Illyrian--Albanian Words
ren -- re
dard--dardhë
toka--tokë
las--lesh
mal--mal
vasa--vashë
ves--vesh
cuza-cucë
nat--natë
ara--arrë
frim--frymë
ra--ra
caj--qaj
nis-nis
roj--rroj
leh--lind (lehem in Geg)
venedi--vendi
hyll--yll
bardi-bardhë
fimia-fëmijë
lissius-lisi
bur, buris ‘man’ [Alb. burrë ‘man’]
datan (datas) ‘place, settlement’ [Alb. datë ‘place, settlement]
drenis ‘deer’ [Alb. dre, dreni ‘deer’]
ermas ‘fierce, mad’ [Alb. jerm ‘furious, mad’]
mezéna ‘a horseman’ [Alb. mes, mezi ‘stallion’, Roman. (substrat) mînz
‘stallion’]
pupa ‘hill’ [Alb. pupë ‘hill’]
rera ‘stones, stony ground’ (from an earlier *lera) [Alb. lerë, -a ‘stones,
fallen stones’]
titha ‘light, radiance’ [morning drita(ë) ‘light, day’, Alb. ditë ‘day’]
Quote:
There is an old Illyrian place called Albulenë that is Alb = white Ule (old
Illyrian) = water or " Ujë i bardhë" today Albanian.
The same derivation has Ulk (old Illyrian) by the name of the ancient city
Ulkinon (today Ulqin) to Ujk that mean wolf.
Albania derives from the same Indo-European source as the name of the Alps,
which also appears in the Scottish "Albainn", for "highlands".
Alternatively, "Albania" may derive from the ancient Indo-European root
*albho, meaning "white", which also gave the name Albion, the ancient name
of England.
The first known occurance of the word Albanoi as the name of an Illyrian
tribe in what is now north-central Albania goes back to 130 AD, in a work of
Ptolemy. Albanopolis of the Albani is a place located on the map of Ptolemy
and also named on an ancient family epitaph at Scupi (near Skopje) , which
has been identified with the Zgërdhesh hill-fort near Kruja in northern
Albania. Arbanon is likely to be the name of a district - the plain of the
Mat has been suggested - rather than a particular place. An indication of
movement from higher altitudes in a much earlier period has been detected in
the distribution of place-names ending in -esh that appears to derive from
the latin -enisis or -esis, between the Shkumbin and the Mat rivers, with a
concentration between Elbasan and Kruja.
The term "Albanoi" may have been slowly spread to other Illyrian tribes
until its usage became universal among all the Albanian people. According to
the Albanian scholar Faïk bey Konitza, the term "Albania" did not displace
"Illyria" completely until the end of the fourteenth century. The word
"Alba" or "Arba" seems to be connected with the town Arba (modern Rab,
Croatia), in prehistoric times inhabited by the semi-Illyrian Liburnians,
first mentioned in 360 BC.
Approximately a millennium later, some Byzantine writers used the words
"Albanon" and "Arbanon" to indicate the region of Kruja. Under the Angevine
rulers, in the 13th century, the names "Albania" and "Albanenses" indicated
the whole country and all the population, as is demonstrated by the works of
many ancient Albanian writers such as Budi, Blanco and Bogdano. We first
learn of Albanians in their native land as the Arbanites of Arbanon in Anna
Comnenas' account (Alexiad 4) of the troubles in that region caused by the
Normans during the reign of her father Alexius I Comneus (1081-1118). In the
History written in 1079-1080, Byzantine historian Michael Attaliates was
first to refer to the Albanoi as having taken part in a revolt against
Constantinople in 1043 and to the Arbanitai as subjects of the duke of
Dyrrachium. The Italo-Albanians and the Albanian minorities still present in
Greece have been known by different names over time: Arbënuer, Arbënor,
Arbëneshë, Arbreshë, Arbëreshë.
There seems to be no doubt that the root alb- or arb- is earlier than
shqip-, from which the modern name of the state (Shqipëria) derives, a name
which appears only in the time of the Turkish invasions. The Albanian name
of the country, Shqipëria, translates into English as "Land of the Eagles",
hence the two-headed bird on the national flag and emblem, and because of
the large presence of these animals in the mountainous zones of Albania.
Albanian names, like all nouns, appear under two forms "indefinite" and
"definite". Hence Tiranë/Tirana, Krujë/Kruja, Elbasan/Elbasani,
Durrës/Durrësi… The definite form is the equivalent of adding the article
"the" in front of the noun. The common scholarly usage is to mention
feminine names in the definite form, while the masculine are mentioned in
the indefinite: Tirana, Kruja, Elbasan, Durrës, etc. But it is not always
the case.
Since Albanian territories have long been under foreign rule, historical
documents may mention Albanian place-names in their Greek, Latin, Italian
(Venetian), Turkish, Slavic, or even French versions. For instance, Durrës
has been called Dyrrachion, Dyrrachium, Durazzo, Draç, Drac and Duras.
Another source of confusion from historical sources may come from a
transformation of "-n-" into "-r-", called "rhotacism", which took place in
the Southern (Tosk) dialects and prevails in the literary language. Hence,
the Greek/Latin "Avlona" which gave the Italian Valona" is now "Vlora".