The Albanian language is a distinct Indo-European language that does not belong to any other existing branch. Sharing lexical isoglosses with Greek, Balto-Slavic, andGermanic, the word stock of Albanian is quite distinct. Once hastily grouped with Germanic and Balto-Slavic by the merger of PIE *ǒ and *ǎ into *ǎ in a supposed "northern group",[2] Albanian has proven to be distinct from these two, as this vowel shift is only part of a larger push chain that affected all long vowels.[3] Albanian does share with Balto-Slavic two features: (1) a lengthening of syllabic consonants before voiced obstruents and (2) a distinct treatment of long syllables ending in a sonorant.[4] 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 extinct Paleo-Balkan language, usually taken to be either Illyrian or Thracian. See also Thraco-Illyrian and Messapian language.
Very different from these Greeks are the Albanians with whom they have often been confounded. This people called by the Turks Arrnauts and by themselves Shkipeturs Mountaineers are 1,300,000 in number
and inhabit the coast of the Adriatic between Servia and the kingdom of Greece. According to Herr von Hahn whose theory is now adopted by most ethnologists the Albanians are descended from the ancient Pelasgi who in Greece assimilated the Hellenic element in Southern Italy the Italian and in Illyria and Albania the Slavonian. They are a proud and martial people and have but little sympathy either with the Slavonians or the Greeks against both of whom they have frequently fought under Turkish generals Indeed they have preserved a sort of semi independence ever since the days of Pyrrhus whom as well as Alexander the Great they claim as their countryman. They were never thoroughly subdued by the Romans and when they were conquered by the Servians a number of them embraced the Roman Catholic faith in order to preserve the distinction between them and their conquerors. The Turks too found in Albania a more determined resistance than in any of the other provinces of the old Servian empire. The Albanian hero Scander beg (Prince Alexander) defeated them in twenty two battles and it was not until after his death in 1467 that the Albanians submitted but only on condition that they should be allowed to keep their arms and be exempt from taxes. To this day the Catholic Albanians or Mirdites who inhabit the northern part of the country enjoy a sort of independence under a hereditary prince and in the south the native pashas rule more like tributary sovereigns than the officials of a central government. The Mahometan Albanians have, it is true been the most devoted defenders of the Porte against the Greeks and have provided the sultans with some of their ablest and most energetic ministers but they never cease to strive afier their own independence. At home says Madame Dora d'lstria, they are troublesome vassals who only think of shaking off the Ottoman yoke,
The Shkipetars or Albanians are subdivided into two leading tribes or nations the Tosks and the Gheges both of whom are no doubt descended from the ancient Pelasgians but have in many places become mixed with Slavs Bulgarians and Rumanians and perhaps even with other nations for whilst in some tribes we meet with the purest Hellenic types there are others the members of which are repulsively ugly. The Gheges are the purest of their race and they occupy under various tribal names the whole of Northern Albania as far as the river Shkumbi. The territory of the Tosks extends from that river southward The dialects of these two nations differ much and it is not easy for an Acroceraunian to understand a Mirdit or other Albanian from the north Gheges and Tosks detest each other. In the Turkish army they are kept separated for fear of their coming to blows and when an insurrection has to be suppressed amongst them the Turkish Government always avails itself of these tribal jealousies and is certain of being served with the zeal and fury which hatred inspires. Up to the period of the migration of the barbarians the whole of Eastern Turkey as far as the Danube was held by Albanians But they were then pushed back and Albania was entirely occupied by Servians and Bulgarians.
Awaken, Albanians, wake from your slumber. Let us all, as brothers, swear an oath, not to mind church or mosque.The Religion of the Albanians is Albanianism.
Pashko Vasa, O moj Shqypni, ca. 1878, translated from the Albanian by Robert Elsie.
Their religion makes little difference in their manner or conduct.
Lord Byron, to his mother on a letter from Prevesa, November 12, 1809.
There is a spirit of independence and a love of their country, in the whole people, that, in a great measure, does away the vast distinction, observable in other parts of Turkey, between the followers of the two religions. For when the natives of other provinces, upon being asked who they are, will say, "we are Turks"(meaning muslim) or, "we are christians", a man of this country answers, " I am an Albanian"
J. C. Hobhouse Brughton, A Journey Through Albania 1809-1810, page 131
Moslem's although are not very strict about their religion, and have a tolerance for the Christians, as the Christians have for them, that is not found elsewhere-certainly not in the Near East. One will find the Christians using a prayer rug, and Moslem's observing Roman Catholic feast days. But the Albanian is first of all an Albanian and no religion interferes with his own standard of right and wrong.
Lands and Peoples: "The World in Color" Greece-Albania-Balkans, 1940, page 53.
The Albanians are a strong, forceful, and able people, very anxious to have Independence. There are about 4,000,000 of them. They are perfectly homogeneous in nationality, whether Orthodox, Catholic, or Muslim in religion. They are finely situated in one of the richest and most beautiful countries on the eastern side of the Adriatic, with several fine ports.
Charles Richard Crane, wealthy American from Chicago.
Written in the November 13th Edition of the New York Times Under the Article "Free Macedonia, Says C.R. Crane- Bulgarians and Albanians ready for self-government He thinks"
They are strewn with the wreckage of dead Empires–past Powers–only the Albanian "goes on for ever."
- Edith Durham
"The men who marched to Babylon , Persia and India were the ancestors of the Albanians..."
- Wadham Peacock
"The true history of mankind will be written only when Albanians participate in it's writing."
-Maximilian Lambertz
"Gli Skipetarë sono un popolo che conserva intatte le tradizioni dei loro antenati, un popolo orgoglioso ed assettato di libertà"
- Pietro Tassini, ambasciatore della Repubblica di Venezia, nel 1455.
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TRANSLATION FROM ITALIAN
"The Skipetarë are intact people who conserve the traditions of their ancestors, proud and tidy people of freedom "
- Peter Tassini, ambassador of the Republic of Venice, in 1455
I assure you they are Bismarcks — veritable Bismarcks. Some day they will demand, and Europe will have to give them what they ask !
A Christian Ottoman official speaking to Edith Durham about Albanians
.... Anon from the castle walls
The crescent banner falls,
And the crowd beholds instead,
Like a portent in the sky,
Iskander's banner fly,
The Black Eagle with double head.
And shouts ascend on high
.....'' Long live Scanderbeg.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
), togas ne, mrazam da citam gluposti.
