Walha Totally Explained

Everything about Walha totally explained

Walh (singular) or Walha (plural) is an ancient Germanic word, meaning "foreigner" or "stranger" (Welsh) or "roman", German: welsch. The word can be found in Old High German walhisk ‘Roman’, in Old English wilisc ‘foreign, non-English, Cymric’, in Old Norse as valskr ‘French’. Thus it'll be derived from an Proto-Germanic form such as *walhiska-. It is attested in the Roman Iron Age Tjurkö Bracteate inscription as walhakurne "Roman/Gallic grain", apparently a kenning for "gold" (referring to the "bracteate" itself). The term was used by the ancient Germanic peoples to describe the inhabitants of the former Roman Empire, which were largely romanised and spoke Latin or Celtic languages. Today in German, Welsche refers to Latin (or Romanic) peoples: the Italians in particular, but also the French, thus the Romanic neighbours of the German speakers in general.

From Walhaz to welsch*

Walh is probably derived from the name of the tribe which was known to the Romans as Volcae (in the writings of Julius Caesar) and to the Greeks as Ouólkai (Strabo and Ptolemy). With the Old Germanic name *Walhaz, plural *Walhôz, adjectival form *walhiska-, this neighbouring people of the Germanics were meant some centuries before C. It is assumable, that this term specifically referred to the Celtic Volcae, because by a precise application of the first or Germanic sound shift the exact Germanic equivalent *Walh- would have come out. Subsequently, this term Walhôz has rather indiscriminately been applied to the southern neighbours of the Germanics, which is shown in geographic names such as Walchgau and Walchensee in Bavaria. . These southern neighbours, however, were then already completely romanised. Thus, by Germanic speakers this name was generalized first onto all Celts, and later onto all Romans. Old High German Walh became Walch in Middle High German, and adjectival OHG. walhisk became MHG. welsch, for example in the Romance of Alexander by Rudolf von Ems – resulting in Welsche in Early New High German and Modern German as the exonym for all Romanic speakers.

Toponyms and exonyms

Numerous names of non-Germanic European regions derive from the word Walh, in particular the exonyms:

Walachia and Wallachians → see also Vlach and Etymology of Vlach

but also in several other Eastern European languages:

in Polish: 'Włochy', the name of Italy, and historical 'Wołochowie' - Vlachs

In Hungarian: "Oláh", referring to Romanians; "Olasz", referring to Italians, "Vlachok" referring to Vlachs, generally.

In Slavonic: Stari Vlah ("the Old Vlach") region around the city of Užice, and the name Starovlahs for the medieval local Celto-Slavic population → See also History of the term Vlach In Western European languages:

in English:
Wales,
Cornwall (with the suffix -wall)
In English usage the words Gaul and Gaulish are used synonymously with Latin Gallia, Gallus and Gallicus. However the similarity of the names is probably accidental: the English words are borrowed from French Gaule and Gaulois, which appear to have been borrowed themselves from walha-. Germanic w is regularly rendered with French gu / g (cf. guerre = war, garder = ward), and the diphthong au is the regular outcome of al before a following consonant (cf. cheval ~ chevaux). Gaule or Gaulle can hardly be derived from Latin Gallia, since g would become j before a (cf. gamba > jambe), and the diphthong au would be incomprehensible; the regular outcome of Latin Gallia would have been *Jaille in French.

Numerous attestations in German:

in village names ending in -walchen, such as Straßwalchen or Seewalchen, mostly located in the Salzkammergut region and indicating Roman settlement
In German Welsch or Walsch, outdated for "Romanic", and still in use in Swiss German for Romands.
in numerous placenames, for instance Walensee and Walenstadt, as well as Welschbern and Walschtirol (now almost always Verona and Trentino), also in:

Welschbillig, in the Moselle valley, where Moselle romanic was spoken;
Welschen Ennest (community of Kirchhundem, district Olpe, Sauerland);
Welschenrohr in the Swiss canton of Solothurn;
Welschensteinach in the district Ortenau in Baden-Württemberg;
in several German exonyms like: Welschkohl, Welschkorn, Welschkraut
The walnut was originally a Welsh nut, for example it came through France and/or Italy to Germanic speakers (German: Walnuss, Dutch Okkernoot or Walnoot, Danish Valnød, Swedish Valnöt)
There is a street in Regensburg named Wallengasse, once inhabited by Italian merchants. In other German places like Duisburg one can find a Welschengasse, or an Am Welschenkamp, referring to French speaking inhabitants, De Waal, De Waele, Waelhens, Swalen, Swelsen, an Albanian martyrer.

Further Information
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Everything about Walha totally explained

From *Walhaz to welsch

Toponyms and exonyms

From Walhaz to welsch*