The history of Wallonia, from prehistoric times to the present day, is that of a territory which, since 1970, has approximately coincided with the territory of Wallonia, a federated component of Belgium, which also includes the smaller German-speaking Community of Belgium (73,000 inhabitants). Wallonia is the name colloquially given to the Walloon Region. The French word Wallonie comes from the term Wallon, itself coming from Walh. Walh is a very old Germanic word used to refer to a speaker of Celtic or Latin (cf. Wales).[1]
- ^ Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel (1963), English and Welsh in Angles and Britons: O'Donnell Lectures, University of Cardiff Press. read online Archived 2008-12-18 at the Wayback Machine