History of the term Wallon

The history of the term Wallon and its derivatives begins with the ancient Germanic word walh, which generally referred to Celtic- or Romance-speaking populations with whom the Germanic peoples had contact. However, the exact etymology and the way the term entered the French language remain uncertain. One theory suggests it was borrowed from Old Franconian into Medieval Latin before evolving into Old French.^{[N 1]} Another possibility is that it derives from wallec,^{[N 2]} referring specifically to the langue d'oïl spoken in the Low Countries.^[1] The term wallon in its modern form first appears in the 15th century, notably in the Memoirs of the medieval chronicler Jean de Haynin [fr].^[2] Over the centuries, the semantic range of Wallon and related terms such as Wallonie gradually narrowed, becoming an endonym identifying the Walloon people, with this process continuing to the present day.^{[N 3]}

The linguistic history of Wallon has been mainly studied within the context of the Walloon Movement. The most comprehensive study on the subject is Albert Henry's Histoire des mots Wallon et Wallonie, which explores how the Walloons have sought to understand and affirm their identity through the evolving meaning of these terms.^[3]

History of the term Wallon

Germanic Origins and Latin Borrowing

See also: *Walhaz

The earliest attestations related to the French word Wallon are found in Latin texts, reflecting the term’s Germanic roots.^[4]

The root walh dates back to Proto-Germanic, where it originally referred to foreign or Romance-speaking peoples. The adjective Walonicus (or the Central French variant Gualonicus) meant "Romance speaking" and was used in contrast to Teutonicus (Germanic-speaking). This distinction was linguistic rather than ethnic,^{[N 4]} encompassing all Romance speakers in Gaul,^[5] but later narrowed to specifically denote speakers of the langue d'oïl in Neustria.^[6]

One Latin document mentioning lingua Vallonica refers to the langue d'oïl spoken around Tournai, showing the term’s integration into Latin usage without reference to its Germanic origins. This suggests that by that time, Vallonica had become a common descriptor in bilingual regions straddling Romance and Germanic linguistic areas.

Early appearances in Romance languages

Terms related to Wallon did not appear in the langue d'oïl until the late 13th century. One early occurrence is the word walois, found in the 1285 poem Tournament of Chauvency by Jacques Bretel.

Details of the Chauvency Tournament.

In this context, walois refers to a distorted or unfamiliar variety of French, likely a regional langue d'oïl spoken near Germanic-language areas. Some manuscript variants substitute roman for walois, further indicating its Romance linguistic reference.^[7] A related feminine form, walesch(e), appears in works such as the Poésies of Gilles Li Muisis, again denoting a Romance language, likely the local langue d’oïl.^[8] In regions like Tournai, both walesch and romans were used to describe the same language.^[9] The suffix -esche, derived from Latinized Germanic -isca, was commonly used in the langue d’oïl to form feminine adjectives of nationality or language, as seen in terms like tiesche langue (German), danesche langue (Danish), and la gente englesche (the English people). The term walois follows the same pattern, sharing roots with gaulois (Gallic).^[10] The term walois follows the same pattern, sharing roots with gaulois (Gallic).

In 1447, Jean Wauquelin, a translator from Picardy, used terms such as wallec, wallecq, and wallet in his prose adaptation of the Gérard de Roussillon legend. He also used roman, françois, and langue maternelle to describe the same linguistic variety, without distinguishing it from standard French or identifying it as a dialect.^[11] In this Picard context, the -s in wallesc had become silent, giving rise to forms like wallec.

By 1477, the phrase Pays walecques ("Walloon lands") appeared in Doléances [fr] submitted to Mary of Burgundy and in the Great Privilege that followed.

Linguist Maurits Gysseling suggests that a similar form, walesch, likely existed in Dutch by the 11th century, although written evidence appears only from the 13th century, using the spelling walsch.^{[N 5]}

Before the 14th century, the verb walesquier ("to speak an incomprehensible language") is also attested,^{[N 6]} notably in the Roman de Cassidorus by Baudoin Butor.^[12] This usage, found in the Picard-speaking region, implies the existence of wallesc among local Romance-speaking communities.^[13] According to Albert Henry, these early terms were not ethnic labels but rather linguistic descriptors, used in limited areas near Germanic-language regions.^[14]

Birth of Wallon

The term Wallon first appears in the second half of the 15th century, in the form Vallons. It is used by Jean de Haynin [fr] to distinguish Burgundian troops from those of Liège during a skirmish around 1465, where Vallons is contrasted with Liégeois.^[15]

According to Albert Henry, this initial usage, alongside the term Tiesons, reflects a Burgundian perspective. It coincides with the last known appearances of earlier equivalents, such as wal(l)ec, found in the Great Privilege of Mary of Burgundy.

The first attested use of Wallon with an initial W—meaning an inhabitant of the Romance-speaking region of the Low Countries—is found in the writings of Jean Froissart, a chronicler from the Mons-Valenciennes area. Froissart, active in the Burgundian court, used the term within a Picard linguistic context. The form Wallon appears to be a semi-learned construction that replaced earlier variants of the same Germanic origin, such as walec and walesch. It may have been modeled on Tieson, another ethnonym from the region.^[16]

The suffix -on, used in other ethnonyms like Teuton, Letton, and Breton, replaced earlier forms ending in -esch, -esc, or -eske. The root itself likely comes from a more recent Dutch borrowing (walesch, walec), ultimately tracing back to Old Low Franconian walhisk, like walois and gaulois.

Wallon in the 16th century

By the 16th century, the term Wallon had gained broader usage in French and other European languages, including Spanish and English. However, its meaning became increasingly ambiguous due to semantic shifts, as clearer distinctions began to emerge between French and regional dialects. Around this time, the concept of "dialect" itself also began to take shape.^[17]

Jean Lemaire de Belges and the regional sense

Jean Lemaire de Belges (or of Bavai) is considered by Albert Henry to be a key figure in the development of the term Wallon.^[17] In his Illustrations de la Gaule et singularitez de Troye (1510–1511), Lemaire distinguishes between speakers of Low German (Thiois or Teutonic) in parts of Brabant, and those who speak what he calls the "old Gallic language," identified as Walloon or Roman. He locates this Romance language in regions such as Hainaut, Cambrai, Artois, Namur, Liège, Lorraine, the Ardennes, and Roman Brabant. He further contrasts it with French, describing French as more modern and dynamic in comparison.^[18]

In the play Henry VI, William Shakespeare uses the term "walloon" to refer to the Walloon region.

In this context, Walloon is understood as a regional Romance language used in the Romance-speaking parts of the Low Countries. This definition appears in other languages as well. For instance, in English, the term Walloon appears in Shakespeare's Henry VI (Part I),^[19] where it refers to the region south of modern-day Belgium: "the regions of Artois, Walloon and Picardy." The reference suggests that the term was already recognized in English as denoting a geographic and linguistic area.

In the 16th century, Walloon was also distinguished from other langue d’oïl dialects by contemporary writers, although precise geographic boundaries remained vague. Henri Estienne, or example, recognized a linguistic relationship between Walloon and Picard, suggesting that their vocabulary could enrich the French language.^[20] Claude Fauchet regarded Walloon as a rustic Romance idiom, stemming from the older forms of langue d’oïl.^[21] Likewise, Pierre de Ronsard grouped Walloon and Picard together, describing them as linguistic remnants of the earlier post-Latin vernaculars of Gaul.^[22]

Oïl" and 'Burgundian' meanings

By the 16th century, the term Wallon was no longer confined to local authors in the Low Countries. It had entered broader European usage, including in English and Spanish scholarship. In 1530, English linguist John Palsgrave referred to Wallon in his Esclaircissement de la langue françoyse, identifying it as the variety of French spoken in the Burgundian Netherlands. Around the same time, Spanish historiographer Juan Cristóbal Calvete de Estrella noted the distinction between Parisian French and lengua valona, treating the latter as a more archaic or corrupt variant of French.^{[N 7]}

At this time, Wallon was often used to refer to Romance or langue d’oïl varieties spoken along the linguistic frontier between Romance- and Germanic-speaking regions, extending from the North Sea to Lorraine.^[23] Albert Henry cites Ambroise Paré' Voyage de Metz (1552), in which an Italian captain is described as speaking German, Spanish, and Walloon, alongside his native tongue—demonstrating the recognition of Wallon as a distinct linguistic form.^[24]

According to Henry, and following Maurice Bossard, this designation extended as far as Switzerland. Texts from the Montbéliard region, as well as writings by Genevan historian François Bonivard, used wallon and langue wallon to denote the Romance varieties spoken along the frontier with Germanic regions, including Swiss Romandy and the Franco-Provençal dialect of the Valais.^[25] This broader usage, derived from Jean Lemaire de Belges, disappeared from Bonivard’s writings after 1551 but survived in academic contexts into the early 20th century. An example is the Grammaire du patois wallon du canton de La Poutroye by Abbé Simon, published in Paris in 1900.^[26]

A related and enduring usage was based on the political geography of the Burgundian Netherlands. This "Burgundian" sense of Wallon persisted into the 17th century. Louis de Haynin [fr], Seigneur du Cornet, described Belgium as divided into two main regions: Walloon Belgium and German or Flemish Belgium. Walloon Belgium was said to include Artois, Lille, Douai, Orchies (also referred to as Gaulish or Walloon Flanders), Cambresis, Tournaisis, Hainaut, Valenciennes, Namur, Walloon Brabant, Luxembourg, and Liège.^[27]

This broad geopolitical understanding of Wallon persisted in some scholarly and encyclopedic sources well into the 20th century. The Larousse du XXe siècle (1963) described Wallons as the population of southeastern Belgium (excluding the Arlon district in Belgian Luxembourg), with extensions into neighboring French departments such as Nord, Aisne, and Ardennes. The same geographical range applied to the Walloon dialects.^[28]

Linguist Jules Feller, cited by Albert Henry, wrote in 1920 that:

Even today, not only the population of French-speaking Belgium but also beyond our borders, in French Flanders—Lille, Douai, Arras, Valenciennes, Cambrai, Avesnes—as well as in Thiérache, Rethelois, and Ardennes, identify as Walloons and declare that they speak Walloon.^[29]

However, Henry concludes that by 1963, the Burgundian definition of Wallon had largely fallen out of general usage. The term now typically refers to the inhabitants of Wallonia, the predominantly French-speaking southern region of modern Belgium.^[30]

Wallon and Roman

Historian Albert Henry has compiled numerous documents showing that the term Wallon was historically equivalent to Roman, though Roman predates it. He notes that regional designations such as Brabant wallon and Flandre wallonne only gradually replaced earlier terms like Roman Pays de Brabant, Roman Brabant, or Flandre gallicane starting in the 17th century. In contrast, some Romance-speaking areas retained the Roman designation longer, particularly within the Duchy of Luxembourg and the Gaume region, which were part of the Electorate of Trier and referred to as Roman Pays de Luxembourg and Romance Terre, respectively.^[31]

The Error of Étienne Pasquier

The etymology of Wallon was long misunderstood. One influential but incorrect theory, advanced by Étienne Pasquier, claimed that Wallon derived from Gaulois (Gaulish), based on the assertion that Latins could not pronounce the letter "G." This mistaken belief was later popularized by Jean Bodin, who included a pun in his République (1572 edition):

We are called Wallons by the Belgians, because it happened that the ancient Gauls, as they traveled the world, would ask one another 'Where are we going?' meaning, 'To what place are we heading?' And it is probable that they derived the name Ouallons from this, which the Latins could not pronounce without altering it by using the letter G.

— Henry 1990, p. 112

This anecdote, although spurious, had cultural resonance. The pun "Wallons-nous?" remains in contemporary use, notably as the title of a Walloon-language program on RTBF and the name of a non-profit organization promoting cultural activities in Wallonia.^[32]

Wallon in the 17th century

In the 17th century, the semantic scope of Wallon remained relatively stable, though the linguistic distinction between French and Walloon became more apparent. Dominique Bouhours, cited by Henry, observed that a Dutchman might confuse French with Walloon, referencing Erasmus's criticisms of the French language. However, Henry notes that it is often unclear whether the term Wallon in such contexts refers to a distinct dialect or simply to a strongly regionalized variety of French.^[33][34]

Specific uses

At the same time, wallon began to appear in various other contexts, even crossing into other languages.

Walloon Guards

Orderly flag of the Royal-Wallon Regiment [fr], in the service of the King of France.

The Walloon infantry units of Charles V, descendants of the earlier Walloon companies raised by the Dukes of Burgundy primarily in the French-speaking regions of the Netherlands, gained a reputation for military excellence. Their skill and reliability made the term Walloon widely known across Europe and even in the Americas. These elite troops were eventually incorporated into the Spanish royal guard and played a critical role in the defense of the Spanish monarchy. Their importance was such that leading Spanish statesmen of the era acknowledged their centrality to national security.^[35]

References to the Walloon Guards appear throughout early modern European literature. One of the earliest mentions, found in Pierre Pithou's Satire Ménipée, presents them among foreign groups occupying Paris during the Wars of Religion, reflecting contemporary hostility toward foreign troops.^[36]

By contrast, figures such as Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet later praised their discipline and effectiveness, ranking them alongside the best Italian and Spanish units of the period.^[37]

Walloon regiments remained active for several centuries. The Walloon Guards Regiment served in the Habsburg military during the 18th century and in Spain until 1822. The épée wallonne, a straight, double-edged sword associated with these units, was used by various European cavalry forces, including those of France under Louis XIII and Louis XIV. Walloon regiments [fr] also formed part of the Dutch Republic's military from the 17th to the 18th century.^[38]

Walloon church

Stamp commemorating the arrival of the Huguenots and Walloons in America.

During the Reformation and the subsequent religious conflicts in the Southern Netherlands, many Calvinist Walloons sought refuge abroad. Large numbers settled in the Dutch Republic and established their own congregations, known as Walloon Reformed Churches (Waalse kerken). Walloon Protestant communities also formed in England and parts of Germany.^[39]

Walloons in New York [fr]

Walloon Protestants were among the early settlers of New Netherland, the Dutch colony that included present-day New York. In New Amsterdam, the presence of a significant Walloon population is reflected in place names such as De Waal Straat (now Wall Street), which referred not to a physical wall but to the Walloon settlers. By around 1630, Walloons constituted a majority of the roughly 300 inhabitants of New Netherland. Another place name, Wallabout Bay in Brooklyn, originates from the Dutch Waal bocht ("Walloon Bay"), indicating the settlement of several Walloon families in the area.

Walloons of Sweden

Between the 17th and early 18th centuries, an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 people from the southeastern parts of the Southern Netherlands, including the Principality of Liège and Lorraine, emigrated to Sweden. This migration was driven by economic hardship and religious conflict. Led by industrialist Louis De Geer, these migrants contributed significantly to the Swedish iron industry. In Sweden, they became known as Valloner.^[40]

The Spanish Valona

Supposed portrait of Cervantes.

Due to the prominence of the Walloon Guards in Spain, the term wallon (Spanish: valón) entered the Spanish language as a synonym for certain military and fashion-related terms. Miguel de Cervantes, among others, used valón and its derivatives in his works.

According to Albert Henry in Histoire des mots Wallon et Wallonie, Cervantes referred to military-style clothing inspired by Walloon soldiers, including valona (a type of lace ruff or shirt collar), valones (a style of trousers), and the phrase a la valona, denoting a particular way of dressing, particularly hats adorned with feathers in the style associated with Walloon troops.^[41]

Walloon in the 18th century

In the 18th century, the term Wallon was used not only in military contexts but also to denote a linguistic and cultural distinction within the Austrian Netherlands. English historian James Shaw, although mistaken about the etymology of Wallon, correctly described the division between Flemish-speaking and French-speaking provinces. Shaw identified Hainaut, Namur, Luxembourg, and parts of Brabant as Walloon areas, highlighting their use of a Romance dialect distinct from the Flemish spoken in the northern provinces.^[42]

Shaw’s account linked the cultural and linguistic identity of the Walloons to their political choices during the Dutch Revolt. More aligned with Catholicism and traditional structures, the Walloon provinces were among the first to reconcile with Spain, and Walloon regiments subsequently gained a reputation for their martial skill, often forming the elite units of the Spanish army.^[43]

Walloons and Liégeois

A longstanding distinction between Walloons and Liégeois was first noted around 1470 by Jean de Haynin and persisted until the late 18th century. Jean Stengers, in research cited by Albert Henry,^[44] emphasized that early sources, including Alonso Vázquez, Father Louis Hennepin, and Braunius [fr],^[45] treated the two as distinct groups. This distinction was political rather than linguistic, largely due to the independence of the Principality of Liège until 1793 and the separate military recruitment practices in the Austrian Netherlands and Liège.^[46]

However, when referring specifically to language, Wallon was used by both external and internal observers—including Liégeois themselves—to denote regional varieties of French or Romance dialects. Official documents from the Principality of Liège in the 17th century even distinguished between “Walloon towns” and “Thiois towns,” the latter using Germanic dialects.^[47]

Contemporary dictionaries of the 18th century, such as the Dictionnaire de Trévoux (1752) and Dom Jean François’s Dictionnaire roman (1777), defined Wallon broadly to include French-speaking populations in regions such as Artois, Hainaut, Namur, Luxembourg, and parts of Flanders and Brabant.^[48]

Walloon in the 19th century

The political changes brought by the French Republic, the Napoleonic Empire, and the subsequent establishment of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, and Belgium profoundly influenced the meaning of Wallon. After Belgian independence in 1830, the term increasingly referred to the French-speaking population within the new nation-state, especially in contrast to the Dutch-speaking Flemings.

By the late 19th century, the term Wallonia gained prominence through the Walloon Movement, which advocated for the cultural and political interests of French-speaking Belgians. As noted by Albert Henry, Wallons were defined as individuals born in or living in Wallonia who maintained a strong cultural and linguistic identity tied to the region, even if they had relocated to Brussels.^[49]

Dialectal clarifications

The 19th century saw efforts to define the term Wallon in a more precise linguistic sense..^[50] Scholars began to distinguish between the Walloon dialect and other Romance varieties such as Picard. Earlier confusion stemmed from imprecise usage in historical texts, where it was not always clear whether Wallon referred to a dialect or a regionalized form of French. Early modern writers like Henri Estienne,^[20] Claude Fauchet,^[21] and Pierre de Ronsard recognized some dialectal differences, but consistent classification did not emerge until the 18th and 19th centuries.^[22]

For example, a 1753 play titled Une Pasquée wallonne and a 1763 work honoring Prince-Bishop Charles-Nicolas d'Oultremont reference the term walon alongside other languages spoken in the region, such as German and tîhon (a Low German dialect).^[51]

German philologists were among the first to define the linguistic boundaries of Walloon. Wilhelm Altenburg was instrumental in distinguishing Walloon from both Liégeois dialects and the Picard-speaking regions.^[52][53]

In 1866, Joseph Dejardin restricted the term to dialects spoken in the provinces of Liège, Namur, and Luxembourg.^[54] By 1892, Jules Simon had outlined the so-called "Walloon Quadrilateral," marking the isoglosses that separate Walloon from neighboring Romance dialects, effectively solidifying its modern linguistic definition.^[55]

Toponymic Derivatives

The Walloon Provinces and Walonia in the 16th century

Plebeius civis in Walonia parte Belgarum

Albert Henry suggests that beginning in the 16th century, the term Walloon Provinces began to carry political connotations, often referring to the French-speaking regions of the Southern Netherlands in contrast to the Dutch-speaking, or Thiois, provinces.^[56] An example appears in a report to the States General by Thierri d'Offegnies, a deputy from Hainaut, who referred to a "special league between the Walloon provinces," indicating a growing awareness of a distinct political and linguistic identity within the broader Low Countries.^[57]

The term Walonia appears in a 1581 engraving attributed to Jean-Jacques Boissard, studied by Jean Germain [fr].^{[N 8]} The image, which depicts regional costumes, includes the caption plebeius civis in Walonia parte Belgarum ("a common citizen from Walonia in the Belgian territories"), appearing alongside figures identified as being from Lorraine, Hainaut, and Picardy. Germain notes the ambiguity of the term Walonia in this context, questioning whether it denoted a specific region distinct from Hainaut and Picardy or a broader cultural-linguistic area encompassing them. The contrasting identification of a single male figure from Walonia and three female figures from other regions further complicates interpretation.^[58]

Territorial organization of religious orders in the 17th century

Map of the Provincia Walloniae of the Capuchins.

In the 17th century, ecclesiastical reorganization in the Low Countries led religious orders to define their jurisdictions not solely by political boundaries but also by linguistic and cultural considerations. As a result, several orders used terms such as romane de gallo-belgique, gallo-belge, and eventually wallo-belge or wallo-belgique to describe French-speaking regions.^[56][59]

The Capuchin order established a Provincia Walloniae (or Wallonica) as early as 1616, with documented usage in 1618 and 1622.

Maps produced by the order, some of which were studied by Jean Germain and collected by Liège historian Julien Lambert, reveal various spellings—Wallonia, Vallonia, wallonica, vallonica—used exclusively in Latin. There is no known Romance-language equivalent from this period. However, some historians and later Walloon activists, such as José Fontaine [fr], have interpreted this naming as evidence of an emerging regional consciousness.^[60][61]

Walloon Provinces and the "Pays Wallon"

Before the widespread use of Wallonie to designate the Romance-speaking regions of what is now Belgium, several terms were used to describe the area. Albert Henry identified the expressions provinces wallonnes (attested from the 16th century) and pays wallon (more rarely used before the 18th century).^{[62][N 9]} These terms often referred to a larger area than what would later be defined as the Belgique romane (Romance-speaking Belgium).^[63] The use of these expressions became more common during the French Republic and Napoleonic Empire, and under the United Kingdom of the Netherlands,^[64] eventually gaining popularity following Belgian independence in 1830. Historian Jules Michelet, for instance, used pays wallon to evoke the French cultural character of the region, highlighting its deep linguistic and poetic ties to France.^[65]

Though such expressions gradually declined in everyday use, they retained symbolic and political value. José Fontaine, among others, employed pays wallon in the context of mid-20th-century social movements, particularly during the unrest following the return of King Leopold III, when parts of the region experienced large-scale strikes and political dissent.^[66]

Walloon immigration

See also: Belgian immigrants in Wisconsin during the Civil War

Walloon immigration to North America occurred primarily during the 19th century, particularly to the United States. In Wisconsin, a small region near Green Bay retains linguistic and cultural traces of this migration. In some areas, the Walloon dialect continued to be spoken by descendants of these settlers well into the 20th century. Place names such as Walloon Lake in Michigan reflect this heritage, commemorating the presence of Walloon settlers who established communities in the region during the 1800s.

Birth of the term Wallonie

The earliest known use of the term Wallonie appeared in November 1842,^{[N 10]} in Essai d’étymologie philosophique by Abbé Honoré Chavée, a philologist and anthropologist from Namur. Chavée employed the term to describe the Romance or Latin cultural sphere in opposition to the Germanic world. His use was based on the broader historical meaning of wallon, but not necessarily connected to vernacular uses of the word or to any popular designation of a specific geographic area.^[67][68]

Albert Henry, a historian and Walloon cultural activist, noted that this early form of Wallonie had no documented counterpart in the Romance dialects spoken in the region.^[69] Jean Germain supported this interpretation, affirming that there was no direct linguistic link between Chavée’s usage and the later political and cultural adoption of the term.^[61]

In 1844, Wallonie appeared again in a literary context. François-Charles-Joseph Grandgagnage [fr], magistrate and writer from Namur, used the word in a satirical article. His use of the term, though partly humorous, referred more clearly to the Romance-speaking areas of Belgium, aligning with the evolving cultural identity associated with the word.^[70]

Initially, the use of Wallonie remained limited to academic, literary, and regionalist circles, particularly among philologists, historians, and intellectuals from Namur and Liège. Journals such as the Revue de Liège and societies like the Société liégeoise de littérature wallonne [fr] played a key role in preserving and promoting the term. Broader public recognition of Wallonie emerged in 1886, when poet and symbolist writer Albert Mockel used it as the title for his literary journal La Wallonie, published in Liège.^[71] This marked a turning point, as the word began to be associated with the Romance-speaking part of Belgium, south of the linguistic boundary separating Flemish and Romance dialects—from Ploegsteert in the west to the Hertogenwald in the east. From this point forward, Wallonie came to refer more explicitly to the French-speaking southern region of Belgium, establishing itself as both a linguistic and cultural designation within the young Belgian state.^[72]

Wallonie: Concept of the Walloon Movement

Official flag of Wallonia inspired by the painting created in 1913 on the initiative of the Walloon Assembly [fr].

With the emergence of a linguistic divide and the rise of the Walloon Movement in Belgian politics, the term Wallonie acquired a conceptual and emotional dimension. According to Albert Henry, three key events helped shape a collective political consciousness among French-speaking Belgians and contributed to the significance of the terms wallon and Wallonie:^[73]

• 1912: The National Walloon Congress [fr] created the Walloon Assembly [fr], and shortly after, Jules Destrée published Lettre au Roi sur la séparation de la Wallonie et de la Flandre (Letter to the King advocating for the separation of Wallonia and Flanders).
• 1940: During the German occupation in World War II, the Nazi regime implemented Flamenpolitik, favoring Flemish prisoners of war by repatriating them while Walloon prisoners were kept in camps. This differential treatment highlighted perceived inequalities and reinforced regional identities.
• January 1961: Strikes, especially in the provinces of Liège and Hainaut, marked the first significant popular manifestation of Walloon political will.^[73]

Dialectal Wallonie

See also: Walloon dialect

Walloon dialect in Romance Belgium.

Over time, Wallonie also came to denote the region in a dialectological context. Linguists such as Alphonse Maréchal,^[74] Charles Bruneau, Elmer Bagby Atwood [fr] and Louis Remacle contributed to defining Wallonie dialectale, a term used to describe the geographic area in which Walloon dialects are spoken.^[75] However, earlier figures like Jules Feller^[76] and Joseph Dejardin^[54] had already used Wallonie more broadly, not limited to its dialectal usage, and often without a precise geographic or political reference.

Wallonne region

See also: Wallonia

In the 1960s, growing tensions between linguistic communities culminated in constitutional reforms. On 31 December 1970, the Belgian Constitution was amended to recognize not only cultural communities but also territorial regions, leading to the establishment of the Région wallonne (Walloon Region). Although the term Wallonie does not appear in official legal texts, it became the commonly used name for the region and remains closely tied to the identity promoted by the Walloon Movement.^[77]

Despite its widespread usage, some scholars and activists have noted the absence of Wallonie in formal constitutional language. Albert Henry interpreted the preference for Région wallonne as reflecting a form of "unitarist nostalgia," contrasting it with the emotional and historical weight carried by Wallonie.^[78]

In response to this, efforts were made to adopt the term in official and symbolic contexts. In 2010, the Walloon government introduced guidelines encouraging the use of Wallonie over Région wallonne to foster a shared regional identity.^[79][80] In September 2015, the regional legislature formally adopted the name Parlement de Wallonie (Walloon Parliament).^[81] However, these terms remain unofficial in Belgium’s constitutional framework.

Some figures, such as François François Perin [fr], distinguished between Wallonie as a cultural-linguistic region and the Région wallonne as a political entity that includes German-speaking municipalities. Perin linked Wallonie with the French-speaking region defined in Article 3bis of the Belgian Constitution, rather than with the broader administrative region outlined in Article 107.^[82]

Other members of the lexical family of Wallon

Several related terms have emerged from wallon, reflecting cultural, political, or linguistic phenomena:

• Wallon(n)ade: A poetic or literary work intended to evoke national pride or celebrate the landscapes and heritage of Wallonia.
• Wallingant: A term, modeled on flamingant, referring to someone who advocates for Walloon interests. The associated ideology is known as Wallingantisme.^[83]
• Wallonner: An obsolete verb meaning "to speak with a heavy Walloon accent," found in early 20th-century French dictionaries but unknown in contemporary Belgian usage.
• Wallonisme [fr]: "A form or word specific to Walloon" in linguistic or philological terminology.
• Walloniser: To apply a Walloon inflection or grammatical feature to French.
• Walloniste: A scholar or philologist specializing in the study of Walloon dialects.

Meaning in the context of boatmen

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the term wallon was also used in inland navigation. According to Albert Henry, it referred to a type of flat-bottomed wooden barge used primarily in the regions of Nord (France), West Flanders, and Hainaut. These vessels were constructed from oak and elm, with straight sides and no keel, and were designed for use on canals and rivers.^[84]

See also

• Language portal
• Belgium portal

• *Walhaz
• Walloons
• Walloon language
• Wallonia
• Religious Reorganization of the Spanish Netherlands

Notes

1. Wallo, wallonis
2. Wallec (1332), walesc, walesch (circa 1350)
3. The geographical area evoked by the word wallon is therefore like a thin skin [...] the linguistic meaning (adjective and noun), which is the primary and still fundamental meaning of the adjective wallon, quickly substantivized, has been refined in successive nuances [...]. (Henry 1990, p. 59).
4. See the article *Walhaz.
5. Letter from Maurits Gysseling to Albert Henry, May 20, 1972, quoted by Henry 1990, p. 25.
6. Note the similarity in meaning with the verb wallonner, meaning "to speak with a thick accent."

7. La lengua communente es Francesa, aunque tambien hablan Flamenco. Pero no es tan un elegante y pulida como la, que se habla en Paris, y Francia, sinon antigua y Romana corrompida, que llamen Walona. De la qual usan en Henao, Cambresis, Artoes, Namur, Lieja, y en aquella parte de Brabante, que llaman Romana, o Gallica [...] Brabante gallica, donde es Niuela, y en Henao, que es por alli comarcana a Brabante, donde es Bins y otros lugares

   The common language is French, although they also speak Flemish. But it is not as elegant and polished as the one spoken in Paris and France, but ancient and corrupted Roman, which they call Walloon. Of which they use in Henao, Cambresis, Artoes, Namur, Liege, and in that part of Brabant, which they call Romana, or Gallica [...] Brabant gallica, where is Niuela, and in Henao, which is by there comarcana to Brabant, where is Bins and other places.

   Henry 1990, pp. 101–102
8. Other sources attribute it to Abraham de Bruyn, like the Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp.
9. Examples of the use of the term pays wallon during this period:

   • Damiens de Gomicourt, Auguste-Pierre (1783). Le voyageur dans les Pays-Bas autrichiens [The traveler in the Austrian Netherlands] (in French). Vol. III. p. 115. most farms in the Walloon region are abbey farms...
   • Paquot, Jean Noël (1764). Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire littéraire des dix-sept provinces [Memoirs to serve the literary history of the seventeen provinces] (in French). Vol. III. p. 263. The author states in his preface, dated September 14, 1529, that he had scoured almost all the libraries in the Walloon region (Gallo-Germaniam) to find the material for his work.
   • Bentivoglio, Cardinal (1770). Histoire des guerres de Flandre [History of the Flanders wars] (in French). Vol. II. Paris: Desaint. pp. 341–342. In fact, some of our provinces speak the French language. They follow the customs of this neighboring nation. The Walloon country and half of the province of Flanders are better known as Gallican country than by their own name.
   • Dine, E. J (1791). Mémoire historique et pièces justificatives pour M. Vander Meersch [Historical memoir and supporting documents for Mr Vander Meersch] (in French). Vol. I. Lille: Jacquez. p. 320. We must do justice to the Walloon flatlands of Brabant, Hainaut and above all Namur: the peasants, who have no representatives other than the nobles, whose interests are diametrically opposed, already feel the full weight of their future burden.
10. Recognized by Albert Henry. For reference, there is a mention of Wallonie dating from 1825: "The Germans, on the other hand, reserving the noble name of Franks for themselves, obstinately refused to see Franks in Gaul, which they disdainfully called Wallonie, the land of the Walloons or the Welsches." (Thierry, Augustin (1825). Histoire de la conquête de l'Angleterre par les Normands [History of the Norman Conquest of England] (in French). Vol. 1. Paris: Éd. Firmin Didot. p. 155.)