Curiosities about the Romanian Language
Trascau Fortress in Coltesti Romania (Source: Photo by Deborah Seychell from Pexels)
Hi there, dear OLS students! Today’s article is all about the linguistic wonders of the Romanian language. I am curious if you knew before about any of these - let me know in the comments!
Romanian is the only Romance language in Eastern Europe
All right, let’s start with the fact that Romanian is a Romance language, together with French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian. Surrounded by Slavic languages, Romanian stands out as the only Romance language in Eastern Europe. The reason behind this goes back to history.
During the time of the Roman Empire, Romania (then called Dacia) was conquered by the Romans. The Latin language, spoken by the Roman soldiers and settlers, slowly got assimilated with the local population of Dacia. This laid the foundation for the development of Romanian as a Romance language. After the Roman withdrawal from Dacia in the 3rd century AD, the Romanian-speaking population was geographically isolated from other Romance-speaking regions.
So, although the current territory of Romania has been historically influenced by various civilizations, the core of the language remained Romance
Romanian is a mix
Following up on the historical facts, Romanian didn't stop at just being derived from Latin. Because of its historic influences, its Latin roots blend with Slavic, Greek, Hungarian, and Turkish. Today, the Romanian language is a mix of both Latin and Slavic.
Romanian uses diacritics
There are 31 letters in the Romanian vocabulary. That is because it includes special characters like ă, â, î, ș, and ț, adding a unique touch to the language's written form. It makes a huge difference in the meaning when reading with and without diacritics.
Different regions, different accents
You will notice as you travel around Romania that you will hear the locals speaking with different accents, dialects, and even using different vocabulary, specific to the region.
For instance, the Moldovan region, located in the northeastern part of Romania, has a distinct accent. In this region, people call the watermelon harbuz, while the rest of the country calls it pepene roșu. Transylvania, situated in the central part of Romania, is a region known for its historical and cultural significance. The Transylvanian accent is characterized by a slightly different intonation and pronunciation of certain sounds.
An old language
The oldest records of some Romanian words appear in some Slavonic texts from 1555 years ago:
„abia”: 863-867 d.Hr.
"eunuch": 869-885 AD
„august”: 943 d.Hr.
The longest word
The longest word in the Romanian language is in third place on the list of the longest words in Europe. It's a hard word to pronounce, having 44 letters: PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANICONIOSIS – defines a lung disease caused by the inhalation of volcanic silicon dust. Wonder which language has the longest word? Germany, of course, with this word:
RINDFLEISCHETIKETTIERUNGSUEBERWACHUNGSAUFGABENUEBERTRAGUNGSGESETZ – has 79 letters and stands for: beef labeling monitoring law (Carmelito Bauer, did you know this?)
A poetic language
Romanian is often considered one of the most melodious Romance languages, and I couldn’t agree more; it does sound nice! Try reading the poems of our most famous poet, Mihai Eminescu, and you’ll notice how melodious they sound!
In the end, Romanian is a beautiful language that I hope you enjoy learning through the OLS forums, courses, and blog posts! I would love to hear your opinion about your language-learning experience, so feel free to share it here or message me for a chance to be featured in the community.♡
Roxana, OLS Community Manager - Romanian