Editing Dacian language (section)

====Historical linguistic overview====
Mainstream scholarship believes the Dacian language had become established as the predominant language north of the Danube in Dacia well before 1000&nbsp;BC and south of the river, in Moesia, before 500&nbsp;BC.

Starting around 400&nbsp;BC, Celtic groups, moving out of their [[La Tène culture|La Tène]] cultural heartland in southern Germany/eastern Gaul, penetrated and settled south-eastern Europe as far as the Black Sea and into [[Anatolia]]. By c. 250&nbsp;BC, much of the modern states of Austria, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania, and Bessarabia and Moesia, were under Celtic cultural influence and probably political domination in many regions.{{sfn|Twist|2001|p=59}} This migratory process brought Celtic material culture, especially advanced in metallurgy, to the Illyrian and Dacian tribes. Especially intensive Celtic settlement, as evidenced by concentrations of La Tène-type cemeteries, took place in Austria, Slovakia, the Hungarian Plain, Transylvania, Bessarabia and eastern Thrace.{{sfn|Twist|2001|p=69}} Central Transylvania appears to have become a Celtic enclave or unitary kingdom, according to Batty.{{sfn|Batty|2007|p=279}} It is likely that during the period of Celtic pre-eminence, the Dacian language was eclipsed by Celtic dialects in Transylvania. In Moesia, South of the Danube, there was also extensive Celticisation.{{sfn|Twist|2001|p=59}} An example is the [[Scordisci]] tribe of Moesia Superior, reported by the ancient historian [[Livy]] to be Celtic-speaking and whose culture displays Celtic features.

By 60&nbsp;BC, Celtic political hegemony in the region appears to have collapsed, and the indigenous Dacian tribes throughout the region appear to have reasserted their identity and political independence.{{sfn|Twist|2001|p=91}} This process may have been partly due to the career of the Getan king [[Burebista]] (ruled ca 80&nbsp;– 44&nbsp;BC), who appears to have coalesced several Getic and Dacian tribes under his leadership. It is likely that in this period, the Dacian language regained its former predominance in Transylvania.

In 29–26 BC, Moesia was conquered and annexed by the Romans. There followed an intensive process of Romanisation. The Danube, as the new frontier of the empire and main fluvial supply route for the Roman military, was soon dotted with forts and supply depots, which were garrisoned by several [[Roman legion|legions]] and many [[Roman auxiliaries|auxiliary]] units. Numerous colonies of Roman army veterans were established. The presence of the Roman military resulted in a huge influx of non-Dacian immigrants, such as soldiers, their dependents, ancillary workers and merchants, from every part of the Roman Empire, especially from the rest of the Balkans, into Moesia. It is likely that by the time the emperor Trajan invaded Dacia (101–6), the Dacian language had been largely replaced by Latin in Moesia.

The conquest of Dacia saw a similar process of Romanisation north of the Danube, so that by 200&nbsp;AD, Latin was probably predominant in the zone permanently occupied by the Romans. In addition, it appears that some unoccupied parts of the dava zone were overrun, either before or during the Dacian Wars, by Sarmatian tribes; for example, eastern Wallachia, which had fallen under the [[Roxolani]] by 68&nbsp;AD.{{sfn|Tacitus, Histories|loc=I.79}} By around 200&nbsp;AD, it is likely that the Dacian language was confined to those parts of the dava zone occupied by the [[Free Dacian]] groups, which may have amounted to little more than the eastern Carpathians.

Under the emperor [[Aurelian]] (r. 270–275), the Romans withdrew their administration and armed forces, and possibly a significant proportion of the provincial population, from the part of Dacia they ruled. The subsequent linguistic status of this region is disputed. Traditional Romanian historiography maintains that a Latin-speaking population persisted into medieval times, to form the basis of today's Romanian-speaking inhabitants. But this hypothesis lacks evidential basis (e.g., the absence of any post-275 Latin inscriptions in the region, other than on imported Roman coins/artefacts). What is certain is that by AD 300, the entire North Danubian region had fallen under the political domination of Germanic-speaking groups, a hegemony that continued until c. AD 500: the [[Goths]] held overall hegemony, and under them, lesser Germanic tribes such as the [[Taifali]] and [[Gepids]]. Some historians consider that the region became Germanic-speaking during this period.{{sfn|Heather|1999|p=155}} At least one part, [[Wallachia]], may have become Slavic-speaking by AD 600, as it is routinely referred to ''Sklavinía'' (Greek for "Land of the Slavs") by contemporary Byzantine chroniclers. The survival of the Dacian language in this period is impossible to determine, due to a complete lack of documentation. However, it is generally believed that the language was extinct by AD 600.