Επίσης η Αλβανική γλώσσα είναι παλαιοβαλκανική, δηλαδή κρατάει από την αρχαιότητα όπως και η Ελληνική.
[URL unfurl="true"]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleo-Balkan_languages[/url]
Η καταγωγή των Αλβανών από τους Ιλύριους είναι ακόμα θέμα διαφωνίας των ειδικών...
The theory that Albanians were related to the Illyrians was proposed for the first time by the Swedish[58] historian Johann Erich Thunmann in 1774.[59] The scholars who advocate an Illyrian origin are numerous.[60][61][62][63] There are two variants of the theory: one is that the Albanians are the descendants of indigenous Illyrian tribes dwelling in what is now Albania.[64][65] The other is that the Albanians are the descendants of Illyrian tribes located north of the Jireček Line and probably north or northeast of Albania.[66]
Arguments for Illyrian origin
The arguments for the Illyrian-Albanian connection have been as follows:[63][67]
The national name Albania is derived from Albanoi,[68][69][70] an Illyrian tribe mentioned by Ptolemy about 150 AD.
From what is known from the old Balkan populations territories (Greeks, Illyrians, Thracians, Dacians), the Albanian language is spoken in the same region where Illyrian was spoken in ancient times.[71]
There is no evidence of any major migration into Albanian territory since the records of Illyrian occupation.[71] Because descent from Illyrians makes "geographical sense" and there is no linguistic or historical evidence proving a replacement, then the burden of proof lies on the side of those who would deny a connection of Albanian with Illyrian.[72]
Many of what remain as attested words to Illyrian have an Albanian explanation and also a number of Illyrian lexical items (toponyms, hydronyms, oronyms, anthroponyms, etc.) have been linked to Albanian.[73]
Words borrowed from Greek (e.g. Gk (NW) "device, instrument" mākhaná > *mokër "millstone" Gk (NW) drápanon > *drapër "sickle" etc.) date back before the Christian era[71] and are mostly of the Doric Greek dialect,[74] which means that the ancestors of the Albanians were in contact with the northwestern part of Ancient Greek civilization and probably borrowed words from Greek cities (Dyrrachium, Apollonia, etc.) in the Illyrian territory, colonies which belonged to the Doric division of Greek, or from contacts in the Epirus area.
Words borrowed from Latin (e.g. Latin aurum > ar "gold", gaudium > gaz "joy" etc.[75]) date back before the Christian era,[67][71] while the Illyrians on the territory of modern Albania were the first from the old Balkan populations to be conquered by Romans in 229–167 BC, the Thracians were conquered in 45 AD and the Dacians in 106 AD.
The ancient Illyrian place-names of the region have achieved their current form following Albanian phonetic rules e.g. Durrachion > Durrës (with the Albanian initial accent) Aulona > Vlonë~Vlorë (with rhotacism) Scodra > Shkodra etc.[67][71][74][76]
The characteristics of the Albanian dialects Tosk and Geg[77] in the treatment of the native and loanwords from other languages, have led to the conclusion that the dialectal split occurred after Christianisation of the region (4th century AD) and at the time of the Slavic migration to the Balkans[71][78] or thereafter between the 6th to 7th century AD[79] with the historic boundary between the Geg and Tosk dialects being the Shkumbin river[80] which straddled the Jireček line.[67][81]
Arguments against Illyrian origin
The theory of an Illyrian origin of the Albanians is challenged on archaeological and linguistic grounds.[82]
Although the Illyrian tribe of the Albanoi and the place Albanopolis could be located near Krujë, nothing proves a relation of this tribe to the Albanians, whose name appears for the first time in the 11th century in Byzantine sources[83]
According to Bulgarian linguist Vladimir I. Georgiev, the theory of an Illyrian origin for the Albanians is weakened by a lack of any Albanian names before the 12th century and the relative absence of Greek influence that would surely be present if the Albanians inhabited their homeland continuously since ancient times.[84] According to Georgiev if the Albanians originated near modern-day Albania, the number of Greek loanwords in the Albanian language should be higher.[85]
Local or personal names considered Illyrian were not passed down to Albanian without interruption (for example Scodra > Shkodra, a loan from Latin, and various other toponyms and hydronyms in modern Albania such as Vlorë and Vjosë which are loans from Slavic).[86][87][88] As such Albanian could not be considered a linguistic descendant of Illyrian or Thracian except from an undocumented Balkan Indo-European language.[87] Instead some toponyms that follow a phonetic development consistent with sound laws of the Albanian language are located within the inner Balkans such as Nish < Naissus, Ναισσός[88] though that etymology is a matter of dispute.[89] The Albanian language is a close relation of both Messapian and Illyrian that as such Albanian words in certain instances have been able to explain Messapic and Illyrian words.[87] Examples include the Illyrian tribe Taulantioi > Albanian dallëndyshe (swallow), the Messapic word βρένδο/brendo- (stag) and the toponym Brundisium (modern Brindisi) > Old Gheg bri, Messapic ῥινός/rinos (clouds) > Old Gheg/Old Tosk re (cloud).[87]
According to Georgiev, although some Albanian toponyms descend from Illyrian, Illyrian toponyms from antiquity have not changed according to the usual phonetic laws applying to the evolution of Albanian. Furthermore, placenames can be a special case and the Albanian language more generally has not been proven to be of Illyrian stock.[83]
Many linguists have tried to link Albanian with Illyrian, but without clear results.[83][90] Albanian shows traces of satemization within the Indo-European language tree, however the majority of Albanologists[91] hold that unlike most satem languages it has preserve the distinction of /kʷ/ and /gʷ/ from /k/ and /g/ before front vowels (merged in satem languages), and there is a debate whether Illyrian was centum or satem. On the other hand, Dacian[90] and Thracian[92] seem to belong to satem.
There is a lack of clear archaeological evidence for a continuous settlement of an Albanian-speaking population since Illyrian times. For example, while Albanians scholars maintain that the Komani-Kruja burial sites support the Illyrian-Albanian continuity theory, most scholars reject this and consider that the remains indicate a population of Romanized Illyrians who spoke a Romance language.[93][94][95]
