Language Beyond Words: Romanian
In 106 AD, Roman Emperor Trajan conquered Dacia, a region roughly corresponding to present-day Romania and parts of neighboring countries. The Romans established a province there and brought soldiers, administrators, merchants, and settlers from different parts of the empire.
Latin became an important language of administration and public life. Over time, the Latin spoken in Dacia evolved locally. As happened elsewhere in the Roman Empire, spoken Latin gradually developed into a new language. After Roman rule in Dacia ended around 271 AD, the region was no longer directly governed by Rome. Romanian-speaking communities continued to develop while coming into contact with populations speaking very different languages. This helps explain one of Romanian's most fascinating characteristics: its vocabulary is Romance at its core, but its overall linguistic history is distinctly Eastern European.
For centuries, Romanian existed in a predominantly Slavic-speaking cultural environment. Slavic languages had a significant influence on Romanian vocabulary and, to a lesser extent, its grammatical development. Words of Slavic origin entered everyday Romanian, alongside vocabulary from Greek, Hungarian, Turkish, and other neighboring languages. This makes Romanian particularly interesting for linguists.
If you know Italian, for example, you may recognize many Romanian words immediately. The similarities are especially visible in basic vocabulary and grammatical structures.
For instance:
- Latin: luna → Romanian: lună → Italian: luna
- Latin: frater → Romanian: frate → Italian: fratello
- Latin: cantare → Romanian: cânta → Italian: cantare
Yet Romanian also contains words and expressions that reveal its long interaction with the peoples of Eastern and Southeastern Europe.
The best-known is Daco-Romanian, which is the basis of modern standard Romanian and is spoken primarily in Romania and Moldova.
Three other Eastern Romance varieties developed in the Balkans:
- Aromanian, spoken mainly in communities in Greece, Albania, and North Macedonia
- Megleno-Romanian, spoken by a much smaller community in the southern Balkans
- Istro-Romanian, spoken historically in the Istrian Peninsula of Croatia
These varieties share a common Romance heritage but developed separately after Romanian-speaking communities became geographically dispersed. The story of these varieties is a reminder that languages do not always follow modern political borders. Their history stretches across much of Southeastern Europe.
For centuries, Romanian was primarily a spoken language. The earliest surviving written Romanian texts date from the 16th century, more than a thousand years after the language had begun developing from Latin. Early Romanian writing was strongly influenced by Church Slavonic, which was used extensively in religious and administrative contexts. Romanian texts were initially written using the Cyrillic alphabet.
Modern Romanian uses the Latin alphabet, but this was not always the case. For centuries, Romanian was commonly written using versions of the Cyrillic alphabet, largely because of the cultural and religious influence of the Orthodox Slavic world. During the 19th century, Romanian intellectuals increasingly promoted the Latin alphabet as part of a broader cultural movement emphasizing Romania's connection to its Roman and Western European heritage. The transition took place gradually. By the second half of the 19th century, the Latin alphabet had become dominant. Romanian eventually adopted several distinctive letters: … ă, â, î, ș, and ț
These letters give written Romanian its characteristic appearance.
Romanian is an official EU language, spoken mainly in Romania and Moldova having approximately 26 million native speakers worldwide.
Alphabet:
A Ă Â B C D E F G H I Î J K L M N O P Q R S Ş T Ţ U V W X Y Z a ă â b c d e f g h i î j k l m n o p q r s ş t ţ u v w x y z
Romanian Literature
In traditional Romanian villages, storytelling was an important part of community life. Many Romanian folk tales feature familiar characters such as Făt-Frumos, the heroic young prince, and Ileana Cosânzeana, a beautiful princess often associated with idealized beauty and goodness. Dragons, magical horses, witches, giants, and other supernatural beings also appear frequently. These stories were not simply entertainment. They often communicated ideas about courage, loyalty, justice, love, and the struggle between good and evil.
One of the most distinctive forms of Romanian oral tradition is the doina, a traditional lyrical song expressing emotions such as longing, sadness, love, loneliness, or homesickness. Unlike a fixed written composition, the doina historically existed through performance. Singers could adapt melodies and words according to the occasion and their own emotions. The tradition became particularly associated with the rural communities of Romania and Moldova. In 2009, the doina was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The earliest written culture in the Romanian lands was strongly influenced by the Orthodox Christian tradition. For centuries, Church Slavonic was the principal literary and administrative language, while Latin, Greek, and later Romanian also played important roles. Romanian developed primarily as a spoken language, and the transition toward Romanian as a literary language happened gradually.
One of the earliest surviving texts written in Romanian is the Neacșu Letter, dating from 1521. Written by Neacșu of Câmpulung to the mayor of Brașov, the letter is an important milestone in the history of Romanian. It demonstrates that Romanian was already being used for written communication in the early 16th century. The emergence of Romanian religious texts helped accelerate this transition. Translators and scholars began producing Romanian versions of religious works, helping establish vocabulary, spelling conventions, and literary forms.
The 17th century was an important period in the development of Romanian literature. Religious writing continued to flourish, but historical chronicles also became increasingly significant. Writers such as Grigore Ureche, Miron Costin, and Ion Neculce recorded the history of Moldavia and the Romanian lands. Their chronicles combined historical events with reflections on people, society, and national identity.
Grigore Ureche's Letopisețul Țării Moldovei (“Chronicle of the Land of Moldavia”), written in the mid-17th century, is particularly important. His work helped establish historical prose as an important part of Romanian literature.
At the same time, religious scholars contributed to the development of Romanian prose. Dosoftei, Metropolitan of Moldavia, produced the first complete Romanian metrical translation of the Psalms, published in 1673.
During the 18th century, Romanian intellectual life was influenced by the Enlightenment and by growing connections with Western Europe. The Transylvanian School, a movement of Romanian intellectuals in Transylvania, played an especially important role.
Scholars such as Gheorghe Șincai, Petru Maior, and Samuil Micu promoted education and emphasized the Latin origins of the Romanian language. Their work had an important cultural consequence: Romanian intellectuals increasingly looked toward Western Europe and Rome for cultural connections, while also emphasizing a distinct Romanian identity. The period also saw the growth of secular writing, education, and historical scholarship.
The 19th century transformed Romanian literature. Political and cultural changes, including the 1848 revolutionary movements, the union of Moldavia and Wallachia in 1859, and the creation of the Kingdom of Romania in 1881, contributed to a growing sense of national identity. Literature became one of the principal ways Romanian intellectuals explored this identity.
One of the most influential literary societies was Junimea, founded in Iași in 1863. Its members promoted literary quality and encouraged the development of a modern Romanian literary culture.
Among its most important figures was Mihai Eminescu, widely regarded as Romania's most influential poet. Eminescu's poetry combined Romanticism, philosophy, nature, mythology, and reflections on human existence.
His best-known poem, Luceafărul (“The Evening Star”), is considered one of the masterpieces of Romanian literature.
Ion Creangă became famous for his humorous and vivid stories based on Moldavian life and folklore.
His Amintiri din copilărie (“Childhood Memories”) remains a classic of Romanian literature.
Meanwhile, Ion Luca Caragiale became one of Romania's most important playwrights and satirists. His comedies portrayed political and social life with humor and irony — themes that remain recognizable to readers today.
Liviu Rebreanu became an important figure in Romanian realism. His novel Ion, published in 1920, examines rural society, land ownership, ambition, and social class.
Tudor Arghezi transformed Romanian poetry through innovative language and imagery.
Lucian Blaga explored philosophy, spirituality, culture, and the limits of human knowledge through poetry and essays.
Marin Preda became one of the major Romanian novelists of the postwar period. His works explored rural life, social change, and the pressures experienced by individuals within Romanian society.
One particularly important contemporary figure is Mircea Cărtărescu, whose novels and poetry have been translated into numerous languages. His work combines dreamlike imagery, memory, history, and elements of the fantastic.
In 2010, Blinding was voted novel of the decade by Romanian literary critics.
Herta Müller is a Romanian-German novelist, poet, essayist and recipient of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature. She was born in Nițchidorf, Timiș County in Romania; her native languages are German and Romanian. Since the early 1990s, she has been internationally established, and her works have been translated into more than twenty languages.
Her much acclaimed 2009 novel The Hunger Angel (Atemschaukel) portrays the deportation of Romania's German minority to Soviet Gulags during the Soviet occupation of Romania for use as German forced labour.
Romanian Art
Around 5000 BC, in what we now know as Dobruja, Romania, the Western Black Sea region became home to early human communities. These settlers embarked on a lengthy journey originating in Anatolia and are commonly referred to by archaeologists as the Hamangia culture, named after the location where their remains were first discovered. They brought with them their distinctive black polished pottery and long-necked figurines.
Early expressions include the Cuciulat Cave paintings and famous Neolithic works like the Thinker of Hamangia and Cucuteni–Trypillia polychrome pottery.
Geto-Dacian fortress cities (dava) like Orăștie Mountains Fortresses: A UNESCO World Heritage Site grouping six key defensive sites: Sarmizegetusa Regia, Costești-Cetățuie, Costești-Blidaru, Piatra Roșie, Bănița, and Căpâlna showcased early regional architecture and metalwork.
Byzantine artistic traditions had a particularly strong influence in Wallachia and Moldavia. Churches and monasteries were decorated with elaborate religious paintings depicting scenes from the Bible, the lives of saints, and the Last Judgment.
By the late 17th and early 18th centuries, Romanian art began developing a distinctive architectural and decorative style associated with Constantin Brâncoveanu, ruler of Wallachia. Known as the Brâncovenesc style, it combined Byzantine traditions with elements borrowed from Renaissance, Baroque, and Ottoman art. Buildings from this period often feature elegant stone carvings, ornate columns, decorative floral motifs, and elaborate balconies.
Horezu Monastery, founded by Brâncoveanu, is one of the finest examples. Its importance is such that UNESCO has included it on the World Heritage List. The period also saw developments in decorative arts, religious painting, and manuscript production, creating an artistic tradition that remained influential long after Brâncoveanu's reign.
The 19th century brought major political and cultural changes. As modern Romania developed, artists increasingly looked toward Western Europe for inspiration. Romanian artists traveled to cities such as Paris, Munich, and Rome, where they encountered Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Realism, and later Impressionism. Painting increasingly moved beyond exclusively religious subjects. Artists began depicting landscapes, historical events, portraits, rural life, and everyday Romanian society.
One of the most important figures of this period was Nicolae Grigorescu. Influenced by both European painting and Romanian rural traditions, Grigorescu became famous for landscapes, portraits, and scenes of peasant life.
Another important artist was Theodor Aman, who played a major role in establishing modern art education in Romania. In 1864, he helped establish the first Romanian school of fine arts in Bucharest, alongside Gheorghe Panaiteanu-Bardasare in Iași.
At the turn of the 20th century, Romanian artists became increasingly interested in new European artistic movements. Ștefan Luchian was particularly important in the development of Romanian modern painting. His colorful landscapes, flowers, and portraits show influences from Impressionism while retaining a distinctly personal approach.
Romanian sculpture gained international recognition through Constantin Brâncuși, one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th century.
One of the most internationally recognized figures of this period was Victor Brauner, a Romanian-born artist who became associated with Surrealism after moving to Paris.
Dracula, Merry Cemetery, and Food for Kids
Dracula, which is now primarily known as the name of a vampire, was for centuries known as the sobriquet of Vlad III. His name comes from his father, Vlad Dracul ("Vlad the Dragon" in medieval Romanian), who received it after he became a member of the Order of the Dragon. Dracula is the Slavonic genitive form of Dracul, meaning the son of Dracul. In modern Romanian, dracul means "the devil", which contributed to Vlad's reputation.
The Merry Cemetery is a cemetery in the village of Săpânța, Maramureș County, Romania. It is famous for its brightly colored tombstones with paintings describing peoples lives often time in humorous ways. The cemetery diverges from the prevalent belief that views death as something indelibly solemn.
Papanași is a Romanian dessert made from fresh-cheese (brânza proaspătă or urdă) dough. It is usually served topped with cream (smântână) and fruit confit. Its name likely comes from the Latin word "pappa," which means food for children.