Deromanization

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The process or act of removing Roman influences, characteristics, or elements from a culture, language, or region; the reversal or rejection of Romanization efforts in historical or linguistic contexts; the cultural, political, or linguistic transition away from Roman styles or systems
2. An act of eliminating or reversing Roman features, customs, or language traits from a society or territory; a shift away from Roman cultural or administrative dominance; the undoing or reduction of Roman impact in historical or social development
3. The procedure of stripping away Roman-derived aspects such as language, law, or customs from a population or area; a return or reversion to pre-Roman conditions or indigenous identities; a transformation marked by the decline of Roman cultural or institutional presence

Etymology: The word is a modern formation. Its prefix, "de-", comes from Latin "de," meaning "away from" or "reversal," and is attached to "romanization," which is built from "Romanus" plus the verb-forming suffix "-ize." Ancient Romans had no such term for the fading of their own culture. The base word has two senses. Historically, "romanization" describes how provincial peoples took on Roman language, law, dress and religion, a process historians debate in places such as Roman Britain. It also has a narrower technical sense: transliterating a non-Latin script, such as Cyrillic or Chinese characters, into Roman letters. The reversed term follows the first, cultural sense, so it describes a population or region shedding Roman institutions and returning to earlier languages or traditions.

Synonyms: deromanisation, removal of Roman numerals

Antonyms: romanization, romanisation