I find the ancient Greek borrowings (mostly Doric) as the most intriguing facet of proto-Albanian. Unfortunately, there is not yet any all-embracing research. Some work conducted by Thumb, Jokl, Cabej, Witczak has painstakingly bolstered the fact that (some) proto-Albanian speakers were in contact with Dorians since a very ancient period. Truth be told, it's not clarified at all how these loanwords intruded into Albanian vocabulary. A central region in Balkans is easily precluded for Dorian presence never radiated afield coastal regions. Of some importance is the very fact that Romanian does not share such Doric borrowings, which in turn infers that proto-Albanian coalesced in a different environment from proto-Romanian. The likeliest scenario is that proto-Albanian was not far from Greek colonies of Epirus and southern Illyris. I'd like to analyse one of them:
The word for millstone μᾶχανᾶ by far is one of the most known loanwords. We can easily discern some conclusions:
1. Albanian took it from a Doric form μᾶχανᾶ (in juxtaposition with Ionic μῆχανῆ). This make some geographic sense given that Doric colonies were established all over Albanian coast since 8-th century B.C.
2. Albanian did not receive this loanword from lat. ma:china because had it been so then long latin vowel -a: would have given -a.
3. The latin cluster -chi- would produce most likely a palatal (q), and its current form would have been *maqën.
4. The aspirated voiceless stop kʰ (χ) is reflected as "k" because Albanian lost from the very inception aspiration of stops.
Arousing from the above-mentioned features, we can pretty safely bundle a handful of Greek borrowings which clearly precede 3th century B.C/
I'd query that. In Slavic language the cluster /ti̯/ evolved into an affricate /č/: račun < rationem, Parentium > Poreč, Bolentium > Boleč, Bratia > Brač and so on. Therefore, Antun Mayer's claim is feasible, at least in terms of phonetics.
when construing the early stage of any language, we don't embark on any written source. Its the other way around. The current word is being analysed, compared into a broader sense and then envisaged its pristine form relying on a set of regular phonetic shifts.
I surely do not omit any watertight evidence which would prove the opposite of my claim. I just pointed out how weak and untenable Dacian hypothesis is. I do not rule out that proto-Illyro-Albanian shifted through north-eastern sections of Balkans, but in a IE context, that is the period 2000 BC onwards. If Albanian really coalesced in eastern flanks of Balkans, then it's to be expected to find palpable evidences of its presence; for example ancient Dacian place-names (or Mysian - as a softened version of Dacian hypothesis) were simply lost or not transmitted through Albanian. Conversely, ancient toponymes in modern Albania account for a relatively unbroken persistence. The name of Pirustae (an Illyrian tribe who used to live in northern Albania) is preserved as Prushi (Qafa e Prushit). When tackling with attested forms Πιροῦσται/Πειροῦσται, it becomes glaringly obvious that Albanian-speakers were single-handedly responsible for maintaining this toponym: diphtong /ou/ has been simplified to /u/, whilst the consonant cluster /st/ got assimilated in /sh/; cf. lat. testa > teshë.
Oh you can't relegate the question of Illyrian ancestry of Albanian language by introducing some titillating conspiracy stories involving even Enver Hoxha. The fact is that Illyrian hypothesis has long before Hoxha broached: its main proponents were non-Albanian linguists. Even nowadays, Illyrian hypothesis is well-received among scholars handling with Albanian; they endorse this hypothesis because they find as the most convincing among other conjectures. Even, Eric Hamp endorses (of course with a commendable caution) Illyrian option. Hamp is beyond any doubt one of the most renowned living Indo-Europanists. Albanian falls among his major interest for he has authored dozens of articles relating certain facets of Albanian phonology and morphology. Either way, Eric Hamp’s main advantage is that he intertwined his keen knowledge with direct contacts with Albanian-speakers of rare dialects (like that of arbëresh on Southern Italy). In his early writings, Hamp opted strongly for Illyrian origin of Albanian emphasizing some common elements. Truth be told, in the ensuing years he became more and more suspicious concerning Illyrian and viewed it as a “slippery entity”. His recent idea has Albanian as a sole survivor of a language which once was spoken from the Carpathian mountains all the way to Albania. Then again, professor Hamp is too circumspect to ascribe the antecedent of Albanian whether as Dacian or Illyrian as long as both of them are fairly obscure languages. I did have the good fortune to hear an impressive lecture of Hamp during a conference held in Tirana on December 2008. Despite his age, Hamp with his unparalleled wit analyzed in a thorough insightful manner two ostensibly Latin words, which according to him, were borrowed by Illyrian. He stated that the specific development of these two words in Albanian (thikë, thupën respectively) makes it likely they were introduced by ancestors of Albanians on Latin. Moreover, in a couple of interviews on this occasion, Hamp clung on Illyrian thesis as the most likely one.
The period spanning from Slavic invasion until 11th century, is a complete twilight when it comes to historical sources. Albanians, at that time were Byzantine subjects who sunk to oblivion by retreating deep into mountainous fastness. As long as they recognized Byzantine ascendancy, there was no need to describe them as a distinct entity. If you stumble upon Byzantine chroniclers before 10-11 century, there is no mention at all for other ethno-linguistic groups within Empire. From the imperial perspective, all inhabitants were Romei as long as they were loyal citizens of Constantinople, recognizing its authority and sharing its religion. But when its rule went into gradual dissolution, certain political entities popped out, so the Byzantines were compelled to deal with them. Once Albanians uplifted from their oblivion, by establishing their nearly-independent entity around Arbanon and carried out a policy of their own, then Byzantines felt the need to describe them as a distinct group, yet very intimate with Byzantines. At this period, Byzantines threw their spotlight in their western dominions because new powers were quickly changing the political environment.
The key factor of salvation of the old Illyrian and Roman preeminence in western Balkans was Justinian's fortress building program, which sheltered the population during Avar and Slavic raids. As Florin Curta holds, from the later sixth century, the western Balkans seem to have experienced a much earlier phase of the transformation of the settlement pattern known as
incastellamento. This explains why in both Romanian (the language of Romanized natives) and Albanian (the lightly or less tainted Romanized languages of the natives), the term in use for fort (cetate and qytet, respectively) derives from the Latin word for city (civitas). Another hint for the continuous presence of Albanians in western sections of Balkans is the preservation of Lat. imperator 'emperor' as alb. mbret and rum. imparat, which explains the continued existence in Byzantium.
It does not require lot of imagination to conceive that a small community could never supersede a whole population, let alone to wholly assimilate it. When Avars with Slavic infantry besieged Naissus and other Roman cities, extant sources were full of detailed reports how local population withstood against them or fled in southern areas (like Thessaloniki). No clashes whatsoever are recorded on these parts of Balkans; archaeological excavations reveal the persistence of urban and rural settlements, though restricted in their extension.
You're bigger fool than I thought. Can anyone tell me one good reason why should I waste my precious time dealing with a nuisance who barely can string together two words into anything remotely resembling English? Why do all stupid people have such a self-assured convictions?
I've never seen you to dissect any argument in a logical fashion, just putting together some words into your woeful English without being put through in any sort of mental filter. You go off-tangent all the time, holy smoke, you're that type of person that goes through an entire book and comes away learning nothing from it, just some more head scratching. Alb. dre (definite dreni) is a different word, stemming from a different root (<*dhron-), but the Albanian cognate ,brin' with the attested Illyrian forms is compelling.
You know next to nothing, you obtuse simpleton. The moment you come to recognize your sheer ignorance, you'd commit suicide if you got any notion of honor. I don't even acknowledge you in here, most people ignore you and other just ridicule you to the point of indignity. The claim that Illyrian was a centum-type languages rests on some erroneous etymologies and the seemingly unfounded claim of Illyrian being of Veneti. The evidences exemplifying satem-like developments outweighs those 'centum'. Closed case!
You're so fond of Romanian scholars, so be enough courteous as to admit their assertions.