Introduction to The Etymological Dictionary of The Romanian Language
The Introduction investigates the origin of Romanian language from a new perspective. Due to the fact that most (86%) of the Romanian lexicon cannot be explained through Latin and it has no cognates in other Romance language, a new method of investigation was developed. From the other 14%, 2/3 belong to a common Indo-European heritage. Thus the Introduction (and the dictionary) shows that most of the Romanian lexicon originates from Thraco-Dacian, a language widely spoken in Balkan region and central and eastern Europe in ancient times. It compares the Romanian lexicon with other Indo-European languages and presents into details the phonological evolution of sounds from Proto-Indo-European to Romanian. The method works very well and solves the etymology of thousands of Romanian words left with unknown, uncertain or wrongly attributed etymology as discussed in the new Etymological Dictionary of Romanian. As a result one may say that Romanian is not a real Romance language as it was believed, but the daughter language of Thraco-Dacian with some Latin, Slavic or other lexical borrowings. The paper also reveals that Thraco-Dacian (and Illyrian) were closely related to Celtic and Italic languages and by analyzing the Romanian lexicon of Thraco-Dacian origin, it shows also that this language was a centum language, contrary to the general belief that it was a satem lanaguage. A beginnig of Romanization may have taken place, but not a Romanization proper. This hypothesis is supported by both linguistic and historical facts investigated in this paper.