Although the direction of language contact between Romanian and Slavic languages is overwhelmingly towards Romanian as well as its other Eastern Romance sister languages (Aromanian, Megleno-Romanian and Istro-Romanian), there is evidence of lesser influence in the opposite direction. Romanian and Eastern Romance influence on Slavic languages is generally limited to neighbouring languages, and of those to the South Slavic languages more than the northern counterparts.
Romanian influence is most visible on South Slavic languages, in particular Bulgarian and Macedonian which goes back to the earliest centuries after the invasion of Slavic tribes in the south-Danubian territory. The lexical borrowings dominate in its shepherd and dairy-farming terminology, for example: fiÃÂor âÂÂyoung shepherdâ â ficior, zira âÂÂwheyâ â zer. Linguist Maria Osman-Zavera discusses more than 200 lexical units of Romanian provenience in Bulgarian dialects. Of these words most refer to:
Of various categories are: bezna, dià ¾ma, draptà Âno, gluma, krecavo, maruncÃÂkÃÂ, mut, puÃÂos, vitrig, blÃÂnda, kaluà ¡, kaprar, kiÃÂera, lauta, lingurÃÂ, moà ¡, moà ¡ija, nunko, pastrija, pomana, puà ¡karia, rudà ¾ina, vataf.
The discourse marker üðù (maÃÂ) in Bulgarian is unanimously accepted as a Romanian loan while Aromanian seemed to have been the calque-source for the possessive perfect in Macedonian, as well as it could have calqued the l-perfect from Macedonian.
Examples of words that entered Serbo-Croatian at wider level: < (crocus), < (hut, cottage), < (a type of cheese), < (wooden vessel for wine or brandy), < (a rocky promontory), < (polenta), < (young little hen).
Istro-Romanian contributed to Croatian and Slovene regional lexes in Istrian Peninsula: birikata, glindura (Ro. ghindurà< Lat. glandula), degeÃÂkati in Croatian and gadÃÂÃÂkati in Slovene, mugara, petrikati, puca, sugati, à ¡urla, à ¾inà ¾ire. Words like bata (Ro. baltÃÂ) and ÃÂuma (Ro. ciumÃÂ) are also considered loanwords from Istro-Romanian in the region, although their ultimate etymology is disputed. On Krk island in Croatia, where a community of Morlachs was settled from the 15th century, further words such as à ¡pilià ¡Ã´r (Romanian spiniÃÂor) or ÃÂÃÂra, ÃÂÃÂralo (ciur in Istro-Romanian - colander) entered the local language.
Words entered the Serbo-Croatian vocabulary at the early Common Romanian stage, as well. , meaning "mountain pass", is a loanword from Greek which in turn borrowed it from Proto-Romanian, and meaning "gap in the middle of a pack saddle", comes from a Proto-Romanian form of Vulgar Latin *intersellum.
Czech, Polish, and Slovak languages have a few words in common from Romanian related to shepherd and farming terminology such as Slovak/Polish bryndza / Czech/Ukrainian brynza âÂÂsheep cheeseâ â Rom. brânzàor Czech/Polish/Slovak koliba / Ukrainian (dial.) kolyba âÂÂhut, shelterâ â Rom. colibÃÂ, although it is not clear if they are direct borrowings in each of these languages or internally Slavic mediation of borrowings. Other words of Romanian origin common among Slavic languages in the Carpathian region are: carek (ÃÂarc), ÃÂutura (ciuturÃÂ), fujara (fluier), klaga or glaga (cheag), grapa or gropa (groapÃÂ), halbija (albie), komarnik (comarnic), kulastra or kuraà ¡va (colastrÃÂ), laja (laie), merynda (merinde), murgana (murg), plekat' or plegat' (plecat), podià ¡or (podiÃÂor), redykat (rÃÂdicat), rumigat' (rumegat), siuty, à ¡uty, or ÃÂuty (ciutÃÂ), strunga (strungÃÂ), urda (urdÃÂ).
Of the West and East Slavic languages more words seem to have entered Ukrainian, mostly at a dialectal level, though the Moldavian dialect: fryka <fricà(fear), pizma < pizmà(envy), korkobecâÂÂ< curcubetà(pumpkin), partâ < parte (part), harmasar < armÃÂsar (stallion), plaÃÂynda < plÃÂcintà(pie), and tajstra < traistà(shoulder bag). More words can be found in the Hutsul dialect: blynda < blândà(mole, birthmark), cara < ÃÂarà(country), flekew < flÃÂcÃÂu (boy, young man), geuzura< gaurà(hole), kapestra < cÃÂpÃÂstru (halter, bridle), malaj < mÃÂlai (corn, old meaning millet), pomana < pomanà(dole, alms), tjar < chiar (just, even), zgarda < zgardà(dog collar).
Moravian Wallachia's regional variety has a series of words from Romanian: arenda, baÃÂi, bir-bir (<bîr), ÃÂioara, geleta, groapa, grun, vakeà ¡ka (oacheÃÂÃÂ), kornuta or kurnuta, lak, maÃÂiukca, magura, merinde, pastyr, redykat, klag or glag (cheag), frombia, dzer, fujara (fluier), baÃÂa, kolyba, pistrula, murgana, brynza, urda, strigoj, vatuj, strunga, vatra.
Some words have been noted mostly in Polish and in South-Western Ukrainian dialects: kalarasz < cÃÂlÃÂraÃÂ, galbin < galben, koszary < coÃÂar, chusta < fustÃÂ, hurm, hurma < urmÃÂ, dzama < zamÃÂ, kraÃÂun< CrÃÂciun, praà ¡tiba < prÃÂÃÂi, byà ¡yha < bÃÂÃÂicÃÂ, caryna < ÃÂarinÃÂ, falÃÂa < falce, gyrlyga < cârlig, à ¾erep < jneapÃÂn.
Although there is a well-established opinion among the linguists around the world that the word ciumàâÂÂplagueâ could not have come into the Slavic languages from Romanian, a couple of Romanian linguists believe otherwise.