Page "Volcae" Paragraph 24

The Volcae were highly influential in Moravia, and together with the Boii and the Cotini and other Danubian tribes, they controlled a highly active network of trade routes connected to the Mediterranean and the German lands.

The prowess of these tribes and their proximity led to their name being borrowed into Germanic as * walha, a generic term for " Celt " and eventually " Roman " as the two cultures merged in time.

( See also Walha.

) This word has been applied widely to any former Roman provincials, including the Welsh, Italians, and French.

Compare: English Welsh, Flemish Dutch waalsch " Walloons ", German welsch " French ", Switzerland German Churwelsch " Churer Romance " ( an old name for Romansh, which used to be spoken in Chur ), Old Norse Valir " Roman ; French ".

The word was also borrowed by the Slavs who used it to refer to the Vlachs ( Romanians ).

Polish applied it not only to Vlachs ( Wołosi ) but also Italians ( Włosi ).