Names of the Albanians and Albania

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The Albanians (Albanian: Shqiptarët) and their country Albania (Shqipëria) have been identified by many ethnonyms. The native endonym is Shqiptar. The name "Albanians" (Latin: Albanenses/Arbanenses) was used in medieval Greek and Latin documents that gradually entered European languages from which other similar derivative names emerged.[1] Linguists believe that the alb part in the root word originates from an Indo-European term for a type of mountainous topography, meaning "hill, mountain", also present in Alps.[2] Through the root word alban and its rhotacized equivalents arban, albar, and arbar, the term in Albanian became rendered as Arbëreshë (Gheg Albanian: Arbëneshë) for the people and Arbëria (Gheg Albanian: Arbënia) for the country.[1][3]

Contemporary Albanian language employs a different ethnonym, with modern Albanians referring to themselves as Shqiptarë and to their country as Shqipëria.[3] Two etymologies have been proposed for this ethnonym: one, derived the name from the Albanian word for eagle (shqiponjë).[4] The eagle was a common heraldic symbol for many Albanian dynasties in the Late Middle Ages and came to be a symbol of the Albanians in general, for example the flag of Skanderbeg, whose family symbol was the black double-headed eagle, as displayed on the Albanian flag.[5][6][7][8][4] The other within scholarship connects it to the verb 'pronounce' (shqiptoj), deriving from Latin excipere. In this instance the Albanian endonym like many others would originally have been a term connoting "those who speak [intelligibly, the same language]".[4] Attested from 14th century onward, the placename Shqipëria and the ethnic demonym Shqiptarë gradually replaced Arbëria and Arbëreshë amongst Albanian speakers between the late 17th and early 18th centuries.[3][9] That era brought about religious and other sociopolitical changes.[3] As such a new and generalised response by Albanians based on ethnic and linguistic consciousness to this new and different Ottoman world emerging around them was a change in ethnonym.[3]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Elsie200534 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Malcolm29 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b c d e Cite error: The named reference Lloshi277 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Kamusella241 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Elsie 2010, "Flag, Albanian", p. 140: "The eagle was a common heraldic symbol for many Albanian dynasties in the Late Middle Ages and came to be a symbol of the Albanians in general. It is also said to have been the flag of Skanderbeg...As a symbol of modern Albania, the flag began to be seen during the years of the national awakening and was in common use during the uprisings of 1909-1912. It was this flag that Ismail Qemal bey Vlora raised in Vlora on 28 November 1912 in proclaiming Albanian independence."
  6. ^ The Flag Bulletin. Flag Research Center. 1987-01-01. History records that the 15th century Albanian national hero, Skanderbeg (i.e. George Kastriota), had raised the red flag with the black eagle over his ancestral home, the Fortress of Kruje
  7. ^ Hodgkison, Harry (2005). Scanderbeg: From Ottoman Captive to Albanian Hero. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-1-85043-941-7.
  8. ^ "ALBANCI". Enciklopedija Jugoslavije 2nd ed. Vol. Supplement. Zagreb: JLZ. 1984. p. 1.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Matasović was invoked but never defined (see the help page).