| Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan: italic=no|Limba noastră | |
| English Title: | Our Language |
| Prefix: | National |
| Country: | Moldova |
| Composer: | Alexandru Cristea |
| Lyrics Date: | 1917 |
| Music Date: | ext. 1942 |
| Author: | Alexei Mateevici |
| Adopted: | 1994 1995 |
| Predecessor: | "Deșteaptă-te, române!" |
| Sound: | Imnul Republicii Moldova US NAVY.ogg |
| Sound Title: | U.S. Navy Band instrumental version (three verses) |
"Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan: italic=no|Limba noastră" ("Our Language"; in Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan pronounced as /ˈlimba ˈno̯astrə/) is the national anthem of Moldova. It has been used since 1994 and was officially adopted on 22 July 1995.[1]
For a short period of time in the early 1990s, the national anthem of Moldova was "Deșteaptă-te, române!", which was and remains the national anthem of Romania. The lyrics were written by Alexei Mateevici (1888–1917) a month before his death.[2] Mateevici contributed significantly to the national emancipation of Bessarabia. The music was composed by Alexandru Cristea.
The focus of "Limba noastră" is language; in this case, the national language of Moldova, which is referred to as either Romanian[3] or Moldovan. It calls for the people to revive the usage of their native language. The poem does not refer to the language by name; it is poetically called "our language".
"Limba noastră" is based on a twelve-verse poem. For the officially-defined national anthem used today, the verses were selected and reorganised into five verses of four lines each; namely, the first, second, fifth, eighth and twelfth verses, respectively,[4] which are highlighted in bold.