page_title: Romanian language
section_title: Writing system
hierarchical_section_title: Romanian language / Writing system
caption_attribution_description: English: 1850s Romanian text (Lord's Prayer), written with the Cyrillic script Transcription (Romanian Cyrillic alphabet): Та́тъль но́стрꙋ, ка́рєлє є́щй ꙟ чє́рюрй, сфн҃ца́скъсє нꙋ́мєлє тъꙋ: Вiє ꙟпръръцiѧ [sic] та̀: фiє во́ѧ та̀, прє кꙋ́мь ꙟ чє́рю, шѝ прє пъмѫ́нть. Пѫ́йнѣ но́астръ чѣ̀ дє тоатє зи́лєлє, дънєѡ но́аѡ а́стъзй. Шѝ нє ꙗ́ртъ но́аѡ даторíйлє но́астрє прє кꙋ́мь шѝ но́й є́ртъмь дато́рничилѡрь но́щрй: Шѝ нꙋ нє дꙋ́чє прє но́й ꙟ испи́тъ, чѝ нє избъвѣ́щє дє чє́ль ръꙋ. Къ ата̀ ꙗстє ꙟпъръцiѧ, шѝ Пꙋтѣ́рѣ, шѝ мъри́рѣ ꙟ вѣ́чй, ами́нь. Transcription in Latin alphabet (Romanian alphabet): Tatăl nostru, carele ești în ceriuri, sfințascăse numele tău: Vie înprărățiia [sic] ta: Fie voia ta, pre cum în ceriu, și pre pământ. Pâinea noastră cea de toate zilele, dăneo noao astăzi: Și ne iartă noao datoriile noastre pre cum și noi ertăm datornicilor noștri: Și nu ne duce pre noi în ispită, ci ne izbăveaște de cel rău. Că ata iaste înpărățiia, și Putearea, și mărirea în veaci, amin. Note The original has a misprint: the first word of the second line is spelled "ꙟпръръцiѧ" (înprărățiia) instead of "ꙟпъръцiѧ" (înpărățiia).
context_page_description: Romanian is a Balkan Romance language spoken by approximately 24–26 million people as a native language, primarily in Romania and Moldova, and by another 4 million people as a second language. According to another estimate, there are about 34 million people worldwide who can speak Romanian, of whom 30 million speak it as a native language. It is an official and national language of both Romania and Moldova and is one of the official languages of the European Union.
  Romanian is a part of the Eastern Romance sub-branch of Romance languages, a linguistic group that evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin which separated from the Western Romance languages in the course of the period from the 5th to the 8th centuries. To distinguish it within the Eastern Romance languages, in comparative linguistics it is called Daco-Romanian as opposed to its closest relatives, Aromanian, Megleno-Romanian and Istro-Romanian. Romanian is also known as Moldovan in Moldova, although the Constitutional Court of Moldova ruled in 2013 that "the official language of the republic is Romanian".
context_section_description: The first written record about a Romance language spoken in the Middle Ages in the Balkans is from 587. A Vlach muleteer accompanying the Byzantine army noticed that the load was falling from one of the animals and shouted to a companion Torna, torna frate (meaning "Return, return brother!"), and, "sculca" (out of bed). Theophanes Confessor recorded it as part of a 6th-century military expedition by Commentiolus and Priscus against the Avars and Slovenes.
  "Libri III de moribus et actis primorum Normanniae ducum" by Dudo of Saint-Quentin states that Richard I of Normandy was sent by his father William I Longsword to learn the Dacian language with Bothon because the inhabitants of Bayeux spoke more Dacian than Roman.
  The oldest surviving written text in Romanian is a letter from late June 1521, in which Neacșu of Câmpulung wrote to the mayor of Brașov about an imminent attack of the Turks. It was written using the Cyrillic alphabet, like most early Romanian writings. The earliest surviving writing in Latin script was a late 16th-century Transylvanian text which was written with the Hungarian alphabet conventions.
  In the 18th century, Transylvanian scholars noted the Latin origin of Romanian and adapted the Latin alphabet to the Romanian language, using some orthographic rules from Italian, recognized as Romanian's closest relative. The Cyrillic alphabet remained in (gradually decreasing) use until 1860, when Romanian writing was first officially regulated.
  In the Soviet Republic of Moldova, a special version of the Cyrillic alphabet derived from the Russian version was used until 1989, when Romanian language spoken there officially returned to the Romanian Latin alphabet, although in the breakaway territory of Transnistria the Cyrillic alphabet is used to this day.
caption: A sample of Romanian written in the Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, which was still in use in the early 19th century
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