Walachian, Wallachian, n. and a.
(wɒˈleɪkɪən, vəˈlækɪən)
Also 7 Valachian, 9 Vallakhian.
[f. Walachia (in med.L. the country of the Walachs or Vlachs; in mod. use with narrower application, one of the two principalities which united to form the kingdom of Rumania, and subsequently the People's Republic of Romania) + -an.]
A. n.
1. a. = Walach 1. Also, a native of Walachia.
| 1603 Knolles Hist. Turkes (1621) 204 Baiazet thus at once inuaded..Europe,..conuerting his forces against the Valachians. 1729 Consett Pres. State Russia 446 To leave his Allies the Walachians and Moldavians to the Resentment of the Turks for their intended Revolt to the Tsar. 1776 Gibbon Decl. & F. xi. (1782) I. 357 note, The Walachians still preserve many traces of the Latin language. 1838 Encycl. Metrop. XXIV. 154/1 The neighbouring mountains are inhabited by Servians and Vallakhians. 1888 E. D. Gerard Land beyond Forest II. 30 This Wallachian was a still greater sorcerer in weather-making than the Wermesch peasant. |
b. A Walachian sheep.
| 1837 Youatt Sheep v. 138 The Wallachians are about the size of the Dorset sheep, but not so tall. |
2. The language spoken by the Walachians.
| 1718 M. W. Montagu Let. 16 Mar. (1965) I. 390 In Pera they speak Turkish, Greek,..Sclavonian, Walachian, German. 1846 Borrow Zincali (ed. 4) iii 257 The Hungarian Gypsy tongue..contains many words borrowed from the Wallachian. 1864 Max Müller Sci. Lang. Ser. ii. iv. 182 Their language still lives in the modern Wallachian. 1877 Quaritch's Catal. Suppl. 227 Rouman or Wallachian. |
B. adj. Of or pertaining to Walachia or the Walachians.
| c 1791 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) VIII. 712/1 There are four languages spoken..the German, Sclavonian, Wallachian, and Latin. 1804 E. Jones Lyric Airs Introd. 2 Matràki, or, The Wallachian Dance. 1843 Penny Cycl. XXVII. 34 According to Thunman, one half of all the Wallachian words are Latin. a 1901 W. Bright Age of Fathers (1903) I. xxv. 503 The Gothic king..had flung St. Sabas into the waters of a Wallachian stream for refusing to taste idol-meats. |