'Albanian' (''gjuha shqipe''
IPA ) is a language spoken by about 7-8 million people, primarily in
Albania and
Serbia (
Kosovo), but also in other parts of the
Balkans with an Albanian population (parts of the
Republic of Macedonia, and some parts in
Montenegro and
Serbia), along the eastern coast of
Italy and in
Sicily, as well as by a significant diaspora in
Greece,
Scandinavia,
Germany, the
United Kingdom,
Egypt,
Australia,
Turkey, and the
United States. The language forms its own distinct branch of the
Indo-European language family.
Classification
Albanian was proven to be an Indo-European language in 1854 by the German philologist
Franz Bopp. The Albanian language comprises its own independent branch of the Indo-European language family with no living close relatives (even though there are many dialects of Albanian, distant and remote). Most scholars believe that Albanian derives from the
Illyrian language while some claim that it derives from
Daco-
Thracian (Illyrian and Daco-Thracian, however, might have been closely related languages; see
Thraco-Illyrian).
Establishing longer relations, Albanian is often compared to Balto-Slavic on the one hand and Germanic on the other, both of which share a number of
isoglosses with Albanian. Moreover, Albanian has undergone a vowel shift in which stressed, long ''o'' has fallen to ''a'', much like in the former and opposite the latter. Likewise, Albanian has taken the old relative ''jos'' and innovatively used it exclusively to qualify adjectives, much in the way Balto-Slavic has used this word to provide the definite ending of adjectives.
How Albanian compares with other languages
| Albanian | muaj | i ri / e re | nënë | motër | natë | hundë | tre | i/e zezë | i/e kuq | i/e gjelbëri | i/e verdhë | ujk |
|---|
| Other Indo-European languages |
|---|
| 'Sanskrit' | māsa | nava | mātr- | svasā | rātri | nāsā | tri | kāla | rakta | pīta | harita | vRka |
| 'English' | month | new | mother | sister | night | nose | three | black | red | yellow | green | wolf |
| 'Latin' | mēnsis | novus | māter | soror | nox | nasus | trēs | āter, niger | ruber | flāvus, gilvus | viridis | lupus |
| 'Italian' | mese | nuovo | madre | sorella | notte | naso | tre | nero | rosso | giallo | verde | lupo |
| 'Romanian' | luna | nou/noi | mamă | soră | noapte | nas | trei | negru | roşu | galben | verde | lup |
| 'Welsh' | mis | newydd | mam | chwaer | nos | trwyn | tri | du (/di/) | coch, rhudd | melyn | gwyrdd, glas | blaidd |
| 'Latvian' | mēnesis | jauns | māte | māsa | nakts | deguns | trīs | melns | sarkans | dzeltens | zaļš | vilks |
| 'Ancient Greek' | μήν
mḗn | νέος
néos | μήτηρ
mḗtēr | ἀδελφή
adelphḗ | νύξ
nýx | ῥίς
rhís | τρεῖς
treĩs | μέλας
mélas | ἐρυθρός
erythrós | ξανθός
xanthós | χλωρός
khlōrós | λύκος
lýkos |
| 'Bulgarian' | месец
mesec | нов
nov | майка
majka | сестра
sestra | нощ
nošt | нос
nos | три
tri | черен
čeren | червен
červen | жълт
žălt | зелен
zelen | вълк
vălk |
| 'German' | Monat | neu | Mutter | Schwester | Nacht | Nase | drei | schwarz | rot | gelb | grün | Wolf |
Geographic distribution
Albanian distribution and dialects
Albanian is spoken by about 6 million people mainly in
Albania,
Kosova,
Italy,
Macedonia,
Montenegro,
Greece,
Turkey, and by immigrant communities in many countries such as
Belgium,
Egypt,
Germany,
Greece,
Italy,
Sweden,
Turkey (
Europe),
Ukraine,
UK,
USA,
Switzerland,
Australia.
Official status
Albanian in a revised form of the
Tosk dialect is the
official language of the
Republic of Albania. Albanian is also one of the official languages of
Kosovo and in the municipalities where there are more than 20% ethnic Albanian inhabitants in
Macedonia.
Dialects
Albanian can be divided into two main dialects,
Gheg and
Tosk. The
Shkumbin river is roughly the dividing line, with Gheg spoken north of the Shkumbin and Tosk south of it. The Geg literary language has been documented since 1462. Until the communists took power in Albania, the standard was based on Gheg. Although the literary versions of Tosk and Gheg are mutually intelligible, many of the regional dialects are not.
Tosk is divided into many sub-dialects. The main groups are Northern Tosk (Berat, Pojan, Vlorë) and Labërisht
Labëria. In Greece, the
Çam and the
Arvanites speak different Tosk sub-dialects with the sub-dialect of the Arvanites only partially intelligible with other Tosk sub-dialects. The Tosk sub-dialects are spoken by most members of the large Albanian immigrant communities of
Ukraine,
Turkey,
Egypt, and the
United States. A distinct Tosk sub-dialect has been preserved in the Albanian-founded village of
Mandritsa in southern
Bulgaria. Tosk sub-dialects called
Arbërisht are spoken by the
Arbëreshë, descendants of
15th and
16th century immigrants in southeastern
Italy, in small communities in the regions of
Sicily,
Calabria,
Basilicata,
Campania,
Molise,
Abruzzi, and
Puglia.
Gheg (or Geg) is spoken in Northern Albania, Macedonia, Kosova, and in parts of Montenegro. Each area of Northern Albania has its own sub-dialect: Tirana, Durrës, Elbasan and Kavaja; Kruja and Laci; Mati, Dibra and Mirdita; Lezha, Shkodra, Kraja, Ulqinj; etc. Malësia e Madhe, Rugova, and villages scattered alongside the Adriatic Coast form the northmost sub-dialect of Albania today although, Albanian was formerly spoken in Dalmatia until recently. There are many other sub-dialects in the region of
Kosova and in parts of southern Montenegro, and in
Macedonia. The sub-dialects of Malsia e Madhe and Dukagjini near Shkodra are being lost because the younger generations prefer to speak the sub-dialect of Shkodra.
Gheg and Tosk differ mainly by:
#rhotacism - Gheg has ''n'' where Tosk has ''r''
#late Proto-Albanian ''ā'' + tautosyllabic nasal > Gheg low-central or low-back vowel; > Tosk mid-central, or low-front-to-central vowel
#Proto-Albanian ''ō'' > ''uo'' > Gheg ''vo'', Tosk ''va''
#infinitival use of verbal adjective preceded in Gheg by ''me'' and in Tosk by ''për'' ''të''
#difference in lexemes, noun plurals, suppletion of the aorist system of the verb
Subdialects may vary based on:
#retention or loss of final schwa (-ë)
#devoicing of final voiced segments
#treatment of intervocalic and final ''nj''
#treatment of clusters of nasal + voiced stop
#development of
anaptyctic homorganic stops after nasals that follow a stressed vowel and precede unstressed ''-ël'' or ''-ër''
#treatment of vowel clusters ''ie'', ''ye'', and ''ua''
#treatment of stressed /e/ before a nasal
Notable lexicological differences between Tosk and Gheg
| Standard form | Tosk form | Gheg form | Translation |
|---|
| Shqipëri | Shqipëri | Shqypni | Albania |
| një | një | nji / njo | a/one |
| nëntë | nëntë | nândë | nine |
| është | është | âsht / â | is |
| bëj | bëj | bâj | do |
| emër | emër | êmën | name |
| pjekuri | pjekuri | pjekuni | maturity |
| gjendje | gjëndje | gjêndje | situation |
| zog | zok | zog | bird |
| mbret | mbret | mret | king |
| për të punuar | për të punuar | me punue | to work |
| rërë | rërë | rânë | sand |
| qenë | qënë | kjênë / kânë | been (part.) |
| dëllinjë | enjë | bërshê | juniper |
| baltë | llum | bâltë / lloç | mud |
| cimbidh | mashë | danë | tongs |
( ˆ ) denotes
nasal vowels, which are a common feature of Gheg.
Sounds
Albanian has 7
vowels and 29
consonants.
Gheg has a set of
nasal vowels which are absent in
Tosk. Another peculiarity is the mid-central vowel "ë" reduced at the end of the word. The stress is fixed mainly on the penultimate syllable.
Consonants
'Notes:'
★ The affricates are pronounced as one sound (a stop and a fricative at the same point).
★ The palatal stops ''q'' and ''gj'' are completely unknown to English, so the pronunciation guide is approximate. Palatal stops can be found in other languages, for example, in
Hungarian (where these sounds are spelt ''ty'' and ''gy'' respectively).
★ The palatal nasal ''nj'' corresponds to the sound of the Spanish ''ñ'' or the French or Italian digraph ''gn'' (as in ''gnocchi''). It is pronounced as one sound, not a nasal plus a glide.
★ The ''ll'' sound is a velarised lateral, close to English "
dark L".
★ The contrast between flapped ''r'' and trilled ''rr'' is the same as in Spanish. English does not have any of the two sounds phonemically (but ''tt'' in ''butter'' is pronounced as a flap ''r'' in most American dialects).
★ (1) The letter ''ç'' can be spelt ''ch'' on American English keyboards, both due to its English sound, but more importantly, due to analogy with Albanian usage of ''h'' to modify the sounds ''s, x'' and ''z'' writing those ''sh, xh'' and ''zh''. (Usually, however, it's spelt simply ''c'', which may cause confusion; however, meanings are usually understood).
Vowels
Grammar
Albanian
nouns are
inflected by
gender (
masculine,
feminine and
neuter) and
number (
singular and
plural). There are 4
declensions with 6 cases (
nominative,
accusative,
genitive,
dative,
ablative and
vocative), although the vocative only occurs with a limited number of words. The cases apply to both definite and indefinite nouns and there are numerous cases of
syncretism. The equivalent of a
genitive is formed by using the prepositions ''i/e/të/së'' with the dative.
The following shows the declension of the masculine noun ''mal'' (mountain):
| | 'Indefinite Singular' | 'Indefinite Plural' | 'Definite Singular' | 'Definite Plural' |
|---|
| 'Nominative' | mal (mountain) | male (mountains) | mali (the mountain) | malet (the mountains) |
| 'Accusative' | mal | male | malin | malet |
| 'Genitive' | i/e/të/së mali | i/e/të/së maleve | i/e/të/së malit | i/e/të/së maleve |
| 'Dative' | mali | maleve | malit | maleve |
| 'Ablative' | mali | maleve/malesh | malit | maleve |
The following table shows the declension of the feminine noun ''vajzë'' (girl)
| | 'Indefinite Singular' | 'Indefinite Plural' | 'Definite Singular' | 'Definite Plural' |
|---|
| 'Nominative' | vajzë (girl) | vajza (girls) | vajza (the girl) | vajzat (the girls) |
| 'Accusative' | vajzë | vajza | vajzën | vajzat |
| 'Genitive' | i/e/të/së vajze | i/e/të/së vajzave | i/e/të/së vajzës | i/e/të/së vajzave |
| 'Dative' | vajze | vajzave | vajzës | vajzave |
| 'Ablative' | vajze | vajzave/vajzash | vajzës | vajzave |
The definite article is posited after the noun as in many other
Balkan languages, for example
Romanian and
Bulgarian.
★ The definite article can be in the form of noun suffixes, which vary with gender and case.
★
★ For example in singular nominative, masculine nouns add ''-i'', or those ending in -g/-k, take ''-u'' (to avoid palatalization):
★
★
★ ''mal'' (mountain) / ''mali'' (the mountain);
★
★
★ ''libër'' (book) / ''libri'' (the book);
★
★
★ ''zog'' (bird) / ''zogu'' (the bird).
★
★ Feminine nouns take the suffix ''-(j)a'':
★
★
★ ''veturë'' (car) / ''vetura'' (the car);
★
★
★ ''shtëpi'' (house) / ''shtëpia'' (the house);
★
★
★ ''lule'' (flower) / ''lulja'' (the flower).
★ Neuter nouns take ''-t''.
Albanian has developed an analytical
verbal structure in place of the earlier synthetic system, inherited from
Proto-Indo-European. Its complex system of
moods (6 types) and
tenses (3 simple and 5 complex constructions) is distinctive among
Balkan languages. There are two general types of
conjugation. In Albanian the Constituent Order is
Subject Verb Object and negation is expressed by the particles ''nuk'' or ''s' in front of the verb, for example:
★ ''Toni nuk flet anglisht'' "Tony doesn't speak English";
★ ''s'e di'' "I don't know".
In imperative sentences, the particle ''mos'' is used:
★ ''mos harro'' "do not forget!".
Vocabulary
Illyrian vocabulary shared with Albanian
See
Illyrian languages
★ ''brisa'', "husk of grapes"; cf. Alb ''bërsi'' "lees, dregs; mash" (< PA
★ ''brutia'')
★ ''loúgeon'', "a pool"; cf. Alb ''lag'' "to wet, soak, bathe, wash" (< PA
★ ''lauga''), ''lëgatë'' "pool" (< PA
★ ''leugatâ''), ''lakshte'' "dew" (< PA
★ ''laugista'')
★ ''mantía'', "bramblebush"; cf. Alb (Tosk) ''mën'' "mulberry bush", (Gheg) ''mandë''
★ ''rhinos'', "fog, mist"; cf. OAlb ''ren'', mod. Alb ''re, rê'' "cloud"
Early Borrowings from Greek
Early Albanian words borrowed into Greek are mainly commodity items and trade goods, gained through direct contact with the Greeks.
★ bagëm "oil for anointment" < Gk ''báptisma'' "anointment"
★ bletë "bee" < Gk ''mélissa'' "honey-bee"
[2]
★ brukë "tamarisk" < Gk ''mourikē''
★ drapër "sickle" < Gk (NW) ''drápanon''
★ kopsht "garden" < Gk (NW) ''kāpos''
★ kumbull "plum" < Gk ''kokkumēlon''
★ lakër "cabbage, greens" < Gk ''lákhanon'' "greens"
★ lëpjetë "orach, dock" < Gk ''lápathon''
★ lyej "to smear, oil" < Proto-Albanian
★ ''elaiwanja'', derived from
★ ''elaiwā'' < Gk ''elai(w)on'' "oil"
★ mokër "millstone" < Gk (NW) ''mākhaná'' "device, instrument"
★ mollë "apple tree" < Gk (NW) ''mālon'' "apple"
★ pjepër "melon" < Gk ''pépon'' "melon"
★ presh "leek" < Gk ''práson''
★ shpellë "cave" < Gk ''spēlaion'' "cave"
★ trumzë "thyme" < Gk ''thýmbra, thrýmbē''
Gothic Borrowings
★ fat "groom, husband" < Goth brūþ''faþ''s "bridegroom"
★ petk "herder's coat; clothing" < Goth ''paida''; cf. OHG pfeit, OE pād
★ shkulkë "branch indicating a pasture is off limits" < Goth ''skulka'' "guardian"
★ tirq "trousers" < Late Latin ''tubrucus'' < Goth
★ ''þiobroc'' "knee-britches"; cf. OHG dioh-bruoh
The earliest accepted documentation in the Albanian language is from the 15th century AD, even though recently claims have been made for documents dating late 12th to have been found in the Vatican Library. Church documents in Latin have passages mentioning "la Lingua Albanesca" in the 12th century as well. This is a time when Albanian Principalities start to be mentioned and expand inside and outside the Byzantine Empire. It is assumed that
Greek and
Balkan Latin (which was the ancestor of Romanian and other Balkan Romance languages), would exert a great influence on Albanian. Examples of words borrowed from Latin: ''qytet < civitas'' (city), ''qiell < caelum'' (sky), ''mik < amicus'' (friend).
After the
Slavs arrived in the
Balkans, another source of Albanian vocabulary were the
Slavic languages, especially
Bulgarian. The rise of the
Ottoman Empire meant an influx of
Turkish words; this also entailed the borrowing of Persian and Arabic words through Turkish. Surprisingly the Persian words seem to be absorbed the most. Some loanwords from Modern Greek also exist especially in the south of Albania. A lot of the loaned words have been resubstituted from Albanian rooted words or modern Latinized (international) words.
Writing system
:''Full article:
Albanian alphabet''
Albanian has been written using many different alphabets since the 15th century. The earliest written Albanian records come from the Gheg area in makeshift spellings based on Italian or Greek and sometimes in Turko-Arabic characters. Originally, the Tosk dialect was written in the
Greek alphabet and the Gheg dialect was written in the
Latin alphabet. They have both also been written in the
Ottoman Turkish version of the
Arabic alphabet, the
Cyrillic alphabet, and some local alphabets.
In 1909 an official, standardized Albanian spelling was developed, based on a Gheg dialect and using the Latin alphabet with the addition of the letters ''ë'', ''ç'', and nine
digraphs. After World War II the official language changed in that it adopted the Tosk dialect as its model.
History
Linguistic Affinities
The Albanian language has been variously attached to
Illyrian and
Messapian, both of which were related
[3]. Only the latter, to a small extent, has left any evidence that may in any way liken it to Albanian. Compare:
| Messapic | Proto-Albanian | Albanian | meaning |
|---|
| bilia | bir(i)lā | bijë | daughter |
| brendon "deer" | brina | bri, pl. brirë | horn, antler |
| klaohi "listen" | klāusnja | quaj, quej | to call |
| kos | kusa | kush | who |
| veinam "self" | swa(m) > wa | u | reflexive clitic pronoun |
| | swaja | vehte | self |
| venas | wana | uri, û (Gheg dial. unja) | hunger |
Messapian settlements are known to have existed along the Adriatic in both Italy and Illyria, especially around Durrës and in Apulia. Archaeology has shown that the Messapians employed cultural items, especially ceramics, reminiscent of earlier Glasinac types and that continued to be linked to the Devollian line in southern Albania. Furthermore, the extremely close parallels between Messapian and Illyrian names are unmistakable. Finally, Messapian has left several words in Italian dialects, including ''zabaglione'' "frothy dessert" (cf. Illyrian ''sabaium'' "beer"), ''manzo'' "ox" (cf. Alb ''mëz'', ''mâz'' "pony"), northern ''bagola'', ''bagula'' (cf. Alb ''bajgë'' "dung"), southern ''musso'' "ass" (cf. Alb ''mushk'' "mule"); though the last three may be pure borrowings from an earlier form of Albanian
[4].
Even the name ''Albanian'' is of some dispute. Appearing in the 9th c. in Greek as the ''Arvanoi'', and thereafter under similar names, including obsolete Albanian ''arbër'' or ''arbën'', it stems directly from Vulgar Latin ''Albanus'', from the southern Illyrian tribal name ''Albanoí''; the adjective too, ''arbëresh''/''arbënesh'', derived from Latin ''arbanensis''. This same name appears in Slavic and was used to name the town of ''Labëri'' "Laberia", from South Slavic ''labanĭja'', from ''olbanĭja''.
Historical Presence and Location
While it is considered established that the Albanians originated in the Balkans, the exact location from which they spred out is hard to pinpoint. Despite varied claims, the Albanians almost certainly came from slightly farther north (Kosova) and inland (Northwest Macedonia) than would suggest the present borders of Albania, with a homeland concentrated in the mountains. The purely linguistic reasons are listed below.
★ First, Albanian has few early Greek borrowings, most of which are from the Northwest dialect, probably via the islands off the coast of Albania, e.g. WGk (Doric) ''mākhaná'' gave Alb ''mokër'' "mill" and WGk ''drápanon'' gave Alb ''drapër'' "sickle". Indeed, the very word for Greek, ''gërk'', was borrowed from South Slavic; cf. Bulg. ''grŭk'', Serb-Croat ''gr"k'', itself a borrowing from Latin ''Graecus''.
★ Similarly, the Illyrian coast is not a likely source since Albanian has no inherited nautical or indigenous sea-faring terminology, and has instead supplemented this absence with subsequent borrowing from Latin or Greek or recent metaphorical lexical creations.
★ Third, toponyms along the coast, in contrast with native penultimate accent (ex: ''mbësë'' "niece" < PA ''nepō'tia''), often show substratal antepenultimate accent (ex: ''Durrës'' < ''Dúrrhachium''; ''Pojanë'' < ''Apóllonia''), though there are some exceptions (''Vlorë'' < ''Aulónā'' vs. Greek ''Aúlon'').
★ Also, some consider Albanian to be the source for a small number of
grammatical and lexical similarities shared by otherwise dissimilar languages including Romanian, Bulgarian, Serbo-Croatian, and to some extent Greek. Based on their extent of grammaticalization, these include: the postposition of articles, the presence of schwa, and the loss of infinitives.
★ Finally, few if any Proto-Albanian place names exist in what was the former Roman province of Illyria.
Instead, given the overwhelming amount of shepherding and mountaineering vocabulary as well as the extensive influence of Latin, it is more likely the Albanians come from north of the Jireček line, on the Latin-speaking side, perhaps in part from the late Roman province of ''Dardania'' from the western Balkans. However, archaeology has more convincingly pointed to the early Byzantine province of ''Praevitana'' (modern northern Albania) which shows an area where a primarily shepherding, transhumance population of Illyrians retained their culture. This area was based in the Mat district and the region of high mountains in Northern Albania, as well as in Dukagjin, Mirditë, and the mountains of Drin, from where the population would descend in the summer to the lowlands of western Albania, the Black Drin (''Drin i zi'') river valley, and into parts of Old Serbia. Indeed, the region's complete lack of Latin place names seems to imply little latinization of any kind and a more likely spot for the early medieval heart of Albanian territory, following the collapse of the Illyrian province.
Linguistic Influences
The period in which Proto-Albanian and Latin interacted was protracted and drawn out over six centuries, 1st c. AD to 6th or 7th c. AD. This is born out into roughly three layers of borrowings, the largest number belonging to the second layer. The first, with the fewest borrowings, was a time of less important interaction. The final period, probably preceding the Slavic or Germanic invasions, also has a notably smaller amount of borrowings. Each layer is characterized by a different treatment of most vowels, the first layer having several that follow the evolution of Early Proto-Albanian into Albanian; later layers reflect vowel changes endemic to Late Latin and presumably Proto-Romance. Other formative changes include the syncretism of several noun case endings, especially in the plural, as well as a large scale palatalization.
A brief period followed, between 7th c. AD and 9th c. AD, that was marked by heavy borrowings from Southern Slavic, some of which predate the "o-a" shift common to the modern forms of this language group. Starting in the latter 9th c. AD, a period followed of protracted contact with the Proto-Romanians, or Vlachs, though lexical borrowing seems to have been mostly one sided - from Albanian into Romanian. Such a borrowing indicates that the Romanians migrated from an area where the majority was Slavic (i.e. Middle Bulgarian) to an area with a majority of Albanian speakers, i.e. Dardania, where Vlachs are recorded in the 10th c. AD. Their movement is probably related to the expansion of the Bulgarian empire into Albania around that time. This fact places the Albanians at a rather early date in the Western or Central Balkans, most likely in the region of Kosova and Northern Albania.
Historical Considerations
Combined with archaeology and history, it seems likely that a concentrated core of Albanian territory during the Middle Ages lay in a quadrilateral with vertices at Bar, Prizren, Ohrid, and Vlorë. Indeed, the center of the Albanians remained the river Mat, and in 1079 AD they are recorded in the territory between Ohrid and Thessalonika as well as in Epirus; Albanian place names from a large portion of Macedonia and parts of Serbia indicate former Albanian territories.
Furthermore, the major Tosk-Gheg dialect division is based on the course of the Shkumbin River, a seasonal stream that lay near the old Via Egnatia. Since rhotacism postdates the dialect division, it is reasonable that the major dialect division occurred after the christianization of the Roman Empire (4th c. AD) and before the eclipse of the East-West land-based trade route by Venetian seapower (10th c. AD).
References to the existence of Albanian as a distinct language survive from the 1300s, but without recording any specific words. The oldest surviving documents written in Albanian are the "Formula e Pagëzimit" (Baptismal formula), "Un'te paghesont' pr'emenit t'Atit e t'Birit e t'Spirit Senit." (I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit) recorded by Pal Engjelli, Bishop of Durres in 1462 in the Gheg dialect, and some
New Testament verses from that period.
The oldest known Albanian printed book, ''
Meshari''
[1] or missal, was written by
Gjon Buzuku, a
Roman Catholic cleric, in
1555. The first Albanian school is believed to have been opened by
Franciscans in 1638 in
Pdhanë. In
1635,
Frang Bardhi wrote the first Latin-Albanian dictionary.
References
1.
Gheg 2,779,246 + Tosk 2,980,000 + Arbereshe 80,000 + Arvanitika 150,000 = 5,989,246 (Ethnologue, 2005)
2. Vladimir Orel (2000) links the word to an unattested Vulgar Latin
★ ''melettum'' (cf. L ''mellarium'' "bee farm"), which is unconvincing. J.P. Mallory and D.Q. Adams (1997) have the word as a native development, from
★ ''melítiā'', a form also considered to underly Greek ''mélissa''. In any case, a direct borrowing from Greek is unlikely.
3. Sergent, Bernard. ''Les Indo-Européens : histoire, langues, mythes''. Paris: Payot, 1995, p. 102-4.
4. The Albanians migrated in the 14th century to Venise, in the 15th century to Ancona and Recanati (Marche), and to Sicily and all across the South.
Bibliography
★ ''
Encyclopædia Britannica, edition 15 (
1985). Article: Albanian language''
★ Huld, Martin E. ''Basic Albanian Etymologies''. Columbus, OH: Slavica Publishers, 1984.
★ Mallory, J.P. and D.Q. Adams, ''Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture''. London: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997.
★ Martin Camaj, ''Albanian Grammar'', Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden
★ Orel, Vladimir. ''A Concise Historical Grammar of the Albanian Language: Reconstruction of Proto-Albanian''. Leiden: Brill, 2000.
See also
★
Albanian Wikipedia
★
Arvanitika
External links
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Illyrian Albanian connection
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Learn Albanian Language-Online classes with LIVE Albanian Teachers
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An overview of the Albanian language and culture
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Albanian phrase guide
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Ethnologue report on Albanian
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List of free online resources for learners
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List of online Albanian-related resources
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Radio in Albanian
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FunkyAlbanian.com Free resources to learn Albanian
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Albanian World Learn Albanian here
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Modern Greek and Albanian with Japanese translation
Samples of various Albanian dialects:
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Albanian (Gheg)
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Albanian (Tosk)
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Albanian (Arbëreshë)
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Albanian (Arvanitika)
Dictionaries:
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English - Albanian 1
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English - Albanian 2
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English - Albanian 3
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English - Albanian 4
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English - Albanian 5
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Spanish - Albanian
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German - Albanian
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Italian - Albanian
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Turkish - Albanian
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Turkish - Albanian
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Collection of Albanian bilingual dictionaries
Keyboard layouts:
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Prektora 1 ISO-8859-1 standardized layout for Windows XP (Albanian language)
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