Romansh
/ˈroʊ.mənʃ/noun
A Romance language spoken chiefly in the Swiss canton of Graubünden.
Did you know?Romansh is one of Switzerland’s four national languages, yet it is spoken by only a small minority of the country’s population and exists in several regional varieties.
Etymological Timeline
1st century BCE–1st century CE
Latin
Rōmānus
“Roman; belonging to Rome”
Late Latin
Latin
rōmānicē
“in the Roman manner; in the Roman vernacular”
Early Medieval period
Vulgar Latin
Romanice
“in the Romance vernacular, as opposed to learned Latin”
9th–12th centuries
Old French and related Romance varieties
romanz
“A Romance vernacular or text written in that vernacular”
16th–19th centuries
German / Romansh
Romansch / rumantsch
“The Romance language of the Swiss Alpine region”
Modern English
English
Romansh
“The Swiss Romance language spoken mainly in Graubünden”