99-484: Gheg or Geg (Gheg Albanian: gegnisht , Standard Albanian : gegërisht ) is one of the two major varieties of Albanian , the other being Tosk . The geographic dividing line between the two varieties is the Shkumbin River , which winds its way through central Albania . Gheg is spoken in northern and central Albania, Kosovo , northwestern North Macedonia , southeastern Montenegro and southern Serbia by
198-678: A Latinis, Grecis et Sclauis ita quod in nullo se intelligunt cum aliis nationibus. (Namely, the above-mentioned Albanians have a language that is different from the languages of Latins, Greeks and Slavs, so that they do not understand each other at all.) The oldest attested document written in Albanian dates to 1462, while the first audio recording in the language was made by Norbert Jokl on 4 April 1914 in Vienna . However, as Fortson notes, Albanian written works existed before this point; they have simply been lost. The existence of written Albanian
297-466: A church dedicated to Saint Alexander was built near Mount Krujë. In the late 9th century David of Krujë is mentioned as one of the bishops, who participated in the Fourth Council of Constantinople . In the early 10th century Krujë had an Eastern Orthodox suffragan bishop, subject to the metropolitan bishop of Durrës. The Roman Catholic bishopric of Krujë was established in 1167, when its bishop
396-905: A common branch in the current phylogenetic classification of the Indo-European language family. The first written mention of Albanian was in 1284 in a witness testimony from the Republic of Ragusa , while a letter written by Dominican Friar Gulielmus Adea in 1332 mentions the Albanians using the Latin alphabet in their writings. The oldest surviving attestation of modern Albanian is from 1462. The two main Albanian dialect groups (or varieties ), Gheg and Tosk , are primarily distinguished by phonological differences and are mutually intelligible in their standard varieties, with Gheg spoken to
495-573: A common period of prehistoric coexistence of several Indo-European dialects in the Balkans prior to 2000 BC. To this group would belong Albanian, Ancient Greek , Armenian , Phrygian , fragmentary attested languages such as Macedonian , Thracian , or Illyrian , and the relatively well-attested Messapic in Southern Italy. The common features of this group appear at the phonological, morphological, and lexical levels, presumably resulting from
594-472: A large amount (or the majority) of their sea environment lexicon. A similar phenomenon could be observed with agricultural terms. While the words for 'arable land', 'wheat', 'cereals', 'vineyard', 'yoke', 'harvesting', 'cattle breeding', etc. are native, the words for 'ploughing', 'farm' and 'farmer', agricultural practices, and some harvesting tools are foreign. This, again, points to intense contact with other languages and people, rather than providing evidence of
693-565: A member of the notable Toptani family of the region and officer of the Ottoman army, captured the town and incorporated it in the Republic of Central Albania making it a center of his movement, but in June of the same year it was reincorporated by Prênk Bibë Doda in the Principality of Albania . On 20 December 1914 the local anti-Essadists, led by Abdi Toptani and Mehmet Gjinali, formed
792-475: A number of isoglosses with Albanian. Other linguists linked the Albanian language with Latin , Greek and Armenian , while placing Germanic and Balto-Slavic in another branch of Indo-European. In current scholarship there is evidence that Albanian is closely related to Greek and Armenian, while the fact that it is a satem language is less significant. Armenian Greek Phrygian (extinct) Messapic (extinct) Gheg Tosk Messapic
891-547: A possible linguistic homeland (also known as a Urheimat ). The centre of Albanian settlement remained the Mat River. In 1079, the Albanians were recorded farther south in the valley of the Shkumbin River. The Shkumbin, a 181 km long river that lies near the old Via Egnatia , is approximately the boundary of the primary dialect division for Albanian, Tosk and Gheg . The characteristics of Tosk and Gheg in
990-889: A standard that was based on the variant of Tosk spoken in and around the city of Korçë . With the warming of relations between Albania and Yugoslavia starting in the late 1960s, the Kosovo Albanians —the largest ethnic group in Kosovo—adopted the same standard in a process that began in 1968 and culminated with the appearance of the first unified Albanian orthographic handbook and dictionary in 1972. Although they had until then used Gheg and almost all Albanian writers in Yugoslavia were Ghegs, they chose to write in Tosk for political reasons. The change of literary language has had significant political and cultural consequences because
1089-933: A strong sense of identity and are unique in that they speak an archaic dialect of Tosk Albanian called Arbëresh . In the United States and Canada, there are approximately 250,000 Albanian speakers. It is primarily spoken on the East Coast of the United States, in cities like New York City, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Detroit, as well as in parts of the states of New Jersey, Ohio, and Connecticut. In Argentina, there are nearly 40,000 Albanian speakers , mostly in Buenos Aires. Approximately 1.3 million people of Albanian ancestry live in Turkey , with more than 500,000 recognizing their ancestry, language and culture . There are other estimates, however, that place
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#17327904418501188-476: Is Artur Bushi , who was elected in the 2015 local elections as a candidate of the Socialist Party of Albania . Krujë has an oceanic climate ( Köppen climate classification : Cfb ) with warm summers, cool winters, and abundant precipitation. The total population of Krujë is 51,191 as of the 2023 census, in a total area of 339.20 km . The population of the municipal unit is 8,921. In 1922
1287-521: Is a degree of variance, Northwestern Gheg and Northeastern Gheg are still very much similar, and speakers of both sub-dialects have no problem understanding and having a conversation with one another. The Northwestern Gheg subdialect encompasses three main Albanian ethnographic regions: Malësia e Madhe , Shkodër and Lezhë. Within the Northwestern Gheg, the area of Malësia e Madhe shows different phonological, syntactic, and lexical patterns than
1386-601: Is a sub-dialect of Gheg Albanian spoken in Northwestern Albania and Southern Montenegro . The tribes that speak this dialect are the Malësor , Dukagjin and other highlander tribes which include ( Malësia ): Hoti , Gruda , Triepshi , Kelmendi , Kastrati , Shkreli , Lohja , etc., ( Dukagjin ) : Shala , Shoshi , Shllaku , Dushmani , etc., etc..( Lezhë ),...( see Tribes of Albania ). The main contrast between Northwestern Gheg and Northeastern Gheg
1485-461: Is also split in a few other minority dialects, where the phoneme [y] of standard Albanian is pronounced as [i], i.e. "ylberi" to "ilberi" (both meaning rainbow); "dy" to "di" (both meaning two). In Northeastern Gheg, the palatal stops of standard Albanian, such as [c] (as in q en , "dog") and [ɟ] (as in gj umë , "sleep"), are realised as palato-alveolar affricates, [t͡ʃ] and [d͡ʒ] respectively. Northwestern Gheg , sometimes known as Western Gheg ,
1584-667: Is also spoken by 450,000 Albanian immigrants in Greece, making it one of the commonly spoken languages in the country after Greek. Albanian is the third most common mother tongue among foreign residents in Italy . This is due to a substantial Albanian immigration to Italy. Italy has a historical Albanian minority of about 500,000, scattered across southern Italy, known as Arbëreshë . Approximately 1 million Albanians from Kosovo are dispersed throughout Germany , Switzerland and Austria . These are mainly immigrants from Kosovo who migrated during
1683-709: Is also spoken in Greece and by the Albanian diaspora , which is generally concentrated in the Americas , Europe and Oceania . Albanian is estimated to have as many as 7.5 million native speakers. Albanian and other Paleo-Balkan languages had their formative core in the Balkans after the Indo-European migrations in the region. Albanian in antiquity is often thought to have been an Illyrian language for obvious geographic and historical reasons, or otherwise an unmentioned Balkan Indo-European language that
1782-601: Is an Indo-European language and the only surviving representative of the Albanoid branch , which belongs to the Paleo-Balkan group . It is the native language of the Albanian people . Standard Albanian is the official language of Albania and Kosovo , and a co-official language in North Macedonia and Montenegro , as well as a recognized minority language of Italy , Croatia , Romania and Serbia . It
1881-608: Is considered the closest language to Albanian, grouped in a common branch titled Illyric in Hyllested & Joseph (2022). Hyllested & Joseph (2022) in agreement with recent bibliography identify Greco-Phrygian as the IE branch closest to the Albanian-Messapic one. These two branches form an areal grouping – which is often called "Balkan IE" – with Armenian. The hypothesis of the " Balkan Indo-European " continuum posits
1980-636: 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. By the Late Middle Ages , during the period of Humanism and the European Renaissance , the term lingua epirotica ' Epirotan language ' was preferred in the intellectual, literary, and clerical circles of
2079-567: Is sometimes regarded part of Northeastern Gheg. Calques of Serbian origin are evident in the areas of syntax and morphology . The Northeastern Gheg slightly differs from Northwestern Gheg (spoken in Shkodër ), as the pronunciation is deeper and more prolonged. Northeastern Gheg is considered to be the autonomous branch of Gheg Albanian in turn, the Northeastern Gheg dialects themselves differ greatly among themselves. The dialect
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#17327904418502178-598: Is spoken in North-western Greece, while Arvanitika is spoken by the Arvanites in southern Greece. In addition, Arbëresh is spoken by the Arbëreshë people, descendants of 15th and 16th century migrants who settled in southeastern Italy, in small communities in the regions of Sicily and Calabria . These settlements originated from the (Arvanites) communities probably of Peloponnese known as Morea in
2277-486: Is spoken in the south, and Gheg spoken in the north. Standard Albanian is based on the Tosk dialect. The Shkumbin River is the rough dividing line between the two dialects. Gheg is divided into four sub-dialects: Northwest Gheg, Northeast Gheg, Central Gheg and Southern Gheg. It is primarily spoken in northern Albania, Kosovo , and throughout Montenegro and northwestern North Macedonia . One fairly divergent dialect
2376-576: Is the Upper Reka dialect , which is however classified as Central Gheg. There is also a diaspora dialect in Croatia , the Arbanasi dialect . Tosk is divided into five sub-dialects, including Northern Tosk (the most numerous in speakers), Labërisht , Cham , Arvanitika , and Arbëresh . Tosk is spoken in southern Albania, southwestern North Macedonia and northern and southern Greece. Cham Albanian
2475-399: Is the most probable. Although Albanian shares lexical isoglosses with Greek , Germanic , and to a lesser extent Balto-Slavic , the vocabulary of Albanian is quite distinct. In 1995, Taylor, Ringe , and Warnow used quantitative linguistic techniques that appeared to obtain an Albanian subgrouping with Germanic, a result which the authors had already reasonably downplayed. Indeed,
2574-569: Is the official language of Albania and Kosovo and a co-official language in North Macedonia and Montenegro . Albanian is a recognised minority language in Croatia , Italy , Romania and in Serbia . Albanian is also spoken by a minority in Greece , specifically in the Thesprotia and Preveza regional units and in a few villages in Ioannina and Florina regional units in Greece. It
2673-471: Is the slight difference in the tone and or pronunciation of the respective dialects. Northwestern Gheg does not have the more deeper sounding a's, e's, etc. and is considered by some to sound slightly more soft and clear in tone compared to Northeastern Gheg, yet still spoken with a rough Gheg undertone compared to the Southern Albanian dialects. Other differences include different vocabulary, and
2772-589: The Albanian Revolt of 1432–1436 the city was unsuccessfully besieged by Andrea Thopia . Until 1432, the subaşi (governor) of Krujë had been Zagan Bey , then Hizir Bey, and later during 1437—1438 Skanderbeg was its governor. In November 1438 Hizir Bey was again appointed as subaşi of Krujë until he was replaced in April 1440 by Umur Bey. On 28 November 1443 Skanderbeg gained control over Krujë by deceiving its subaşi with forged sultan's letter, and raised
2871-463: The Congress of Dibra decided that Albanian schools would finally be allowed. Albanian is an isolate within the Indo-European language family; no other language has been conclusively linked to its branch . The only other languages that are the sole surviving members of a branch of Indo-European are Armenian and Greek. The Albanian language is part of the Indo-European language family and
2970-520: The House of Thopia gradually lost control of the town, which by 1395 had come under Ottoman vassalage. The Ottomans lost control of Krujë in the early 15th century, when it was captured by Niketa Thopia and regained it in 1415. After its recapture it was incorporated in the Sanjak of Albania and formed an administrative unit with the status of Subaşilik as attested in the regional register of 1431. During
3069-629: The Janissary of Muhammad Ali Pasha , an Albanian who became Wāli , and self-declared Khedive of Egypt and Sudan . In addition to the dynasty that he established, a large part of the former Egyptian and Sudanese aristocracy was of Albanian origin. In addition to the recent emigrants, there are older diasporic communities around the world. Albanian is also spoken by Albanian diaspora communities residing in Australia and New Zealand . The Albanian language has two distinct dialects, Tosk which
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3168-576: The Kingdom of Albania , while in the early 15th century Krujë was conquered by the Ottoman Empire , but then recaptured in 1443 by Skanderbeg , leader of the League of Lezhë , who successfully defended it against three Ottoman sieges until his death in 1468. The Ottomans took control of the town after the fourth siege in 1478, and incorporated it in their territories. A 1906 local revolt against
3267-808: The Korçë District , Kamnik in Kolonja , Kolsh in the Kukës District , Rashtan in Librazhd , and Nezir in the Mat District . As in other parts of Europe, these PreIE people joined the migratory Indo-European tribes that entered the Balkans and contributed to the formation of the historical Paleo-Balkan tribes. In terms of linguistics, the pre-Indo-European substrate language spoken in the southern Balkans probably influenced pre-Proto-Albanian ,
3366-405: The League of Lezhë under Vrana Konti and Skanderbeg defeated an Ottoman force of about 100,000 men led by Sultan Murad II , who had tried to bribe Konti to surrender the castle of the town. In the following decade Krujë was first besieged in 1466 and then in 1467 unsuccessfully by Ballaban Pasha and Sultan Mehmed II , whose total troops were about 150,000. After Skanderbeg's death in 1468,
3465-815: The League of Prizren and culminated with the Congress of Manastir held by Albanian intellectuals from 14 to 22 November 1908, in Manastir (present day Bitola ), which decided on which alphabet to use, and what the standardised spelling would be for standard Albanian. This is how the literary language remains. The alphabet is the Latin alphabet with the addition of the letters ⟨ ë ⟩ , ⟨ ç ⟩ , and ten digraphs : dh , th , xh , gj , nj , ng , ll , rr , zh and sh . According to Robert Elsie : The hundred years between 1750 and 1850 were an age of astounding orthographic diversity in Albania. In this period,
3564-841: The Southwestern Statistical Region ( Kičevo , Debar and parts of Struga ). According to linguists such as Jorgji Gjinari and Xhevat Lloshi, the Central Gheg dialect group represents a sub-group of the larger Southern Gheg zone. The Italian linguist Carlo Tagliavini puts the Gheg of Kosovo and North Macedonia in Eastern Gheg. Northeastern Gheg , sometimes known as Eastern Gheg , is a variant or sub-dialect of Gheg Albanian spoken in Northeastern Albania , Kosovo , and Serbia . The Northeastern Gheg dialectal area begins roughly down from
3663-583: The etymology section ) is a town and a municipality in north-central Albania . Located between Mount Krujë and the Ishëm River , the city is 20 km north of the capital of Albania, Tirana . Krujë was inhabited by the ancient Illyrian tribe of the Albani . In 1190 Krujë became the capital of the first Albanian state in the Middle Ages , the Principality of Arbër . Later it was the capital of
3762-692: 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 linguists Stefan Schumacher and Joachim Matzinger (University of Vienna) assert that
3861-531: The 1990s. In Switzerland , the Albanian language is the sixth most spoken language with 176,293 native speakers. Albanian became an official language in North Macedonia on 15 January 2019. There are large numbers of Albanian speakers in the United States, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Canada . Some of the first ethnic Albanians to arrive in the United States were the Arbëreshë. The Arbëreshë have
3960-505: The Albanian and Germanic branches share a relatively moderate number of lexical cognates. Many shared grammatical elements or features of these two branches do not corroborate the lexical isoglosses. Albanian also shares lexical linguistic affinity with Latin and Romance languages. Sharing linguistic features unique to the languages of the Balkans , Albanian also forms a part of the Balkan linguistic area or sprachbund . The place and
4059-600: The Albanian dialectal subgroup known as Ghegs . Gheg does not have any official status as a written language in any country. Publications in Kosovo and North Macedonia are in Standard Albanian , which is based on Tosk. However, some authors continue to write in Gheg. Before World War II, there had been no official attempt to enforce a unified Albanian literary language; both literary Gheg and literary Tosk were used. The communist regime in Albania imposed nationwide
Gheg Albanian - Misplaced Pages Continue
4158-471: The Albanian language is the main criterion for Albanian self identity. The standardization has been criticized, notably by the writer Arshi Pipa , who claimed that the move had deprived Albanian of its richness at the expense of the Ghegs. He referred to literary Albanian as a "monstrosity" produced by the Tosk communist leadership, who had conquered anti-communist northern Albania and imposed their own dialect on
4257-560: The Albanian language was on 14 July 1284 in Ragusa in modern Croatia ( Dubrovnik ) when a crime witness named Matthew testified: "I heard a voice crying on the mountain in the Albanian language" ( Latin : Audivi unam vocem, clamantem in monte in lingua albanesca ). The Albanian language is also mentioned in the Descriptio Europae Orientalis dated in 1308: Habent enim Albani prefati linguam distinctam
4356-435: The Albanian language was put to writing in at least ten different alphabets – most certainly a record for European languages. ... the diverse forms in which this old Balkan language was recorded, from the earliest documents to the beginning of the twentieth century ... consist of adaptations of the Latin, Greek, Arabic, and Cyrillic alphabets and (what is even more interesting) a number of locally invented writing systems. Most of
4455-595: The Albanian-Ottoman wars, during which the castle was besieged four times by the Ottoman army. The national ethnographic museum of Krujë was founded in 1989 and is located in a 15–6-room villa of the Toptani family built in 1764. The main exhibits of the museum are objects of artisanship, whose age varies from 60 to 500 years. Krujë's most important football club is KS Kastrioti , founded in 1926 and briefly renamed as Puna Krujë in 1951. The club's home ground
4554-618: The Director General of Health Services appointed the first director of health services in Krujë, Ihsan Korça while the last to hold the post before the establishment of the Socialist People's Republic of Albania was Abdulla Mehmeti. The first hospital and the first polyclinic of Krujë were built in 1946 and 1948 respectively. During 1968–69 a new medical laboratory and a department of surgery were added and expanded. In 1970
4653-474: The Directorate of Hygiene and Epidemiology of the district was established in the town. In 1977-9 a new hospital and polyclinic were built, while in 1986 the first Obstetrics and gynaecology hospital of the town was opened. In 2008 the first hospital was rebuilt and renamed after its first director Stefan Gjoni. In antiquity Krujë was a site used for pagan rituals , while after the spread of Christianity
4752-475: The Ghegs. In post- WWII Yugoslavia there was a project to create a Kosovan language, which would have been largely Gheg. This was in line with Josip Broz Tito 's reorganization of the country into a federation of ethnolinguistically defined nations , which relied heavily on language policy to create or reinforce separation of these nations from such neighbors as Bulgaria , and it built on efforts by communist Albania to unite with Yugoslavia . The idea of union
4851-567: The Malsia Albanian dialect, whereas in the other Gheg varieties and in Tosk it has been reanalyzed as a prefix attached to other lexical terms, no longer existing as a preposition. Assimilations are common in Gheg but are not part of the Albanian literary language, which is a standardized form of Tosk Albanian . Albanian language Albanian ( endonym : shqip [ʃcip] , gjuha shqipe [ˈɟuha ˈʃcipɛ] , or arbërisht [aɾbəˈɾiʃt] )
4950-534: The Mat river, extending eastwards to and beyond the Black Drin river, including Kruja and Fushë Kruja , Mati , part of Mirdita , Lurë , Luma and Dibër Valley . Central Gheg is also spoken outside of Albania, with the majority of Albanians from North Macedonia speaking dialects of Central Gheg - including the divergent idiom spoken in Upper Reka . These regions include Polog Valley ( Tetovo and Gostivar ) and
5049-404: The Middle Ages. Among them the Arvanites call themselves Arbëror and sometime Arbëresh. The Arbëresh dialect is closely related to the Arvanites dialect with more Italian vocabulary absorbed during different periods of time. The Albanian language has been written using many alphabets since the earliest records from the 15th century. The history of Albanian language orthography is closely related to
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#17327904418505148-435: The Ottoman Empire was followed by the 1912 Declaration of Independence of Albania . In the mid-1910s Krujë was one of the battlefields of the conflict between the short-lived Republic of Central Albania , founded by Essad Toptani , and the Principality of Albania . In 1914 Toptani managed to seize the town but during the same year it was reincorporated by Prênk Bibë Doda in the Principality of Albania. During World War II it
5247-404: The Ottoman army stationed in the city against the rebels of Krujë. After prolonged confrontations the Ottoman officials offered to begin negotiations with the rebels. On 20 September 1906 the leaders of Krujë and the Ottoman diplomats met at the Tallajbe quarter of Krujë to discuss the administrative status of the town, however, the Ottoman army under Şemsi Pasha ambushed the rebel leaders. During
5346-479: The Ottomans in 1478 after being besieged for over a year. This success was viewed by the Ottomans as a good omen that the siege of Shkodra would also be successful. During the rise of nationalism in the Ottoman Empire Krujë became the battlefield of various anti-Ottoman rebellions also related with the imposition of new taxes. In 1906 the people of Krujë revolted once more against the Ottoman Empire. The Wāli of Shkodër , Sali Zeki Pasha sent four battalions of
5445-443: The Shkumbin river since the Post-Roman and Pre-Slavic period, straddling the Jireček Line . Centuries-old communities speaking Albanian dialects can be found scattered in Greece (the Arvanites and some communities in Epirus , Western Macedonia and Western Thrace ), Croatia (the Arbanasi ), Italy (the Arbëreshë ) as well as in Romania , Turkey and Ukraine . The Malsia e Madhe Gheg Albanian and two varieties of
5544-412: The Tosk dialect, Arvanitika in Greece and Arbëresh in southern Italy, have preserved archaic elements of the language. Ethnic Albanians constitute a large diaspora , with many having long assimilated in different cultures and communities. Consequently, Albanian-speakers do not correspond to the total ethnic Albanian population, as many ethnic Albanians may identify as Albanian but are unable to speak
5643-452: The Union of Krujë, which quickly extended its authority in central Albania. Following the Italian invasion of Albania the country became a protectorate of the Kingdom of Italy . Mustafa Merlika-Kruja , a native of Krujë, who became the Prime Minister of the new regime ordered the formation of a 300-man gendarmerie force to defend the town against resistance groups. However, soon afterward, resistance leader Abaz Kupi , another native of
5742-456: 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 Pre-Greek λάπαθον , lápathon ' monk's rhubarb '. Kruj%C3%AB Krujë ( Albanian definite form : Kruja ; see also
5841-488: The areas of Shkodër and Lezhë. For this reason, Malsia e Madhe Albanian ( MMA ) can be considered a distinct variety of Northwestern Gheg. The different features of this variety can be traced to the historical and geographic isolation of the muntainous region of Malësia e Madhe (Albanian for 'Great Highlands'). The early isolated Malsia Albanian has preserved archaic features of Proto-Albanian and Proto-Indo-European in comparison to other Gheg varieties and to Tosk, such as
5940-401: The battle that followed, which became known in history after the Tallajbe district, about 30 people died including uninvolved civilians. Throughout the Albanian Revolt of 1912 , that led to the creation of the Albanian Vilayet and later in the Declaration of Independence of Albania Krujë, which was captured on 14 August, was one of the major anti-Ottoman centers. In 1914 Essad Toptani ,
6039-402: The city's garrison was supplemented by troops of the Republic of Venice . In 1476 the town was once more besieged by a ten-thousand-man army under Gedik Ahmed Pasha ; however, the local garrison led by proveditor Pietro Vetturi fended off the Ottoman besiegers, who retreated after the arrival of reinforcements under Francesco Contarini and Nikollë Dukagjini. The city was eventually conquered by
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#17327904418506138-399: The contact between the various languages. The concept of this linguistic group is explained as a kind of language league of the Bronze Age (a specific areal-linguistics phenomenon), although it also consisted of languages that were related to each other. A common prestage posterior to PIE comprising Albanian, Greek, and Armenian, is considered as a possible scenario. In this light, due to
6237-578: 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. 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 ( Elbasan , Vithkuqi , Todhri , Veso Bey, Jan Vellara and others, see original Albanian alphabets ). More specifically,
6336-409: The dialects spoken in the regions of Durrës, Tirana, and sections of Elbasan such as Peqin and the western villages of Krrabë. The latter group, on the other hand, is spoken in the regions of Elbasan, Librazhd, and Martanesh. The spoken dialects of Shëngjergj, in Tirana, and Krrabë, in Elbasan, act as transitional dialects between the two groups, although the former is closer to the Southwestern group and
6435-453: The eastern Montenegrin-Albanian border, including the Albanian districts (Second-level administrative country subdivisions) of Tropojë , Pukë , Has , Mirditë and Kukës ; the whole of Kosovo , and the municipalities of Bujanovac and Preševo in Serbia. The tribes in Albania speaking the dialect include Nikaj-Merturi, Puka, Gashi, and Tropoja. The Albanian speech in roughly around Skopje , Karadak , and Kumanovo in North Macedonia ,
6534-401: The eastern villages of the latter with the Southeastern group. The dialects of Ishëm, Vorë, Zall-Herr, and Zall-Dajt represent the northernmost extensions of Southern Gheg (specifically Southwestern Gheg), and as such, they show direct influences from Central Gheg (spoken in neighbouring Krujë , Mat , and Bulqizë ); thus they can be labelled as transitional dialects. Certain settlements to
6633-419: The extreme south of the Southern Gheg dialect zone, which are included in the largely Southern Gheg-speaking units, speak transitional dialects depicting both characteristics of Gheg and Tosk Albanian. These include villages such as Dars in Peqin, the coastal villages of southernmost Kavajë, and a number of settlements in Qukës and Hotolisht. Central Gheg is a sub-dialect of Gheg spoken in the interior basin of
6732-422: The first Albanian flag on the same day. In 1444 Skanderbeg incorporated it in the League of Lezhë , the confederation of the Albanian principalities . From 1450 until 1477 Krujë was defended successfully by the Albanian troops four times against the Ottoman army, which eventually captured it in 1478 during the fourth Siege of the city . During the first siege of Krujë in 1450, the 1,500 to 2,000 soldiers of
6831-411: The first literary records of Albanian date from the 16th century. 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 . One of the earliest Albanian dictionaries
6930-405: The first time as Kroai (in Medieval Greek Κροαί) in Byzantine documents of the early 9th century. In medieval Latin it was known as Croia , Croya and Croarum . During the Ottoman era it was also known as Ak Hisar or Akçahisar from the Turkish words ak (white) and hisar (castle). In ancient times the region of Krujë was inhabited by the Illyrian tribe of the Albani, while
7029-554: The formation of nasal-stop clusters by placing the prefix en- with unstressed word-initial vowel are: Tosk mb uʃa 'to fill', from PAlb * e n - b usa (vs. Malsia b uʃa ); Tosk ŋg a 'where, from where', from PAlb * e n - k a (vs. Malsia k a ); Tosk ŋg ula 'to thrust, put on point', from PAlb * e n - k ula (vs. Malsia k u:ʎ ); Tosk nd ej 'to stretch', from PAlb * e n - t enja (vs. Malsia t æ̃:n ). The PAlb preposition * en 'in' has been preserved solely in
7128-490: The high status and the wealth of the burials. Originally a middle-sized fortress like other urban centers, Krujë expanded to a town probably from the sixth to the ninth century AD. In 1190 Krujë became the capital of the first Albanian state of the Middle Ages, the Principality of Arbër founded by Progon of the House of Progon . During the reign of Gulam of Albania the principality was dissolved and incorporated in
7227-541: The language. Standard Albanian is a standardised form of spoken Albanian based on Tosk . The language is spoken by approximately 6 million people in the Balkans, primarily in Albania, Kosovo , North Macedonia , Serbia , Montenegro and Greece . However, due to old communities in Italy and the large Albanian diaspora , the worldwide total of speakers is much higher than in Southern Europe and numbers approximately 7.5 million. The Albanian language
7326-601: The larger number of possible shared innovations between Greek and Armenian, it appears reasonable to assume, at least tentatively, that Albanian was the first Balkan IE language to branch off. This split and the following ones were perhaps very close in time, allowing only a narrow time frame for shared innovations. Albanian represents one of the core languages of the Balkan Sprachbund . Glottolog and Ethnologue recognize four Albanian languages. They are classified as follows: The first attested written mention of
7425-465: The latter alphabets have now been forgotten and are unknown, even to the Albanians themselves. Albanian constitutes one of the eleven major branches of the Indo-European language family , within which it occupies an independent position. In 1854, Albanian was demonstrated to be an Indo-European language by the philologist Franz Bopp . Albanian was formerly compared by a few Indo-European linguists with Germanic and Balto-Slavic , all of which share
7524-429: 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 could be a consequence of a prolonged Latin domination of the coastal and plain areas of the country, rather than evidence of the original environment in which the Albanian language was formed. For example, the word for 'fish' is borrowed from Latin, but not
7623-630: The newly founded Kingdom of Albania . During the late 13th and early 14th century the Byzantine and the Thopia family and in 1343 the Serbian Empire took control of the city. The Kingdom of Albania was eventually dissolved between 1363 and 1368, when Karl Topia captured its capital Durrës and incorporated its territories, including Krujë in 1363 in the Princedom of Albania . After 1389
7722-456: The north and Tosk spoken to the south of the Shkumbin river . Their characteristics in the treatment of both native words and loanwords provide evidence that the split into the northern and the southern dialects occurred after Christianisation of the region (4th century AD), and most likely not later than the 6th century AD, hence possibly occupying roughly their present area divided by
7821-518: The number of people in Turkey with Albanian ancestry and or background upward to 5 million. However, the vast majority of this population is assimilated and no longer possesses fluency in the Albanian language, though a vibrant Albanian community maintains its distinct identity in Istanbul to this day. Egypt also lays claim to about 18,000 Albanians, mostly Tosk speakers. Many are descendants of
7920-412: The only surviving representative of its own branch , which belongs to the Paleo-Balkan group . Although it is still uncertain which ancient mentioned language of the Balkans it continues, or where in the region its speakers lived. In general, there is insufficient evidence to connect Albanian with one of those languages, whether Illyrian , Thracian , or Dacian . Among these possibilities, Illyrian
8019-607: The so called standard Albanian (the Tosk-based dialect) is taught in schools and used in media and in public life in Kosovo. The Gheg dialect is divided by four sub-dialects: Central Gheg, Southern Gheg, Northwestern Gheg (or Western Gheg), and Northeastern Gheg (or Eastern Gheg). Southern Gheg is spoken in the ethno-geographic regions of central and, areas of, north-central Albania; among these being: Southern Gheg can be further broken down into two major groupings: Southwestern Gheg and Southeastern Gheg. The first group includes
8118-577: The tekke, which was restored by Baba Husayn of Dibër in the mid-19th century. In the early 20th century, Hasluck wrote that the population of Krujë ("Croia") appeared to be almost entirely Bektashi. The museums of Krujë include the Skanderbeg Museum and the national ethnographic museum. The Skanderbeg Museum, founded in 1982, was built in the environs of the Krujë Castle . Its collection includes mostly 15th century artefacts related to
8217-478: The time that the Albanian language was formed are uncertain. The American linguist Eric Hamp has said that during an unknown chronological period a pre-Albanian population (termed as "Albanoid" by Hamp) inhabited areas stretching from Poland to the southwestern Balkans. Further analysis has suggested that it was in a mountainous region rather than on a plain or seacoast. The words for plants and animals characteristic of mountainous regions are entirely original, but
8316-564: The time, and used as a synonym for the Albanian language. Published in Rome in 1635, by the Albanian bishop and writer Frang Bardhi, the first dictionary of the Albanian language was titled Latin : Dictionarium latino-epiroticum ' Latin-Epirotan dictionary ' . During the five-century period of the Ottoman presence in Albania , the language was not officially recognised until 1909, when
8415-628: The town is located near the Iron Age Illyrian site of Zgërdhesh . Some scholars have identified the site with the main settlement of the Albani , Albanopolis , while others identified Albanopolis with Krujë itself. During the Illyrian Wars the area of Krujë was captured by the Roman Republic . Early medieval artifacts of Krujë include dress items and weaponry found in fifth- and sixth-century cemeteries, which display
8514-543: The town, created one of the first permanent resistance forces of Albania in Krujë and gradually took control of the region. In 1943 at the assembly of Tapizë Balli Kombëtar proposed to the LNÇ the creation of provisional resistance government, with Krujë as the capital city, but this proposal was rejected by the LNÇ leaders. In the end of November 1944, the last German troops stationed in the area were defeated and LNÇ battalions entered
8613-438: The town. Krujë is found at an altitude of 600 m (1,969 ft) on the foot of Mount Krujë ( Albanian : Mali i Krujës ), while south and west of the town is found the plain of the Ishëm River . The town is located in the northern part of the outer Albanides tectonic unit, which consists of anticlines of Mesozoic carbonate platforms . The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Krujë, but it also includes
8712-572: The treatment of the native words and loanwords from other languages are evidence that the dialectal split preceded the Slavic migrations to the Balkans , which means that in that period (the 5th to 6th centuries AD), Albanians were occupying nearly the same area around the Shkumbin river, which straddled the Jireček Line . References to the existence of Albanian as a distinct language survive from
8811-437: The use of words like "kon" (been), and " qysh " (how?) which are used in Northeastern Gheg, and not often used in Northwestern Gheg. Instead Northwestern Gheg speakers say "kjen or ken" (been), and use the adverb "si" to say (how?). For example in Northeastern Gheg to say "when I was young", you would say, "kur jam kon i ri" , while in Northwestern Gheg you would say " kur kam ken i ri , kur jam ken i ri .". Although there
8910-433: The villages of Barkanesh, Brre and Picerragë. The closest cities to Krujë are Tiranë and Durrës at a distance of 20 and 37 km respectively. The municipality was formed at the 2015 local government reform by the merger of the former municipalities Bubq , Cudhi , Fushë-Krujë , Krujë, Nikël and Kodër-Thumanë , that became municipal units. The seat of the municipality is the town Krujë. The current mayor of Krujë
9009-421: The word for 'gills' which is native. Indigenous are also the words for 'ship', 'raft', 'navigation', 'sea shelves' and a few names of fish kinds, but not the words for 'sail', 'row' and 'harbor'; objects pertaining to 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) and thus lost
9108-418: The word-initial voiceless and voiced stops. Whereas Tosk Albanian has homorganic nasal-stop clusters, having produced a shift from the proto form that featured a word-initial stop to a nasal-stop cluster, which was achieved by placing a prefix en- (< PAlb preposition * en 'in'). Gheg Albanian is in a transitional position, featuring nasals that resulted from reduced nasal-stop clusters. Examples of
9207-544: 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
9306-409: Was closely related to Illyrian and Messapic . The Indo-European subfamily that gave rise to Albanian is called Albanoid in reference to a specific ethnolinguistically pertinent and historically compact language group. Whether descendants or sisters of what was called ' Illyrian ' by classical sources, Albanian and Messapic , on the basis of shared features and innovations, are grouped together in
9405-533: Was consecrated by Pope Alexander III . In 1284 the Byzantine Empire expelled the Catholic bishop of Krujë, while after Stefan Uroš II Milutin captured the town, he also expelled the Catholic bishop Andreas Croensis in 1317. In Illyricum Sacrum Daniele Farlati documented fourteen Catholics bishops of the town from 1286 to 1694, while Konrad Eubel documented four additional bishops. Bektashism
9504-452: Was dropped though, in the aftermath of the split between Stalin and Tito in 1948, as Albania sided with Moscow. As a result of this rupture and other factors, no such Kosovan language was ever created. Indeed, in 1974 the Tosk-based standard Albanian was adopted as an official language of Kosovo. However, the natural dialect of Kosovo Albanian is Gheg, and it is still practically the only dialect that Kosovo Albanians use in everyday life, while
9603-583: Was introduced in the region of Krujë in the early 18th century. During the Ottoman era a tekke dedicated to the Bektashi saint Sari Saltik was built near the church of Saint Alexander. In 1789–99 the Dollma tekke was built by the Dollma family near the castle. In 1807 Sheikh Mimi , sent by Ali Pasha to Krujë founded another tekke in the town. However, Sheikh Mimi was executed by Kaplan Pasha, who destroyed
9702-399: Was the centre of the activities of resistance leader Abaz Kupi . The museums of Krujë include the Skanderbeg Museum , located in the environs of the Krujë Castle , and the national ethnographic museum. The name of the city is related to the Albanian word kroi , krua , meaning " fountain " or "water source", from Proto-Albanian * krana < * krasna . The city was attested for
9801-735: Was written in 1693; it was the Italian manuscript Pratichae Schrivaneschae authored by the Montenegrin sea captain Julije Balović and includes a multilingual dictionary of hundreds of the most frequently used words in everyday life in Italian, Slavic, Greek, Albanian, and Turkish . Pre-Indo-European (PreIE) sites are found throughout the territory of Albania. Such PreIE sites existed in Maliq , Vashtëmi , Burimas , Barç , Dërsnik in
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