The name of Romania (România) comes from the Romanian Român, which is a derivative of the Latin adjective Romanus (Roman).Explanatory Dictionary of the Romanian Language, 1998; New Explanatory Dictionary of the Romanian Language, 2002 Romanians are a people living in Eastern Europe speaking a Romance language.
Etymology of the ethnonym Romanian (român) During the transition from Vulgar Latin to Romanian, there were some phonetical changes that modified romanus into român or rumân. The accusative form romanum was retained. ending "-m" dropped (occurred in all Romance languages) ending "-u" dropped (regular change; in Old Romanian was however still present) "a" → "â" (regular change; vowels before nasal stops turned into "â"/"î") "o" → "u" (regular change; however, in some regions of Romania, the variant with "o" was kept)
A reference to the name ''Romanian'' could be contained in the Nibelungenlied (written between 1180 and 1210), where a "Duke Ramunc of Walachia,/with seven hundred vassals, galloped up before her/like flying wild birds men saw them ride"."Der herzoge Ramunch vzer Vlâchen lant/mit Sibenhunduert mannen chom er fvr si gerant/sam die wilden vogele so sah man si varn", Version C Das Niebelungenlied, 1370, 1-4 It is argued that "Ramunc" could describe a symbolic figure, representing Romanians."Der Nibelungenlied", XII, ed. K. Lachmann, Berlin, 1878, p. 174; Francis P. Magoun jr. in "Geographical and Ethnic Names in the Nibelungenlied", pp. 129–130; Fritz Schuster, "Herzog Ramunc aus dem Walachenland", in "Sudost-Forschungen", XI, 1946–1952, pp. 284–290 In a document issued about the same period (1190 ?) by King Béla III of Hungary, a count Narad was mentioned as having fought the fury of the "Bulgarorum et Rumeorum" ."contra furorem Bulgarorum et Rumeorum" in Imre Nagy (editor): Hazai okmánytár. Codex diplomaticus patrius Hungaricus, vol. VIII. Budapest 1891, nr. 5, pp. 9–11; Imre Szentpétery (editor): Regesta regum stirpis Arpadianae critica diplomatica, vol. I, part 1 (1001–1270). Budapest 1923, nr. 157, p. 50; see also Alexandru Simon: Între coroanele Arpadienilor și Asăneștilor: implicațiile unui document de la Béla III, în "Studii și materiale de istorie medie", vol. XXVIII, 2010, pp. 127–136. Hungarian historian Imre Nagy believed to be a mistranscription of , which would be in reference to Romanians in the then recent uprising of the Bulgarians and Vlachs. However, the idea that refers to Romanians is disputed; Hungarian historian Imre Szentpétery, who co-edited the charter with Nagy, believed to be a mistranscription of "Ruthenes", while Romanian historian Alexandru Madgearu believes this passage to be referring to harassment by the Byzantines () to a Hungarian army in the Theme of Bulgaria en route to the Holy Land in the Third Crusade.
In the Renaissance Romanians begin to be mentioned in journey and political reports, providing information about the name they give themselves, about their language, customs and the countries they inhabit. The self-designation of Romanians as Romans is mentioned in some 30 scholarly works as early as the 16th century by mainly Italian humanists travelling in Transylvania, Moldavia and Walachia.Ioan-Aurel Pop, Italian Authors and the Romanian Identity in the 16th Century, Revue Roumaine d'Histoire, XXXIX, 1-4, p. 39-49, Bucarest, 2000 Thus, Tranquillo Andronico writes in 1534 that Romanians (Valachi) "now call themselves Romans"."Connubia iunxit cum provincialibus, ut hoc vinculo unam gentem ex duabus faceret, brevi quasi in unum corpus coaluerunt et nunc se Romanos vocant, sed nihil Romani habent praeter linguam et ipsam quidem vehementer depravatam et aliquot barbaricis idiomatibus permixtam." in Magyar Történelmi Tár – 4. sorozat 4. kötet – 1903. - REAL-J; also see Endre Veress, Fontes rerum transylvanicarum: Erdélyi történelmi források, Történettudományi Intézet, Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, Budapest, 1914, Vol. IV, S. 204 and also Maria Holban, Călători străini în Țările Române, Editura Științifică, București, 1968, Vol. 1, p. 247 and also in Gábor Almási, I Valacchi visti dagli Italiani e il concetto di Barbaro nel Rinascimento, Storia della Storiografia, 52 (2007): 049-066 In 1532, Francesco della Valle accompanying Governor Aloisio Gritti to Transylvania, Walachia and Moldavia notes that Romanians preserved the name of the Romans (Romani) and "they call themselves in their language Romanians (Romei)". He even cites the sentence "Sti Rominest ?" ("do you speak Romanian ?" for originally Romanian "știi românește ?") Further, this author reports what he could learn from local orthodox monks, that "in the present they call themselves Romanians (Romei)" ."...si dimandano in lingua loro Romei...se alcuno dimanda se sano parlare in la lingua valacca, dicono a questo in questo modo: Sti Rominest ? Che vol dire: Sai tu Romano,..." and further "però al presente si dimandon Romei, e questo è quanto da essi monacci potessimo esser instruiti" in Claudio Isopescu, Notizie intorno ai Romeni nella letteratura geografica italiana del Cinquecento, in "Bulletin de la Section Historique de l'Académie Roumaine", XIV, 1929, pp. 1–90 and also in Maria Holban, Călători străini în Țările Române, Editura Științifică, București, 1968, vol.1, pp. 322–323. For the original text also see Magyar Történelmi Tár, 1855, pp. 22–23 Reporting his mission in Transylvania, the Neapolitan Jesuit Ferrante Capeci writes around 1575 that the inhabitants of those Provinces call themselves "Romanians" ("romanesci")," Valachi, i quali sono i più antichi habitatori ... Anzi essi si chiamano romanesci, e vogliono molti che erano mandati quì quei che erano dannati a cavar metalli..." in Maria Holban, Călători străini despre Țările Române, vol. II, p. 158–161 and also in Gábor Almási, Constructing the Wallach "Other" in the Late Renaissance in Balázs Trencsény, Márton Zászkaliczky (edts), Whose Love of Which Country, Brill, Leiden, Boston 2010, p.127 and also in Gábor Almási, I Valacchi visti dagli Italiani e il concetto di Barbaro nel Rinascimento, Storia della Storiografia, 52 (2007): 049-066, p.65 while Pierre Lescalopier, relating his voyage from Venice to Constantinople, notes in 1574 that those inhabiting Walachia, Moldavia and the most part of Transylvania say to be descendants of the Romans, calling their language "romanechte" (French transcription for Romanian românește - Romanian)."Tout ce pays la Wallachie et Moldavie et la plus part de la Transivanie a esté peuplé des colonie romaines du temps de Traian l'empereur...Ceux du pays se disent vrais successeurs des Romains et nomment leur parler romanechte, c'est-à-dire romain ... " cited from "Voyage fait par moy, Pierre Lescalopier l'an 1574 de Venise a Constantinople", fol 48 in Paul Cernovodeanu, Studii si materiale de istorie medievala, IV, 1960, p. 444 The Italian Dalmatian historian Johannes Lucius writes in 1666: "But the to-day Walachians, whatever Walachian language they speak, don't call themselves Wlachians or Walachians but Romanians and they boast their origin from the Romans and acknowledge to speak the Roman language"."Valachi autem hodierni quicunque lingua Valacha loquuntur se ipsos non dicunt Vlahos aut Valachos sed Rumenos et a Romanis ortos gloriantur Romanaque lingua loqui profitentur" in: Johannes Lucii, De Regno Dalmatiae et Croatiae, Amsteldaemi, 1666, pag. 284
Other first-hand evidence about the name Romanians used to call themselves comes from authors having lived in Transylvania and/or Romanian principalities: the learned Lutheran preacher and first Transylvanian Saxon historiograph Johann Lebel attests in 1542 that common Romanians call themselves "Romuini","Ex Vlachi Valachi, Romanenses Italiani,/Quorum reliquae Romanensi lingua utuntur.../Solo Romanos nomine, sine re, repraesentantes./Ideirco vulgariter Romuini sunt appelanti", cf. Ioannes Lebelius, De oppido Thalmus. Carmen historicum, edidit Ioannes Seivert, Cibinii, 1779, pp. 11–12. In Adolf Armbruster: Romanitatea românilor. Istoria unei idei, ediția a II-a. București 1993, p. 39 the Polish Humanist Stanislaus Orichovius notes as late as 1554 that "these left behind Dacians in their own language are called Romini, after the Romans, and Walachi in Polish, after the Italians"."hos Dacos reliquerunt qui eorum lingua Romini ab Romanis, nostra Walachi, ab Italis appellantur" in Stanislaus Orichovius, Annales polonici ab excessu Sigismundi, 1643, p.119 Another humanist, who took up residence in Transylvania as a bishop of Alba Iulia, the Dalmatian Antonius Verantio, who later would become cardinal and viceroy of Habsburg Hungary, also states in 1570 that "the Wallachians call themselves Romans" and provides an example: "When they ask somebody whether they can speak Wallachian, they say: do you speak Roman? and [when they ask] whether one is Wallachian they say: are you Roman?""...Valacchi, qui se Romanos nominant..." "Gens quae ear terras (Transsylvaniam, Moldaviam et Transalpinam) nostra aetate incolit, Valacchi sunt, eaque a Romania ducit originem, tametsi nomine longe alieno..." and "Interrogantes quempiam an sciret Valacchice: scisne, inquunt, Romane? et an Valachus esset: num Romanus sit? quaerunt" De situ Transsylvaniae, Moldaviae et Transaplinae, in Monumenta Hungariae Historica, Scriptores; II, Pest, 1857, p. 120, 134-135 cited in Adolf Armbruster: Romanitatea românilor. Istoria unei idei, ediția a II-a. București 1993, p. 42, p.100-101 also see Maria Holban (ed.), Călători străini despre Țările Române, vol. I (București: Editura Științifică, 1968), 399–403. while the Jesuit Theology professor Martinus Szent-Ivany cites in 1699 Romanian expressions: "Sie noi sentem Rumeni" (modern standard Romanian "Și noi suntem români") and "Noi sentem di sange Rumena" (in modern standard Romanian "Noi suntem de sânge român")"Valachos qui Moldaviam et Transalpinam incolunt, seipsos pro Romanorum progenie tenere; dicunt enim communi modo loquendi: Sie noi sentem Rumeni: etiam nos sumus Romani. Item: Noi sentem di sange Rumena: Nos sumus de sanguine Romano" Martinus Szent-Ivany, Dissertatio Paralimpomenica rerum memorabilium Hungariae, Tyrnaviae, 1699, p. 39-40. The geographer Anton Friedrich Büsching writes in 1754 that "the Wallachians, who are remnant and progeny of the old Roman colonies thus call themselves Romanians, which means Romans""Walachen, welche ein Überbleibsel und eine Nachkommenheit der alten Römischen Colonien sind, daher sie sich Romunius oder Rumuin d.h. Römer, nennen" A.F. Büsching, Neue Erdbeschreibung, Hamburg, 1764, p. 1257. The Hungarian writer András Dugonics in 1801 states: "But those Romans who remained in Dacia mixed their Roman language with the language of the Sarmatians [of the Slavs] and that of the Dacians. Thus a special language was formed, the Wallachian language (oláh nyelv), which is nothing else but a mixture of the Latin language with the Slavic and Dacian language (dákus), and they themselves are today called the Romans (rómaiak), ie rumun"<ref>"Kik pedig a' Rómaiak közül Dáciában ineg-maradtak; a' Római nyelvet (melyen ok beszéllöttenek) a' Szarmaták' nyelvvével (mely a' Tót nyelvvel egy vala) azután a' Dákusokéval-is öszsze-vegyítvén, egy különös Oláh-nyelvet szerzettek, mely nem egyéb, hanem Deák, Tot, és Dákus-nyelvből öszsze-habartt, és föl-eresztött szülemény. Ók magokat most-is Rómaiaknak nevezik (Rumun).''''"A magyaroknak uradalmaik, mint a régi, mind a mostani üdökben, Pesten és Pozsonyban, 1801, p. 154</ref> the English author John Paget, in 1839, in his book, "Hungary and Transylvania" writes: ""the Wallack of the present day calls himself "Rumunyi" and retains a traditional pride of ancestry, in spite of his present degradation."Hungary and Transylvania, 1839, p. 186.