Șchei

Şchei (Bulgarian: шкеи, shkei) was an old Romanian exonym referring to the Bulgarians, especially in Transylvania and northern Wallachia. As a name, it has been preserved in the names of towns colonized in the 14th century by Bulgarians, in toponyms (Dealu Schiaului near Rășinari), hydronyms (Schiau River, tributary to the Argeş River), surnames (Schiau, Şchiau).^[1] The word is thought to derive from Latin sclavis, a popular designation for the South Slavs (Bulgarians and Serbs in particular) that was also used in Albanian (in the form shqa and various dialectal variants^[2]) until the 20th century.^[3]

Şchei villages in Transylvania

Among the towns or neighbourhoods bearing that trace of Bulgarian settlement are:^[1]

• Şcheii Braşovului in Braşov (Hungarian: Bolgárszeg, German: Belgerei, traditional Romanian name: Bulgărimea)
• Cergău Mic in Alba County (archaic Romanian: Cergău Şcheiesc, archaic Hungarian: Bolgárcserged)

Other villages in Transylvania that used to be inhabited by various waves of Bulgarians were Cergău Mare, Bungard, Sibiu, Vințu de Jos, Deva, Rusciori, Sibiu, Râşnov.^[4]

Şchei villages in Wallachia

• Şchei, a quarter and former independent settlement in Câmpulung.
• Schiau village in the Bascov commune, Argeş County
• Schiau (Urlaţi) and Schiau (Valea Călugărească) in Prahova County.

References

• Ion Muşlea, Şcheii de la Cergău şi folclorul lor, Cluj 1928.
• Милетич, Любомир (1987). "В Чергед". Изследвания за българите в Седмиградско и Банат (in Bulgarian). София: Наука и изкуство. pp. p. 71. 
• Балкански, Т. (1996). Трансилванските (седмиградските) българи. Етнос. Език. Етнонимия. Ономастика. Просопографии (in Bulgarian). Велико Търново: ИК “Знак ‘94”.