The Romanian language, a Romance language, evolved from Latin as spoken by the Roman colonizers who settled in the region of Dacia (modern-day Romania and Moldova) after the Roman Empire conquered it in 106 AD. Over centuries, the Latin spoken in the province began to merge with local Dacian and other influences, including Slavic languages, Greek, Turkish, Hungarian, and others, due to the region's complex history of invasions and cultural exchanges. As a result, Romanian retained a strong Latin foundation, especially in its vocabulary and grammatical structure, while also incorporating significant elements from neighboring languages, especially Slavic ones, due to prolonged contact and political rule in the medieval period.

​

In the modern era, Romanian has undergone significant standardization, particularly in the 19th century, as part of a broader movement to establish a national identity. The language was influenced by the Latin revival, and scholars aimed to purify it by removing non-Latin elements, especially Slavic and Turkish loanwords. The introduction of the Latin alphabet in 1860 replaced the Cyrillic script, further reinforcing the language’s Latin heritage. Romanian's linguistic development has been shaped by historical and political factors, including Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian domination, as well as its more recent integration into the globalized world. Today, Romanian is the official language of Romania and Moldova, spoken by over 24 million people.​