Originally Posted by
dviz
No, old Romanian didn't have a stronger Slavic flavor. In fact, old Romanian had a larger proportion of Latin origin words. Many of these were later re-imported from French as modern counterparts to medieval words.
Regardless, no Latinization of Romanian ever happened, first of all because one could not teach illiterate peasants how to speak with more Latin origin words, since 95% of the population never went to school during the 1750-1850 period (starting with Scoala Ardeleana) when this supposed Relatinization took place.
Romanian, like any other European language, went through a process of modernization during the 18 and 19th centuries - not more, not less than other European languages. Modern concepts were imported from French, and older words, tied to medieval life, be them of Latin or Slavic origin, saw a decrease in usage. However, these older words were never suppressed in the language, they are still part of the Romanian vocabulary, and in specific contexts (like for instance in religious speech) they are still in use.
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