''Agimi'' (the Dawn) was an

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

literary society A literary society is a group of people interested in literature. In the modern sense, this refers to a society that wants to promote one genre of writing or a specific author. Modern literary societies typically promote research, publish newslet ...

founded in

Shkodër Shkodër ( , ; sq-definite, Shkodra; historically known as Scodra or Scutari) is the List of cities and towns in Albania, fifth-most-populous city of Albania and the seat of Shkodër County and Shkodër Municipality. Shkodër has been List of o ...

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

in 1901. ''Agimi'' was founded on 15 July 1901, in

(today's

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

) with the initiative of Catholic clerics

Lazër Mjeda Lazër Mjeda (1869–1935) was an ethnic Albanian priest and prelate of the Catholic Church in Albania, and a member of the Mjeda family. Biography Lazër (Llazar) Mjeda was born in Shkodër, Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), als ...

and

Ndre Mjeda Ndre Mjeda (20 November 18661 August 1937) was an Albanian philologist, poet, priest, rilindas, translator and writer of the Albanian Renaissance. He was a member of the Mjeda family. He was influenced by the Jesuit writer Anton Xanoni and ...

(brothers). Other member would be writers and publicists Anton Xanoni, and Mati Logoreci. It aimed at stimulating the use of

Albanian language Albanian (Endonym and exonym, endonym: , , or ) is an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language and the only surviving representative of the Albanoid, Albanoid branch, which belongs to the Paleo-Balkan languages, Paleo-Balkan group. It ...

in literature, in particular by means of a new alphabet. The Mjeda brothers were initially members of the literary society '' Bashkimi''. They moved own with their own society due to divergences on the future standard

Albanian alphabet The Albanian alphabet () is a variant of the Latin alphabet used to write the Albanian language. It consists of 36 letters representing all the phonemes of Standard Albanian: The vowels are shown in bold. The letters are named simply by their ...

. ''Bashkimi'' had generated its own script, known as ''Bashkimi'' Alphabet which was based on pure

Latin script The Latin script, also known as the Roman script, is a writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae in Magna Graecia. The Gree ...

advocated for a more complex alphabet based on the Croatian model with the used of diacritic letters, such as ž or č, in order to generate a distinct letter for each distinct sound. This would be known as ''Agimi'' alphabet. (*only in foreign words) Sample text in the Agimi alphabet: Kelit i fali lala ńi mołə tə bukurə. Sá škoj nə špiə i þa Linəsə, sə moterəsə. „Ḱyr sá e bukurə âšt kəjo mołə! Eja e t’ a dájmə baškə.“ „Me kênə mã e mađe, i þa e motəra, kišimə me e daə baškə; por mbassi âšt aḱ e vogelə, haje vetə.“ „Ani ča? þa Keli, t’ a hámə baškə, se mə vjen mã e mirə.“ ''Kəndime pər škołə tə para tə Šḱypəniəsə: Pjesa e parə'', a
Albanian National Library
f. 100. ''Agimi'' alphabet was presented in 1902 at the International Congress of Orientalists, which was held in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

. It received a favorable reception by the

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

and German scholars. In 1908, it was one of the three candidate alphabets presented at the Albanian

Congress of Monastir The Congress of Manastir () was an academic conference held in the city of Manastir (now Bitola) from November 14 to 22, 1908, with the goal of standardizing the Albanian alphabet. November 22 is now a commemorative day in Albania, Kosovo and ...

(in today's

Bitola Bitola (; ) is a city in the southwestern part of North Macedonia. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba, Nidže, and Kajmakčalan mountain ranges, north of the Medžitlija-Níki border crossing ...

). The society was represented by Ndre Mjeda and Mati Logoreci. Based on Congress delegate's votes it lost to

Gjergj Fishta Gjergj Fishta (; 23 October 187130 December 1940) was an Albanian Franciscan friar, poet, educator, rilindas, politician, translator and writer. He is regarded as one of the most influential Albanian writers of the 20th century, particularly ...

's ''Bashkimi'' alphabet and ranked third, so it wasn't adopted.
The society members published many works during their active lifespan, some of them in the new alphabet. Such were Logoreci's work ''Dašamiri'' (The Patron), published in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

, 1907. Ndre Mjeda and Anton Xanoni also published a number of readers for Albanian schools.

References

{{reflist Albanian literature Albanian language History of Shkodër Organizations established in 1901 Organizations of the Albanian National Awakening Albanian writers' organizations 1901 establishments in the Ottoman Empire

See also

References