Zervat (, ;

romanized In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and transcription, ...

: ''Zerváti'') is a village in

Gjirokastër County Gjirokastër County () is one of the 12 counties of Albania. The total population in 2023 was 60,013, in an area of 2884 km2. Its capital is the city Gjirokastër. Administrative divisions Until 2000, Gjirokastër County was subdivided into thre ...

, southern

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 ...

. At the 2015 local government reform it became part of the municipality of

Dropull Dropull ( sq-definite, Dropulli; ''Dropoli'' or ''Deropoli'') is a municipality in Gjirokastër County, in southern Albania. The region stretches from south of the city of Gjirokastër to the Greek–Albanian border, along the Drino river. The reg ...

. It is inhabited solely by

Greeks Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...

Name

The village received its name due to the conversion of a surname to a toponym. In the case of Zervati its name came from a certain Zervas.

History

The church of the Dormition of the Virgin in Zervat was erected before the Ottoman period, c. 14th century as cross-shaped Byzantine church. It was transformed and enlarged in the 16th century. It is one of the most impressive churches of the period in the region.

Demographics

In the Ottoman register of 1520 for the

Sanjak of Avlona The Sanjak of Avlona (, ; sometimes referred to as the Sanjak of Berat because of its county town) was one of the sanjaks of the Ottoman Empire whose county town was Berat in Albania. It was established in 1466, after the construction of the El ...

, Zervat was attested a village in the

timar A timar was a land grant by the sultans of the Ottoman Empire between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, with an annual tax revenue of less than 20,000 akçes. The revenues produced from the land acted as compensation for military service. A ...

under the authority of Ali from Damës. The village had a total of 199 households. The anthroponymy attested belonged almost entirely to the

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 ...

onomastic sphere, characterised by personal names such as ''Bardh'', ''Deda'', ''Gjin'', ''Gjon'', ''Kola'', ''Leka'', ''Progor'' and others. The names ''Gjin'', ''Gjon'' and ''Deda'' as personal names or patronymics make up almost half of the names of Zervat. The village also had a small number

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

households. The village had 603 inhabitants in 1993, all ethnically

. The village today has a permanent population of roughly 200-250 inhabitants, notably due to migration to

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

or other countries.

References

Bibliography

* Villages in Gjirokastër County Greek communities in Albania {{Albania-stub