Any E3b's Around Connected to Vlachs?

[Andrew M]

Native to the Balkans is a group of around 10,000,000 that claims to be descended from the Romans. Others call them Vlachs, although they use "Romani, Rumani or Aromani" (which I can see could lead to confusion with Gypsies who call themselves Romani and Roma).

Some theorize that they are Romanized Thracians. Nevertheless, there seems to be a strong connection with Vlachs and E3b1. Googling "Vlach" give quite a wide range of information, but for me a piece of the ancestral match puzzle came into place when my only 12/12 contact mentioned that his father's ancestry was Vlach from the north-eastern Carpatians. I think it may be a link to the many Eastern European and Latin European close matches that appear on my REO.

Here's a link from Encyclopdia Britannica: http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9075608/Vlach

Just one last note from what I read: the majority of the residents in Transylvania are Vlachs.

[lgmayka]

I'm beginning to wonder whether I myself am descended from Vlachs. I am an I1b of southeastern Polish ancestry, and I have read that Vlachs settled in the Carpathians as far west as that (and perhaps even farther, into what is now the Czech Republic). And of course, Romania is a hotbed of I1b.

[Andrew M]

Could be. I read somewhere in a thread on this forum (last spring I believe) that I's and E3b's were fellow-travellers in the Balkan area. My "match" comes from Poland/Ukraine (with a Polish name) but is ethnically Vlach. "Vlach" means "stranger" and is etimologically (sp?) related to "Wales" and "Wallach."

[Rossi]

Originally Posted by Andrew M

Could be. I read somewhere in a thread on this forum (last spring I believe) that I's and E3b's were fellow-travellers in the Balkan area. My "match" comes from Poland/Ukraine (with a Polish name) but is ethnically Vlach. "Vlach" means "stranger" and is etimologically (sp?) related to "Wales" and "Wallach."

I have also read that I's and E3b's followed similar migration paths.

[lgmayka]

Originally Posted by Andrew M

"Vlach" means "stranger" and is etimologically (sp?) related to "Wales" and "Wallach."

'Vlach' was reportedly used as the Slavic term for anyone who spoke a Romance language, including both Romanian and Italian. Thus, the modern Polish word for an Italian is 'Wloch'. (The 'w' is pronounced like an English 'v'.)

[lgmayka]

This paper

http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/re...22/10/1964.pdf

gives the following haplogroup percentages for Romanians (drawing on other papers):

R1b 18.0
R1a 20.0
I1b 17.7
E3b1 21.4

[Andrew M]

Here's a list of Vlachs who have made names for themselves on the world stage: http://experts.about.com/e/l/li/List_of_Vlachs.htm

[Andrew M]

Things got narrowed down a little further. My 12/12 match mentioned paternal links to an ethnic group called the Lemko. From what I quickly researched, the Lemko are pastoral farmers related to the Vlachs. They got moved around through Poland and the Ukraine in the last century or two. Andy Warhol is a famous member of this unique group.

[lgmayka]

Originally Posted by Andrew M

My 12/12 match mentioned paternal links to an ethnic group called the Lemko. From what I quickly researched, the Lemko are pastoral farmers related to the Vlachs. They got moved around through Poland and the Ukraine in the last century or two.

Anyone of Lemko ancestry is welcome to join the Polish Project, both because the Lemko homeland is in modern southeastern Poland and because historically, the Lemko were part of the Renaissance Polish-Lithuanian Republic.

http://www.ftdna.com/public/polish

Family Tree DNA also has a very focused Carpatho-Rusyn Project. The Lemko, as well as the Bojko and Hutsul, are Carpatho-Rusyns:

http://www.ftdna.com/public/carpatho-rusyn

A customer of Lemko ancestry is welcome to join both projects.

Here is a web site on the Lemko:

http://lemko.org/

[Andrew M]

I'll pass on the information.

I also noticed that Galicia (sometimes part of Austria) is a "homeland" for Carpathian Rusyns. There's a place in Spain also known as Galicia. It's funny that my RAO's have Galicia listed and I don't know which of them it refers to.

My closest matches are still split between folks from the Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Lithuania and the Portugal, Spain and France bunch. Hopefully the 25 marker test due on Nov. 8 will shed more light.