Albanian language

a sonorant.[11] Conservative features of Albanian include

the retention of the distinction between active and middle
voice, present tense, and aorist.

Albanian (shqip [cip] or gjuha shqipe [uha cip],

meaning Albanian language) is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people,[3] primarily in Albania, Kosovo, the Republic of Macedonia, and Greece, but also in other areas of Southeastern
Europe in which there is an Albanian population, including Montenegro and the Preevo Valley of Serbia.
Centuries-old communities speaking Albanian-based dialects can be found scattered in Greece, southern Italy,[4]
Sicily, and Ukraine.[5] As a result of a modern diaspora,
there are also Albanian speakers elsewhere in those countries as well as in other parts of the world, including Austria, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, the
Scandinavian countries, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Canada, the United States, Australia, New
Zealand, Singapore, and Turkey.

Albanian is considered to have evolved from an ancient

Paleo-Balkan language, usually taken to be either Illyrian
or Thracian, but this is disputed. (See also ThracoIllyrian and Messapian language.)

1.2 Linguistic inuences

The earliest loanwords attested in Albanian come from
Doric Greek, [12] whereas the strongest inuence came
from Latin. The period during which Proto-Albanian and
Latin interacted was protracted and drawn out roughly
from the 2nd century BC to the 5th century AD.[13] This
is borne out into roughly three layers of borrowings, the
largest number belonging to the second layer. The rst,
with the fewest borrowings, was a time of less important interaction. The nal period, probably preceding the
Slavic or Germanic invasions, also has a notably smaller
number of borrowings. Each layer is characterized by a
dierent treatment of most vowels, the rst layer having
several that follow the evolution of Early Proto-Albanian
into Albanian; later layers reect 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 largescale palatalization.

The earliest written document that mentions the Albanian language is a late-13th-century crime report from
Dubrovnik. The rst audio recording of Albanian was
made by Norbert Jokl on 4 April 1914 in Vienna.[6]

History

The rst written mention of the Albanian language was

on 14 July 1285 in Dubrovnik, when a certain Matthew,
witness of a crime, stated I heard a voice shouting on
the mountainside in the Albanian tongue" (Latin: Audivi unam vocem, clamantem in monte in lingua albaneA brief period followed, between the 7th and 9th censca).[7][8]
turies 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.
1.1 Linguistic anities
Starting in the latter 9th century AD, there was a peThe Albanian language is an Indo-European language riod characterized by protracted contact with the Protoin a branch by itself, sharing its branch with no other Romanians, or Vlachs, though lexical borrowing seems to
extant language. The other extant Indo-European lan- have been mostly one sidedfrom Albanian into Romaguages in a branch by themselves are Armenian and, nian. Such borrowing indicates that the Romanians miin some classications, Greek. Though sharing lexical grated from an area where the majority was Slavic (i.e.
isoglosses with Greek, Balto-Slavic, and Germanic, the Middle Bulgarian) to an area with a majority of Albanian
vocabulary of Albanian is quite distinct. Once hastily speakers (i.e. Dardania, where Vlachs are recorded in the
grouped with Germanic and Balto-Slavic based on the 10th century AD). Their movement is probably related
merger of PIE * and * into * in a supposed north- to the expansion of the Bulgarian Empire into Albania
ern group,[9] Albanian has been proven to be distinct around that time.
from these two because this vowel shift is only part of a
larger push chain that aected all long vowels.[10] Albanian does share two features with Balto-Slavic languages:
a lengthening of syllabic consonants before voiced obstruents and a distinct treatment of long syllables ending in

According to the central hypothesis of a project undertaken by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, Old Albanian
had a signicant inuence on the development of many
Balkan languages. Intensive research now aims to conrm this theory. Albanian is being researched using all
1

1 HISTORY

available texts before a comparison with other Balkan languages is carried out. The outcome of this work will include the compilation of a lexicon providing an overview
of all Old Albanian verbs.[14]

1.3

Latin element of the Albanian language

Jernej Kopitar (17801844) was the rst to note Latins

inuence on Albanian and claimed the Latin loanwords
in the Albanian language had the pronunciation of the
time of Emperor Augustus.[15] Kopitar gave examples
such as Albanian qiqer from Latin cicer, qytet from
civitas, peshk from piscis and shigjet" from sagitta.
The hard pronunciations of Latin c and g are retained as palatal and velar stops in the Albanian loanwords. Gustav Meyer (1888)[16] and Wilhelm MeyerLbke (1914)[17] later corroborated this. Meyer noted the
similarity between the Albanian verbs shqipoj and shqiptoj and the Latin word excipio. He believed that the word
Shqiptar (meaning Albanian) was derived from the Latin
word excipio. Johann Georg von Hahn, an Austrian linguist, previously proposed the same theory in 1854.[18]

151 Albanian words of Latin origin were not inherited in Romanian. A few examples include Albanian
mik from Latin amicus, or armik from inimicus, arsye from rationem, bekoj from benedicere, qelq from
calix (calicis), kshtjell from castellum, qind from
centum, gjel from gallus, gjymtyr from iunctura,
mjek from medicus, rrjet from rete, shpresoj from
sperare, vullnet from voluntas (voluntatis).[21]
Some Albanian church terminology have phonetic
features which demonstrate their very early borrowing from Latin. A few examples include Albanian
altar from Latin altare, engjll from angelus, bekoj
from benedicere,i krishter from christianus, kryq
from crux (crucis), kish from ecclesia, ipeshkv from
episcopus, ungjill from evangelium, mallkoj from
maledicere, mesh from missa, murg from monacus,
pagan from paganus.[22]

Other authors[23] have detected Latin loanwords in Albanian with an ancient sound pattern from the 1st century
BC, for example, Albanian qingl from Latin cingula and
Albanian e vjetr from Latin vetus/veteris. The Romance
languages inherited these words from Vulgar Latin: VulEqrem abej also noticed, among other things, the ar- gar *cingla became N. Romanian chinga, meaning belly
band, saddle girth, and Vulgar veteran became N. Rochaic Latin elements in Albanian:[19]
manian btrn, meaning old.
1. Latin /au/ becomes Albanian /a/ in the earliest bor- Albanian, Basque, and the surviving Celtic languages
rowings: aurum > ar, gaudium > gaz, laurus > such as Irish and Welsh are the non-Romance languages
lar. But Latin /au/ is retained in later borrowings: today that have this sort of extensive Latin element datcausa > kafsh", laud > lavd.
ing from ancient Roman times, which have undergone the
2. Latin // becomes Albanian /e/ in the oldest Latin sound changes associated with the languages.
borrowings: pmum > pem", hra > her".
An analogous mutation occurred from Proto-IndoEuropean to Albanian; PIE *ns became Albanian
ne, PIE *ot + sux -ti- became Albanian tet"
etc.
3. Latin unstressed internal and initial syllables become lost in Albanian: cubitus > kub, medicus
> mjek, paludem > V. Latin padule > pyll.
An analogous mutation occurred from Proto-IndoEuropean to Albanian. In contrast, in later Latin
borrowings, the internal syllable is retained: paganus > pagan, plaga > plag" etc.
4. Latin /tj/, /dj/, /kj/ palatalized to Albanian /s/, /z/,
/c/: vitius > ves, ratio > arsye, radius > rreze,
Illyrians, Dacians, Getae and Thracians at 200 BC
facies > faqe, socius > shoq etc.
Haralambie Mihescu demonstrated that:
Some 85 Latin words have survived in Albanian
but not (as inherited) in any Romance language. A
few examples include bubulcus > bujk, hibernalia >
mrraj, sarcinarius > shelqror, trifurcus > trfurk,
accipiter > skifter, musconea > mushkonj, chersydrus > kuedr, spleneticum > shpretk, solanum >
shull.[20]

1.4 Historical presence and location

Main article: Origin of the Albanians
The place where the Albanian language was formed is uncertain, but analysis has suggested that it was in a mountainous region rather than on a plain or seacoast:[24] while

3
the words for plants and animals characteristic of mountainous regions are entirely original, the names for sh
and for agricultural activities (such as ploughing) are borrowed from other languages.[25] A deeper analysis of the
vocabulary, however, shows that this could be a consequence of the prolonged Latin domination of the coastal
and plain areas of the country, rather than evidence of the
original environment where the Albanian language was
formed. For example, the word for 'sh' is borrowed from
Latin, but not the word for 'gills, which is native. Indigenous are also the words for 'ship', 'raft' and 'navigation',
'sea shelves and a few names of sh kinds, but not the
words for 'sail', 'row', 'harbor', objects pertaining navigation itself and a large part of sea fauna. This rather shows
that Proto-Albanians were pushed away from coastal areas in early times (probably after the Latin conquest of
the region) thus losing large parts (or the majority) of
sea environment lexicon. A similar phenomenon could
be observed with agricultural terms. While the words for
'arable land', 'corn', 'wheat', 'cereals, 'vineyard', 'yoke',
'harvesting', cattle breeding etc are native, the words for
'plowing', 'farm' and 'farmer', agricultural practices, and
some harvesting tools are foreign. This, again, points to
intense contacts with other languages and people, rather
than providing evidence of a possible Urheimat.
The center of Albanian settlement remained the Mat
river. In AD 1079 they are recorded farther south in
the valley of the Shkumbin river.[26] The Shkumbin, a
seasonal stream that lies near the old Via Egnatia, is approximately the boundary of the primary dialect division
for Albanian, Tosk-Gheg. The characteristics of Tosk
and Gheg in the treatment of the native and loanwords
from other languages are evidence that the dialectal split
preceded the Slavic migration to the Balkans,[27][28][13]
which means that in that period (5th to 6th centuries AD)
Albanians were occupying pretty much the same area
around the Shkumbin river, which straddled the Jireek
Line.[29][24]
References to the existence of Albanian as a distinct
language survive from the 14th century, but they failed
to cite specic words. The oldest surviving documents
written in Albanian are the "formula e pagzimit" (Baptismal formula), Un'te paghesont' pr'emenit t'Atit e t'Birit e
t'Spertit Senit. (I baptize thee in the name of the Father,
and the Son, and the Holy Spirit") recorded by Pal Engjelli, Bishop of Durrs in 1462 in the Gheg dialect, and
some New Testament verses from that period.
The oldest known Albanian printed book, Meshari, or
missal, was written in 1555 by Gjon Buzuku, a Roman
Catholic cleric. In 1635, Frang Bardhi wrote the rst
LatinAlbanian dictionary. The rst Albanian school is
believed to have been opened by Franciscans in 1638 in
Pdhan.

2 Dialects
Main article: Albanian dialects
Albanian is divided into two major dialects: Gheg, Tosk,
and a transitional dialect zone between them.[30] The
Shkumbin river is roughly the dividing line, with Gheg
spoken north of the Shkumbin and Tosk south of it.[31]
There are also other dialects like Arbresh and Arvanitika, which are mixtures between Gheg and Tosk with
some archaic features of Albanian. They are spoken in
some areas of Italy and Greece.

3 Standard Albanian
Before World War II the language predominantly used for
ocial purposes was Gheg Albanian because King Zog I
was a Gheg leader.[32] Prior to World War II, dictionaries consulted by developers of the standard have included
Lexikon tis Alvanikis glossis (Albanian: Fjalori i Gjuhs
Shqipe (Kostandin Kristoforidhi, 1904),[33] Fjalori i
Bashkimit (1908),[33] and Fjalori i Gazullit (1941).[34]
After World War II standard Albanian is based on the
Tosk dialect, while standardization was directed by the
Institute of Albanian Language and Literature of the
Academy of Sciences of Albania.[35] Two dictionaries
were published in 1954: an Albanian language dictionary and a RussianAlbanian dictionary. New orthography rules were eventually published in 1967[35] and 1973
(Drejtshkrimi i gjuhs shqipe (Orthography of the Albanian Language).[36] More recent dictionaries from the
Albanian government are Fjalori Drejtshkrimor i Gjuhs
Shqipe (1976) (Orthographic Dictionary of the Albanian
Language)[37] and Dictionary of Todays Albanian language (Fjalori Gjuhs s Sotme Shqipe) (1980).[35][38]

4 Geographic distribution
Albanian is spoken by approximately 7.6 million
people,[39][40] mainly in Albania, Kosovo, Turkey, the
Republic of Macedonia, Greece and Italy (Arbereshe)
and by immigrant communities in many other countries, notably the United Kingdom, the United States,
Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.

4.1 Standard
Standard Albanian, based on the Tosk dialect of southern
Albania, is the ocial language of Albania and Kosovo
and is also ocial in municipalities of the Republic of
Macedonia where ethnic Albanians form more than 20%
of the municipal population. It is also an ocial language
of Montenegro, where it is spoken in municipalities with
ethnic Albanian populations.

6 GRAMMAR

Phonology

Standard Albanian has 7 vowels and 29 consonants. Gheg

uses long and nasal vowels, which are absent in Tosk, and
the mid-central vowel is lost at the end of the word. The
stress is xed mainly on the last syllable. Gheg n (femn:
compare English feminine) changes to r by rhotacism in
Tosk (femr).

5.1

Consonants

Notes:
The palatal nasal // corresponds to the Spanish
and the French and Italian gn. It is pronounced as
one sound, not a nasal plus a glide.

6 Grammar
See also: Albanian morphology
Albanian has a canonical word order of SVO (subject
verbobject) like English and many other Indo-European
languages.[46] Albanian nouns are inected by gender
(masculine, feminine and neuter) and number (singular
and plural). There are ve declensions with six cases
(nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, ablative, and
vocative), although the vocative only occurs with a limited
number of words, and the forms of the genitive and dative are identical (a genitive is produced when the prepositions i/e/t/s are used with the dative). Some dialects
also retain a locative case, which is not present in standard
Albanian. The cases apply to both denite and indenite
nouns, and there are numerous cases of syncretism.
The following shows the declension of mal (mountain), a
masculine noun which takes i in the denite singular:

The ll sound is a velarised lateral, close to English

The following shows the declension of the masculine
dark L.
noun zog (bird), a masculine noun which takes u in the
The contrast between apped r and trilled rr is the denite singular:
same as in Spanish or Armenian.
The following table shows the declension of the feminine
noun vajz (girl):
The letter is sometimes written ch due to technical
The denite article is placed after the noun as in many
limitations because of its use in English sound and its
other Balkan languages, like in Romanian, Macedonian
analogy to the other digraphs xh, sh, and zh. Usually
and Bulgarian.
it is written simply c or more rarely q with context
resolving any ambiguities.
The denite article can be in the form of noun sufxes, which vary with gender and case.
Many speakers merge the palatal sounds q and gj
into the palatoalveolar sounds and xh. This is especially common in Gheg, but is increasingly the case
in Tosk as well.[41]

5.2

Vowels

5.2.1

Schwa

Although the Indo-European schwa ( or -h2-) was preserved in Albanian, in some cases it was lost, possibly
when a stressed syllable preceded it.[42] Until the standardization of the modern Albanian alphabet, in which
the schwa is spelled as , as in the work of Gjon Buzuku in
the 16th century, various vowels and gliding vowels were
employed, including ae by Lek Matrnga and by Pjetr
Bogdani in the late 16th and early 17th century.[43][44]
The schwa in Albanian has a great degree of variability from extreme back to extreme front articulation.[45]
Within the borders of Albania, the phoneme is pronounced about the same in both the Tosk and the Gheg
dialect due to the inuence of standard Albanian. Howevever, in the Gheg dialects spoken in the neighbouring
Albanian-speaking areas of Kosovo and Macedonia, the
phoneme is still pronounced as back and rounded.[45]

For example in singular nominative, masculine

nouns add -i, or those ending in -g/-k/-h take
-u (to avoid palatalization):
mal (mountain) / mali (the mountain);
libr (book) / libri (the book);
zog (bird) / zogu (the bird).
Feminine nouns take the sux -(j)a:
vetur (car) / vetura (the car);
shtpi (house) / shtpia (the house);
lule (ower) / lulja (the ower).
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 (six
types) and tenses (three simple and ve complex constructions) is distinctive among Balkan languages. There
are two general types of conjugations.
Albanian verbs, like those of other Balkan languages,
have an "admirative" mood (mnyra habitore) that is used
to indicate surprise on the part of the speaker or to imply
that an event is known to the speaker by report and not by

6.2

Numerals

direct observation. In some contexts, this mood can be 6.2

translated using English apparently.

Numerals

7 Orthography
Ti et shqip. You speak Albanian. (indicative)
Main articles: Albanian alphabet and Albanian braille
Ti iske shqip! You (surprisingly) speak Albanian!" (admirative)
Rruga sht e mbyllur. The street is closed. (indicative)
Rruga qenka e mbyllur. "(Apparently,) The street
is closed. (admirative)
For more information on verb conjugation and on inection of other parts of speech, see Albanian morphology.

6.1

Word order

In Albanian, the constituent order is subjectverbobject,

and negation is expressed by the particles nuk or s in front
of the verb, for example:
Toni nuk et anglisht Tony does not speak English";
Toni set anglisht Tony doesn't speak English";
Nuk e di I do not know";
S'e di I don't know.
However, the verb can optionally occur in sentence-initial
position, especially with verbs in the non-active form
(forma joveprore):

The Albanian language has been written using many

dierent alphabets since the earliest records from the
15th century. The history of Albanian language orthography is closely related to the cultural orientation and
knowledge of certain foreign languages among Albanian
writers.[34] The earliest written Albanian records come
from the Gheg area in makeshift spellings based on Italian or Greek and sometimes in Arabic characters. Originally, the Tosk dialect was written in the Greek alphabet and the Gheg dialect was written in the Latin script.
Both dialects had also been written in the Ottoman Turkish version of the Arabic script, Cyrillic, and some local
alphabets. More specically, the writers from Northern
Albania and under the inuence of the Catholic Church
used Latin letters, those in southern Albania and under
the inuence of the Greek Orthodox church used Greek
letters, while others throughout Albania and under the inuence of Islam used Arabic letters. There were initial
attempts to create an original Albanian alphabet during
the 17501850 period. These attempts intensied after
the League of Prizren and culminated with the Congress
of Monastir held by Albanian intellectuals from 14 to 22
November 1908, in Monastir (present day Bitola), which
decided the alphabet and standardized spelling for standard Albanian down to the present. The alphabet is the
Latin alphabet with the addition of the letters , , and
nine digraphs.

8 Literary tradition
8.1 Earliest undisputed texts

Parashikohet nj ndrprerje An interruption is anticipated".

In imperative sentences, the particle mos is used:
Mos harro do not forget!".
SVO: Agimi i hngri t gjith portokallt.
SOV: Agimi t gjith portokallt i hngri.
OVS: T gjith portokallt i hngri Agimi.
OSV: T gjith portokallt Agimi i hngri.
VSO: I hngri Agimi t gjith portokallt.

See also: Formula e pagzimit and Meshari

The earliest known texts in Albanian:
the "formula e pagzimit" (baptismal Formula),
which dates back to 1462 and was authored by Pal
Engjlli (or Paulus Angelus) (c. 1417 1470),
Archbishop of Durrs. Engjlli was a close friend
and counselor of Skanderbeg.[47] It was written in a
pastoral letter for a synod at the Holy Trinity in Mat
and read in Latin characters as follows: Unte paghesont premenit Atit et Birit et Spertit Senit (standard
Albanian: Un t pagzoj n emr t Atit, t Birit
e t Shpirtit t Shenjt" I baptize you in the name
of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit). It
was discovered and published in 1915 by Nicolae
Iorga.[48]

8 LITERARY TRADITION
the Fjalori i Arnold von Hart (Arnold Ritter von also contains passages from the Psalms, the Book of IsaHars lexicon), a short list of Albanian phrases with iah, the Book of Jeremiah, the Letters to the Corinthians,
German glosses, dated 1496.[49]
and many illustrations. The uniformity of spelling seems
to indicate an earlier tradition of writing. The only known
a song, recorded in the Greek alphabet, retrieved copy of the Meshari is held by the Apostolic Library.[51]
from an old codex that was written in Greek. The In 1968 the book was published with transliterations and
document is also called Perikopeja e Ungjillit t comments by linguists.
Pashkve or Perikopeja e Ungjillit t Shn Mateut
(The Song of the Easter Gospel, or The Song of
Saint Matthews Gospel). Although the codex is 8.2 Disputed earlier text
dated to during the 14th century, the song, written
in Albanian by an anonymous writer, seems to be a
16th-century writing. The document was found by
Arbresh people who had emigrated to Italy in the
15th century.[50]

Possibly the oldest surviving Albanian text, highlighted in red,

from the Bellifortis manuscript, written by Konrad Kyeser around
14021405.

In 1967 two scholars claimed to have found a brief text in

Albanian inserted into the Bellifortis text, a book written
in Latin dating to 14021405.[52]
A star has fallen in a place in the woods,
distinguish the star, distinguish it.
Meshari of Gjon Buzuku 1554-1555

Distinguish the star from the others, they

are ours, they are.
Do you see where the great voice has resounded? Stand beside it
That thunder. It did not fall. It did not fall for
you, the one which would do it.
...
Like the ears, you should not believe ... that the
moon fell when ...
Try to encompass that which spurts far ...
Call the light when the moon falls and no longer
exists ...

The rst book in Albanian is the Meshari (The Missal),

written by Gjon Buzuku between 20 March 1554 and 5
January 1555. The book was written in the Gheg dialect
in the Latin script with some Slavic letters adapted for Albanian vowels. The book was discovered in 1740 by Gjon
Nikoll Kazazi, the Albanian archbishop of Skopje. It
contains the liturgies of the main holidays. There are also
texts of prayers and rituals and catechetical texts. The
grammar and the vocabulary are more archaic than those
in the Gheg texts from the 17th century. The 188 pages of
the book comprise about 154,000 words with a total vocabulary of c. 1,500 dierent words. The text is archaic Dr. Robert Elsie, a specialist in Albanian studies, considyet easily interpreted because it is mainly a translation of ers that The Todericiu/Polena Romanian translation of
known texts, in particular portions of the Bible. The book the non-Latin lines, although it may oer some clues if

9.3

Proto-IE features

the text is indeed Albanian, is fanciful and based, among searched using all available texts before a comparison
other things, on a false reading of the manuscript, includ- with other Balkan languages is carried out. The outcome
ing the exclusion of a whole line.[53]
of this work will include the compilation of a lexicon providing an overview of all Old Albanian verbs.[63]

8.3

Ottoman period

In 1635, Frang Bardhi (16061643) published in Rome

his Dictionarum latinum-epiroticum, the rst known
Latin-Albanian dictionary. Other scholars who studied the language during the 17th century include
Andrea Bogdani (16001685), author of the rst LatinAlbanian grammar book, Nilo Katalanos (16371694)
and others.[54]

9.3 Proto-IE features

The demonstrative pronoun ko is ancestral to Albanian
ky/kjo and English he.
Albanian is compared to other Indo-European languages
below, but note that Albanian has exhibited some notable
instances of semantic drift (such as motr meaning sister rather than mother or the Latin loans gjelbr and
verdh having become switched in meaning).

Classication

9.4 Albanian-PIE phonological correspondences

Albanian was demonstrated to be an Indo-European language in 1854 by the philologist Franz Bopp. The Albanian language constitutes its own branch of the Indo- Phonologically Albanian is not so conservative. Like
many IE stocks it has merged the two series of voiced
European language family.[55]
stops (e.g. both *d and *d became d). In addition
Albanian was formerly compared by some Indo- the voiced stops tend to disappear in between vowels.
Europeanists with Balto-Slavic and Germanic,[56] both There is almost complete loss of nal syllables and very
of which share a number of isoglosses with Albanian. widespread loss of other unstressed syllables (e.g. mik,
Moreover, Albanian has undergone a vowel shift in which friend from Lat. amicus). PIE *o appears as a (also
stressed, long o has fallen to a, much like in the for- as e if a high front vowel i follows), while * and * bemer and opposite the latter. Likewise, Albanian has come o, and PIE * appears as e. The palatals, velars,
taken the old relative jos and innovatively used it ex- and labiovelars all remain distinct before front vowels, a
clusively to qualify adjectives, much in the way Balto- conservation found otherwise in Luvian and related AnaSlavic has used this word to provide the denite ending tolian languages. Thus PIE *, *k, and *k become th,
of adjectives. Other linguists link Albanian with Greek q, and s, respectively (before back vowels * becomes th,
and Armenian, while placing Germanic and Balto-Slavic while *k and *k merge as k). Another remarkable retenin another branch of Indo-European.[57][58][59] Nakhleh, tion is the preservation of initial *h as Alb. h (all other
4
Ringe, and Warnow argued that Albanian can be placed laryngeals disappear completely).[64]
at a variety of points within the Indo-European tree with
equally good t; determining its correct placement is
[1] Between vowels or after r
hampered by the loss of much of its former diagnostic
[60]
inectional morphology and vocabulary.
[1] Before u /u or i/i

9.1

Origin

[2] Before sonorant

[3] Archaic relic

Albanian is often seen as the descendant of Illyrian,[61]

although this hypothesis has been challenged by some
linguists, who maintain that it derives from Dacian or
Thracian.[62] (Illyrian, Dacian, and Thracian, however,
may have formed a subgroup or a Sprachbund; see
Thraco-Illyrian).

[4] Syllable-initial and followed by sibilant

[1] Initial
[2] Between vowels
[3] Between vowels and after u /i/r/k (ruki law)

9.2

(Old) Albanian

According to the central hypothesis of a project undertaken by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, Old Albanian
had a signicant inuence on the development of many
Balkan languages. Intensive research now aims to conrm this theory. This little-known language is being re-

[4] Cluster -sd[5] Cluster -s[6] Cluster -sp[7] Cluster -st[8] Dissimilation with following vowel

10 VOCABULARY

[1] Before i, e, a

drakoina supper"; cf. Alb. darke, dreke[73]

[2] Before back vowels

drenis, deer"; cf. Alb dre, dreni[74]

[3] After front vowels

delme sheep"; cf. Alb dele, Gheg dialect delme[75]

[4] After all other vowels

dard, pear"; cf. Alb dardh [76]

10
10.1

Vocabulary
Cognates with Illyrian

See also: Illyrian languages

Andena/Andes/Andio/Antis - personal Illyrian

names based on a root-word and- or ant-, found
in both the southern and the Dalmatian-Pannonian
(including modern Bosnia and Herzegovina) onomastic provinces; cf. Alb. and (northern Albanian
dialect, or Gheg) and nd (southern Albanian
dialect or Tosk) appetite, pleasure, desire, wish";
Andi proper name, Andizetes, an Illyrian people
inhabiting the Roman province of Panonia.[65]
aran eld"; cf. Alb. ar; plural ara[66]
Ardiaioi/Ardiaei, name of an Illyrian people, cf.
Alb. ardhja arrival or descent, connected to
hardhi vine-branch, grape-vine, with a sense development similar to Germanic *stamniz, meaning
both stem, tree stalk and tribe, lineage. However, the
insuciency of this theory is that so far there is no
certainty as to the historical or etymological development of either ardhja/hardhi or Ardiaioi, as with
many other words.[65]
Bilia daughter"; cf. Alb. bij, dial. bil [67]
Bindo/Bindus, an Illyrian deity from Biha, Bosnia
and Herzegovina; cf. Alb. bind to convince or to
make believe, prbindsh monster.[68]
bounon, hutt, cottage"; cf. Alb bun[69]
brisa, husk of grapes"; cf. Alb brs lees, dregs;
mash ( < PA *bruti)[70]

Hyllus (the name of an Illyrian king); cf. Alb. yll

(hyll in some northern dialects) star, also Alb. hyj
god, Ylli proper name.[73]
sca, dagger"; cf. Alb thik or thika knife[77]
Ulc-, wolf (pln. Ulcinium); cf. Alb ujk wolf, ulk
(Northern Dialect)[78]
logeon, pool"; cf. Alb lag, legen to wet, soak,
bathe, wash ( < PA *lauga), lgat pool ( < PA
*leugat), lakshte dew ( < PA laugista)[79]
mag- great"; cf. Alb. i madh big , great[70]
manta bramblebush"; Old and dial. Alb mand
berry, mulberry (mod. Alb mn, man)
rhinos, fog, mist"; cf. Old Alb ren cloud (mod.
Alb re, r) ( < PA *rina)[80]
Vendum place"; cf. Proto-Alb. wen-ta (Mod. Alb.
vend)[73]

10.2 Early Greek loans

There are some 30 Ancient Greek loanwords in
Albanian.[81] Many of these reect a dialect which voiced
its aspirants, as did the Macedonian dialect. Other loanwords are Doric; these words mainly refer to commodity
items and trade goods and probably came through trade
with a now-extinct intermediary.[12]
blet; hive, bee < Attic mlitta bee (vs. Ionic
mlissa).[82]
drapr; sickle < (NW) drpanon[83]
kumbull; plum < kokkmelon[83]
lakr; cabbage, green vegetables < lchanon
green; vegetable[84]
lpjet; orach, dock < lpathon[85]

Barba- swamp, a toponym from Metubarbis; possibly related to Alb. brrak swampy soil[70]

lyej; to smear, oil < *liwenj < *elaiw < Gk

elai(w)n oil

can- dog"; related to Alb. qen[70]

mokr; millstone < (NW) mchan device,

instrument[81]

Daesitiates, a name of an Illyrian people, cf. Alb.

dash ram, corresponding contextually with south
Slavonic dasa ace, which might represent a borrowing and adaptation from Illyrian (or some other
ancient language).[65]

moll; apple < mlon fruit[86]

pjepr; melon < ppn
presh; leek < prson[84]

mal, mountain"; cf. Alb mal[71]

shpell; cave < splaion

bardi, white"; cf. Alb bardh [72]

trumz; thyme < (NW) thmbr, thrmbr [83]

10.3

Gothic loans

List of Romanian words of possible Dacian origin

occasional correspondence in Albanian

Some Gothic loanwords were borrowed through Late

Latin, while others came from the Ostrogothic expansion
into parts of Praevalitana around Naki and the Gulf of
Kotor in Montenegro.
fat; groom, husband
bridegroom[87]

<

Goth

Dacian language

12 Notes

brfas

gomar; donkey, ass, gegish magjer < *marg <

Goth *marh horse
horr; scoundrel, horr; hussy, whore < Goth
hors adulterer, *hora whore
petk, petk; clothes, garment, petk; herders
coat < Goth paida; cf. OHG pfeit, OE pd
shkulk; boundary marker for pastures made of
branches < Late Latin sculca < Goth skulka
guardian
shkum; foam < Late Latin < Goth skma
tirq; trousers < Late Latin tubrucus < Goth *iobrok knee-britches"; cf. OHG dioh-bruoh, Eng
thigh, breeches
The earliest accepted document in the Albanian language
is from the 15th century AD. It is assumed that Greek and
Balkan Latin (which was the ancestor of Romanian and
other Balkan Romance languages) would exert a great inuence on Albanian. Examples of words borrowed from
Latin: qytet < civitas (city), qiell < caelum (sky), mik <
amicus (friend).

[1] Kosovo is the subject of a territorial dispute between the

Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Kosovo. The latter
declared independence on 17 February 2008, but Serbia
continues to claim it as part of its own sovereign territory.
Kosovos independence has been recognised by 108 out of
193 United Nations member states.

13 References
[1] Albanian language
[2] Nordho, Sebastian; Hammarstrm, Harald; Forkel,
Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). Albanian.
Glottolog 2.2. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
[3] Albanian language
[4] http://www.minorityrights.org/1617/italy/albanians.html
[5] http://www.albanianlanguage.net/
[6] Robert Elsie (2010). Historical Dictionary of Albania.
Rowman & Littleeld. p. 216. ISBN 978-0-8108-61886. Retrieved 30 September 2013.
[7] Nicholas Georey Lemprire Hammond (1976).
Migrations and invasions in Greece and adjacent areas. Noyes Press. p. 57. ISBN 978-0-8155-5047-1.
Retrieved 23 January 2013.

After the Slavs arrived in the Balkans, the Slavic languages became an additional source of loanwords. The
[8] Zeitschrift fr Balkanologie. R. Trofenik. 1990. p. 102.
rise of the Ottoman Empire meant an inux of Turkish
Retrieved 23 January 2013.
words; this also entailed the borrowing of Persian and
Arabic words through Turkish. Many Albanian names [9] Watkins 1998, p. 38.
(such as Enver Hoxha) are of Turkish origin. Some loan[10] Labov 1994, p. 42.
words from Modern Greek also exist especially in the
south of Albania. A lot of the borrowed words have been [11] Hamp 1994, pp. 6667.
re-substituted from Albanian rooted words or modern La[12] Huld, Martin E. (1986). Accentual Stratication of Antinized (international) words.

cient Greek Loanwords in Albanian. Zeitschrift fr vergleichende Sprachforschung (99.2): 245253.

11

See also

Arbresh language
Arvanitika
Gheg Albanian
Tosk Albanian
Illyrian languages
Thraco-Illyrian

[13] Mallory & Adams 1997, p. 9.

[14] FWF.ac.at
[15] Kopitar 1829, p. 254.
[16] Meyer 1888, p. 805.
[17] Meyer-Lbke 1914, p. 32.
[18] Bardhyl Demiraj (2010). Wir sind die Deinen. Studien
zur albanischen Sprache, Literatur und Kulturgeschichte,
dem Gedenken an Martin Camaj (19251992) gewidmet.
Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3-447-06221-3.

10

13

[19] abej 1962, pp. 1351.

[20] Mihaescu 1966, pp. 1, 30.
[21] Mihaescu 1966, pp. 1, 21.
[22] Mihaescu 1966, pp. 12.
[23] Rosetti 1986, pp. 195197.
[24] Hamp 1963.
[25] Fine 1991, p. 10.
[26] Kazhdan 1991, pp. 5253.
[27] Brown & Ogilvie 2008, p. 23.
[28] Fortson 2004, p. 392.
[29] Demiraj 1999.
[30] Gjinari, Jorgji. Dialektologjia shqiptare
[31] Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World By
Keith Brown, Sarah Ogilvie Contributor Keith Brown,
Sarah Ogilvie Edition: illustrated Published by Elsevier,
2008 ISBN 0-08-087774-5, ISBN 978-0-08-087774-7
[32] Peter John de la Fosse Wiles (1971). The Prediction of
Communist Economic Performance. Cambridge University Press. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-521-07885-6. Retrieved
15 July 2013. ... the late King Zog was a leader of the
Ghegs and that the Gheg dialect predominated in ocial
usage before the War

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[74] Mayani, Zchari (1962). The Etruscans begin to speak.
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[80] Indo-european language and culture: an introduction
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[81] The Field of Linguistics, Volume 2 Volume 1 of World
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[82] Vladimir Orel (2000) postulates a Vulgar Latin intermediary for no good reason. Mallory & Adams (1997) erroneously give the word as native, from *melti, the protoform underlying Greek mlissa; however, this protoform
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[83] Ancient Indo-European dialects: proceedings, Volume
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Henrik Birnbaum, Jaan Puhvel Publisher University of
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[84] A concise historical grammar of the Albanian language:
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[85] A concise historical grammar of the Albanian language:
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[86] Guillaum Bonnet, Les mots latins de l'albanais (Paris:
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fate; spouse, wife which mirrors the dichotomy in meaning of fat but is considered to stem from one single
sourceLatin sortem fate.

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Tagliavini, Carlo. La straticazione del lessico albanese. Elementi indoeuropei. Bologna 1965

Mihaescu, Haralambie. Les elements latins de la

langue albanaise. RESEE 1966/1-2
Mihaescu, Haralambie La langue latine dans le
sud-est de lEurope. Bucuresti-Paris: Editura
Academiei-Les Belles Lettres (1978)

Thumb, A. Altgriechische Elemente des Albanesischen. IF 26 (1926)

Thunmann, Johann. Untersuchungen ber die
Geschichte der stlichen europischen Vlker.
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Newmark, Leonard et al. Standard Albanian: A

Reference Grammar for Students. Standford: Stanford University Press, 1982.

Watkins, Calvert. Proto-Indo-European: Comparison and Reconstruction, in The Indo-European

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lberg, Hermann. Einige Uberlegungen zur Autochtonie der Albaner auf der Balkanhalbinsel. Akten Innsbruck (1972)

Ylli, Xhelal; Sobolev, Andrej N. Albanskii gegskii

govor sela Muhurr. Muenchen: Biblion Verlag,
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External links

Albanian Translation
Albanian Dictionary
Albanian Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words
(from Wiktionarys Swadesh-list appendix)
Albanian basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
Doctor John Bassett Trumper discussing the classication of Albanian within Indo-European on
YouTube
Dictionaries
Albanian Online Dictionary (40 000 lemmas)
English Albanian / Albanian English
Dictionary on Western Barbarisms and Albanian
Responsible Words entry on the National Library
of Albania (Hysenbegasi, Arion. Fjalor i barbarizmave perndimore n gjuhn shqipe dhe fjalve
prgjegjse shqipe. Ombra GVG, Tirana, 2011)

EXTERNAL LINKS

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16
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Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

Text

Albanian language Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanian%20language?oldid=639805165 Contributors: David Parker, Mav,

Zundark, Jzcool, Andre Engels, Danny, XJaM, Christian List, PierreAbbat, Zimriel, Olivier, Tillwe, BrianHansen, DopeshJustin, Gabbe,
Menchi, Zeno Gantner, Dori, Looxix, Kricxjo, , Bogdangiusca, Andres, Junesun, Igor, Samuel, Tobias Conradi, Nikola
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Master ZILE, MatthewVanitas, Bim03, Jafeluv, Twaz, Llokumi NY, Yolgnu, PMK1, Morriswa, Mr. Wheely Guy, ShqipShark, Leszek
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Three01, KamikazeBot, Bsmilkov, Gaius Claudius Nero, AnomieBOT, Alex contributing, Rubinbot, Jim1138, Reismuhameti, JackieBot,
, Piano non troppo, Daesitiates, Xxkobra16xx, Giants27, Materialscientist, Danbae, Mbretresha, Sixtensson, LilHelpa, Xqbot,
Balkanian`s word, Jonathan321, Iadrian yu, 4twenty42o, ITSENJOYABLE, Tfts, Indigestion, Zoguking, Onrswan, Markell West, J04n,
Rangond, GrouchoBot, Omnipaedista, JohnOlsson, RibotBOT, SassoBot, Mttll, Dale Chock, Dias10, Dusanstanojevic, Sophus Bie, Lyoizisi, Born Gay, Wiikkiiwriter, White whirlwind, WebCiteBOT, Preobrazhenskiy, Xhibi, Silvius Graecus, FabioAbazaj, CaptainFugu,
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monk, Pvkwiki, Guildenrich, BANTASAN, Donikanuhiu, Duoduoduo, Felipito1.966, Stephen MUFC, Irvi Hyka, Kobac, Uanfala, Antidiskriminator, DASHBot, EmausBot, John of Reading, WikitanvirBot, Dominus Vobisdu, Riniarules, Kuxia1, Dewritech, GoingBatty,
RA0808, IllusionFinal, Empathictrust, Ilirpuhiza, ZjarriRrethues, Theurgist, Sarpasarpeti101, Frglz, BurtAlert, Ida Shaw, TheAmericanizator, SporkBot, Gz33, Majuru, HammerFilmFan, Tackhawk, Beserks, Jcaraballo, SailorMerkury, DanielPerrine, ClueBot NG, Sulmuesi,
Stanleyh2010, Macarenses, GranitAlbana, Korrawit, Frietjes, Tizde88, Widr, Helpful Pixie Bot, Infotun, King Of The Moas, Zyztem2000,
BG19bot, Evilism, Jondresa, Elspamo4, Sfkt, Dumbdog45, Interchangeable, AvocatoBot, AwamerT, Midnight Green, Atomician, Teshenoria, Notesenses, Floating Boat, Glevum, Durresaryl1, Scarmeganolinious, Word dewd544, Peacemaker67, Neptuni, Nado158, Torvalu4,
Klaudia carcani, Imituri, Grammior, Jmiles92, ArtonGerguri, Aoife246, Fred.jackson222, Medvegja, Wrdstck, Allcoast14, JustAMuggle,
DerekWinters, Lemnaminor, Honda531, Davy55, Lfdder, Tentinator, GaeilgeSpraoi, Etimo, Ahls23, Celtic hand, Votedaisy, Medihaliti,
SamAlPacino, W. P. Uzer, Nertal, Akkilu, Helptottt, Ujkrieger, AlbertBikaj, Perkohesisht ai i vjetri, Bluebreeze17, Erio Daja, Mbiemri,
Austin fridenberg, Settles, Xhemipeza, Herolind luma, Danikay33, EmptFullne, RcLd-91, Johan0112000, Ortonww and Anonymous: 808

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File:Albanian_dialects.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Albanian_dialects.svg License: CC BY-SA
3.0 Contributors: Own work, based on map 1, 2 and this dialect map here Original artist: ArnoldPlaton
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