Danubius International Conferences, 5th International Conference The Danube - Axis of European Identity
The Danube – Axis of the Eastern Roman World
Last modified: 2015-06-04
Abstract
In the studies of the Romanian language history, the Danubian element has played an essential role, primarily for establishing the spatio-temporal coordinates regarding the genesis of the Romanian language and the Romanians' ethnogenesis. Thus, regardless of the theories that circulated along the time, the Danube has always represented a reference point, no matter where the Romanian gloto and ethnogenesis process was placed: north or south of the Danube, or even both. One more evidence in the recognition of the importance of the Danubian element for what is generally called in Romanian linguistics (and not only) The Eastern Romance World, is represented by the use of the adjective "Danubian" (Rom. "dunăreană") to identify that aspect of the Vulgar Latin spoken, in the first centuries, along the territory between the Carpathians and the Lower Danube. This Danubian Latin is usually considered to be the starting point in the evolution process of the Romanian language and, at the same time, the element that together with the Thraco-Dacian one gives Romanian language its individuality among the other Romance languages.
