Gacovic Od romanskog stanovnistva do Rumuna Timocana (VII-XVI vek) knjiga III (1)

300 Slavoljub Gacović
as barbarian tribes, which certainly points to a new nation that in the sources
from the ninth century onwards could be called the Vlachs.
Having broken into Pannonia in 895/96, the Hungarians, according to
the tradition of Anonymous from the twelfth century, found the „Vlachs
(Romanians = SG), or Roman shepherds* (Blachii ac pastores Romanorum),
and the Viachs/Romanians from Gelu's duchy, and Glad’s duchy in Banat,
between Mures and the Danube, who opposed the expansion of the
Hungarians „with a large army of horsemen and infantry, with the help of
the Kumans, Bulgarians and Vlachs (= Romanians)®. In the ninth century,
the Kumans allegedly arrived at the Danube, and, according to Radu Pausan
and Ionel Chonkin, ,there may be confusion between Kumans and
Romanians due to initial consonants K/R“. The contemporary source
Anonymous P(etrus) dictus magister ... Bele regis Hungariae notarius may
confirm this hypothesis with the following words: ,they came from Vidin“
(de Bhudin castro egresus), assuming Vlachs, who could be, in fact, the
Romanians of the Timok zone. But even if Pausan’s and Conkin’s is not
accepted, if the Vlachs, descendants of the Dacians and the Bessi, according
to Kekaumenos, were located on the banks of the Danube and Sava rivers
until the mid-eleventh century, why should gens Timocianorum be a Serbian
or Slavic tribe, and not Roman population, more so because their name is
derived from their Romanized ancestors, the Thracian tribes Timacha, and
even more so as gens Timocianorum is in any source not referred to as a
Serbian or Slavic tribe in the area where many European (and Serbian)
researchers find the cradle of the Romanian people, who originated and lived
by ones until the eleventh or twelfth, and by others until the fourteenth
century in the Timok - Osogovo - Sara area, and who were a living barrier
between eastern and western South Slavic tribes, where today we have the
area of Prizren-Timok dialect, very rich in isoglosses and balkanisms
incurred upon the meeting of Slavic and Roman languages. That the
Romans/Romanians lived there is proved by the anthropological
composition of the population on the basis of osteological investigations at
the site Karatas — a castle near Kladovo, and Vajuga I, on the banks of the
Danube, between Kladovo and Milutinovac, and the location
Pesak/Korbovo, on the banks of the Danube, also in the Timok zone, dated
from the ninth to the tenth century, at the time when gens Timocianorum are
mentioned. Since the ,location of Pesak/Korbovo coincides with the
aforementioned language rift between east and west South Slavic language
groups, it can be assumed that in the buffer zone, Roman population does
exist in the interstitial, which from the end of the tenth century came in a
closer contact with the Slavs“ and, therefore, we can conclude that of the
Slavs, when speaking about the gens Timocianorum, there can be no sign in
the ninth century, but can only be spoken of the Latin or Protoromanian
Romanizacija i romansko stanovnistvo Timocke zone (I-XVI vek) 301
population or, at best, the Timok population which includes Roman and
Slavic population. According to Tibor Zivkovié, we can derive the
conclusion „of the weak mixing of the natives with the Slavs between the
seventh and the tenth centuries. Brahicranisation process, which can be
explained by en impact of a different ethnic substratum, just shows that the
merger of two ethnic groups took place after the eleventh century ... *, which
in turn ,,confirms the opinion previously disclosed that the central area of the
Balkans, especially Serbia, has not been even remotely completely deserted
and the Roman population, true, in the mountainous areas, was preserved
until the eleventh century, when its migration took place*, which is
confirmed by Kekaumenos in the eleventh century, who said that on the
banks of the Danube and Sava lived the Vlachs, where the Serbs live in the
more recent times (Z€pPot), in inhospitable naturally enclosed places, and,
therefore, gens Timocianorum of the ninth century could not have been
Slavs, but Romans/Protoromanians, who could be somewhat in cohabitation
with the Slavic population, so, at best, the gens Timocianorum can be spoken
of as the population from the Timok.
The general conclusion, therefore, adopted on the basis of written
documents, historical and anthropological and osteological remains is that
gens Timocianorum mentioned in Einhard’s annals were Roman/Protoromanian
population in the area of the upper and middle course of Timok,
where the names of Procopius’scastles from the sixth century are preserved
in place-names through the Turkish census books to this day, for example.
Aldanes - Aldinac, Arsatza - Rsovci, Arsen — Razanj, Brarkedon -
Brakinova, Burdopes - Burdimo, Garkes - Grkinja, Gurvikon - Kurvingrad
near Niš, Kalis - Kalna, Kandilar - Kandilice, Mucianikastelon - Mučibaba,
Mutzipara - Mučkovce, ludaios - Zidaik, Novae - Nova, Ratiaria - Aréar,
Almus - Lom, Bononia stbug. *snasms - Vidin,
Florentiniana - Florentin, Bratzista < Bragi sta - Bracin, Setlotes <
vulgarnolat. Siculétae > Sglat - Zlot, Timiana – Tamjanica, etc.
In addition to the names of ancient and late antique castles above the
territory of today's Timok zone, whose names are kept in today’s toponymy,
indicating one of the many so-called enclaves of Romanized native
population, the names of rivers offer the most convincing evidence of
Roman population in the relevant area: Danuvius — Danube, Savus - Sava,
Dravus - Drava, Pincus - Pek, Timacus — Timok, *Malvus - Mlava, Margus -
Morava, Kiabros - Cibrica, Almus - Lom, Asemus - Osem, Jatrus — Jetra, and
even beyond that area, as evidenced by the names of rivers, such as Drinus -
Drina, Colapis - Kupa, Oienus — Una, Bunnos - Buna, Urbanus - Vrbas,
Pelva — Pliva, Basuntius — Bosut, Tibissus - Tamis, Pathissus - Tisa, Naron -
Neretva, Barbanna - Bojana, Cinu - Cijevina, and many other hydronyms in