The Aromanians, often called Vlachs in historical sources, speak Aromanian, an Eastern Romance variety very close to Romanian. Whether it counts as a language or a dialect depends largely on the definition, and the discussion carries an identity stake as well, which specialists are still debating. Aromanian is not uniform. It differs greatly from one region to another, because Aromanians do not live in compact zones but in villages and towns scattered over a wide area, and the speech often differs in vocabulary even between two neighbouring villages. For centuries Aromanians have lived in the southern Balkans, and their settlements, family networks and routes of movement cross the present borders of Greece, Albania, North Macedonia and Bulgaria; many also settled in Romania, from the eighteenth century onward, and in the twentieth century above all in Dobruja.

Names and controversies

Aromanians call themselves Armân, in some areas Rrămân. Others have called them by other names: Vlachs in the languages of their neighbours and in many historical sources, Macedo-Romanians in older Romanian scholarship, Aromanians in the international literature. Each name has a history, and none is entirely neutral.

The word Vlach has not always meant what it means today. In medieval and early modern documents it could name a Romance-speaking people, but also a shepherd of any origin, or anyone who lived in the mountains and moved with flocks, whatever language he spoke. That is why the medieval attestations are confusing for us: a Vlach in a document is not necessarily an Aromanian, and sometimes not even a Romance speaker. Like all ethnic names in use today, Vlach has also taken on political meanings, which in some contexts lead to conflicts.

Most Aromanians are divided between two camps, those who regard themselves as Romanian and those who regard themselves as Greek, but in the Balkans I have also met Aromanians who see themselves as Albanian, Macedonian or Bulgarian, others who feel both at once, and some who see themselves as a people apart. It is not my wish to decide who is right. As an anthropologist I note this with interest, without wanting to establish supreme truths where life has so many shades. I believe in diffuse and overlapping identities, which change with place, age and interlocutor and often combine elements that national discourse keeps apart. This is a community that fascinates me, and for such a world a single name is not enough.

Mountain herding and seasonal transhumance are important parts of the history of some Aromanian communities, but they are not the whole story. Aromanian-speaking merchants, craftsmen, teachers, builders and urban families helped shape towns as well as villages. Moscopole (Voskopojë), Kruševo (Crușuva), Metsovo (Aminciu) and other centres illustrate different forms of settlement and mobility. Population movement, schooling, state boundaries and language policy changed these worlds in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The Manakia brothers were born into this setting. Their photographs include villages, clothing, rituals and everyday work, yet they also recorded officers, political celebrations, urban life and people with many different linguistic and religious affiliations. Describing them only as photographers of “the Aromanians” would narrow a much larger historical record.

Beyond Yesterday therefore retains Aromanian place names alongside contemporary official names, without claiming that one name cancels another. Linguistic forms are evidence of historical usage, movement and memory. They should be preserved, sourced and searchable. The goal is to help visitors understand why the same village may appear under several names in different albums, maps, archives and family stories.

For fuller historical and linguistic discussion, see the Bibliography, particularly the work of Emil Țîrcomnicu, Ioana Popescu and Nikolaos Siokis. This short introduction provides context for reading the photographs; it is not a substitute for the history of individual Aromanian communities.