*Walhaz
Template:Short description Template:Italic title Template:EngvarB Template:Use dmy dates
*Walhaz is a reconstructed Proto-Germanic word meaning 'foreigner',<ref name="Schrijver" /><ref name="Ringe GPL">Template:Cite book</ref> or more specifically 'Roman', 'Romance-speaker' or '(romanized) Celt', and survives in the English words of 'Wales/Welsh'<ref name="Schrijver">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Quak 2005" /> and 'Cornwall'.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The term was used by the ancient Germanic peoples to describe inhabitants of the former Roman Empire, who were largely romanised and spoke Latin languages (Template:Abbr {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} in Old Norse).<ref name="Schrijver" /><ref name="Quak 2005" /> The adjectival form is attested in Old Norse {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, meaning 'French'; Old High German {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, meaning 'Romance'; New High German {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, used in Switzerland and South Tyrol (Walisch) for Romance speakers; Dutch {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} 'Walloon'; Old English {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, meaning 'Brythonic'. The forms of these words imply that they are descended from a Proto-Germanic form *walhiska-.<ref name="Quak 2005">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
From *Walhaz to welsch
{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} is a loanword derived from the name of the Celtic tribe which was known to the Romans as Volcae (in the writings of Julius Caesar) and to the Greeks as {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Strabo and Ptolemy).<ref name="Ringe GPL" /><ref name="Ringe 2009">Ringe, Don. "Inheritance versus lexical borrowing: a case with decisive sound-change evidence." Language Log, January 2009.</ref> The Volcae tribe occupied territory neighbouring that of the Germanic people and seem to have been referred to by the proto-Germanic name {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (plural {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, adjectival form {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}). It is assumed that this term specifically referred to the Volcae, because application of Grimm's law to that word produces the form {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}. Subsequently, this term {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} was applied rather indiscriminately to the southern neighbours of the Germanic people, as evidenced in geographic names such as Walchgau and Walchensee in Bavaria<ref name="Quak 2005"/> or Walensee in Switzerland. Place names containing the element *walhaz denote communities or enclaves in the Germanic-speaking world where Romance was spoken.<ref name="Schrijver" />
In Old English, *:walhaz developed into wealh, retaining the inherited meaning 'a foreigner, more particularly a pre-Anglo-Saxon inhabitant of Britain who spoke Celtic or Latin or both'. Because of the social position of the British natives, in the West Saxon dialect of Old English it came to mean '(British) slave'. The old feminine derivative of *walhaz, Old English wiln < *wielen < * wealh-in-, even exclusively means 'a female slave' and is likewise concentrated in the Saxon south of England.<ref name="Schrijver" />
From *Walhaz to Vlach
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Template:Sister project From the Germanic and Slavic peoples the term passed to other groups, such as the Hungarians ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, referring to Vlachs, generally used for Romanians; {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, referring to Italians), Turks ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) and Byzantines ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}} {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) and was used for all Latin people of the Balkans.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
See also
- Vlachs, also known as Wallachs
- Theodiscus
- Names of the Celts
- History of the term Wallon