In the Middle Ages the ethno-linguistical designation "rumân/român" also denoted "common people". During the 17th century, as serfdom becomes a widespread institution, "common people" increasingly turns into "bondsman". In a process of semantic differentiation in 17th-18th centuries the form "rumân", presumably usual among lower classes, got merely the meaning of "bondsman", while the form ""român"" kept an ethno-linguistic meaning. After the abolition of the serfage by Prince Constantine Mavrocordato in 1746, the form ""rumân"" gradually disappears and the spelling definitively stabilises to the form ""român", "românesc"".