[tied] Re: blakhoi versus dakai

If the (southern) Vlachs had lived anywhere near Thessaloniki before
the arrival of the Slavs in the region, their language would have
been influenced by Greek much more thouroughly than it is; and if
they had been called "Vlachs" so early, the name would have popped up
somewhere in Byzantine sources. As it happened, the Romance-speaking
Blakhoi/Blachi made their historical debut in the twelfth century --
a long, long time after the Slavic migrations.

If, on the other hand, the Megleno-Rumanians and Arumanians migrated
into what is now northern Greece during the Middle Ages, the fact
that the name Blakhoi [vlaxi] entered Greek via Old Bulgarian is
hardly surprising.

Piotr

--- In cybalist@..., alexmoeller@... wrote:


> I wonder but about something else. In the same article is sustained
the
> theory the valahians or the valahian center of presence is
somewhere in
> the vicinity of Thessaloniky.Anyway, very close to greek people. So
the
> wonder is: Why did the greeks, they who called by name every folk,
why
> did they wait until the appearance of the sudic slavs for taking
this
> word from slavs to call the valahs this way, with a slavic word (
ok, a
> celtic tribe in german mouth, took by slavs and so on, we know all
the
> storry of this word )?The valahs are - regarding the hungarian
theory -
> neigbours of greeks, so normaly they shouldn't need to wait the
slavs
> for calling their neighbours by name.Am I wrong or is the idea of
vlachs
> neigbours of greeks wrong or what then?