The name «Latin» in the 14th century was applied
to non-Orthodox Christians, those of Catholic religion.
Going by the place where they are mentioned it is clear
that they were Albanians, as in the case of the inhabitants
of the village of Shikaj 107 (Shiklja in the chrysobull)
who were without doubt Albanians.
The geographical extension of the «Latin» popula-
tion (the Shkodra Lake, Vranina, Tetova, Shkup, Prizren
and later Mitrovica, Vushtrria, Podieva, Novoberda, Gji-
lan, etc.) shows best that the attribute «Latin» was given
to that part of the Albanians who resisted Orthodox
assimilation. These regions are known to have been
populated by a non-Slav Illyrian (Dardan) population,
which was Romanized before the immigration of the
Slav tribes.
During those centuries the Albanians figure with
Slav names, and there are only few traces of a formerly
existing Albanian antroponymic system. In these sources
Albanian names figure with Slavonic suffixes -ic (Lulic,
Volic); -Slav Toljisfcru; -oje: Toloje, etc. However. Al-
banian names also appear such as: Duke, Gjon, Gjin {the
latter as Gen, Gin and Gon) Lesh, Tuz, Bardh, Sume,
Vogel, Mataguzh, Progon, Kuc, Psrenk, Bushat, Mai, Mil
Tanush, Kiman, Dede, Bode, Kokal
The names which figure in the document of the
Serbian Church prove incontestably that during the
13th -14th centuries in the region of Montenegro (Orahovo,
Vranina,. near Cetina), in Macedonia (the district of-
Shkup, Shtip, the highlands of Tetova and Tetova itself)
and in Kosova (Bjeshket e Nemuna, Decan, Prizren,
Suhareke, and its surroundings), in the present regions
of Llapusha (Percevel, Llapceve, Pogragje and Krushqice.
Cable) in the Kosova Plateau (Gracanice) and in the
107 Hrisovulja. . . , p, 2B7.
274
region of Mitrovica (Vinarc) there were people with
Albanian names.
Apart from the onomastic (antroponymic) material
with the frequently repeated names of Gjon, Gjin, Lul,
hlesh, Bardh, Progon, Mai, Bujak, Vogel, Tol, Pec, Nino,
Bushat, Shok, Bukur, Prenk, Tuz, Duke, the presence of
the Albanians during the 13th-14th centuries in the
regions still inhabited by Albanians is also proved by
the donation acts in which the Albanians are also men-
tioned.
In these documents the Albanians emerge not only
as shepherds. Among them are also noblemen such as
the noblemen Duka of Shala of Bajgora, for example,
who in 1395 donated the present village of Vinarc of
that region to the monastery of Hilendar, Lady Mara
with her son Gjergj Mazrreku m (see further on), whereas
the Albanians of the present region of Llapusha (Pre-
korupa) also had to pay tithes on vineyards and wine,
which could not be done by a nomadic population, but
only one with an agricultural tradition in our case,
viticulture. The Albanians of the region of Prizren also
had to pay tithes on honey and wax which could by no
means be expected from a nomadic population.
One thing that emerges clearly in these documents
is that the word ^Wallachian» did not always have to
mean the Wallachian, but was very often a synonym for
the shepherd. This is proved in the case of the village
Sushicati of the region of Decan, which is called Vala-
chian and in which Albanian names are found.
That the word +Valachian» of the documents of the
Serb church does not mean Valachian population is
seen from the names of people mentioned at the begin-
ning of the 15th century or even in the 13th century:
<*Vlach de catuno Druschovich (1404); Bocdanus Tolla-
novich de catuno Sottovich (1313)... Vlachus de cathono
-. ' ' ! \' • ■ • - , ■
108 See our stu'dy The Presence of the Albanians in the
Region of Gallap.
275
Burmas Vlachus de cathono Radoslavi Xurovich (1404),
etc where it is clear that the adjective is put before
purely Albanian place names, like Shota, Burrmadh and
Zhur. . - 109
*
* *
The presence of the Albanians outside Kosova can
be traced as early as the 14th century not only in the
region of Vranina of present Montenegro (sea above) but
also in the region of Tetova. It is seen in the charter of
King Uros II of the year 1300,. in which he restored the
monastery of St. John in Shkup and ordered that whoe-
ver came to the market in this town, whether Greek,
Bulgarian. Serbian, Latin, Albanian or Wallaehian must
pay the dues both in Tetova and Gracanice 110 , or in a
charter of Stefan Dusan in 1337 in which he restored the
church of Tetova and donated it some villages, as well as
the Nanov Dol highlands, barring everyone, the Alba-
nians included, from grazing their sheep in these
highlands 111 . Another proof of this is found in the first
half of the 14th century in a charter of King Milutin
of Serbia, who among other people he donated to the
church of St. Archangel of Shtip and the Hilendar
Monastery mentions a certain Gergo Kovac 112 . In the
109 See Mihailo Dini'c, Dubrovacka srednjovekovna karavan-
ska trgovina, Jugoslovenski Istorijski Casopis, 1-4, Ljubljana-
Zagreb-Beograd 1937, pp. 134-135, note 15.
110 See note 104.
111 S. Novakovic, Zakonski spomenici, . . , p. 660.
112 See Dj. Danicic, RjeZnik... I. 205, «Medu ljudima u
Stipu koje je krajl Milutin dao Crkvi arhandelovskoj u Stipu
prilozivgi je Hilandaru bio je. . .» :
276
same source, a certain Gerdovica" 3 is mentioned in the
4me context The presence of the Albanians m Tetova
nd north western Macedonia is also proved by j .number
of Turkish census of property and popu ^**|
which also that of 1455. Hence m a Tur ^ h
we find in the village of Leunovo of north western
Macedonia in 1455 a Gon siromah^ a Nikolla , Arnaut
and a Martin Arbanas. In the first half ol tne ipm
century a quarter of Kercova was called the quarter of
aU' and an inhabitant f-ft^fLmX
of Upper Reka is called Nikola Ishklav (S^v)
shkla being the Albanian name for a non-Albanian .
From these few onomastic data, although not all the
onomasS 5 material of the Turkish *
has yet been transcribed, it emerges that the Albanians
were present in those regions, which is also proved in
part by the toponomy of that region.
P The presence of the Albanians m the region of
Tetova, Jd perhaps in Tetova itself, can also £ ^£
from the few names recorded m a register
terv of St Mary of Tetova which is supposed to have
Sn held abiu/the year 1346-. Here it is said that a
contested property is either of Progon or of the church
as this property had formerly belonged to the church, but
H3 We draw attention to the latter name. Here the ques-
tion must be about a widow, the wife of a certain G&gji
(Getgi). Here we want to stress that the woman s callmg her-
self according to her husband's name (for example, Ahmetica,
StiniZ etc.) is characteristic to this day of the Albanians
of Macedonia - mainly Tetova, Kercova, and perhaps of all
the southern regions of Yugoslavia, inhabited by Albanian^
114 See Galaba PallkruSeva, Aleksander Stojanovski, Etmc-
kite vrmet vo severozapatna Makedonija, va XV «*> Jugoslo-
venski Istorijski Casopis, 1-2, 1970, p. 35.
115 Ibidem, p. 39.
116 Ibidem, p. 37. .
117 A. V. Soloviev, Jedna srpska zupa za vreme carstva, Gias-
277
was held by four brothers, two of whom had apparently
sold part of the land to Progon, whereas a field in a place
called Leshtie had been donated to the church by a
certain Pardo Kir Theodori to save his soul. Here we
have the Albanian names Progon and Bardh Pard —
names which are often found in the documents of the
time, as well as a Helenized Albanian name. On the
other hand in the name Bale attributed to a mill (the
Mill of Bala) which was donated to the church we find
the Albanian name Bale 118 .
Apart from the region of Tetova, the presence of
the Albanian during the 14th century in present-day
Macedonia is proved also near the region of Shtip in
1350. This emerges from a charter of Stefan Dusan
whereby he donates a nobleman Ivanko a church and
serfs among which is mentioned a Gin Arbanasi m as
bashtina property.
* *
We find the earliest evidence of the presence of the
Albanians in the region of the present-day Montenegro in
1222-1223, in a charter of King Stefan who donated
property and people to the monastery of Zhica. Among
the people called «Wallachians* there are Doda and Tus
(Tuz).i20 Fr. Safarik « gives more precise information:
nik Skopskog naucnog drstva, III, 1928, pp. 31-32.
118 A. V. Solovjev, Odabrani Spornemci Srpskog Prava, p.
130, ibidem, p. 132.
119 S. Novakovid, Zak. Spom. p. 306.
120 See Fr. Miklosich. Monumenta serbica. . . , p, 62.
121 See Pamatky dnevniho pisemnictivi Jihoslovanov, DI1 pre-
dechozi, sebral a vydal Pavel Josif Safarik, Vydani druhe, Dapl-
siky z poziistalnosti Safarikovy rafrnnozene, upravil Josef Jire-
cek, V. Praze, 1893, p. 7.
278
Doda...Bukor...Tusi and his mother Gnpon, Prodan
Sharban, Dedal, etc. A. Solovjev^ gives a broader list.
Among others, there are people called Batin Gerdosh
Bun, BerU, Tthoc, Kuman, Gmgush, Cue, But Turfrk
Buc Proda, Bukor (many of them), Bala, Mile, Poneg
Rug, Begot, Golk, Doda, Dedol, the widow Dragusha and
Tuzi and his mother, Sharban, Gun, Hodisha™. Among
those names there are many which are used by the
Albanians to this day (for example Bun, Koman Mica,
Bale, Dole, Buta, and others), or family names (Benla,
Tihog, Bega, Rugova), or toponyms of Kolova such as
Cygylag'e, Turjake, Sharban, Ngucat™.
Another document which proves the presence ot toe
Albanians is a character of King Milutin whereby he
donates to the monastery of Vranina the village of
Orohovo in the present-day Montenegro, and together
with it, a certain Vasil and his children from Arbanasv* ,
122 A. V. Solovjev, Odabrani Spomenici: . . ', pp. 19-20.
123 See Pamatky drevniho pisemnictivi Jihoslovauv, Dil pred-
^hozi, sebral a vydal Pavel Josifi Safarik, Vydani druhe, Daplosiky
z pozustalnosti Safarinovy razmno&ne, upravil Josef Jirecek, V.
Praze, 1873, p. 7.
124 Treating some toponyms of the territory of Kosova m the
etymological aspect, Skok stresses that this toponym seemed to
him etymologically Wallachian but he does not go mto further
deta We recall that etymologically this toponym is of the anthro-
ponvmic tvpe and is formed from the anthroponym Gun, found
among some inhabitants called «Wallachians» in those centunes.
This antroponym may be connected in the ^f^"^
the Balkanism -gun*, if it does not run counter to the semantic
aspect of the name, for it is difficult for a person to have he
name of a garment. Ngucat is a form with a metathesis of the
nrigmal form Cuncat.
125 S. Novakovtc, Zakonski Spomemcz. . . , p, 580.
279
The attribute Arbanas™ to this Vasil indisputably proves
gs &s sr saw £s—' 3
a Lren yopftq and his brothers and children a* W pI1 .
127 St. Novakovi'c, Zafcorcsfci Spomenici.
128 Ibidem, p. 579,
J^I^AT^ ^ tmditi0n ^ *
p. 87° A " V ' S ° l0VieV ' ° dabrani WsKoa prava.,. f
280
The chrysobull of Decan of 1330 gives us more com-
plete information on the presence of the Albanians in the
region of Montenegro where, among the inhabitants of
the village of Komoran of that region, a Progon m is
mentioned, whereas when the inhabitants of that village
are again mentioned in connection with other problems,
one of its inhabitants there is a Gon 132 .
Most of the Albanian names are found among the
inhabitants of the village of Kushevo in which these
names appear: Pali and Bushati with their children,
Gjurg Danci, Gin Qerosoviq, Gon Mihali, Dminko and
Andre ja, Gjerni Bardhi with his children, Pjeter Grubnia
and Pal Gjon Gjegersh Golemi with their children and
brother Tanushi and Nikolla Pal Mtrasa with his brother
and children, Mark. . . i . . . Mark and . . . Burmadhi and
his brother with Shurin Dminko Bardhi and children,
Nikolle Kaltaniqi with his brother Pal Bythedosa, Lazori
Dminko Danci and children Nikolle Derri, Lazer Leti and
the Greek woman with her children Nikolle Leti Pal
Necaci Andre Neraci Dminko Progoni m .
Among these inhabitants who have preserved the
Albanian names or the arbanas attribute, which reveals
their ethnic belonging, is a Petar Thomocic m . As
the writer used the Greek leter theta @ to write the
surname of Pjeter, we suppose that he must have heard
that sound in these regions and confirm our supposition
with the fact that this sound does not exist in the Slavonic
phonological system, therefore he borrowed the Greek
letter theta to write it more accurately (although if ac-
curacy there is, it remains the first and last of these
letters in these documents) according to its pronunciation.
Traces of Albanian names are also found among the
names of the inhabitants of the village of Lluzhan where,
131 See M. Milojevic, Decanske Hrisovulje. . . , p, 104.
132 Ibidem, p. 114.
133 Ibidem, p. 120.
134 A. Solovjev, Odabrani spomenici. . . , p. 67,
281
among others, are mentioned: Lesh the grandfather of
Nikolla, Mile the brother of Bra tun, Progon the son of
Bogdan and Gjon the son of Pavli 133 .
The presence of the Albanians there finds support
in the onomastic material of the 13th-14th centuries,
which is much more abundant in the 15th century.
Toponyms among in which there are traces of Albanian
names, consequently those of the Albanian ethnos, during
the past centuries can be found in the region of Monte-
negro of today. Thus, in a charter of Ivan Cernojevic, the
ruler of Zela in 1485, among other places there is a
territory around present Cetina, which he donated to the
monastery of St. Nicholos of Vranina, describing it as a
territory in which «the road leads from Cetina to Vertelc
on the right side from the Gjin Hill to our boundaries. . .» m
. . . The blood and family relations which exist among
those individuals who have Albanian names and those
who have Serbian names, that is, Christian names in the
Slavonic form, show that they, too, belonged to the Alb-
anian ethnos and show what Slavonic names were used
in the 13th-14th centuries by the Albanians.
There is no doubt that the beginning of the process
of the Slavization of the names of the Albanians should
be sought for at the beginning of the 13th century when
the state power of the Nemanjia was established, and
continued even more rapidly as a result of the lack of
opposition on the part of the local feudal gentry, and, in
the first place, because of the influence and authority
of the Church, the state power, the administration and
the economic situation under which the Albanians lived
during those centuries,
A classical example which shows the depth of the
penetration of the Slavonic names among the Albanians
is the anthroponomy of the village of Greva (in the PSRA),
135 Ibidem, p. 104.
136 See Oblast Brankoviia, opsirni katastarski popis iz 1455
godine Sarajevo 1972, p. 17.
2B2
the inhabitants of which had a majority of Slavonic
names although the sources prove that they were Alba-
nians. 137
The onomastic material presented in short in this paper
raises the question: Are these names a proof of the pres-
ence of the Albanians as a minority or proof of their
presence as the local population, but without its own
feudal class, without its national Church and, consequ-
ently, a subdued population?
. . . This ethnos emerges nearly entirely Slavonized
from the point of view of onomastics, and the Albanian
names are the last relics of an Albanian anthroponymic
system, as a result of the absence of the local feudal
class in the ethnos from which it emerged as an orga-
nized group. The lack of the Albanian political factor
resulted in the fact that «the territories with Albanian
population, for example, the territories of Kosova, the
Dukagjin Plateu (Metohia) and western Macedonia were
not included in the Middle Ages in the territories with
Albanian names, because the Albanian political forma-
tion was not established there, but they remained conti-
nuously under the rule of the foreign invaders {Byzantine,
Serbian, Bulgarian 138 ), compared to the region which
was included under the name Albanon during the llth-14th
century, which was in the quadrangle Tivar-Prizren-Oher
Vlora, where the presence of the Albanian rulers (in
137 The inhabitants of that village had such names as:
Bogisha i brat mu Magoja a sin mu Andreja, Martin a sin mu
Andreja i Shushko, Pavl Gjurash a sin mu Zaharija; Bognha Ivan
a sin mu Nikolla a brat mu Gjor; Tanush, Gjorgj a sin mu
Mihail, Dminko a sin Andrija, Koperc a sin mu Gradan Dolin i
Gjurash, Dminko Gon Ivan, Gjorg a ded im Marko; Boika i
Gon i Dobervac a sin mu Nikolla, i Gjorg i Nikolla i Gin a ded
im Zaharija. . .
138 Kogo Bozhori, Studies on the Extension of the Name
Arbanon in the Byzantine Period, ^Historical Studies* 4/1972, pp.
135-140.
283
the first place Gjin Bue Shpata and later Karlo Toko —
1411) determined the fact that they were called Alba-
nian territories.
On the basis of the examples presented above it
emerges that the Albanian ethnos had Albanian, Sla-
vonic and some other names with an unknown origin
during the 15th century. Hence the Albanian ethnos
used the following Albanian personal names : Gjin,Gjon,
Bushat, Sume, Lesh, Reg, Progon, Kuc, Mazrrek, Mak,
Mai Mil, Tish, Bob, Puto, Lul, Tol. Bardh, Rush, Tanush,
hale, Pul, Dede, Dode, Kal, Kokal Dush, Dushman, Pec,
hum, Lazer, Mak, Kel, Dosh, Nino, Muzak, Meks, Bale,
Brabat, Koje, Meke, Beb, Miran, Mirak, Gurahardh, Gu~
rakuq, Milot and some other which in the Serbian church
documents emerge in the form ; Gin, Gon, Gonac, Gonshin,
Gonmir, Gonko, Gonoma, fern. Gonsava Kucic, Kuceva,
Masarik, Mazarik, Maketa, Meceta Maloje, Mile Sumnja,
and Sumeg, Tisanovic, Bobza Bobal Puislav, Toloje, Tol-
sin, Tolisllav, Barda Bardonja, Laloje Lalzin, Pulkoca,
Dedoje Dedac, Kalajan Kalin, Kukal Dosoje, Dusol,
Lumas, Luzor Lumasius and Lumska, Ninoje Ninoseviq
Ninos, Muzak, Balshin, Beloje Berbat, Kojadin etc.
Makjan'c, Mekinja, Mekjavcik, Bebej Beben, Guripardic,
Kurikuc, Kelijan etc.
Some of these names are found to this day in micro-
toponyms such as: Lesh (Lesheva Rudina, Leshevo selish-
te), Sume (Sumegnica), Kuc (Kucevska cesta), Tanush
(Tanushev Llaz), Kokal (Kukalin Studenc), Bushat (Busha-
tova Kukja), Bel (Beljeva Gar), Mak (Macinci), Muzak
(Muzakjev Kusht), Rec (Reg-jevski studenc) etc.
Apart from these the Albanians had a good member
of names which belonged to the Slavonic anthroponymy.
During that century the Albanian population of Kosova
had the following names of the Slavonic and Wallachian
language Gollub, Prijezda, Tesmir, Bogosllav, Rajko Brata,
Bogoje, Rad, Dragos, Smil, Hranoje, Petko, Peiko, Bozi6,
Novak, Pribisllav, Run-koj, Budan, Branisllav, and per-
sonal names of that ethnos which emerge in the Slavonic
284
form such as: Pavl (for Pal), Gjurg (for Gjergj) and
^^^tL^Sftnee of the population which
in theses" documents appear as <<Wauachians» form a
separate chapter. During this century *ls populati on
apart from the names of its own language had a* o Al
banian names such as: Dede, Beb, Dode, Ber Bale, Bal
ste Berbat, Dush-ol Bob. This fact raises the need to
view the names of this population more carefully as
well as the question of the co-existence and perhaps,
Tmalgamation of the Albanian-Wallaehian P^^f"
The Albanian ethnos of Macedonia used, dmmg ^t
century the names Gjergj (as Gergo) Gjon (as Gon)
P„ Bal« and Bardh (Barda) and the names mkolle
and [ Martin whereas the Albanians of Montenegro, on the
basis ofS examples given in this
Hpti Bardh Kuc, Vogel (as a surname), Bushat, lanusn,
LazSr and Shotaj (also a surname), which m ttu docu
ments emerge in the forms Bardonja, VogU, Shotem,
W B iof«h. been discussed it merges that
the Albanian ethnos was present in Kosova Macedonia
and Montenegro and in the regions of southern Serbia
whereas 7 from the point of view of names, Albaman and
Slavonic names were both to use with a predom.nat.on of
* e AUhough very rarely, among the Serbian Church
documents there are cases when the patronym emerges in
the Site form of Albanian, which may be considered
to be a reflection of the definite form ol hese names by
the local people. It can be seen clearly that m the Turkish
census of ^he population during the lKh-lMh catena
~ region of Dukagjin, Kosova, Macedonia and Mon-
tenegro we have to do with tlus nuance
The extra-linguistic data, on the other hand, al o
prove the presence of the " a « s .. e f^ Through
parts of the ordinances issued by the rulers, mroug
285
which they donate to different monasteries some property
and people, whom they mention as Arbanas. More fre-
quent are the proofs from which we learn that the Al-
banians were prohibited from grazing their sheep in the
property of the churches (in the region of Vranina, Te-
tova, the surroundings of Suhareka, Ponorc, Llapusha) or
when they were put to some task or when taxes were
levied from them (such as the market tax near Klina,
Tetova, Gracanica, Hoca, Tivar, southern Serbia etc.).
As for the individuals who have or have no Albanian
names but who, on the basis of their blood ties or because
of the majority of the names of a locality, may be con-
sidered Albanians, we see that they were subject to
paying tithes in kind (such as bread grain, wine, honey,
wax) or pay their dues to the churches and monasteries,
(in salt, wax and other obligations) which an exclusively
nomadic shepherd population could not possibly have.
From onomastic data it emerges that there were Al-
banians during these centuries not only in mountainous
villages, but also in big centres such as Prizren, Trepca
and in many lowland villages of Dukagjin and Kosova f
and that they were also noblemen, local rulers etc.
The presence of microtoponyms of the antroponymic
type proves, on the other hand, that since some Albanian
anthroponyms have been preserved in names of territories
we may affirm that they — the Albanians, had been in
those territories long before these names were documented.
286