Etymology

The name of Romania (România) comes from Român (Romanian) which is a derivative of the word Romanus ("Roman") from Latin. The fact that Romanians call themselves a derivative of Romanus (Romanian: Român/Rumân) is mentioned as early as the 16th century by many authors among whom were Italian Humanists travelling in Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia.[4] [5] [6] [7] The oldest surviving document written in the Romanian language is a 1521 letter (known as "Neacşu's Letter [8] from Câmpulung") which notifies the mayor of Braşov about the imminent attack of the Ottoman Turks. This document is also notable for having the first occurrence of "Rumanian" in a Romanian written text, Wallachia being here named The Rumanian Land - Ţeara Rumânească (Ţeara (Latin Terra = land). In the following centuries, Romanian documents use interchangeably two spelling forms: Român and Rumân.[9] Socio-linguistic evolutions in the late 17th century led to a process of semantic differentiation: the form "rumân", presumably usual among lower classes, got the meaning of "bondsman", while the form "român" kept an ethno-linguistic meaning.[10] After the abolition of serfdom in 1746, the form "rumân" gradually disappears and the spelling definitively stabilises to the form "român", "românesc".[11] The name "România" as common homeland of all Romanians is documented in the early 19th century.[12]