Csangos

The Csango people (Hungarian: Csángók, Romanian: Ceangăi) are a ethnographic group of Roman Catholic faith living mostly in the Romanian region of Moldavia, especially in Bacău County. Their traditional language, Csango, an old Hungarian dialect, is currently used by only a minority of the Csango population group.

Etymology of Csángó

It is has been suggested that the name Csángó originated as a Hungarian word meaning "which sounds unpleasant"; purportedly a reference to sibilation, in the pronunciation of some Hungarian consonants by Csángó people.

Alternative explanations include the Hungarian word elcsángált, meaning "went to", or the phrase csángatta a harangot ("ring the bell").

History, culture, identity

Middle Age sources

Perugia, 14 November 1234: Pope Gregory IX to Béla IV, king of Hungary

"In the Cuman bishopric - as we were informed - is living a people called Vallah and others, Hungarians and Germans as well, who came here from the Hungarian Kingdom."

Roman, 13 April 1562: Report of the Habsburg Agent, John Belsius, to the Emperor Ferdinand the First