Society for the Publication of Albanian Letters () (

Arvanitika Arvanitika (; Arvanitika: , ; Greek: , ), also known as Arvanitic, is the variety of Albanian traditionally spoken by the Arvanites, a population group in Greece. Arvanitika was brought to Southern Greece during the late Middle Ages by Alb ...

: Σ̈oκ̇ε̰ρι ε τε̰ Σ̈τυπȣρι Σ̈κρoν̇α Σ̈κ̇ιπ) was a

patriotic Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and a sense of attachment to one's country or state. This attachment can be a combination of different feelings for things such as the language of one's homeland, and its ethnic, cultural, politic ...

organization of

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 ...

intellectuals, promoting publications in

, especially school texts, which were extremely important for the younger generation's education. It was founded on 12 October 1879 in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

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 ...

History

The society was founded by elite members of the Central Committee for Defending Albanian Rights, led by

Sami Frashëri Sami bey Frashëri (; June 1, 1850 – June 18, 1904) or Şemseddin Sâmi was an Albanian writer, lexicographer, philosopher, playwright and a prominent figure o ...

Abdyl Frashëri Abdyl Dume bey Frashëri (, or ''Abdullah Hüsni''; 1 June 1839 – 23 October 1892) was an Ottoman Albanian civil servant, politician during the First Constitutional Era of the Ottoman Empire, and one of the first Albanian political ideologues ...

, and other

Rilindas The Albanian National Awakening ( or ), commonly known as the Albanian Renaissance or Albanian Revival, is a period throughout the 19th and 20th century of a cultural, political, and social movement in the Albanian history where the Albanian ...

Jani Vreto Jani Vreto (14 January 1822 – 9 July 1900) was an Albanian writer, printer, publisher and important figure of the Albanian National Awakening. He was responsible for setting up and overseeing the work of the first Albanian printing house in B ...

Pandeli Sotiri Pandeli Sotiri (1842–1892) was a teacher that acted as director of the first Albanian school of modern times in Korçë. Sotiri was one of the most important Rilindas figures that contributed in the propagation of the Albanian language. He also ...

Koto Hoxhi Konstandin Hoxhi, known as Koto Hoxhi (1824–1895) was an advocate of the Albanian language. He taught the language secretly to his students in Qestorat in Southern Albania. He was imprisoned and died in prison for his beliefs. Biography Koto H ...

Pashko Vasa Pashko Vasa (17 September 1825 – 29 June 1892), known as Vaso Pasha or Wassa Pasha (, ), was an Albanian writer, poet and publicist of the Albanian National Awakening, and Ottoman mutasarrif of Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate from 1882 until ...

, etc. Its members represented all Albanian territories and all religions. Not much is known on the discussions that took place during the seances, due to lack of ''

Procès-verbal Procès-verbal ( French ''procès'', process, Late Latin ''verbalis'', from ''verbum'', word) is a legal term with a number of meanings: In law *in Francophone countries, such as France, the term "procès-verbal" is frequently mentioned as "P.V. ...

s'' or specific ''

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

s'' on this event. All is known is that

Hasan Tahsini Hoxhë Hasan Tahsini or simply Hoxha Tahsim (7 April 1811 – 3 July 1881) was an Albanian alim, astronomer, mathematician and philosopher. He was the first rector of Istanbul University and one of the founders of the Central Committee ...

proposed his own alphabet, a ''

sui generis ( , ) is a Latin phrase that means "of its/their own kind" or "in a class by itself", therefore "unique". It denotes an exclusion to the larger system an object is in relation to. Several disciplines use the term to refer to unique entities. ...

'' one derived out of geometrical lines and even printed later in few pages, while the final alphabet was accepted that of Sami Frashëri based on

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 ...

with some enrichment. The pamphlet "Etudes sur l’Albanie et les Albanais", originally written in French and published in Istanbul in 1879 was one of the initial publications. Following the re-publication in French in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, the pamphlet was also published in English in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and in German in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

thanks to the Ottoman consul in Paris. The volume was later on translated into Albanian, Ottoman Turkish and Greek and finally into Arabic (1884) and Italian (1916).
In the summer of 1881,

opened in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

the

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n branch of the society. The

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

ian branch was founded by

Spiro Dine Spiro Risto Dine (1846–1922) was an Albanian rilindas, writer and playwright. His most known work "Waves of the Sea" was at the time of its publication the longest book printed in Albanian. Life Spiro Dine was born in 1846 in Vithkuq, in th ...

from the town of

Vithkuq Vithkuq () is a village and a former municipality in the Korçë County, southeastern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Korçë. The population at the 2011 census was 1,519. The municipal uni ...

near

Korçë Korçë (; sq-definite, Korça) is the List of cities and towns in Albania, eighth most populous city of Albania and the seat of Korçë County and Korçë Municipality. The total population of the city is 51,152 and 75,994 of Korçë municipal ...

, in Shibin Al Kawm, during 1881 as well.
After its activities were banned, the society transferred in

were many publications in

were to follow in so called ''Instambul Alphabet'' (see

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 ...

). It was there where the textbooks of

Sami Frashëri Sami bey Frashëri (; June 1, 1850 – June 18, 1904) or Şemseddin Sâmi was an Albanian writer, lexicographer, philosopher, playwright and a prominent figure o ...

, like ''Abetarja e Shkronjëtoreja'' - Grammatical Work, 1886, and ''Abetare e gjuhësë shqip'', 1886, etc. would come to life.
The society gave huge contribute to education in Albanian back in the days, and emphasized the need for a unified

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 ...

Founders

The list of founders as appears in the statute printed in A. Zelici's print shop:

Istanbul Alphabet

The society came out with the so-called Istanbul Alphabet (), or "Frashëri" Alphabet in reference to Sami Frashëri, which was widely used by most of the Albanians for almost 30 years. It was one of the three candidate alphabets at the

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 1908. The standard

was based on it, with few modifications injected from the ''Bashkimi'' Alphabet of

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 ...

Union Society Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Union ...

, reaching the form it still preserves today.

References

{{Authority control Albanian writers' organizations Albanian language 1879 establishments in the Ottoman Empire Organizations of the Albanian National Awakening

History

Founders

Istanbul Alphabet

See also

References