Origin of the Albanians

The origin of the Albanians has been the subject of historical, linguistic, archaeological and genetic studies. Albanians continuously first appear in the historical record in Byzantine sources of the 11th century. At this point, they were already fully Christianized. Albanian forms a separate branch of Indo-European, first attested in the 15th century, having evolved from one of the Paleo-Balkan languages of antiquity. The surviving pre-Christian Albanian culture shows that Albanian mythology and folklore are of Paleo-Balkanic origin and that almost all of their elements are pagan.

Albanians have Paleo-Balkan origin. Theories which specifically they vary between attributing this origin to Illyrians, Thracians, Dacians, or another Paleo-Balkan people whose language was unattested; among those who support an Illyrian origin, there is a distinction between the theory of continuity from Illyrian times, and those proposing an in-migration of a different Illyrian population. These propositions are however not mutually exclusive. The Albanians are also one of Europe's populations with the highest number of common ancestors within their own ethnic group even though they share ancestors with other ethnic groups.

Endonyms

Arbëresh

The two ethnonyms used by Albanians to refer to themselves are Arbëresh(ë)/Arbënesh(ë) (northwestern variant) and Shqiptar(ë). Arbëresh is the original Albanian ethnonym and forms that basis for most names of Albanians in foreign languages and the name of Albania as a country. Greek ''Arvanitai'', ''Alvanitai'' and ''Alvanoi'', Turkish ''Arnaut'', Serbo-Croatian ''Arbanasi'' and others derive from this term.
Two different theories exist for the Ethnonym Shqiptar. Demiraj posits that Shqiptar derives from verb ''shqipoj'' (speak clearly) from Latin '' excipio'' (understand). It gradually replaced Arbëresh as the Albanian endonym by the end of the 18th century.

The second theory is the idea that Shqiptar originated from the ''Scapudar'' family in medieval Drivastum is an early occurrence of the term.
However this theory does not make chronological sense. ''Shqiptar'' from the Scapudar family is considered chronologically impossible.

The third proposed etymology is that Shqiptar flows from the word ''shqiponjë'' (eagle). Its first attestation with its present meaning is in the dictionary of Francesco Maria da Lecce (1702) who addresses his readers as my "dear Shqipëtar" in its preface. This third theory matches the laws of Albanian word formation.

The ethnic name ''Albanian'' was used by Byzantine and Latin sources in the forms ''arb-'' and ''alb-'' since at least the 2nd century A.D, and eventually in Old Albanian texts as an endonym. It was later replaced in Albania proper by the term ''Shqiptar'', a change most likely trigged by the Ottoman conquests of the Balkans during the 15th century. However, the ancient attestation of the ethnic designation is not considered a strong evidence of an Albanian continuity in the Illyrian region, since there are many examples in history of an ethnic name shifting from one ethnos to another.

References to Albania

*In the 2nd century BC, the ''History of the World'' written by Polybius, mentions a location named ''Arbona'' ( grc-gre, Ἄρβωνα; Latinised form: ''Arbo'') in which some Illyrian troops, under Queen Teuta, scattered and fled to in order to escape the Romans. Arbona was perhaps an island in Liburnia or another location within Illyria.
*In the 2nd century AD, Ptolemy, the geographer and astronomer from Alexandria, drafted a map that shows the city of Albanopolis, located Northeast of Durrës) in the Roman province of Macedonia and the tribe of Albanoi, which were viewed as Illyrians by later historians.
*In the 6th century AD, Stephanus of Byzantium, in his important geographical dictionary entitled ''Ethnica'' (Ἐθνικά),. mentions a city in Illyria called ''Arbon'' ( grc-gre, Ἀρβών), and gives an ethnic name for its inhabitants, in two singular number forms, i.e. ''Arbonios'' ( grc-gre, Ἀρβώνιος; pl. ''Arbonioi'') and ''Arbonites'' ( grc-gre, Ἀρβωνίτης; pl. ''Arbonitai''). He cites Polybius (as he does many other times in ''Ethnica'').

*The names Albanoi and Albanopolis have been attested in ancient funeral inscriptions in present-day North Macedonia. The toponym Albanopolis has been found on a funeral inscription in Gorno Sonje, near the city of Skopje (ancient Scupi), present-day North Macedonia. It was excavated in 1931 by Nikola Vulić and its text was curated and published in 1982 by Borka Dragojević-Josifovska. The inscription in Latin reads "POSIS MESTYLU F LIUSFL VIADELVS MVCATI F LIADOM ALBANOP LIIPSA DELVS" ("Posis Mestylu, son of Flavia Delus, daughter of Mucat, who comes from Albanopolis"). It dates to the end of the 1st century AD and the beginning of the 2nd century AD.

*The ethnonym Albanos was found on a funeral inscription from ancient Stobi in present-day North Macedonia, near Gradsko about 90 km to the southeast of Gorno Sonje. The inscription in ancient Greek reads "ΦΛ(ΑΒΙΩ) ΑΛΒΑΝΩ ΤΩ ΤΕΚΝΩ ΑΙΜΙΛΙΑΝΟΣ ΑΛΒΑΝΟ(Σ) ΜΝΗΜ(Η)Σ �ΑΡΗΝ ("In memory of Flavios Albanos, his son Aemilianos Albanos"). It dates to the 2nd/3rd century AD.

References to the Albanians

Michael Attaleiates (1022-1080) mentions the term ''Albanoi'' twice and the term ''Arbanitai'' once. The term ''Albanoi'' is used first to describe the groups which rebelled in southern Italy and Sicily against the Byzantines in 1038–40. The second use of the term ''Albanoi'' is related to groups which supported the revolt of George Maniakes in 1042 and marched with him throughout the Balkans against the Byzantine capital, Constantinople. The term ''Arvanitai'' is used to describe a revolt of Bulgarians (Boulgaroi) and ''Arbanitai'' in the theme of Dyrrhachium in 1078–79. It is generally accepted that ''Arbanitai'' refers to the ethnonym of medieval Albanians. As such, it is considered to be the first attestation of Albanian as an ethnic group in Byzantine historiography. The use of the term ''Albanoi'' in 1038-49 and 1042 as an ethnonym related to Albanians have been a subject of debate. In what has been termed the "Ducellier-Vrannousi" debate, Alain Ducellier proposed that both uses of the term referred to medieval Albanians. Era Vrannousi counter-suggested that the first use referred to Normans, while the second did not have an ethnic connotation necessarily and could be a reference to the Normans as "foreigners" ( aubain) in Epirus which Maniakes and his army traversed. The debate has never been resolved. A newer synthesis about the second use of the term ''Albanoi'' by Pëllumb Xhufi suggests that the term ''Albanoi'' may have referred to Albanians of the specific district of Arbanon, while ''Arbanitai'' to Albanians in general regardless of the specific region they inhabited.

* The ''Arbanasi'' people are recorded as being 'half-believers' and speaking their own language in a Bulgarian text found in a Serbian manuscript dating to 1628; the text was written by an anonymous author that according to Radoslav Grujić (1934) dated to the reign of Samuel of Bulgaria (997–1014), or possibly, according to R. Elsie, 1000–1018.
* In ''History'' written in 1079–1080, Byzantine historian Michael Attaliates referred to the ''Albanoi'' as having taken part in a revolt against Constantinople in 1043 and to the ''Arbanitai'' as subjects of the duke of Dyrrhachium. It is disputed, however, whether the "Albanoi" of the events of 1043 refers to Albanians in an ethnic sense or whether "Albanoi" is a reference to folks from southern Italy under an archaic name (there was also a tribe of Italy by the name of '' Albani''). "It was supposed that those Albanoi from 1042 were Normans from Sicily, called by an archaic name (the Albanoi were an independent tribe from Southern Italy)." However a later reference to Albanians from the same Attaliates, regarding the participation of Albanians in a rebellion in 1078, is undisputed. That rebellion was led by Nikephoros Basilakes, doux of Dyrrhachium.
* Some authors (like Alain Ducellier, 1968) believe that ''Arvanoi'' are mentioned in Book IV of the '' Alexiad'' by Anna Comnena (c. 1148). Others believe that this is a wrong reading and interpretation of the Greek phrase ''ἐξ Ἀρβάνων'' (i.e. ‘from Arvana’) found in the original manuscript and in one edition (Bonn, 1839) of the ''Alexiad''.
* The earliest Serbian source mentioning "Albania" (Ar'banas') is a charter by Stefan Nemanja, dated 1198, which lists the region of Pilot (Pulatum) among the parts Nemanja conquered from Albania (ѡд Арьбанась Пилоть, "de Albania Pulatum").
* In the 12th to 13th centuries, Byzantine writers used the name ''Arbanon'' ( grc-x-medieval, Ἄρβανον) for a principality in the region of Kruja.
*The oldest reference to Albanians in Epirus is from a Venetian document dating to 1210, which states that “the continent facing the island of Corfu is inhabited by Albanians”.
*A Ragusan document dating to 1285 states: "I heard a voice crying in the mountains in Albanian" .

Language

Pre-Indo-European linguistic substratum

Pre-Indo-European (PIE) sites are found throughout the territory of Albania. Such PIE sites existed in Maliq, Vashtëm, Burimas, Barç, Dërsnik in Korçë District, Kamnik in Kolonja, Kolsh in Kukës District, Rashtan in Librazhd and Nezir in Mat District. Therefore we are going to limit the discussion of this issue to the western areas of the Balkan peninsula, where the Albanian people have been living since many centuries ago. These areas, too, thanks to their geographical position, should have been inhabited since long before the immigration of the I.E. tribes, who are usually called Illyrians. The ancient presence of Pre-I.E. people(s) in this areas has been proved inter alia, by the archaeological discoveries at Maliq, Vashtëmi, Burimas, Podgorie, Barç and Dërsnik of Coritza district, as well as at Kamnik of Cologna district, at Blaz and Nezir of Mati district, at Kolsh of Kukës district, at Rashtan of Librazhd etc. As in other parts of Europe, these PIE people joined the migratory Indo-European tribes that entered the Balkans and contributed to the formation of the historical Paleo-Balkan tribes to which Albanians trace their origin. .At any rate, in this case, as in other similar cases, one should take into account that the previous populations during the process of assimilation by the immigrating IE tribes have played an important part in the formation of the various ethnic groups generated by their long symbiosis. Consequently, the IE languages developed in the Balkan Peninsula, in addition to their natural evolution, have also undergone a certain impact by the idioms of the assimilated Pre-IE peoples. Given the fact that Albanian is an Indo-European language, the direct forefathers of Albanians should be sought in those Indo-European peoples, which came in the Balkan peninsula in the period of settlement of the Indo-European tribes, and naturally were superimposed on pre-existing, older Indo-European people or pro-Indo-European ones. In terms of linguistics, the pre-Indo-European substrate language spoken in the southern Balkans has probably influenced pre-Proto-Albanian, the ancestor idiom of Albanian. The extent of this linguistic impact cannot be determined with precision due to the uncertain position of Albanian among Paleo-Balkan languages and their scarce attestation. Some loanwords, however, have been proposed such as ''shegë'' ("pomegranate") or ''lëpjetë'' (" orach", compare with Pre-Greek ''lápathon'', ''λάπαθον'', " monk's rhubarb"). Albanian is also the only language in the Balkans which has retained elements of the vigesimal numeral system - ''njëzet'' ("twenty"), ''dyzet'' ("forty") - which was prevalent in the Pre-Indo-European languages of Europe as the Basque language which broadly uses vigesimal numeration, highlights.

This pre-Indo-European substratum has also been identified as one of the contributing cultures to the customs of Albanians.

Attestation

The first attested mention of Albanian occurred in 1285 at the Venetian city of Ragusa (present-day Dubrovnik, Croatia) when a crime witness named Matthew testified: "I heard a voice crying in the mountains in Albanian" ( lat, Audivi unam vocem clamantem in monte in lingua albanesca).

The earliest attested written specimens of Albanian are Formula e pagëzimit (1462) and Arnold Ritter von Harff's lexicon (1496). The first Albanian text written with Greek letters is a fragment of the ''Ungjilli i Pashkëve'' (Passover Gospel) from the 15 or 16th century. The first printed books in Albanian are ''Meshari'' (1555) and Luca Matranga's ''E mbsuame e krështerë'' (1592).

However, as Fortson notes, Albanian written works existed before this point; they have simply been lost. The existence of written Albanian is explicitly mentioned in a letter attested from 1332, and the first preserved books, including both those in Gheg and in Tosk, share orthographic features that indicate that some form of common literary language had developed.

Toponymy

In the Balkans and southern Italy, several toponyms, river and mountain names which have been attested since antiquity can be explained etymologically via Albanian or have evolved phonologically through Albanian and later adopted in other languages. Inherited toponyms from a Proto-Albanian language and the date of adoption of non-Albanian toponyms indicate in Albanology the regions were the Albanian language originated, evolved and expanded. Depending on which proposed etymology and phonological development linguists support, different etymologies are usually used to link Albanian to Illyrian, Messapic, Dardanian, Thracian or an unattested Paleo-Balkan language.
* Brindisi is a town in southern Italy. ''Brundisium'' was originally a settlement of the Iapygian Messapians, descendants of an Illyrian people who migrated from the Balkans to Italy in Late Bronze/Early Iron Age transition. The name highlights the ties between Messapic to Albanian as Messapic ''brendo'' (stag) is linked to Old Gheg ''bri'' (horns).
* Bunë is a river in northwestern Albania, near the cities of Shkodër and Ulcinj (Ulqin). The majority of scholars consider it a directly inherited hydronym from Illyrian ''Barbanna'' . A less accepted proposition by Eqrem Çabej considers it an unrelated name which derives from ''buenë'' (overflow of waters). The hydronym Bunë via which Slavic ''Bojana'' emerged, is often seen as indication that Albanian was spoken in the pre-Slavic era in southern Montenegro.
* Drin is a river in northern Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia. Similar hydronyms include Drino in southern Albania and Drina in Bosnia. It is generally considered to be of Illyrian origin.
*Durrës is a city in central Albania. It was founded as an ancient Greek colony and greatly expanded in Roman times. It was known as ''Epidamnos'' and ''Dyrrhachion''/''Dyrrhachium''. ''Dyrrhachium'' is of Greek origin and refers to the position of the city on a rocky shore. The modern names of the city in Albanian (''Durrës'') and Italian (''Durazzo'', ) are derived from ''Dyrrachium''/''Dyrrachion''. An intermediate, palatalized antecedent is found in the form ''Dyrratio'', attested in the early centuries AD. The palatalized /-tio/ ending probably represents a phonetic change in the way the inhabitants of the city pronounced its name. The preservation of old Doric /u/ indicates that the modern name derives from populations to whom the toponym was known in its original Doric pronunciation. The initial stress in Albanian ''Durrës'' presupposes an Illyrian accentuation on the first syllable. Theories which support local Illyrian-Albanian continuity interpret Durrës < Dyrratio as evidence that Albanian-speakers continuously lived in coastal central Albania. Other theories propose that the toponym doesn't necessarily show continuity but can equally be the evolution of a loanword acquired by a Proto-Albanian population which moved in the city and its area in late antiquity from northern Albanian regions.
*Epidamnos is the oldest known name of Durrës and it is the first name under which the ancient Greek Corinthian colony was known. It is widely considered to be of Illyrian origin, as first proposed by linguist Hans Krahe, and is attested in Thucydides (5th century BC), Aristotle (4th century BC), and Polybius (2nd century BC). Etymologically, ''Epidamnos'' may be related to Proto-Albanian *dami (cub, young animal, young bull) > dem (modern Albanian) as proposed by linguist Eqrem Çabej.
*Erzen is a river in central Albania. It derives from Illyrian ''Ardaxanos'' (*daksa "water", "sea") found in Daksa and the name of the Dassareti tribe.
*Ishëm

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