Albanian and Greek

Albanian and Greek

History of an ancient bond

Simone Emanuele Fiume

About 5,000 years ago, a people from the steppes of what is now Russia came to Europe. Today we call them "Indo-Europeans" because, following their migrations, their settlement spread across the entire European continent, the Iranian plateau and the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. Many languages were developed by these people, many of which changed the world irreversibly: Sanskrit with the Vedas, Ancient Greek with philosophy and science, Latin with the Roman Empire, the Celts with their characteristic traditions, and the list could go on almost endlessly. However, my attention has focused on a language about which surprisingly little is known, although, according to various studies, it is one of the most archaic Indo-European languages still spoken: I am talking about Albanian, whose native name is “gjuha shqipe”, spoken by approximately 7,267,000 people in total.

Map of the distribution of the Albanian language and its dialects

This map shows the regions where the Albanian language is spoken, including the main Gheg and Tosk dialects, as well as historical and diasporic varieties such as Arbëresh, Arvanitika, and Cham. It also highlights the division between the northern Gheg branches (NW, NE, C, S Gheg), transitional zones, and northern/southern Tosk (N, S Tosk), reflecting the diversity and continuity of the Albanian language across the Balkans and beyond.

The Albanian language is divided into two main dialects: Tosk, spoken in the south, and Gheg, spoken in the north and in Kosovo. There are also varieties born from diasporic emigration, such as Arvanita, spoken by Albanians who moved to Greece, and Arbëreshë, dating back to the Albanian migrations of the 16th century towards southern Italy, following the Ottoman conquest of the Balkans. The toponym "Albania" derives from "Arberia," composed of "Ar" (land) and "Ber" (to work), thus meaning "those who work the land." Today the official name of the Albanian state is Shqipëria, which derives from shqipe (eagle), an animal considered sacred in ancient times. These Balkan peoples were already known to the ancient Greeks as “Ἀλβανοί” (Albanoi), cited by the Greek historian Polybius as the indigenous population of today's central Albania, between the Mat and Shkumbin rivers. It is therefore a very ancient language, and the aim of my research is to discover its links with Greek, sharing not only a common Indo-European origin, but something more.

A first similarity is found in the common use of "T-" to indicate the third person singular possessive adjective in both Albanian and Greek, while in most other Indo-European languages it takes on a meaning related to the second person singular.

• Albanian: Qeni i tij = his dog

• Modern Greek: Ο σκυλί του (o skili tou) = his dog

Let's compare with other Indo-European languages, where "t-" expresses the second-person singular possessive:

• Italian (Romance): Il tuo cane

• Russian (Slavic): Твоя собака (Tvoya Sobaka)

• Gujarati (Indo-Aryan): તમારો કૂતરો (Tamaro Kutaro)

The personal pronoun "they" is also very similar between Albanian and Greek:

• Albanian: Ata (masculine), Ato (feminine)

• Modern Greek: αυτοί (aftì, masculine), αυτές (aftès, feminine)

• Neuter: Αυτά (aftà), similar to Ata (Albanian)

Albanian is an ancient language; according to scientific research, it dates back approximately 6,000 years, undergoing only some changes (mainly linguistic borrowings from Latin and Italian). Its antiquity means it preserves elements typical of "dead" languages like Latin or Ancient Greek, including:

• Five grammatical cases (nominative, genitive, accusative, dative, ablative).

• Two special verb moods now extinct in most Indo-European languages: the admirative and the optative.

Some examples of similarities between Albanian and Ancient Greek:

Albanian Ancient Greek English

drapër δράπανον (dràpanon) sickle

bletë μέλιττα (mélitta) bee

kumbull κοκκύμελον (kokkymelon) plum

lakër λάχανον (làkhanon) vegetable

lyej ἔλαιον (élaion) oil

mokër μαχανά (makhanà) machine

pëllëmbë παλάμα (palàma) palm

punë πόνος (pònos) work (alb), effort (gre)

dhe ιδε (ide) and

pjepër πέπον melon

trumzë θύμβρα thyme

pellg πέλαγος puddle (alb), high sea (gre)

ujë υδορ water

iki ἵκω to go away (alb), to reach (gre)

duket δοκή to seem (alb), vision (gre)

Since standard Albanian is based on the Tosk dialect, which tends to transform "-N" into "-R," to better understand how close these words are, just read "-n" instead of "-r," as in the Gheg dialect (e.g., drapën instead of drapër, and so on).

According to Huld (1986), there are words that derive from the Ancient Macedonian language:

Albanian An. Macedonian English

llërë Ωλένα (olèna) elbow

mëllagë Μαλάχα (malàkha) mallow

maraj Μαράθριον (maràthrion) fennel

In Greek, the word "κακός" (kakòs, bad) is very similar to the Albanian "keq," which means "bad."

Man's best friend, the dog, in Ancient Greek is "Κύων" (kyòn), while in Albanian it is "qen." (Note also that in Modern Greek, "dog" is "σκύλος," which shares the same root as the Albanian word for fox, "skile").

The color "red" in Albanian is "kuq," while in Greek it is "Κόκκινο" (kòkkino).

It is evident that there are numerous phonetic changes in the Albanian language compared to Greek, particularly the transition from the voiceless velar plosive /k/ to the voiceless postalveolar affricate /ʧ/.

The simple preposition "with" in Modern Greek is "με" (resulting from a syllabic contraction of "μετά") and in Albanian is "me", identical.

There are even some similarities with ancient Phrygian, in which the word "bread" is translated as "bekos" and in Albanian as "bukë."

Hyllested and Joseph (2022) identify the Greek-Phrygian Indo-European branch as the one closest to the Albanian-Messapic branch. These two branches form an areal grouping, often called "Balkan Indo-European," along with Armenian.

This group includes Greek, Armenian, Phrygian, languages fragmentarily attested like ancient Macedonian, Thracian, and Illyrian, from which Albanian and the Messapic of southern Italy descend, relatively well documented.

Continuing with the similarities between Albanian and Modern Greek, both languages express personal names with a definite article conjugated for gender:

• ALB: Pjetri shkon në shkollë.

• GRE: Ο Πέτρος πηγαίνει σχολείο. (O Pétros piyeni skholio).

Both sentences literally mean "The Peter goes to school."

In both Albanian and Greek, the possessive adjective is placed after the noun and not between the article and the noun (as in Italian), nor before the noun without an article (as in English, Spanish, French, etc.). Let's see an example:

• ALB: Qeni yt leh.

• GRE: Ο σκύλος σου γαβγίζει. (O skýlos sou gavghízei).

Similarly to Latin ager ("field"), the Indo-European word h₂éǵros evolved into αγρός (agròs) in Greek, maintaining the same meaning as Latin, and into egër in Albanian, meaning "wild."

In Greek, "to sing" is Τραγουδάω (tragudào), and it has the same origin as the Albanian word tregoj, which means "to show."

The word "language" in medieval Albanian, in Arbëreshë and Arvanitika, is gluha (in modern standard Albanian, "gl" has evolved into a voiced palatal plosive, becoming gjuha), sharing the same unclear origin as the Greek γλώσσα (glòssa).

A further similarity is found in the way Greek and Albanian speakers express the verb "must." Both languages use the verb conjugated in the third person singular. Let's see an example with the sentence: “I must go to school”

• GRE: Πρέπει να πάω σχολείο. (Prépei na pào skholìo)

• ALB: Duhet të shkoj në shkollë

As seen so far, there are numerous similarities between these two fantastic and ancient languages. However, the purpose of this research is not simply to list words with a common root or grammatical similarities.

These similarities are not, as some argue, due only to geographical proximity or territorial conquests that would have caused cultural and linguistic exchanges between the two peoples; otherwise, we would have a linguistic relationship similar to that between German and Italian.

To express the negation of a verb, Albanian uses "nuk," for example:

• Nuk e dua (I don't want it), which is closely related to Ancient Greek οὐκ (ouk), from which the current όχι (òchi), meaning "no," derives.

Moreover, both languages use an alternative form for certain verb tenses, such as the imperative:

• ALB: Mos shiko! (Don’t look!)

• GRE: Μην κοιτάς! (Min kitàs)

In Malësia dialect, known for being the most lexically conservative, the word “poj” exists (which in Tosk Albanian becomes “mbaj”), meaning “to take,” and it derives from the same root as the Greek verb “Παίρνω” (pèrno), meaning “to carry.”

Some Latin loanwords in the Albanian language evolved in a similar way to phonetic changes seen in Modern Greek; for example, from Latin causa (meaning “thing”), we get Albanian kafshë, with the diphthong “vowel + u + consonant” becoming “vowel + f/v + consonant,” just like in Greek. Another case of this phonetic change is found in the name of a southern Italian town with an Arbëreshë community: Chieuti, which in the Arbëreshë language is called Qefti.

Both languages preserve some consonants typical of Proto-Indo-European (PIE) that disappeared in most other Indo-European languages:

• The voiced dental fricative "ð" (e.g., Albanian Edhe, Greek Δάφνη);

• The voiceless non-sibilant dental fricative "θ" (e.g., Albanian Them, Greek θάλασσα).

Albanian also retains the close front rounded vowel “y,” which was present in Ancient Greek as the letter Υ.

In Albanian, a water spring is called krua (from Proto-Albanian Kron), and in Ancient Greek, κρήνη (krène). The word for “fear” in Albanian is frikë, while in Ancient Greek it is φρίκη (phríkē, “shiver, tremble”). The hypothesis of a Byzantine Greek loan φρίκη (phrìki) is unlikely, as a velar followed by a front vowel would have been palatalized.

The word for “woman” in Albanian is grua; in Ancient Greek, the term for an elderly woman was γραῦς (graus).

Numerous pieces of evidence suggest a real genetic closeness between Albanians and Greeks, also supported by the presence of the E-V13 haplogroup in Albania, Kosovo, Albanian minorities in North Macedonia, Epirus, Central Greece, Attica, the Peloponnese, and the Aegean islands. The spread in these areas is not, as some believe, due to the Albanian diaspora. Why would they share the same haplogroup?

There are many possible explanations. First, it is highly likely that Albanians descend from the southern Illyrian tribes settled in Epirus, particularly the Taulantii. Many Bulgarians and North Macedonians share the E-V13 haplogroup due to the influence of ancient Thracians, so it is highly probable that this haplogroup was brought to the Balkans by the Pelasgians. The ethnonym “Pelasgians” itself may indicate that both Greeks and Albanians descend from this mysterious and fascinating ancient population. In fact, both languages contain a word that could be the etymological origin of “Pelasgians”:

• In Albanian: pellg meaning “puddle”

• In Greek: πέλαγος (pélagos), meaning “high sea”

Beekes suggests these words have a non-Indo-European origin, possibly linked to the Sea Peoples mentioned in Egyptian records.

As Kroonen noted, there are agricultural terms shared only between Albanian and Greek, such as h₂(e)lbʰ-it- (“barley”) and spor-eh₂- (“seed”), which formed from originally non-agricultural PIE roots through semantic shifts to fit agricultural use. As these terms are exclusive to Albanian and Greek, they can be traced with certainty only to their last common Indo-European ancestor, not to PIE directly. It’s also likely these two words derived from ancient Pelasgian roots, since they are not found in other Indo-European languages, and we know virtually nothing about the Pelasgian language(s), which may have influenced both Albanian and Greek.

We have already seen that there are many lexical borrowings between Ancient Greek and Proto-Albanian, due to contacts between the Dorians and Illyrian tribes of Epirus. Krzysztof Tomasz Witczak, in his 2016 study The earliest loanwords in Greek, pointed out that these borrowings may have begun as early as the 7th century BCE. The ethnonym “Dorians” remains uncertain. We only know that, according to Greek mythology, all Dorians descended from Dorus, son of Hellen and Orseis. It is plausible to assume that “Dorus” derives from the same root as the Albanian word dorë (hand), since the Dorians were known as great warriors, thus in the sense of “skilled hand.”

The study conducted by Oxford scholar and British Academy member Marty Litchfield West (2007) argued that the religious site of Dodona, mentioned in Homer’s Iliad, was an Illyrian institution and that the goddess Demeter had an etymology linked to the Albanian Dhe (earth) and Motër (sister or, in archaic form, “mother”).

This is not the only case: indeed, some Greek deities have names that can only be explained through Albanian and not via Greek. For example:

• Aphrodite may come from afër dita (“near the day”), just like the planet Venus, which the Romans associated with Aphrodite.

• Themis may derive from them (“I speak”), consistent with her role as the goddess of justice.

• The sea nymph Thetis could be linked to the Albanian term Deti, meaning “sea.”

Considering the so-called non-Indo-European “Balkan substrate” words shared between Greek and Albanian, it is even possible to attempt a rough reconstruction of some Pelasgian language words. For example, the Albanian word bërrakë is linked to Greek βράγος (vrágos, “sandy banks”). Jokl claims that the term comes from the ancient Balkan root bar- present in river names.

Darkë (dinner) is related to Ancient Greek δόρπον (dórpon, “dinner; evening”). According to Alexander Lubotsky and Michiel de Vaan, the distribution of the term strongly suggests a common Paleo-Balkan root.

Other examples:

• hudhra (garlic) and Greek σκόρδο (skórdo, “garlic”);

• jetë (life) and ἐτεός (eteós, “true, real”);

• leh (to bark) and Ancient Greek λάσκω (láskō, “to shout, roar”);

• prefix palo- (meaning “old, worn”) and Ancient Greek φαῦλος (phaulos, same meaning);

• shegë (pomegranate) and Ancient Greek κυσήγη (kysége, same meaning);

• vogël (small) and Doric Greek βάδιος (bádios, same meaning);

• ballë (horse with white forehead spot) and βαλιός (valiòs, “spotted”);

• leg (wet) and λάταξ (làtax, same meaning);

• thupër (twig) and σιβύνη (sivýne, “sharp point”);

• djep (cradle) and δέπας (dépas, “cup, vessel”);

• gjuhë (language) and γλῶσσα (glòssa, same meaning);

• lëpjetë (wild beet) and λάπαθον (làpathon, same meaning);

• presh (leek) and πράσον (pràson, same meaning).

All these words have non-Indo-European etymologies, further supporting the theory of a common Pelasgian origin.

Other linguistic evidence of a closer common ancestor between the two languages comes from ancient shared structural innovations and phonological convergence phenomena, such as:

• the emergence of the close front rounded vowel /y/ (documented in Attic Greek and Koine);

• the appearance of dental fricatives;

• the voicing of voiceless plosives after nasal consonants.

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