Language and ethnicity Romance studies and the Latinity of Romanian in the mid-nineteenth century

This article presents the growing interest in the history, language, and culture of the Romanian people in Italy and France, particularly from the 1840s to the 1870s. This interest will be analysed within the context of the evolving political situation in Europe, characterized by the emergence of the Eastern question, national tensions within the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia’s expansionist policy towards the Balkans. It will also be explored from the perspective of the development of Romance language studies and the growing interest of French and Italian scholars in the study of the Latin origins of the Romanian language. Finally, this research shows how scholars made efforts to demonstrate the Latinity of the Romanian people, with the purpose of distinguishing them from the Slavic geographical and cultural space, and thus constructing a cultural (and political) barrier capable of obstructing the Slavic (and in particular Russian) advance towards Western Europe.