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Albanian literature stretches back to the Middle Ages and comprises those literary texts and works written in Albanian. It may also refer to literature written by Albanians in Albania, Kosovo and the Albanian diaspora particularly in Italy. Albanian occupies an independent branch within the Indo-European family and does not have any other closely related language. The origin of Albanian is not entirely known, but it may be a successor of the ancient Illyrian language.[1]
The Archbishop of Antivari Guillaume Adam wrote a report in 1332 in which he said that Albanians used Latin letters in their books although their language was quite different from the Latin language.[2]
The oldest surviving documents written in Albanian are the "Formula e pagëzimit" (Baptismal formula) recorded by Pal Engjëlli, Bishop of Durrës in 1462 in the Gheg dialect, and some New Testament verses from that period.[3]
- ^ Rrahman Paçarizi – AAB University. "Albanian Language" (PDF). aab-edu.net. Pristina. pp. 1–16. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 July 2017. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
- ^ Stavro Skendi (8 December 2015). The Albanian National Awakening. Princeton University Press, 2015. p. 111. ISBN 9781400847761.
- ^ Robert Elsie (29 July 2005). Albanian Literature: A Short History. I.B.Tauris, 2005. p. 5. ISBN 9781845110314.