Mașloc (german: Blumenthal; hu, Máslak) is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

Timiș County Timiș () is a county ('' județ'') of western Romania on the border with Hungary and Serbia, in the historical region of Banat, with the county seat at Timișoara. It is the westernmost and the largest county in Romania in terms of land area. T ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. It is composed of three villages: Alioș, Mașloc (commune seat) and Remetea Mică. It also included

Fibiș Fibiș ( hu, Temesfüves; german: Fibisch) is a commune in Timiș County, Romania. It is composed of a single village, Fibiș, part of the commune of Mașloc until 2004, when it was split off. Geography Fibiș is located in the north of Timiș C ...

until 2004, when it was split off to form a separate commune.

Name

The German name of the village, ''Blumenthal'', means "village of flowers". The German colony was built in a wildflower meadow, hence the name. This is also illustrated by the old stamp of the village, depicting a valley and a flower vase with a lush bouquet of flowers. The Romanian population had great difficulties pronouncing the German name. Therefore they named the village ''Maslog'', as shown in a map from 1864–1865. ''Maslog'' was written with "s" and not with the Romanian "ș" (

s-comma S-comma (majuscule: Ș, minuscule: ș) is a letter which is part of the Romanian alphabet, used to represent the sound , the voiceless postalveolar fricative (like ''sh'' in ''shoe''). History The letter was proposed in the ''Buda Lexicon'' ...

). ''Maslog'' was changed to ''Mașloc'', apparently taking over the ending "-loc" from the Hungarian "-lak" (''Máslak''). The Hungarian ''lak'' – just like the Romanian ''loc'' – means "place".

History

Mașloc was first mentioned as ''Machalaka'' in 1326. Most of its inhabitants fled after the Turkish conquest of

Banat Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of T ...

(1552). From this time on, the houses were only temporarily inhabited by people of different nationalities. After the Austrians conquered Banat from the Turks, the village was called ''Maschlok'' and had 14 houses. Mașloc was colonized by Germans from

Schwarzwald The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...

between 1770–1771, who named it ''Blumenthal''. By 1773, the colony had 93 houses, a school and a pub.

Demographics

Mașloc had a population of 2,285 inhabitants at the 2011 census, down 1% from the 2002 census. Most inhabitants are

Romanians The Romanians ( ro, români, ; dated exonym ''Vlachs'') are a Romance languages, Romance-speaking ethnic group. Sharing a common Culture of Romania, Romanian culture and Cultural heritage, ancestry, and speaking the Romanian language, they l ...

(77.68%), larger minorities being represented by

Ukrainians Ukrainians ( uk, Українці, Ukraintsi, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. They are the seventh-largest nation in Europe. The native language of the Ukrainians is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian. The majority ...

(10.9%),

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

(2.8%) and

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Urali ...

(1.58%). For 6.08% of the population, ethnicity is unknown. By religion, most inhabitants are

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

(86%), but there are also minorities of

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

s (2.67%),

Old Believers Old Believers or Old Ritualists, ''starovery'' or ''staroobryadtsy'' are Eastern Orthodox Christians who maintain the liturgical and ritual practices of the Russian Orthodox Church as they were before the reforms of Patriarch Nikon of Moscow bet ...

(2.23%) and

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

s (1.75%). For 6.13% of the population, religious affiliation is unknown.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Masloc Communes in Timiș County Localities in Romanian Banat Former Danube Swabian communities in Romania