History of the Romanian language
The history of the Romanian language started in Roman provinces north of the Jireček Line in Classical antiquity. There are three main hypotheses around its exact territory: the autochthony thesis, the discontinuation thesis, and the "as-well-as" thesis that supports the language development on both sides of the Danube. Between the 6th and 8th centuries AD, following the accumulated tendencies inherited from the vernacular Latin and, to a much smaller degree, the influences from an unidentified substratum, and in the context of a lessened power of the Roman central authority, the language evolved into Common Romanian. This proto-language then came into close contact with the Slavic languages and subsequently divided into Aromanian, Megleno-Romanian, Istro-Romanian, and Daco-Romanian. Because of limited attestations between the 6th and 16th centuries, entire stages from its history are reconstructed by researchers, often with proposed relative chronologies and loose limits.
Jireček Line, a theoretical line separating the areas featured primarily by Latin inscriptions from lands where Greek was the dominant language of memorials in the Roman Empire. Romanian is almost exclusively spoken in territories that were never or for less than 180 years under Roman rule. Macedo-Romanian and Megleno-Romanian are spoken in the lands to the south of the Line.
Latin inscription from Skopje, North Macedonia. According to one of the main theories on the origin of Romanian, it was preceded by Vulgar Latin spoken south of the Danube.
Latin military diploma from Gherla, Romania. According to one of the main theories on the origin of Romanian, it was preceded by Vulgar Latin spoken in Dacia.
A traditional house built in Berbești in 1775 (Dimitrie Gusti National Village Museum in Bucharest)
Vulgar Latin, also known as Popular or Colloquial Latin, is the range of non-formal registers of Latin spoken from the Late Roman Republic onward. Vulgar Latin as a term is both controversial and imprecise. Spoken Latin existed for a long time and in many places. Scholars have differed in opinion as to the extent of the differences, and whether Vulgar Latin was in some sense a different language. This was developed as a theory in the nineteenth century by Raynouard. At its extreme, the theory suggested that the written register formed an elite language distinct from common speech, but this is now rejected.
The Cantar de Mio Cid (Song of my Cid) is the earliest Spanish text