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The Megleno-Romanians or Meglen Vlachs or Moglenite Vlachs, (Megleno-Romanian: ''Vlași''; (ギリシア語:Βλαχομογλενίτες), ''Vlachomoglenítes''; (ルーマニア語、モルドバ語():Meglenoromâni), ''Megleniţi'', or ''Vlaşi'', (マケドニア語:Власи)) are a small Eastern Romance people, originally inhabiting seven villages in the Moglena region spanning the Pella and Kilkis regional units of Central Macedonia, Greece, and one village, Huma (depopulated village), across the border in the Republic of Macedonia. This people lives in an area of approximately 300 km2 in size. Unlike the Aromanian Vlachs, the other Romance speaking population in the same historic region, the Meglen Vlachs are traditionally sedentary agriculturalists, and not traditionally transhumants. They speak a Romance language most often called by linguists Megleno-Romanian or Meglenitic in English, and βλαχομογλενίτικα (''vlachomoglenítika'') or simply μογλενίτικα (''moglenítika'') in Greek. The people themselves call their language ''vlahește'', but the Megleno-Romanian diaspora in Romania also uses the term ''meglenoromână''. Unlike the other Eastern Romance populations, over time Megleno-Romanians have laid aside a name for themselves which originates in the Latin ''Romanus'', and instead have adopted the term ''Vlasi'' or ''Vlashi'', derived from Vlachs, a general term by which in the Middle Ages non-Romance peoples designated Romance peoples. (The word ''Vlachs'' appears in the Byzantine documents in about the 10th century.) The term ''Megleno-Romanians'' was given to them in the 19th century by the scholars who studied their language and customs, based on the region in which they live. Their number is estimated between 5,213 (P. Atanasov, most recent estimate), and 20,000 (P.Papahagi, ca, 1900). There is a larger Megleno-Romanian diaspora in Romania (ca. 1,500 people), and a smaller one in Turkey (ca. 500 people). Greece does not recognize national minorities, thus this approximately 4,000-strong community does not have any official recognition from Greece. Another 1,000 Megleno-Romanians live in the Republic of Macedonia. It is believed, however, that there are up to 20,000 people of Megleno-Romanian descent worldwide (including those assimilated into the basic populations of these countries). ==Origins== The Moglena region (Turkish: Karacaova) is located in the north of Greece at the border with Macedonia. It is roughly bounded by the Vardar river to the east, by the Kožuf and Nidže mountains to the west, by the plains of Ianita and Vodena to the south, and by the Mariansca Mountains to the north.〔Ioan Neniţescu, ''De la Românii din Turcia Europeană'', Bucharest, 1895, p. 384〕 The number of Megleno-Romanians was estimated by different authors as follows: *14,000 in 1892 〔G. Weigand, Die Vlaho-Meglen, Leipzig, 1892, p. XXVI.〕 *21,700 in 1895 〔Ioan Nenitescu, op. cit., p. 389〕 *11,960 in 1900 〔V. Koncev, MAKEDOHIA, Sofia, 1900, p. 146〕 *20,000 in 1902 〔Pericle Papahagi, Megleno-Romanii. Studiu etnografico-folcloric, Bucuresti, 1902, p. 44〕 *14,720 in 1925 〔Th. Capidan (1925)〕 Historians Ovid Densusianu and Konstantin Jirecek considered that Megleno-Romanians descended from a mixture of Romanians with Pecenegs, settled in Moglen by the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos in 1091. They argued this on the basis in part of the Asian-like facial appearance (more prominent cheek bones) of Meglen Vlachs. By contrast, Gustav Weigand and George Murnu believed that Megleno-Romanians were descendants of the Romanian-Bulgarian Empire who retreated to Moglen.〔George Murnu, ''Istoria romanilor din Pind, Vlahia Mare 980-1259'', Bucharest, 1913, p. 229-230〕 This view was opposed by Jiricek. Pericle Papahagi argued another version, that Megleno-Romanians are descendants of a group of Romanians who were incorrectly called Vlachs.〔Pericle Papahagi, op. cit., p. 7〕 Megleno-Romanians used to have a traditional custom, called ''bondic'', where the head of a household would take an oak log and place it in the hearth just before Christmas, burning it bit by bit until Epiphany. The resulting charcoal would be put under fruit trees to make them fertile. A similar custom (called ''bavnic''), but with specific variations, also existed among Aromanians, some Romanians and Latvians.〔Ion Ghinoiu, ''Panteonul românesc'', 2001〕 In Serbian, the custom is known as badnjak, in Bulgarian as budnik, and in the Macedonian as [Badnik or Badni Vecher (Badni Evening). Some believe that this and other cultural archetypes discovered by scientists are proof that Megleno-Romanians come from a traditional mountainous region.〔[http://www.romanii.ro/NewSite/Macedo-Romanii%20din.htm Emil Tarcomnicu, Megleno Romanaii]〕 Theodor Capidan, studying the resemblance of the Megleno-Romanian language with Romanian and other languages, concluded that Megleno-Romanians must have spent some time in the Rhodope Mountains before moving on to Moglen (due to the presence of elements similar to those found in the language of the Bulgarians in the Rhodopes).〔Teodor Capidan, ''Meglenoromânii'', I, 1925, p. 56〕 Both Papahagi and Capidan observed that Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian lack a Slavic influence, but show Greek influence instead. The study of Megleno-Romanian and other Eastern Romance varieties led Capidan to believe that during the establishment of the Romanian language in the Early Middle Ages, there was an ethnic Romanian continuity on both banks of the Danube (north and south). From the medieval and modern periods, it is known that Megleno-Romanians had an administration of their own. Each village was led by a ''captain''. Their economic and social centre was the town of ''Nânta''. After the incursions of the Pomaks of Moglen against the Ottomans, the latter started a persecution campaign against villages in the area, including those of the Megleno-Romanians. Most of the villages were put under the administration of an Ottoman ''bei'', who exploited them to the extreme in exchange for their security. The village of ''Osani'', however, resisted much longer before being subdued by the Ottomans, because its captain was more skilled militarily. In 1900, the then province of Gevgelija, which contained most of the Megleno-Romanian settlements, had a population of 49,315, of which 20,643 Slavs, 14,900 Turks, 9,400 Christian Aromanians and Megleno-Romanians, 3,500 Muslim Megleno-Romanians, 655 Gypsies, and 187 Circassians. The villages of Meglen Vlachs had in 1900 the following populations: 1Aromanian village surround by the Megleno-Romanian ones. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Megleno-Romanians」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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