Some of Matzinger's articles are available in Albanian online too:
http://www.academia.edu/6702154/Shqiptaret_iliret
Just beginning reading this Albanian text of his and already the first page it seems so emotionally loaded and histrionic that is not becoming of a scientist. There are many snide jabs that make me call into question his objectivity.
Photo of Joachim Matzinger
- Strong Latin influence in the lexicon, weak Greek
Firstly, This is
overstated and what you would expect of Illyrians with their entanglement with the Roman Empire:
(Also, since Illyrian is not known, it isn't know just how similar to Latin it was in the first place. They could have had cognates)
Secondly, Cabej demonstrated that a lot of the Latin that Albanian and Romanian share is also shared by Greek. For example:
Latin: Conventus
Albanian: Kuvénd
Romanian: Cuvint
Greek: Kuvenda, Kuvendiazo
Thirdly, what is
understated is that Cabej demonstrated
DORIC words in Albanian.
Fourthly, what he also demonstrated, without foreseeing these Matzinger-like attacks, is that the directionality of shared words in Albanian and Romanian tends to go from Albanian - > Romanian and not the other way around.
For example:
The Albanian word "Këlbasë" and the Romanian word "Gălbează" for "fluke": a parasitic flatworm.
Here is the Romanian wiki:
https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viermele_de_gălbează?oldformat=true
In Albanian the word "Kalb" means "to rot" and "Kelb" means the "rot" itself. Romanian doesn't have this word for "Rot" which is obviously the root. In Albanian the suffix "-zë" is also
in the word "irizë" which means "cancer."
Another example:
In Romanian the word ""Moş" means "forefather" or "old man" while "Moaşa" means "midwife" or "old lady."
In Albanian Moshë means
Age. So the borrowing is obviously from Albanian a la "Aged-one".
Mot in Albanian means "weather" or "year."
These related root terms don't exist in Romanian, showing that they are isolated borrowings.
This actually lines up perfectly with an actually
DOCUMENTED settling of Illyrians in Dacia:
The low percentages of PF7562 and Z2103 in Croatia and Bosnia (for the time being there are no data for Montenegro) can be explained by the consequences of the suppression of the Great Illyrian uprising, which covered exactly these lands: the Romans sold into slavery whole Illyrian tribes, mainly to Italy, others - almost completely exterminated, some the tribes themselves moved to Dacia.
Quotes from Wikipedia:
"The Amantines firmly resisted the Romans and after the defeat were sold into slavery."
"Brevki lived in the middle reaches of the Sava between Vrbas and Drina, they were one of the strongest and most warlike tribes of the Union." In the 6th year, immediately after the Great Illyrian Uprising began, they joined the desyatyat under the leadership of Baton I. However, after the suppression of the uprising, they were sold into slavery During the reign of Trajan, Roman citizenship was granted, and later in the Roman army there were 9 cohortes of Breucorum, which also included representatives of other tribes, many of which moved to Dacia, where they gradually merged with the local m population. "
"The Dalmatian tribes - pirusts and desidiata, almost insurmountable due to the inhabiting in the mountains, the indomitable nature, as well as the exceptional combat skills and mainly the narrowness of the wooded gorges, were suppressed only when they were almost completely killed not only under the leadership of Caesar, but by his own strength and weapons. "
"The Dawns were the first to revolt under the leadership of the Balkans and the Danube region. The role of the Daesitiates in the rebellion was immense, which contributed to their ultimate disappearance. "
"Pirustae along with other Pannonians and Illyrians like the Sardeates were later settled in Dacia."
"Azali was the name of the Illyrian tribe." After the Great Illyrian Revolt the Azali were deported by the Romans. "
"Sardeates or Sardiotai (Latin Sardeates) was an Illyrian tribe close to Jajce." Sardeates were later settled in Dacia. "
"Baridustae were an Illyrian tribe that was later settled in Dacia along with Pirustae and Sardeates."
"With the disintegration of the Roman Empire, the Gothic and Hunnic tribes raided the Balkan peninsula, forcing many Illyrians to seek refuge in the highlands."
- Based on the toponyms he thinks are directly inherited in Albanian versus adopted from an intermediate language, the proto-Albanian urheimat is roughly the area of the Diocese of Dacia minus Praevalitana
This is what he says more clearly:
Considering all these considerations and taking into account the references to the Romanian
Ethnogenesis, so only one area can be searched, that is in the area
the late antique provinces Moesia superior, Dacia ripensis, Dacia mediterranea and
Dardania is located.
- A connection with Illyrian proper and what we know of Thracian seems to be rejected (so the theory connecting Albanians to "Bessians" from the Eastern Balkans) with some other related language of the inner Balkans being put forth as a likely possibility. A very exact location within the previous area might be hard to pinpoint considering their apparent pastoralist mobility when they emerge historically
- He makes reference to the interesting ancient Albanoi situated in north Albania but he thinks the ethnonym might have just been adopted by newcomers, not unlike the German Prussians taking over a Baltic ethnonym
- His view is that the variety of the Balkan languages we don't have too much data on is likely understated (he also makes reference to Katicic's attempt to find separate Illyrian dialects based on onomastics etc.) and that Albanian might belong to a common Balkan group of IE alongside Greek, Armenian, Phrygian, Thracian, Illyrian
and so on.
This is a google translation of his paper:
Southwest: 'Illyrian'; no inscriptions, few glosses (uncertain), anthroponomics, toponomastics
Northwest: 'Istrian-Liburnian' (?); Name territory shows relations to the Venetian; Middle Dalmatian name area
Southeast: Thracian; few inscriptions (unintelligible), glosses, anthroponomics, toponomics northeast: Dacian; no inscriptions, glosses, anthroponomics, toponomics
Central Balkans:? (At least own name of Pannonian name area)
[+ Southern Italy (Puglia): Messapic; Language of Balkan immigrants, inscriptions, glosses, anthroponomics, toponomics] Examinations of the ancient Balkan names (in particular Radoslav KATIČIĆ, which builds on older preparatory works) have given three names to the eastern Adriatic:
(1) In the North: Istrian-Liburnian Named area,
(2) Central Dalmatian area Middle Dalmatian name area (with clear relationship to the name area in Pannonia),
(3) South: South Dalmatian name area: coincides more or less with the settlement area of the ethnic groups called ancient Illyrii proprie dicti.
It now follows that the Albanian, since it can neither be Illyrian nor Thracian,
then just the continuation of one of these two independent Old Balkan language
represents. The following aspects are to be considered in this assumption, or in the future
to elaborate in detail:
The Albanian not only has special old (!) Lexical similarities with some
other idg languages (such as Armenian, Greek and Phrygian), but
also special grammatical matches. In Indo-European studies has become
since the late 80s, the view revealed that a special subgroup
which is called Balkan Indo-European. Despite some preliminary work,
In this area further research is needed.
- To what extent also the other, well-known antique idg. Balkan languages Illyrisch
and Thracian, must first be investigated, especially after
a thorough re-examination of the onomastic material.
- The Albanian shows a few matches with the Messapian,
which is just as much a language of the old Balkan area, and only secondarily to southern Italy
was brought.
So, Albanian has the most in common with Messapian, which concidentally is the one with the most actually words written down? Is not the contradiction of proto-albanians being in Dacia and somehow magically teleporting
all the way to Apulia (which has higher Balkan autosomal dna) a bit not feasible?
How can Albanian simultaneously be impotent and hyper potent as to obtain all Illyrian territories and remove their language all the while not being documented in any document as doing so?