Vâlcea

From Romanian Vâlcea.

Vâlcea

1. A county of Romania.

• Râmnicu Vâlcea

Uncertain. There is a Romanian word vâlcea (“small valley”), however, its stress is on the last syllable, unlike Vâlcea, which has its stress on the first syllable, making it unlikely to be derived from it.

An alternative is a derivation from a Slavic word *vьlkъ (“wolf”), as the 1247 Diploma of the Joannites of king Béla IV of Hungary mentions in the area a knez named Farkas (“wolf”), which could just be a translation of the name of the knez's name into Hungarian.

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɨlt͡ʃe̯a/

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Vâlcea f

1. Vâlcea (a county of Oltenia, in southern Romania)
2. a county of Romania