian has had a greater share of foreign influence
than some other Romance languages such as )talian in terms of
"ocabulary and other aspects. 6ne such study was done by )talian-
9merican linguist #ario Pei in 3<0<, which analyCed the
differentiation degree of languages in comparison to their
inheritance language %in the case of Romance languages to 4atin
comparing phonology, inflection, discourse, synta@, "ocabulary, and
intonation& re"ealed the following percentages %the higher the
percentage, the greater the distance from 4atin&(
:;!
*ardinian ( DH'
)talian( 3/H'
*panish( /1H'
Romanian( /;.=H'
6ccitan ( /=H'
Portuguese( ;3H'
French( 00H.
$he le@ical similarity of Romanian with )talian has been estimated at
22H, followed by French at 2=H, *ardinian D;H, -atalan 2;H,
Portuguese and Rhaeto-Romance 2/H, *panish 23H.
)n modern times Romanian "ocabulary has been strongly influenced by
French, )talian and other languages.
Dacian language
$he Dacian language was an )ndo-.uropean language spoken by the
ancient Dacians, mostly north of the Danube ri"er but also in
#oesia and other regions south of the Danube. )t may ha"e been
the first language to influence the 4atin spoken in Dacia, but little
is known about it. Dacian is usually considered to ha"e been a
Northern branch of the $hracian language, and like $hracian, Dacian
was a satem language. 9bout ;11 words found only in Romanian or
with a cognate in the 9lbanian language may be inherited from
Dacian %for e@ample( barC

AstorkA, balaur AdragonA, mal AshoreA,

br nC

AcheeseA&.
citation needed!
*ome of these possibly Dacian words
are related to pastoral life %for e@ample, br nC

AcheeseA&. *ome
linguists and historians ha"e asserted that 9lbanians are Dacians
who were not RomaniCed and migrated southward.
:0!
9 different "iew is that these non-4atin words with 9lbanian
cognates are not necessarily Dacian, but rather were brought into
the territory that is modern Romania by Romance-speaking
shepherds migrating north from 9lbania, *erbia, and northern >reece
who became the Romanian people.
:=!
5alkan language area
While most of Romanian grammar and morphology are based on
4atin, there are some features
e@ample needed!
that are shared only with
other languages of the 5alkans and not found in other Romance
languages. Nonetheless, Romanian together with >reek and Romani
present the lowest Afactor of 5alkaniCationA among the languages
commonly included in the 5alkan sprachbund.
::!
$he languages of the 5alkan language area belong to indi"idual
branches of the )ndo-.uropean language family( 5ulgarian,
#acedonian and 9lbanian, and in some cases >reek and *erbian. $he
shared features include a suffi@ed definite article, the syncretism
of geniti"e and dati"e case and the formation of the future and the
alternation of infiniti"e with sub8uncti"e constructions.
citation needed!
*la"ic languages
#ain article( *la"ic influence on Romanian
$he *la"ic influences on Romanian are especially noticeable and can
be obser"ed at all linguistic le"els( le@is, phonetics, morphology and
synta@.
citation needed!
9bout /1H of modern Romanian words are of
*la"ic origin.
citation needed!
$his is due to the migration of *la"ic tribes
who tra"ersed the territory of present-day Romania during the
early e"olution of the language. $his process of the introduction of
*la"ic in Dacia was similar to the appearance of "arious >ermanic
dialects in the Western Roman .mpire, where >allic 4atin and
Northern )talian dialects became strongly germaniCed.
citation needed!

,owe"er, due to the lower Romance-speaking populace in the .ast,
*la"ic remained spoken for much longer and did not die out
immediately.
6ther influences
."en before the 3<th century, Romanian came in contact with
se"eral other languages. *ome notable e@amples include(
>reek( folos K felos AuseA, buCunar K buCun ra ApocketA,
proasp

t K pr sfatos AfreshA, cutie K cution Abo@A

,ungarian( a cheltui K k lteni Ato spendA, a f

dui K fogadni
Ato promiseA, a m ntui K menteni Ato sa"eA, ora

K " ros
AcityA
$urkish (papuc K papu AslipperA, ciorb

K orba Awholemeal
soup, sour soupA, bac

K bah

AtipA
>erman( cartof K Bartoffel ApotatoA, bere K 5ier AbeerA,

urub K *chraube AscrewA, turn K $urm AtowerA, ram

K
Rahmen AframeA, mu

tiuc K #undst ck Amouth pieceA,

borma

in

K 5ohrmaschine Adrilling machineA, crem

nit K
Bremschnitte Acream sliceA,

"ai

er K *chweiCer A*wiss
cheeseA,

lep K *chleppkahn AbargeA,

pri

K *pritCer Awine
with soda waterA, ab

ibild K 9bCiehbild Adecal pictureA,

ni

el
K *chnitCel AcutletA,

unc

K dialectal *chunke %*chinken&

AhamA, punct K Punkt ApointA, maistru K #eister AmasterA,
rund

K Runde AroundA. During the 9ustrian administration in

5anat, $ransyl"ania, and 5uko"ina, a large number of words
were borrowed from 9ustrian >erman, in particular in fields
such as the military, administration, social welfare, economy,
etc.
:2!
4ater on >erman terms ha"e been taken out of
science and technics, like(

in

K *chiene ArailA,

tift K *tift
ApegA, li

K 4itCe AbraidA,

indril

K *chindel AshingleA,

tan


K *tanCe ApunchA,

aib

K *cheibe AwasherA,

tang

K
*tange AcrossbarA,

igl

K Jiegel AtileA,

mirghel K
*chmirgelpapier Aemery paperA et al.
Romany , the Romanian Roma ha"e pro"ided se"eral words to
Romanian slang( mi

to Agood, beautifulA K mi to ,
:D!
gagic

K
gad8i AgirlA %slang&
French, )talian and .nglish words
*ince the 3<th century, many modern words were borrowed from
the other Romance languages, especially from French and )talian %for
e@ample( birou Adesk, officeA, a"ion AairplaneA, e@ploata Ae@ploitA&.
)t was estimated that about ;DH of the number of words in
Romanian are of French andEor )talian origin %in many cases both
languages&' and adding this to the words that were inherited from
4atin, about 2=H D=H of Romanian words can be traced to 4atin.
$he use of these RomanianiCed French and )talian loanwords has
tended to increase at the e@pense of *la"ic loanwords, many of
which ha"e become rare or fallen out of use. 9s second or third
languages, French and )talian themsel"es are better known in
Romania than in RomaniaFs neighbors. 9long with the switch to the
4atin alphabet in #oldo"a, the re-latiniCation of the "ocabulary has
tended to reinforce the 4atin character of the language.
)n the process of le@ical moderniCation, many of the words already
e@isting as 4atin direct heritage, as a part of its core or popular
"ocabulary, ha"e been doubled by words borrowed from other
Romance languages, thus forming a further and more modern and
literary le@ical layer. $ypically, the popular word is a noun and the
borrowed word an ad8ecti"e. *ome e@amples(
4atin Romanian
direct 4atin
heritage
Romanian neologism
agilis %?uick& ager %astute& agil %it.Kagile, fr.Kagile&%agile&
a?ua %water& ap

%water& ac"atic %it. Kac?uatico,

fr.Ka?uati?ue&
%a?uatic&
dens, dentem
%tooth&
dinte %tooth& dentist %it.Kdentista,
fr.Kdentiste&
%dentist&
directus
%straight&
drept %straight,
right&
direct %it.Kdiretto, fr.Kdirect&
%direct&
frigus %cold& frig %cold - noun& frigid %it.Kfrigido, fr.Kfrigide&
%frigid&
rapidus %?uick& repede %?uick& rapid %it.Krapido, fr.Krapide&
%?uick&
)n the /1th century, an increasing number of .nglish words ha"e
been borrowed %such as( gem K 8am' inter"iu K inter"iew' meci K
match' manager K manager' fotbal K football' sand"i

K sandwich'
bi

ni

K business' chec K cake&. $hese words are assigned
grammatical gender in Romanian and handled according to Romanian
rules' thus Athe managerA is managerul.
4e@is
9n etymological analysis of the Romanian "ocabulary in the mid /1th
century showed the following makeup(
:<!
/1H inherited 4atin
33.=H *la"ic, including 6ld *la"ic, *la"onic, 5ulgarian, *erbian,
+krainian and Russian
;.:1H $urkish
/.32H ,ungarian
/.01H #odern >reek
0;H recent Romance borrowings %mainly French( ;D.01H&
)f the analysis is restricted to a core "ocabulary of /=11 fre?uent,
semantically rich and producti"e words, then the 4atin inheritance
comes first, followed by Romance and classical 4atin neologisms,
whereas the *la"ic borrowings come third.
>rammar
#ain article( Romanian grammar
Romanian nouns are characteriCed by gender %feminine, masculine,
and neuter&, and declined by number %singular and plural& and case
%nominati"eEaccusati"e, dati"eEgeniti"e and "ocati"e&. $he articles,
as well as most ad8ecti"es and pronouns, agree in gender, number
and case with the noun they reference.
Romanian is the only Romance language where definite articles are
enclitic( that is, attached to the end of the noun %as in
*candina"ian, and 5ulgarian&, instead of in front %proclitic&. $hey
were formed, as in other Romance languages, from the 4atin
demonstrati"e pronouns.
9s in all Romance languages, Romanian "erbs are highly inflected for
person, number, tense, mood, "oice. $he usual word order in
sentences is sub8ect "erb ob8ect %*76&. Romanian has four "erbal
con8ugations which further split into ten con8ugation patterns. 7erbs
can be put in fi"e moods that are inflected for the person
%indicati"e, conditionalEoptati"e, imperati"e, sub8uncti"e, and
presumpti"e& and four impersonal moods %infiniti"e, gerund, supine,
and participle&.
Phonology
#ain article( Romanian phonology
Romanian has se"en "owels( EiE, E

E, EuE, Ee

E, E

E, Eo

E and E E.
9dditionally, ELE and EyE may appear in some borrowed words.
9rguably, the diphthongs Ee

aE and Eo

aE are also part of the

phoneme set. $here are twenty-two consonants. $he two
appro@imants E8E and EwE can appear before or after any "owel,
creating a large number of glide-"owel se?uences which are,
strictly speaking, not diphthongs.
)n final positions after consonants, a short EiE can be deleted,
surfacing only as the palataliCation of the preceding consonant %e.g.
m

!&. *imilarly, a deleted EuE may prompt labialiCation of a preceding

consonant, though this has ceased to carry any morphological
meaning.
Phonetic changes
#ain article( 4atin-to-Romanian sound changes
6wing to its isolation from the other Romance languages, the
phonetic e"olution of Romanian was ?uite different, but does share
a few changes with )talian, such as kl! M k8! %4at. clarus M Rom.
chiar, )tal. chiaro, 4at. clamare M Rom. chemare, )tal. chiamare& and
l! M 8! %4at. N glacia %glacies& M Rom. ghea

, )tal. ghiaccia,
ghiaccio, 4at. Nungla %ungula& M Rom. unghie, )tal. unghia&' another
similarity with )talian is the change from ke! or ki! to t

e! or
t

i! %4at. pa@, pacem M Rom. and )tal. pace, 4at. dulcem M Rom.
dulce, )tal. dolce, 4at. circus M Rom. cerc, )tal. circo& and e! or
i! to d

e! or d

i! %4at. gelu M Rom. ger, )tal. gelo, 4at.

marginem M Rom. and )tal. margine, 4at. gemere M Rom.
geme%gemere&, )tal. gemere&. $here are also a few changes shared
with Dalmatian, such as E nE %probably phonetically

n!& M mn!
%4at. cognatus M Rom. cumnat, Dalm. comnut& and EksE M ps! in
some situations %4at. co@a M Rom. coaps

, Dalm. copsa&.
9mong the notable phonetic changes are(
diphthongiCation of e and o M ea and oa, before

%or e as
well, in the case of o& in the ne@t syllable(
4at. cera M Rom. cear

%wa@&
4at. sole M Rom. soare %sun&
iotation e! M ie! in the beginning of the word
4at. herba M Rom. iarb

%grass, herb&
"elar k ! M labial p b m! before al"eolar consonants and
w! %e.g. ngu M mb&(
4at. octo M Rom. opt %eight&
4at. lingua M Rom. limb

%tongue, language&
4at. signum M Rom. semn %sign&
4at. co@a M Rom. coaps

%thigh&
rhotacism l! M r! between "owels
4at. caelum M Rom. cer %sky&
9l"eolars d t! palataliCed to %d&C! ts! when before short
e! or long i

!
4at. deus M Rom. Ceu %god&
4at. tenem M Rom.

ine %hold&
6n the other hand, it %along with French& has lost EkwE %?u& sound
before EaE from original 4atin, turning it either into EpE %4at.
?uattuor M Rom.patru, AfourA' cf. )t. ?uattro& or EkE %4at. ?uando
M Rom.c nd , AwhenA' 4at. ?uale M Rom.care, AwhichA&.
Writing system
Neac

uFs letter

is the oldest sur"i"ing document written in Romanian
$he first written record of a Romance language spoken in the
#iddle 9ges in the 5alkans was written by the 5yCantine chronicler
$heophanes -onfessor in the :th century about a military e@pedition
against the 9"ars from =D2, when a 7lach muleteer accompanying
the 5yCantine army noticed that the load was falling from one of
the animals and shouted to a companion $orna, torna fratre
%meaning AReturn, return brotherOA&.
$he oldest written te@t in Romanian is a letter from late Iune
3=/3, in which Neac

u of - mpulung wrote to the mayor of 5ra

o"


about an imminent attack of the $urks. )t was written using the
-yrillic alphabet, like most early Romanian writings. $he earliest
writing in 4atin script was a late 3:th-century $ransyl"anian te@t
which was written with the ,ungarian alphabet con"entions.
9 sample of Romanian written in the Romanian -yrillic alphabet,
which was still in use in the early 3<th century
)n the late 3Dth century, $ransyl"anian scholars noted the 4atin
origin of Romanian and adapted the 4atin alphabet to the Romanian
language, using some orthographic rules from )talian, recogniCed as
RomanianFs closest relati"e. $he -yrillic alphabet remained in
%gradually decreasing& use until 3D:1, when Romanian writing was
first officially regulated.
)n the *o"iet Republic of #oldo"a, a special "ersion of the -yrillic
alphabet deri"ed from the Russian "ersion was used until 3<D<,
when Romanian language spoken there officially returned to the
Romanian 4atin alphabet, although in the breakaway territory of
$ransnistria the -yrillic alphabet is used to this day.
Romanian alphabet
#ain articles( Romanian alphabet and Romanian braille
$he Romanian alphabet is as follows(
+ppercase letters
9

5-D . F> , ) IB4#N6PPR*

+7WQ RJ
4owercase letters
a

b c d e f g h i 8 k l mn o p ? r s

u "w@ y C
Phoneme
E
a
E
E

E
E

E
E
b
E
E
k
E
E
t

E
d
E
E
eE,
Ee

E
E8e
E
E
f
E
E
E
E
d

E
E
hE
,
E
iE,E
8E
E

E
E

E
E

E
E
k
E
E
lE
E
m
E
E
n
E
E
o
E,
E
o

E
p
E
E
k
E
E
r
E
E
s
E
E

E
E
t
E
E
t

sE
E
u
E
E
"
E
E
"
E,
E
w
E
k
sE
E
C
E
8E
,
Ei
E
E
C
E

E
E E E
B, P, W and R, not part of the nati"e alphabet, were officially
introduced in the Romanian alphabet in 3<D/ and are mostly used to
write loanwords like kilogram, ?uasar, watt, and yoga.
$he Romanian alphabet is based on the 4atin script with fi"e
additional letters

, , ,

,

. Formerly, there were as many as 3/

additional letters, but some of them were abolished in subse?uent
reforms. 9lso, until the early /1th century, a short "owel marker
was used.
$oday the Romanian alphabet is largely phonemic. ,owe"er, the
letters and both represent the same close central unrounded
"owel E

E. is used only inside words' is used at the beginning or

the end of single words and in the middle of compound words.
9nother e@ception from a completely phonetic writing system is the
fact that "owels and their respecti"e semi"owels are not
distinguished in writing. )n dictionaries the distinction is marked by
separating the entry word into syllables for words containing a
hiatus.
*tressed "owels also are not marked in writing, e@cept "ery rarely
in cases where by misplacing the stress a word might change its
meaning and if the meaning is not ob"ious from the conte@t. For
e@ample trei cop i means Athree childrenA while trei c pii means
Athree copiesA.
Pronunciation
*ee also( Romanian alphabet S "ersus
h is not silent like in other Romance languages such as *panish
and French, but represents the phoneme EhE, e@cept in the
digraphs ch EkE and gh EgE %see below&
8 represents E

E, as in French or Portuguese %the sound

spelled with s in the .nglish words F"ision, pleasure,
treasureF&.
$here are two letters with a comma below,

and

, which
represent the sounds E

E and Et

sE. ,owe"er, the allographs

with a cedilla instead of a comma,

and

, became
widespread when pre-+nicode and early +nicode character
sets did not include the standard form.
9 final orthographical i after a consonant often represents
the palataliCation of the consonant %e. g. lup ElupE AwolfA "s.
lupi Elup

E Awol"esA& it is not pronounced like )talian lupi

%which also means Awol"esA&, and is indeed an e@ample of the
*la"ic influence on Romanian.

represents the schwa, E

E.
and both represent the sound E

E. )n rapid speech %for

e@ample in the name of the country& the sound may sound
similar to a casual listener to a short schwa sound but
careful speakers will distinguish the sound. $he nearest
e?ui"alent is the "owel in the last syllable of the word roses
for some .nglish speakers.
$he letter e generally represents the mid front unrounded
"owel e!, somewhat like in the .nglish word set. ,owe"er,
the letter e is pronounced as 8e! %8! sounds like FyF in FyouF&
when it is the first letter of any form of the "erb a fi Ato
beA, or of a personal pronoun, for instance este E8esteE AisA
and el E8elE AheA.
21!23!
$his addition of the semi"owel E8E does
not occur in more recent loans and their deri"ati"es, such as
er

AeraA, electric AelectricA etc. *ome words %such as iepure

AhareA, formerly spelled epure& are now written with the
initial i to indicate the semi"owel.
@ represents either the phoneme se?uence EksE as in e@presie
T e@pression, or E CE as in e@emplu T e@ample, as in .nglish.
9s in )talian, the letters c and g represent the affricates Et

E
and Ed

E before i and e, and EkE and E E elsewhere. When EkE

and E E are followed by "owels EeE and EiE %or their
corresponding semi"owels or the final E

E& the digraphs ch and

gh are used instead of c and g, as shown in the table below.
>roup Phone
me
Pronunciation .@amples
ce, ci Et

E ch in chest,
cheek
cerc %circle&, cea

%cup&, cercel
%earring&, cin

%dinner&, ciocan
%hammer&
che,
chi
EkE k in kettle,
kiss
cheie %key&, chelner %waiter&, chio

c
%kiosk&, chitar

%guitar&, ureche %ear&

ge, gi Ed

E 8 in 8elly,
8igsaw
ger %frost&, gimnast %gymnast&, gem
%8am&, giraf

%giraffe&, geant

%bag&
ghe,
ghi
E E g in get, gi"e ghe

ar %glacier&, ghid %guide&, ghind

%acorn&, ghidon %handle bar&, stingher
%lonely&
Punctuation and capitaliCation
+ses of punctuation peculiar to Romanian are(
$he ?uotation marks use the Polish format in the format
A?uote AinsideA ?uoteA, that is, . . .U for a normal ?uotation,
and double angle symbols for a ?uotation inside a ?uotation.
Proper ?uotations which span multiple paragraphs donFt start
each paragraph with the ?uotation marks' one single pair of
?uotation marks is always used, regardless of how many
paragraphs are ?uoted.
Dialogues are identified with ?uotation dashes.
$he 6@ford comma before AandA is considered incorrect
%Ared, yellow and blueA is the proper format&.
Punctuation signs which follow a te@t in parentheses always
follow the final bracket.
)n titles, only the first letter of the first word is capitaliCed,
the rest of the title using sentence capitaliCation %with all its
rules( proper names are capitaliCed as usual, etc.&.
Names of months and days are not capitaliCed %ianuarie
AIanuaryA, 8oi A$hursdayA&.
9d8ecti"es deri"ed from proper names are not capitaliCed
%>ermania A>ermanyA, but german A>ermanA&.
*pelling issues between Romania and #oldo"a
Prior to /131, there e@isted a minor spelling difference between
standard forms of Romanian language used in Romania and the
"ariant %also called #oldo"an& used in the Republic of #oldo"a the
9cademy of *ciences of #oldo"a hadnFt switched to the new
spelling rules introduced by the Romanian 9cademy in 3<<;. )n /111,
the #oldo"an 9cademy recommended adopting the spelling rules used
in Romania,
2/!
and in /131 the 9cademy launched a schedule for the
transition to the new rules that was completed in /133 %regarding
publications& and is currently under implementation in the educational
system %due to be completed within two school years&.
2;!
*ample te@t
.nglish te@t(
9ll human beings are born free and e?ual in dignity and rights.
$hey are endowed with reason and conscience and should act
towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
%+ni"ersal Declaration of ,uman Rights&
Romanian highlighted words were directly deri"ed from 4atin(
$oate fiin

ele umane se nasc libere

i egale n demnitate

i
n drepturi. .le sunt nCestrate cu ra

iune

i con

tiin

i
trebuie s

se comporte unele fa

de altele n spiritul
fraternit

ii.
-ontemporary Romanian highlighted words are French or )talian
loanwords(
$oate fiin

ele umane se nasc libere

i egale n demnitate

i
n drepturi. .le sunt nCestrate cu ra

iune

i con

tiin

i
trebuie s

se comporte unele fa

de altele n spiritul
fraternit

ii.
Romanian, e@cluding French and )talian loanwords highlighted words
are *la"ic loanwords(
$oate fiin

ele omene

ti se nasc slobode

i deopotri"

n
destoinicie

i n drepturi. .le sunt nCestrate cu n

elegere

i
cuget

i trebuie s

se poarte unele fa

de altele n duh de
fr

ietate.
Romanian, e@cluding loanwords(
$oate fiin

ele omene

ti se nasc nesupuse

i asemenea n
pre

uire

i n drepturi. .le sunt nCestrate cu n

elegere

i
cuget

i se cu"ine s

se poarte unele fa

de altele dup

firea
fr

iei.