Editing Istro-Romanian language (section)

==Origin==
Some loanwords suggest that before coming to Istria, Istro-Romanians lived for a period of time on the Dalmatian coast near the [[Dinara]] and [[Velebit]] mountains.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Filipi |first=Goran |title=Istrorumunjski lingvistički atlas/Atlasul lingvistic istroromân/Atlante linguistico istroromeno |publisher=Znanstvena zadruga Mediteran |date=2002 |location=Pula |page=52}}</ref>

[[August Kovačec]] (1998){{Citation needed|date=August 2010}} hypothesizes that the Istro-Romanians migrated to their present region about 600 years ago from the territory of present-day Romania, after the [[bubonic plague]] depopulated [[Istria]]. This hypothesis is based on chronicles of the [[Frankopan family|Frankopan]] princes that state that in the 15th century they accepted the migrating Vlachs from the nearby mainland and from the northern part of [[Krk]] (Veglia) island, and settled them in isolated villages in [[Poljica, Krk|Poljica]] and [[Dubašnica]], between the castles of [[Dobrinj]] and [[Omišalj]], and in the port of [[Malinska]]. The term "[[Vlachs|Vlach]]", however, refers to all Eastern-Romance-language speakers and cannot be associated exclusively with Istro-Romanians. In fact, pockets of Romanian-language speakers persisted in Malinska up to the mid-19th century, they gradually assimilated and their language disappeared with the last speaker, Mate Bajčić Gašparović. Today, few Romance-language toponyms remain in Malinska.<ref>{{harvp|Tekavčić|1959}}</ref><ref>{{harvp|Kovačec|1998}}</ref>