Albanian language

Albanian
[shqip] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)
Pronunciation	[ʃcip]
Native to	Southeastern Europe and Albanian diaspora
Native speakers	(undated figure of Template:Around 7.6 million)
Language family	Indo-European Albanian
Dialects	Arbëreshë Arvanitika Gheg Tosk
Writing system	Latin (Albanian alphabet) Albanian Braille
Official status
Official language in	Albania Kosovo
Recognised minority language in	Italy North Macedonia Montenegro Romania Serbia Croatia Greece
Regulated by	officially by the Social Sciences and Albanological Section of the Academy of Sciences of Albania
Language codes
ISO 639-1	sq
ISO 639-2	alb (B) sqi (T)
ISO 639-3	sqi – inclusive code Individual codes: aae – Arbëreshë aat – Arvanitika aln – Gheg als – Tosk
Glottolog	alba1267
Linguasphere	55-AAA-aaa to 55-AAA-ahe (25 varieties)

Albanian ([shqip] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) [ʃcip] or [gjuha shqipe] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) [ˈɟuha ˈʃcipɛ], meaning Albanian language) is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, 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 Serbia (Presevo Valley). Centuries-old communities speaking Albanian-based dialects can be found scattered in Greece, southern Italy, Sicily, and Ukraine. As a result of a modern diaspora, there are also Albanian speakers elsewhere in those countries and in other parts of the world, including Scandinavia, Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Hungary, United Kingdom, Turkey, Australia, New Zealand, Netherlands, Singapore, Brazil, Canada, and the United States.

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

History

The first 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 albanesca).

Linguistic affinities

The Albanian language is an Indo-European language in a branch by itself, sharing its branch with no other extant language. (The other extant Indo-European languages in a branch by themselves are Armenian and, in some classifications, Greek.) Though sharing lexical isoglosses with Greek, Balto-Slavic, and Germanic, the vocabulary of Albanian is quite distinct. Once hastily grouped with Germanic and Balto-Slavic based on the merger of PIE *ǒ and *ǎ into *ǎ in a supposed "northern group", Albanian has been proven to be distinct from these two because this vowel shift is only part of a larger push chain that affected all long vowels. 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 a sonorant. Conservative features of Albanian include the retention of the distinction between active and middle voice, present tense, and aorist.

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 Thraco-Illyrian and Messapian language.)

Linguistic influences

The earliest loanwords attested in Albanian come from Doric Greek, whereas the strongest influence 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. This is borne out into roughly three layers of borrowings, the largest number belonging to the second layer. The first, with the fewest borrowings, was a time of less important interaction. The final period, probably preceding the Slavic or Germanic invasions, also has a notably smaller number of borrowings. Each layer is characterized by a different treatment of most vowels, the first layer having several that follow the evolution of Early Proto-Albanian into Albanian; later layers reflect 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 large-scale palatalization.

A brief period followed, between the 7th and 9th centuries 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. Starting in the latter 9th century AD, there was a period characterized by protracted contact with the Proto-Romanians, or Vlachs, though lexical borrowing seems to have been mostly one sided—from Albanian into Romanian. Such borrowing indicates that the Romanians migrated from an area where the majority was Slavic (i.e. Middle Bulgarian) to an area with a majority of Albanian speakers (i.e. Dardania, where Vlachs are recorded in the 10th century AD). Their movement is probably related to the expansion of the Bulgarian Empire into Albania around that time.

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

Latin element of the Albanian language

Jernej Kopitar (1780–1844) was the first to note Latin's influence on Albanian and claimed "the Latin loanwords in the Albanian language had the pronunciation of the time of Emperor Augustus". Kopitar gave examples such as Albanian "qiqer" from Latin cicer, "qytet" from civitas, "peshk" from piscis and "shigjetë" from sagitta. The hard pronunciations of Latin ⟨c⟩ and ⟨g⟩ are retained as palatal and velar stops in the Albanian loanwords. Gustav Meyer (1888) and Wilhelm Meyer-Lübke (1914) 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.

Eqrem Çabej also noticed, among other things, the archaic Latin elements in Albanian:

1. Latin /au/ becomes Albanian /a/ in the earliest borrowings: aurum > "ar", gaudium > "gas", laurus > "lar". But Latin /au/ is retained in later borrowings: causa > "kafshë", laud > "lavd".
2. Latin /ō/ becomes Albanian /e/ in the oldest Latin borrowings: pōmum > "pemë", hōra > "herë". An analogous mutation occurred from Proto-Indo-European to Albanian; PIE *nōs became Albanian "ne", PIE *oḱtō + suffix -ti- became Albanian "tetë" 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-Indo-European to Albanian. In contrast, in later Latin borrowings, the internal syllable is retained: paganus > "pagan", plaga > "plagë" etc.
4. Latin /tj/, /dj/, /kj/ palatalized to Albanian /s/, /z/, /c/: vitius > "ves", ratio > "arsye", radius > "rreze", facies > "faqe", socius > "shoq" etc.

Haralambie Mihăescu 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 > mërrajë, sarcinarius > shelqëror, trifurcus > tërfurk, accipiter > skifter, musconea > mushkonjë, chersydrus > kuçedër, spleneticum > shpretkë, solanum > shullë.
• 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), kështjellë from castellum, qind from centum, gjel from gallus, gjymtyrë from iunctura, mjek from medicus, rrjetë from rete, shpresoj from sperare, vullnet from voluntas (voluntatis).
• Some Albanian church terminology have phonetic features which demonstrate their very early borrowing from Latin. A few examples include Albanian altar from Latin altare, engjëll from angelus, bekoj from benedicere,i krishterë from christianus, kryq from crux (crucis), kishë from ecclesia, ipeshkv or "episkop" from episcopus, ungjill from evangelium, mallkoj from maledicere, meshë from missa, murg from monacus, "pagan" from paganus.

Other authors have detected Latin loanwords in Albanian with an ancient sound pattern from the 1st century BC, for example, Albanian qingëlë from Latin cingula and Albanian e vjetër from Latin vetus/veteris. The Romance languages inherited these words from Vulgar Latin: Vulgar *cingla became N. Romanian chinga, meaning "belly band, saddle girth", and Vulgar veteran became N. Romanian bătrân, meaning "old".

Albanian, Basque, and the surviving Celtic languages such as Irish and Welsh are the non-Romance languages today that have this sort of extensive Latin element dating from ancient Roman times, which have undergone the sound changes associated with the languages.

Illyrians, Dacians, Getae and Thracians at 200 BC

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: while the words for plants and animals characteristic of mountainous regions are entirely original, the names for fish and for agricultural activities (such as ploughing) are borrowed from other languages. 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 'fish' 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 fish 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. 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, 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 Jirecek line.

References to the existence of Albanian as a distinct language survive from the 14th century, but they failed to cite specific words. The oldest surviving documents written in Albanian are the "Formula e pagëzimit" (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 Durrës 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 first Latin-Albanian dictionary. The first Albanian school is believed to have been opened by Franciscans in 1638 in Pdhanë.

Dialects

Main article: Albanian dialects

Albanian is divided into two major dialects: Gheg, Tosk, and a transitional dialect zone between them. The Shkumbin river is roughly the dividing line, with Gheg spoken north of the Shkumbin and Tosk south of it. There are also other dialects like Arbëresh 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.

Standard Albanian

Before World War II the language predominantly used for official purposes was Gheg Albanian because King Zog I was a Gheg leader. Prior to World War II, dictionaries consulted by developers of the standard have included Lexikon tis Alvanikis glossis (Albanian: Fjalori i Gjuhës Shqipe (Kostandin Kristoforidhi, 1904), Fjalori i Bashkimit (1908), and "Fjalori i Gazullit" (1941). 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. Two dictionaries were published in 1954: an Albanian language dictionary and a Russian–Albanian dictionary. New orthography rules were eventually published in 1967 and 1973 (Drejtshkrimi i gjuhës shqipe (Orthography of the Albanian Language). More recent dictionaries from the Albanian government are Fjalori Drejtshkrimor i Gjuhës Shqipe (1976) (Orthographic Dictionary of the Albanian Language) and Dictionary of Today's Albanian language (Fjalori Gjuhës së Sotme Shqipe) (1980).

Geographic distribution

Albanian is spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, 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.

Standard

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

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 ë is lost at the end of the word. The stress is fixed mainly on the last syllable. Gheg n (femën: compare English feminine) changes to r by rhotacism in Tosk (femër).

Consonants

	Bilabial	Labio- dental	Dental	Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m			n		ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	p  b			t  d			k  ɡ
Affricate				t͡s  d͡z	t͡ʃ  d͡ʒ	c͡ç  ɟ͡ʝ
Fricative		f  v	θ  ð	s  z	ʃ  ʒ			h
Trill				r
Flap				ɾ
Approximant				l  ɫ		j

IPA	Description	Written as	Pronounced as in
m	Bilabial nasal	m	Template:Bold dark redan
n	Alveolar nasal	n	Template:Bold dark redot
ɲ	Palatal nasal	nj	~oTemplate:Bold dark redon
ŋ	Velar nasal	ng	baTemplate:Bold dark red
p	Voiceless bilabial plosive	p	Template:Bold dark reden
b	Voiced bilabial plosive	b	Template:Bold dark redat
t	Voiceless alveolar plosive	t	Template:Bold dark redan
d	Voiced alveolar plosive	d	Template:Bold dark redebt
c͡ç	Voiceless palatal affricate	q	West and Central Norwegian [[[Norwegian alphabet|ikkje]]] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)
ɟ͡ʝ	Voiced palatal affricate	gj	West and Central Norwegian [[[Norwegian alphabet|leggja]]] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)
k	Voiceless velar plosive	k	Template:Bold dark redar
ɡ	Voiced velar plosive	g	Template:Bold dark redo
t͡s	Voiceless alveolar affricate	c	haTemplate:Bold dark red
d͡z	Voiced alveolar affricate	x	gooTemplate:Bold dark red
t͡ʃ	Voiceless postalveolar affricate	ç	Template:Bold dark redin
d͡ʒ	Voiced postalveolar affricate	xh	Template:Bold dark redet
f	Voiceless labiodental fricative	f	Template:Bold dark redar
v	Voiced labiodental fricative	v	Template:Bold dark redan
θ	Voiceless dental fricative	th	Template:Bold dark redin
ð	Voiced dental fricative	dh	Template:Bold dark reden
s	Voiceless alveolar fricative	s	Template:Bold dark redon
z	Voiced alveolar fricative	z	Template:Bold dark redip
ʃ	Voiceless postalveolar fricative	sh	Template:Bold dark redow
ʒ	Voiced postalveolar fricative	zh	viTemplate:Bold dark redion
h	Voiceless glottal fricative	h	Template:Bold dark redat
r	Alveolar trill	rr	Spanish peTemplate:Bold dark redo
ɾ	Alveolar tap	r	Spanish peTemplate:Bold dark redo
l	Alveolar lateral approximant	l	Template:Bold dark redean
ɫ	Velarized alveolar lateral approximant	ll	baTemplate:Bold dark red
j	Palatal approximant	j	Template:Bold dark redes

Notes:

• The palatal nasal /ɲ/ corresponds to the Spanish ñ and the French and Italian gn. It is pronounced as one sound, not a nasal plus a glide.
• The ll sound is a velarised lateral, close to English dark L.
• The contrast between flapped r and trilled rr is the same as in Spanish or Armenian.
• The letter ç is sometimes written ch due to technical limitations because of its use in English sound and its analogy to the other digraphs xh, sh, and zh. Usually it is written simply c or more rarely q with context resolving any ambiguities.
• Many speakers merge the palatal sounds q and gj into the palatoalveolar sounds ç and xh. This is especially common in Gheg, but is increasingly the case in Tosk as well.

Vowels

IPA	Description	Written as	Pronounced as in
i	Close front unrounded vowel	i	sTemplate:Bold dark redd
ɛ	Open-mid front unrounded vowel	e	bTemplate:Bold dark redd
a	Open central unrounded vowel	a	fTemplate:Bold dark redther, Spanish cTemplate:Bold dark redsa
ə	Schwa	ë	Template:Bold dark redbout, thTemplate:Bold dark red
ɔ	Open-mid back rounded vowel	o	lTemplate:Bold dark red
y	Close front rounded vowel	y	French tTemplate:Bold dark red, German Template:Bold dark redber
u	Close back rounded vowel	u	bTemplate:Bold dark redt

Schwa

Although the Indo-European schwa (ə or -h2-) was preserved in Albanian, in some cases it was lost, possibly when a stressed syllable preceded it. Until the standardization of the modern Albanian alphabet, in which the schwa is spelled as ë, as in the work of Gjon Buzuku in the 16th century, various vowels and gliding vowels were employed, including ae by Lekë Matrënga and é by Pjetër Bogdani in the late 16th and early 17th century. The schwa in Albanian has a great degree of variability from extreme back to extreme front articulation. Within the borders of Albania, the phoneme is pronounced about the same in both the Tosk and the Gheg dialect due to the influence 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.

Grammar

See also: Albanian morphology

Albanian has a canonical word order of SVO (subject–verb–object) like English and many other Indo-European languages. Albanian nouns are inflected by gender (masculine, feminine and neuter) and number (singular and plural). There are five 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/të/së are used with the dative). Some dialects also retain a locative case, which is not present in standard Albanian. The cases apply to both definite and indefinite nouns, and there are numerous cases of syncretism.

The following shows the declension of mal (mountain), a masculine noun which takes "i" in the definite singular:

	Indefinite singular	Indefinite plural	Definite singular	Definite plural
Nominative	një mal (a mountain)	male (mountains)	mali (the mountain)	malet (the mountains)
Accusative	një mal	male	malin	malet
Genitive	i/e/të/së një mali	i/e/të/së maleve	i/e/të/së malit	i/e/të/së maleve
Dative	një mali	maleve	malit	maleve
Ablative	(prej) një mali	(prej) malesh	(prej) malit	(prej) maleve

The following shows the declension of the masculine noun zog (bird), a masculine noun which takes "u" in the definite singular:

	Indefinite singular	Indefinite plural	Definite singular	Definite plural
Nominative	një zog (a bird)	zogj (birds)	zogu (the bird)	zogjtë (the birds)
Accusative	një zog	zogj	zogun	zogjtë
Genitive	i/e/të/së një zogu	i/e/të/së zogjve	i/e/të/së zogut	i/e/të/së zogjve
Dative	një zogu	zogjve	zogut	zogjve
Ablative	(prej) një zogu	(prej) zogjsh	(prej) zogut	(prej) zogjve

The following table shows the declension of the feminine noun vajzë (girl):

	Indefinite singular	Indefinite plural	Definite singular	Definite plural
Nominative	një vajzë (a girl)	vajza (girls)	vajza (the girl)	vajzat (the girls)
Accusative	një vajzë	vajza	vajzën	vajzat
Genitive	i/e/të/së një vajze	i/e/të/së vajzave	i/e/të/së vajzës	i/e/të/së vajzave
Dative	një vajze	vajzave	vajzës	vajzave
Ablative	(prej) një vajze	(prej) vajzash	(prej) vajzës	(prej) vajzave

The definite article is placed after the noun as in many other Balkan languages, like in Romanian, Macedonian and Bulgarian.

• The definite article can be in the form of noun suffixes, which vary with gender and case.
  • 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);
    • libër (book) / libri (the book);
    • zog (bird) / zogu (the bird).
  • Feminine nouns take the suffix -(j)a:
    • veturë (car) / vetura (the car);
    • shtëpi (house) / shtëpia (the house);
    • lule (flower) / lulja (the flower).
• 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 five 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 (mënyra 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 direct observation. In some contexts, this mood can be translated using English "apparently".

• Ti flet shqip. "You speak Albanian." (indicative)
• Ti fliske shqip! "You (surprisingly) speak Albanian!" (admirative)
• Rruga është 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 inflection of other parts of speech, see Albanian morphology.

Word order

In Albanian, the constituent order is subject–verb–object, and negation is expressed by the particles nuk or s' in front of the verb, for example:

• Toni nuk flet anglisht "Tony does not speak English";
• Toni s'flet 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):

• Parashikohet një ndërprerje "An interruption is anticipated".

In imperative sentences, the particle mos is used:

• Mos harro "do not forget!".

• SVO: Agimi i hëngri të gjithë portokallët.
• SOV: Agimi të gjithë portokallët i hëngri.
• OVS: Të gjithë portokallët i hëngri Agimi.
• OSV: Të gjithë portokallët Agimi i hëngri.
• VSO: I hëngri Agimi të gjithë portokallët.

Numerals

një—one tetëmbëdhjetë—eighteen dy—two nëntëmbëdhjetë—nineteen tre—three njëzet—twenty katër—four njëzetenjë—twenty-one pesë—five njëzetedy—twenty-two gjashtë—six tridhjetë—thirty shtatë—seven dyzet/katërdhjetë—forty tetë—eight pesëdhjetë—fifty nëntë—nine gjashtëdhjetë—sixty dhjetë—ten shtatëdhjetë—seventy njëmbëdhjetë—eleven tetëdhjetë—eighty dymbëdhjetë—twelve nëntëdhjetë—ninety trembëdhjetë—thirteen njëqind—one hundred katërmbëdhjetë—fourteen pesëqind—five hundred pesëmbëdhjetë—fifteen njëmijë—one thousand gjashtëmbëdhjetë—sixteen një milion—one million shtatëmbëdhjetë—seventeen një miliard—one billion

Orthography

Main articles: Albanian alphabet and Albanian braille

The Albanian language has been written using many different 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. The earliest written Albanian records come from the Gheg area in makeshift spellings based on Italian or Greek and sometimes in Turko-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 specifically, the writers from Northern Albania and under the influence of the Catholic Church used Latin letters, those in southern Albania and under the influence of the Greek Orthodox church used Greek letters, while others throughout Albania and under the influence of Islam used Arabic letters. There were initial attempts to create an original Albanian alphabet during the 1750–1850 period. These attempts intensified 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 ë, ç, and nine digraphs.

Literary tradition

Earliest undisputed texts

See also: Formula e pagëzimit and Meshari

The earliest known texts in Albanian:

• the "Formula e Pagëzimit" (Baptismal Formula), which dates back to 1462 and was authored by Pal Engjëlli (or Paulus Angelus) (c. 1417 – 1470), Archbishop of Durrës. Engjëlli was a close friend and counselor of Skanderbeg. 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: "Unë të pagëzoj në emër të Atit, të Birit e të Shpirtit të Shenjtë" "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.
• the Fjalori i Arnold von Harfit (Arnold Ritter von Harff's lexicon), a short list of Albanian phrases with German glosses, dated 1496.
• a song, recorded in the Greek alphabet, retrieved from an old codex that was written in Greek. The document is also called Perikopeja e Ungjillit të Pashkëve" or "Perikopeja e Ungjillit të Shën Mateut ("The Song of the Easter Gospel, or "The Song of Saint Matthew's Gospel"). Although the codex is 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 Arbëreshë people who had emigrated to Italy in the 15th century.

Meshari of Gjon Buzuku 1554-1555

The first 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 Nikollë 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 different words. The text is archaic yet easily interpreted because it is mainly a translation of known texts, in particular portions of the Bible. The book also contains passages from the Psalms, the Book of Isaiah, the Book of Jeremiah, the Letters to the Corinthians, and many illustrations. The uniformity of spelling seems to indicate an earlier tradition of writing. The only known copy of the Meshari is held by the Apostolic Library. In 1968 the book was published with transliterations and comments by linguists.

Disputed earlier text

Possibly the oldest surviving Albanian text, highlighted in red, from the Bellifortis manuscript, written by Konrad Kyeser around 1402–1405.

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 1402–1405.

"A star has fallen in a place in the woods, distinguish the star, distinguish it.

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 ..."

Dr. Robert Elsie, a specialist in Albanian studies, considers that "The Todericiu/Polena Romanian translation of the non-Latin lines, although it may offer some clues if the text is indeed Albanian, is fanciful and based, among other things, on a false reading of the manuscript, including the exclusion of a whole line."

Ottoman period

In 1635, Frang Bardhi (1606–1643) published in Rome his Dictionarum latinum-epiroticum, the first known Latin-Albanian dictionary. Other scholars who studied the language during the 17th century include Andrea Bogdani (1600–1685), author of the first Latin-Albanian grammar book, Nilo Katalanos (1637–1694) and others.

Classification

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-European language family.

Albanian was formerly compared by some Indo-Europeanists with Balto-Slavic and Germanic, both of which share a number of isoglosses with Albanian. Moreover, Albanian has undergone a vowel shift in which stressed, long o has fallen to a, much like in the former and opposite the latter. Likewise, Albanian has taken the old relative jos and innovatively used it exclusively to qualify adjectives, much in the way Balto-Slavic has used this word to provide the definite ending of adjectives. Other linguists link Albanian with Greek and Armenian, while placing Germanic and Balto-Slavic in another branch of Indo-European. Nakhleh, Ringe, and Warnow argued that Albanian can be placed at a variety of points within the Indo-European tree with equally good fit; determining its correct placement is hampered by the loss of much of its former diagnostic inflectional morphology and vocabulary.

Origin

Albanian is often seen as the descendant of Illyrian, although this hypothesis has been challenged by some linguists, who maintain that it derives from Dacian or Thracian. (Illyrian, Dacian, and Thracian, however, may have formed a subgroup or a Sprachbund; see Thraco-Illyrian).

(Old) Albanian

According to the central hypothesis of a project undertaken by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, Old Albanian had a significant influence on the development of many Balkan languages. Intensive research now aims to confirm this theory. This little-known language is being researched using all 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.

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 motër meaning "sister" rather than "mother" or the Latin loans gjelbër and verdhë having become switched in meaning).

Albanian and other Indo-European languages

Albanian	muaj	ri	nënë	motër	natë	hundë	tre	zi	kuqe	gjelbër	verdhë	ujk
Other Indo-European languages
Indo-European	mḗh₁n̥s	newijos	méh₂tēr	swésōr	nókʷts	nas	treies	necrós	rudhrós	chelwos	bhlāwos	wĺ̥kʷos
English	month	new	mother	sister	night	nose	three	black	red	green	yellow	wolf
Spanish	mes	nuevo	madre	hermana	noche	nariz	tres	negro	rojo	verde	amarillo	lobo
German	Monat	neu	Mutter	Schwester	Nacht	Nase	drei	schwarz	rot	grün	gelb	Wolf
Lithuanian	mėnesis	naujas	motina	sesuo	naktis	nosis	trys	juodas	raudonas	žalias	geltonas	vilkas
Old Church Slavonic	мѣсѧць měsęcь	новъ novъ	мати mati	сестра sestra	ношть noštь	носъ nosъ	три, триѥ tri, trije	чрънъ črъnъ	чръвенъ črъvenъ	зеленъ zelenъ	жльтъ žlьtъ	влькъ vlьkъ
Czech	měsíc	nový	matka	sestra	noc	nos	tři	černý	červený	zelený	žlutý	vlk
Ancient Greek	μήν mḗn	νέος néos	μήτηρ mḗtēr	ἀδελφή adelphḗ	νύξ núks	ῥίς rhís	τρεῖς treîs	μέλας mélas	ἐρυθρός eruthrós	χλωρός khlōrós	ξανθός ksanthós	λύκος lúkos
Armenian	ամիս amis	նոր nor	մայր mayr	քույր k'uyr	գիշեր gišer	քիթ k'it	երեք yerek'	սեւ sev	կարմիր karmir	կանաչ kanač	դեղին deġin	գայլ gayl
Latin	mēnsis	novus	māter	soror	nox	nāsus	trēs	āter, niger	ruber	viridis	flāvus	lupus
Italian	mese	nuovo	madre	sorella	notte	naso	tre	nero	rosso	verde	giallo	lupo
Irish	mí	nua	máthair	deirfiúr	oíche	srón	trí	dubh	dearg	glas	buí	faolchú
Sanskrit	मास māsa	नव nava	मातृ mātṛ	स्वसृ svasṛ	नक्त/निश् nakta/nish	नस nasa	त्रि tri	काल kāla	रुधिर rudhira	हरि hari	पीत pīta	वृक vṛka
French	mois	nouveau	mere	sœur	nuit	nez	trois	noir	rouge	vert	jaune	loup
Afrikaans	maand	nuwe	ma	suster	nag	neus	drie	swart	rooi	groen	geel	wolf
Russian	месяц mesyats	новый novyy	мать maht'	сестра sestra	ночь noch'	нос nos	три tri	чёрный chornyy	красный krasnyy	зеленый zelenyy	желтый zheltyy	волк volk

Albanian-PIE phonological correspondences

Phonologically Albanian is not so conservative. Like many IE stocks it has merged the two series of voiced stops (e.g., both dʰ became d). In addition the voiced stops tend to disappear in between vowels. There is almost complete loss of final syllables and very widespread loss of other unstressed syllables (e.g., mik, "friend" from Lat. amicus). PIE o appears as a (also, if e appears as a high front vowel i follows), while ē and ā become o, and PIE ō appears as e. The palatals, velars, and labiovelars all remain distinct before front vowels, a conservation found otherwise in Luvian and related Anatolian languages. Thus PIE ḱ, k, and kʷ become th, q, and s, respectively (before back vowels ḱ becomes th, while k and kʷ merge as k). Another remarkable retention is the preservation of initial h₄ as Alb. h (all other laryngeals disappear completely).

Proto-Indo-European Labial Stops in Albanian

PIE	Albanian	PIE	Albanian
*p	p	*pékʷo—"cook"	pjek "to cook, roast, bake"
*b	b	*sorbéi̯e/o—"drink, slurp"	gjerb "to drink"
*bʰ	b	*bʰaḱeh₂—"bean"	bathë "broad bean"

Proto-Indo-European Coronal Stops in Albanian

PIE	Albanian	PIE	Albanian
*t	t	*túh₂—"thou"	ti "you (singular)"
*d	d	*diHtis—"light"	ditë "day"
	dh	*pérde/o—"fart"	pjerdh "to fart"
	g	*dl̥h₁gʰós—"long"	gjatë "long" (Tosk dial. glatë)
*dʰ	d	*dʰégʷʰe/o—"burn"	djeg "to burn"
	dh	*gʰórdʰos—"enclosure"	gardh "fence"

Proto-Indo-European Palatal Stops in Albanian

PIE	Albanian	PIE	Albanian
*ḱ	th	*ḱéh₁mi—"I say"	them "I say"
	s	*ḱuk—"horn"	sutë "doe"
	k	*ḱreh₂u—"limb"	krah "arm"
	ç/c	*ḱentro—"to stick"	çandër "prop"
*ǵ	dh	*ǵómbʰos—"tooth, peg"	dhëmb "tooth"
	d	*ǵēusnō—"to enjoy"	dua "to love, want"
*ǵʰ	dh	*ǵʰedi̯e/o—"to defecate"	dhjes "to defecate"
	d	*ǵʰr̥sdʰi—"grain, barley"	drithë "grain"

Proto-Indo-European Velar Stops in Albanian

PIE	Albanian	PIE	Albanian
*k	k	*kágʰmi—"I catch, grasp"	kam "I have"
	q	*klau-ei̯e/o—"to weep"	qaj "to weep, cry" (Gheg qanj, Salamis kla)
*g	g	*h₃lígos—"sick"	ligë "bad"
	gj	*h₁reuge—"to retch"	regj "to tan hides"
*gʰ	g	*gʰórdʰos—"enclosure"	gardh "fence"
	gj	*gʰédni̯e/o—"get"	gjej "to find" (Gheg gjêj)

Proto-Indo-European Labialized Velar Stops in Albanian

PIE	Albanian	PIE	Albanian
*kʷ	k	*kʷeh₂sleh₂—"cough"	kollë "cough"
	s	*kʷéle/o—"turn"	sjell "to fetch, bring"
	q	*kʷṓd—"that"	që "that"
*gʷ	g	*gʷr̥—"stone"	gur "stone"
	z	*gʷērHu—"heaviness"	zor "heaviness; trouble"
*gʷʰ	g	*dʰégʷʰe/o—"to burn"	djeg "to burn"
	z	*h1en-dʰogʷʰéi̯e/o—"to ignite"	ndez "to kindle, turn on"

Proto-Indo-European *s in Albanian

PIE	Albanian	PIE	Albanian
*s	gj	*séḱstis—"six"	gjashtë "six"
	h	*nosōm—"us" (gen.)	nahe "us" (dat.)
	sh	*bʰreusinos—"break"	breshër "hail"
	th	*gʷésdos—"leaf"	gjeth "leaf"
	h	*sḱi-eh₂—"shadow"	hije "shadow"
	f	*spélnom—"speech"	fjalë "word"
	sht	*h₂osti "bone"	asht "bone"
	th	*suh₁s—"swine"	thi "boar"
	∅ || h₁ésmi—"am" || jam "to be"

Proto-Indo-European Sonorant Consonants in Albanian

PIE	Albanian	PIE	Albanian
*i̯	gj	*i̯ése/o—"to ferment"	gjesh "to knead"
	j	*i̯uHs—"you" (nom.)	ju "you (plural)"
	∅ || *bʰéri̯ō—"bear, carry" || bie(r) "to bring"
	h	*streh₂i̯eh₂—"straw"	strohë "kennel"
*u̯	v	*u̯oséi̯e/o—"to dress"	vesh "to wear, dress"
*m	m	*meh₂tr-eh₂—"maternal"	motër "sister"
*n	n	*nōs—"we" (acc.)	ne "we"
	nj	*eni-h₁ói-no—"that one"	një "one" (Gheg njâ, njo)
	∅/^ || *pénkʷe—"five" || pesë, Gheg pês "five"
	r	*ǵʰeimen—"winter"	dimër "winter" (Gheg dimën)
*l	l	*h₃lígos—"sick"	ligë "bad"
	ll	*kʷéle/o—"turn"	sjell "to fetch, bring"
*r	r	*repe/o—"take"	rjep "peel"
	rr	*u̯rh₁ḗn—"sheep"	rrunjë "yearling lamb"
*n̥	e	*h₁n̥men—"name"	emër "name"
*m̥	e	*u̯iḱm̥ti—"twenty"	(një)zet "twenty"
*l̥	uj	*u̯ĺ̥kʷos—"wolf"	ujk "wolf" (Chamian ulk)
*r̥	ri, ir	*ǵʰr̥sdom—"grain, barley"	drithë "grain"

Proto-Indo-European Laryngeals in Albanian

PIE	Albanian	PIE	Albanian
*h1	∅ || *h₁ésmi—"am" || jam "to be"
*h2	∅ || *h₂r̥tḱos—"bear" || ari "bear"
*h3	∅ || *h₃ónr̥—"dream" || ëndërr "dream"
*h4	h	*h4órǵʰii̯eh₂—"testicle"	herdhe "testicle"

Proto-Indo-European Vowels in Albanian

PIE	Albanian	PIE	Albanian
*i	i	*sínos—"bosom"	gji "bosom, breast"
	e	*du̯igʰeh₂—"twig"	degë "branch"
*ī	i	*dīHtis—"light"	ditë "day"
*e	e	*pénkʷe—"five"	pesë "five" (Gheg pês)
	je	*u̯étos—"year" (loc.)	vjet "last year"
*ē	o	*ǵʰēsreh₂—"hand"	dorë "hand"
*a	a	*bʰaḱeh₂- "bean"	bathë "bean"
	e	*h₂élbʰit—"barley"	elb "barley"
*o	a	*gʰórdʰos—"enclosure"	gardh "fence"
*ō	e	*h₂oḱtōtis—"eight"	tetë "eight"
*u	u	*supnos—"sleep"	gjumë "sleep"
*ū	y	*suHsos—"grandfather"	gjysh "grandfather"
	i	*mūs—"mouse"	mi "mouse"

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. andë (northern Albanian dialect, or Gheg) and ëndë (southern Albanian dialect or Tosk) "appetite, pleasure, desire, wish"; Andi proper name, Andizetes, an Illyrian people inhabiting the Roman province of Panonia.
• aran "field"; cf. Alb. arë; plural ara
• 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 insufficiency 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.
• Bilia "daughter"; cf. Alb. bijë, dial. bilë
• Bindo/Bindus, an Illyrian deity from Bihać, Bosnia and Herzegovina; cf. Alb. bind "to convince" or "to make believe", përbindësh "monster".
• bounon, "hutt, cottage"; cf. Alb bun
• brisa, "husk of grapes"; cf. Alb bërsí "lees, dregs; mash" ( < PA *brutiā)
• Barba- "swamp", a toponym from Metubarbis; possibly related to Alb. bërrakë "swampy soil"
• can- "dog"; related to Alb. qen
• 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).
• mal, "mountain"; cf. Alb mal
• bardi, "white"; cf. Alb bardhë
• drakoina "supper"; cf. Alb. darke, dreke
• drenis, "deer"; cf. Alb dre, dreni
• delme "sheep"; cf. Alb dele, Gheg dialect delme
• dard, "pear"; cf. Alb dardhë
• Hyllus (the name of an Illyrian king); cf. Alb. yll (hyll in some northern dialects) "star", also Alb. hyj "god", Ylli proper name.
• sīca, "dagger"; cf. Alb thikë or thika "knife"
• Ulc-, "wolf" (pln. Ulcinium); cf. Alb ujk "wolf", ulk (Northern Dialect)
• loúgeon, "pool"; cf. Alb lag, legen "to wet, soak, bathe, wash" ( < PA *lauga), lëgatë "pool" ( < PA *leugatâ), lakshte "dew" ( < PA laugista)
• mag- "great"; cf. Alb. i madh "big , great"
• mantía "bramblebush"; Old and dial. Alb mandë "berry, mulberry" (mod. Alb mën, man)
• rhinos, "fog, mist"; cf. Old Alb ren "cloud" (mod. Alb re, rê) ( < PA *rina)
• Vendum "place"; cf. Proto-Alb. wen-ta (Mod. Alb. vend)

Early Greek loans

There are some 30 Ancient Greek loanwords in Albanian. Many of these reflect 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.

• bletë; "hive, bee" < Attic mélitta "bee" (vs. Ionic mélissa).
• drapër; "sickle" < (NW) drápanon
• kumbull; "plum" < kokkúmelon
• lakër; "cabbage, green vegetables" < láchanon "green; vegetable"
• lëpjetë; "orach, dock" < lápathon
• lyej; "to smear, oil" < *liwenj < *elaiwā < Gk elai(w)ṓn "oil"
• mokër; "millstone" < (NW) māchaná "device, instrument"
• mollë; "apple" < mēlon "fruit"
• pjepër; "melon" < pépōn
• presh; "leek" < práson
• shpellë; "cave" < spḗlaion
• trumzë; "thyme" < (NW) thýmbrā, thrýmbrē

Gothic loans

Some Gothic loanwords were borrowed through Late Latin, while others came from the Ostrogothic expansion into parts of Praevalitana around Nakšić and the Gulf of Kotor in Montenegro.

• fat; "groom, husband" < Goth brūþfaþs "bridegroom"
• gomar; "donkey, ass", gegish "magjer" < *margë < Goth *marh "horse"
• horr; "scoundrel", horrë; "hussy, whore" < Goth hors "adulterer", *hora "whore"
• petkë, petëk; "clothes, garment", petk; "herder's coat" < Goth paida; cf. OHG pfeit, OE pād
• shkulkë; "boundary marker for pastures made of branches" < Late Latin sculca < Goth skulka "guardian"
• shkumë; "foam" < Late Latin < Goth skūma
• tirq; "trousers" < Late Latin tubrucus < Goth *þiobrok "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 influence on Albanian. Examples of words borrowed from Latin: qytet < civitas (city), qiell < caelum (sky), mik < amicus (friend).

After the Slavs arrived in the Balkans, the Slavic languages became an additional source of loanwords. The rise of the Ottoman Empire meant an influx of Turkish words; this also entailed the borrowing of Persian and Arabic words through Turkish. Many Albanian names (such as Enver Hoxha) are of Turkish origin. Some loanwords from Modern Greek also exist especially in the south of Albania. A lot of the borrowed words have been re-substituted from Albanian rooted words or modern Latinized (international) words.

See also

• Arbëresh language
• Arvanitika
• Gheg Albanian
• Tosk Albanian
• Illyrian languages
• Thraco-Illyrian
• List of Romanian words of possible Dacian origin – occasional correspondence in Albanian
• Dacian language

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• Gjinari, Jorgji. Struktura dialektore e shqipes e parë në lidhje me historinë e popullit. SF 1976/3
• Gjinari, Jorgji. Dëshmi të historisë së gjuhës shqipe për kohën dhe vendin e formimit të popullit shqiptar. SF 1982/3
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• Hahn, Georg von. Albanesische Studien. Wien (1853)
• Hamp, E. P. “Albanian”, in Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, edited by R. E. Asher, vol. 1. Oxford: Pergamon, 1994, pp. 65–7.
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External links

• Albanian Translation
• Albanian Dictionary
• Albanian Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words (from Wiktionary's Swadesh-list appendix)
• Albanian basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
• Doctor John Bassett Trumper discussing the classification 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 perëndimore në gjuhën shqipe dhe fjalëve përgjegjëse shqipe. Ombra GVG, Tirana, 2011)