Walhaz

Walhaz is a Proto-Germanic ethnonym meaning “foreigner” or “non-Germanic speaker.” It was used by various Germanic peoples in late antiquity and the early medieval period to refer to non-Germanic populations, especially Romans and Celtic-speaking groups. As an exonym, Walhaz described outsiders rather than a single community, and its sense could broaden to foreigners in general.

Linguists reconstruct the form as Proto-Germanic *walhaz. Its descendants appear in Old English as wealas, a plural noun meaning “foreigners” and, specifically, the Welsh; in Old High German, Walhaz referred to foreigners or Celts. The term is the historical source of the English names Wales and Welsh, reflecting a shift from a generic “foreigner” label to a designation of a distinct population in Britain.

The root also spread beyond the Germanic world. In South Slavic languages, variants such as Vlach or Vlah came to denote Romance-speaking groups in the Balkans (Romanians, Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians). The name Wallachia (and related forms) in present-day Romania derives from this term through Latin and Slavic intermediaries, referring to the Vlachs/Romanians who inhabited the region.

Significance of Walhaz lies in its use as an example of ethnonyms that encode cultural contact and power dynamics between language groups. It illustrates how a general label for “foreigner” can crystallize into durable self- and other-identities and into place-names and demonyms across a broad geographic area.