Among incontestable toponyms of the anthroponymic
type belonging to the Albanian ethnos and language is
the toponym Muzakjev kusht found in the chrysobull,
it was the boundary of the present village of Strofc of
the Vushtria region which in this document is called
Strellc 80 . There is no doubt that this toponym must be
79a On the basis of the fact that this Albanian, personal name
is found in all the place inhabited by Albanians during the
Middle Ages to our days, we may rightly consider it to be
pan-Albanian. We find this name among the Albanians in
Greece, where it emerges in the form of Mousakas as a surname
of the Albanians of SIciathos (see Titos Johales, Considerazioni
suU'onomastica e toponomastica albanese in Grecia, ^Balkan Stu-
dies^, Biannual Publication of the Institute for Balkan Studies,
vol, 17, no. 2, Thesaloniki 1976, p- 314.),
The testimony in which the Kuci phraterie of the region
of Montenegro is mentioned, belongs to the 14th century. There
is no doubt that the name of this phraterie and, later, the village
of the same name, has the Albanian name Kug as its basis. T.
Johalas (ibid. p. 314) and Idriz Ajeti (see Contribution on the
Study of Onomastics in the Middle Ages in the Territory of
Montenegro, Bosnia and Hercegovina and Kosova, «A1 penologi-
cal Investigations*, series of philological sciences, IV/1974, Pri-
shtina 1975, p. 11) give it as a noun derived from the Albanian
adjective kuq (red), but the etymology of the toponym Kug
shoul'd not be made on the basis of the place name, because
this place name has not come from the appelative, but from
the personal name. If this is right then the opinion that the
place name Kug is derived from red land, is not right. The
correct etymological analysis of the toponym Kug can be made
on the basis of the personal name Kug, the semantic value of
which may be closer to the Albanian adjective kuq (red) in
analogy with the bar Ah (white), as in the anthroponym and
patronym Bardha-aj.
80 See Lj. Kovacevic, St Hrisovulja. . .
267
searched for in the Albanian anthroponym Muzake often
found in written documents and known also because
of the Albanian feudal house of the Muzakas. 81
The presence of the Albanians in these regions,
approximately in the present village of Vinarc of the
district of Mitrovica, is proved by the personal name
Duke, which is found in a letter of countess Milica in
1395 with which she and her sons donated the monastery
of Saint Pantelejmon some property and she mentioned
that the noble man Duke' gave the village of Vinarc of
present-day Mitrovica 82 as a donation to this monastery.
Although from the etymological point of view we
shall treat the Albanian toponymy of Mediaeval Kosova
and the other regions inhabited by Albanians separately,
here we must point out that among places which formed
the boundary of the Mediaeval village of Trepce was
that of Ambul & \ We recall that, although for toponyms
of this type opinions have been expressed pro and against
the Albanian etymology 81 , the Albanian adjective ambel
81 Although the question of the identification of toponyms
on the terrain and the question of the anthroponymic and pa-
tronymic continuity will be treated separately, we shall only
mention that not far from the place where the Muzakjev Kusht
toponym is mentioned in the Middle Ages, a family Muzakaj
(to'day called Muzaq) still exists; this family lives between the
village Toraxha and Jezer of the region of Vushtria, This is
one of the cases which proves the territorial patronymic con-
tinuity of the Albanians in these regions.
82 S. Novakovic, Zakonski spomenici. .., p. 519 .
83 Lj. Kovacevie, Svetostefanska Hrisobulja. . . , p. 3.
84 Treating the etymology of the word ambel, Prof. E.
Qahej in About Some Questions of the History of the Albanian
Language, in the "Bulletin of the State University of Tirana*,
series of social sciences, 3/1963, p. 72 and in Studies on the
Etymology of the Albanian Language, in the -"Bulletin of the
State University of Tirana*, 4/1960, p. 25 held that the two
268
(sweet) should be seen in this toponym. This moment has
its importance for the history of the consonant groups
of the Albanian language. Here we shall add that in this
chrysobull there is also some other toponym of the
anthroponymic type which has an Albanian name or is
found among the Albanians, This is the case of the
toponym Sumegnica which, according to this chrysobull,
was formerly a separate village or the microtoponym in
a village. It was one of the points which delimitated the
Osojan village of the region of Istog, but first it should
be sought for in the region of the Tucep 85 village.
This place name, which in 1485 86 is called a territory,
had in itself one of the characteristic Albanian names
Sume.
The presence of the Albanians during the 13th- 14th
centuries proved in short and with few examples from
onomastics, can be completed with proofs that emerge
from orders and requests of the Serbian rulers in their
charters and chrysobulls.
Such elements can be found in present-day Monte-
negro since 1280. At that time Queen Helena gave some
lands to the monastery of Shen-Koll of Vranina and
forbade all big or small gentry and all the local rulers,
be they Serbian, Latin, Albanian or Wallachian 87 , to use
them; whereas 80 years before, according to Miklosic (or
40 according to Novakovic). Vlladisllav, in a letter by
which he donated some lands and gave privileges to the
monastery of Shen-Koll of Vranina in 1424, mentions the
Albanians, whom he forbids to use those lands as winter
pastures. 88
names Ombla and Bulenta de Onibla, contain the Albanian
adjective i (e) ambel.
85 Ibidem, p, 3.
86 See Selami Pulaha, Registration Book of the Shkodra
Sandjak of 1485, p. 325.
87 S. Novakovic, Zakonski Spomenici. . . , p, 579 .
88 Ibidem, p. 578.
269
The presence of the Albanians in the region of Tivar
and perhaps in Tivar itself during the 14th century is
proved in the chrysobull of tzar Stefan Dusan with which
he founded the monastery of the Saints Michael and
Gabriel in Prizren, and by the strength of this chrysobull
gave some property and conceded feudal rights upon it.
In that chrysobull it is said *And all of my imperial
income Tivar Akrostik of 100 perper 1 give to the Tivar
people and they are to give the church ten loads of oil
in 14 stare (measures), which should be carried thence
by the Albanians.^ 81 '
On the other hand, in his chrysobull of Decan, Stefan
Dusan orders that all the Albanians and Wallachians
should take salt to st. Serge's church" 0 , whereas in
another charter, that to the monastery of st. Michael
of Prizren of 1358, he ordered the Albanians to go to
church to work like the Serbs and pay the tithes 01 .
Proof of this kind is found also in the chrysobull of
Decan (1330), according to which the Albanians were
prohibited from exploiting the mountains that the ruler
had given the monastery of Decan, and this prohibition
covered all the highlands of Altin (of the district of
Altun-Ili) fl2 .
This region is also mentioned in a letter of Stefan
Uros III, alias Stefan Decanski, who donated to the
monastery of Decan ■«. . .apart from those villages, also
the : Wallachian and Albanian villages. . >
Among such facts we should mention one which is
found in a charter of Stefan Dusan which said that he
gave different rights and privileges to Hilendar in
89 See Selected sources on the history oj Albania, II (ffth-
15th century), State University of Tirana, Institute of History
and Linguistics, Tirana 1962, p. 101.
90 S. Novakovie, Zak. spom, p. 578.
91 Ibidem, p. 697.
92 M. Milojevi'c, Decanske Hrisovulje. . . , p. 127, Zakonski
spomenici. . . , p. 647.
1355. Following this Dusan sent his forces to evacuate
Krushic and Llapceva of the present region of Llapush
(Prekorupe) 92 ° of their inhabitants and define the moun-
tain boundaries of the church in Ponorc. These places,
according to the charter, were property of the church,
therefore Dusan prohibited all big and small gentry, the
Wallachians and the Albanians, to graze their sheep in
those meadows. Another such fact, which has to do with
payment of the tithes on agricultural products by the
Albanian population, is found in documents of the year
1355. In this charter, with which he gave property and
privileges to the monastery of Hilendar, apart from other
things, Dusan prohibited the Albanians too to graze their
sheep in the meadow of the church of Ponorc, Kruscice
and Llapceva (see above) and ordered that this population
pay the customs duties on the wine it sold on the Knici
market {present-day. Klinavc) 93 . The fact that this
population paid one tenth of the wine shows that vine-
yards were grown in those regions, and this in turn speaks
of the fact that such a pursuit is not in the nature of
a nomadic shepherd population, a thing that speaks in
favour of the presence of Albanians in those regions
even before the 14th century, to which this source refers.
Another testimony of the presence of the Albanians
in the Prizren region can also be found in 1355 in the
charter of tzar Stefan Dusan by which he confirms
Hilendar in possession of part of the monastery of St.
Peter of Korisht. 04 In this charter the Albanians are
prohibited from grazing their sheep in the property of
that " monaster}'. There is mention of a case in which
Albanians were fined for the breach of such order by
92a S. Novakovie, Zakonski spomenici, p. 430.
93 S. Novakovie, ibidem, p. 430.
94 See A. V. Solovjev, Dva priloga proucavanju Dusanove
drzave, Glasnik Skopskog naucnog tirustva, II, 1-2, 1927, p. 28.
95 Ibidem, p. 28-
270
271
300 rams.'* 6 This fact perhaps has to do with the localities
mentioned above as Albanian villages (Caparci, Magjerci,
Gonovci, Ginovci, Flokovci, Shpinadija, Bellogllavci, No-
vaci, Cernca etc.} 97 .
Other data from the Serbian church sources, which
indirectly prove the presence of the Albanians in Kosova
and other regions inhabited by Albanians, are those which
have to do with an ethnos which in these sources is
called «Latin». The opinion that we have to do with
Albanians even when they are called «Latins«- 5 is enforced
by a charter of countess Mara V. Brankoviq and her sons,
G rigor, Gjergj and Lazar, of 1306, in which she donates
a hospital of Hilendar the income from the Hoca market.
Here it is defined that whoever comes to this market,
being Serbian, Latin or Turk, should pay the market
tax 98 . There is, in fact, no doubt that the word «Latin»
here is used to denote the ethnos «<arabanas»-. From this
as we shall see below, it emerges that in Serbian church
sources the word «<Latin» also had the meaning «Catholic».
That the word ^Latin» also means «Catholic» in these
charters can be proved by another charter of Stefan
Dusan in 1349, which he gives the Ragusians trade
privileges", a stand which is repeated in a charter of
1357 tzar Stefan Uros llJl \
We find this present also in the charter of 1280 of
Queen Helena, with w r hich she donated property to the
monastery of St. Nicholas of Vranina and instructed that
it should be inviolable by any noblemen, whether
Serbian, Latin, Albanian or Valachian. 101 There is reason
to suppose that the attribute «Arbanas» or perhaps
*<Greek» is given to the Albanian Orthodox population.
96 Ibidem, p. 28.
97 S. Novakovic, ibidem, p. 688.
98 Ibidem, p. 28.
99 Ibidem, p. 170.
100 Ibidem, p. 180.
101 See note 92.
272
The 2nd paragraph of the letter in which the people
donated to the monastery are Gen Voglic, and his brother,
Domink m . Salkut and his brother, Bardona and his
children the Marsenovics and the Kerrac 103 shows that
the names Domnik, Salkut, Bardon may have sounded
to the Slavs as Latin and on this basis they called them
Latins.
Another proof that the Albanian catholics were
called -«Latin» is found in the chrysobull of King Stefan
Uros II who in 1300 ordered tha the Greeks, Bulgarians,
Serbians, Latins, Albanians or Valachians must regularly
pay the taxes both in Tetova and Gracanica. 104
In a charter of King Stefan Decanski whereby he
granted privileges to the Prizren bishopric in Levisha, it
Is said that all, Latins or Greeks, must go to the fair 1 * 15 .
This is perhaps the "best proof which shows that the
notion of ethnic identity w r as not clear , and that, as in
this case, the Albanian catholics were called «Latin» and
the Albanian orthodox «Greelo. This is the more so as in
Kosova, at the time the letter was written, there were
no Latins or Greeks (proprie dicti) which had to be spe-
cifically mentioned. This is shown, for example, by a
charter of Dusan according to which the income from
the Latins must be given to the Church 106 , which not
only proves that the Latins were Albanian catholics but
102 That the anthroponym Dminko, Damiko was an Alba-
nian name in the 13th-14th century is best proved by the names
of the inhabitants of the locality «Katun Arbanasa» situated in
the region of the present village of Xerxa. Here figure Albanians
with names or surnames like Dminko, Daminko, Dominko:
dminko (i le& s bratom), dminko s detiju, dminko s detju who
are mentioned in 1330 (see Deeanske Hrisovulje, p. 55).
103. See note 128.
104 S. Novakovic, Zak. spotfi.
105 Ibidem, p. 640,
106 Ibidem, p. 698.
18 — 54
273
also that they were despised and pressure was exercised
to turn them orthodox.
), Gjon Pashajët, Gjore Ivret, Stepan Kovaç