Megleno-Romanians
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Map of Balkans with regions inhabited by Megleno-Romanians in dark yellow |
Megleno-Romanians (In
Megleno-Romanian:
Vlashi, in
Greek: Î'λαχομογλενίτες;
VlachomoglenÃtes) is an
exonym for a people inhabiting six villages in the
Moglená region spanning the
Pella and
Kilkis prefectures of
Macedonia,
Greece, as well as a single village across the border in the
Republic of Macedonia.
They speak a
Romance language most often called
Megleno-Romanian or
Meglenitic by linguists in English and βλαχομογλενίτικα (
VlachomoglenÃtika) or simply μογλενίτικα (
MoglenÃtika) in
Greek. In their own language, however, they call their language
Vlaheshte, but the Megleno-Romanians in Romania also use "megleno-români". It is also spoken in some places in
Dobruja,
Romania where some Megleno-Romanians moved in the first half of the 20th century and adopted the
Megleno-Romanian neologism promoted by the Romanian authorities. Their number is estimated between 12,000 and 20,000.
It is notable that unlike all the other Eastern Romanized populations of the Balkans (generically called
Vlachs), they don't have a name for themselves derived from
Romanus, but use only the term
Vlashi.
Most are
Orthodox Christians; a few of them are
Muslims. The Muslim Megleno-Romanians of Greece were expelled in the early 20th century to
Turkey, as part of a population exchange.
In
1926, about 450 families of Megleno-Romanians of Greece moved to
Romania and settled in the
Southern Dobruja (Cadrilater). After Bulgaria acquired Southern Dobruja, the Megleno-Romanians moved to other regions of Romania, many of them to the
Cerna village in the
Tulcea County, in which about 1,200 continue to speak Megleno-Romanian. Other Megleno-Romanians migrated to Romania and other countries during
World War II and the
Greek Civil War, due to the heavy fighting carried out in the Moglená region. As of
1996, in all Romania there were about 820 families that claimed Megleno-Romanian origin.
*
Megleno-Romanii, by Prof. Emil Tarcovnicu
*
Meglena, ingropata*
The Vlachs of Greece and their Misunderstood History, by Helen Abadzi
*
Studies on the Vlachs by Asterios Koukoudis
*
Report on the Vlachs (a term used collectively to refer to
Eastern Romance peoples)
