 The Bulgarians who migrated during the 19th century were known as "sârbi" (Serbians).This word may have been used by Romanians to refer to all South Slavs, but it has also been proposed that they used this ethnic identification to prevent the Ottomans from demanding the Wallachian authorities to return the refugees to their place of origin.Even today, the Bulgarians from Wallachia are called "sârbi" (=Serbians) though they speak Bulgarian and define themselves as "bulgari" (=Bulgarians).