Spiro, Aristotel. 1999. On the Albanian Orthography of Greek Loan-Words (In Albanian with an English summary). Albanohellenica 1. 17-32. (original) (raw)

ON THE ALBANIAN ORTHOGRAPHY OF THE GREEK LOAN-WORDS Summary This article is an effort to apply some basic principles in the orthography of Greek loan-words in Albanian, focusing on proper names. The author does not intend to make a comprehensive treatment of this issue. This kind of problem has its linguistic, philological and cultural-historical side. It is generally posed as a cultural-linguistic contact between Albanians and Greeks, which lasts for a fairly long historical period. The Greek Alphabet has been used in Antiquity by neighbouring Balkan peoples for the needs of writing the words of their-own languages. Greek proper names in Modern Albanian occur in texts translated both from Ancient and Modern Greek; they can also be translated from a third language, or be uttered in Albanian speech following various models of orthoepy. Greek loan-words have come in to Albanian in a twofold way: orally and philologically (via the different writings of foreign languages). Oral contacts were the earliest ones and they have impacted on the word orthography. These were frequent in South Albania, because of the geographical proximity, which favored the influence of Greek language and culture as well as the dominance and maintenance of the Greek Orthodox religion. In their efforts to compile a national Alphabet, the scholars of the Albanian Renaissance used the Greek Alphabet and several times it has been taken as a model. Furthermore, the majority of them had acquired Greek education and culture (S. Frashëri, N. Frashëri, J. Vreto, K. Kristoforidhi, A. Xhuvani etc.). The Congress of Manastir (widely known as the Congress of the Alphabet) (14-22 November 1908) decided on the use of the two alphabets: one based on Latin characters (mainly applied by «Bashkimi» and «Agimi» associations) and the other on Latin and Greek alphabets (mainly applied by the Istanbul Association or the Association for Printing Albanian Letters). This decision proves that the Congress of Manastir could not but appreciate the importance of the historical Alba¬nian-Greek ties for the continuity of the cultural life of the nation. The ultimate choice of writing based on the Latin Alphabet was evidence of the occidental orientation that Albanian society was taking. The situation of today presents the following configuration: There are direct oral linguistic contacts, as well as both direct and indirect written ones between Albanians and Greeks. This situation is reflected as a problem in the Albanian orthography. Words borrowed at different times and by different routes demand a unified normative treatment. In Albanian there is long-established use of the Roman languages model (Italian and French), in writing Ancient Greek loan-words. Though not being a source, Italian and French can be considered as direct lending languages. From the modern point of view, the Latin model, which they follow, is closer to the original pronunciation of the Ancient Greek words. So, the problem of Albanian-Greek linguistic relations is reduced, in fact, to a problem of analogies between the graphe-matic systems of Ancient Greek and Modern Albanian. In a broader and more practical sense, the comparison would be useful in writing those Ancient Greek words that are used in Modern Greek, being at the same time internationalisms, proper names included. Taking into account the invariability of the graphematic system and the variability of the phonological sys¬tem of Greek, along with the fact that the ma¬jority of Greek texts which are translated into Albanian are written in Modern Greek, the following conclusion can be drawn: the best orthography of Greek loan-words in Albanian is the one based upon the transliteration principle. Thus, the case of Latin and Roman languages turns into a model. On the other hand, it is certain that the phonetic principle does not work in this case. It becomes a trap, if we do not take into consideration that there is an important difference in pronunciation between Ancient and Modern Greek. Should Greek words of ancient origin be written according to the Ancient Greek reading or the Modern one? If written according to the ancient pronunciation, then the transliteration principal is applied. If, on the contrary, according to the modern pronunciation, then the phonetic principle is applied. (Cf. a lot of cases in the period of the Albanian Renaissance). Related to the problem of the orthography of Greek loan-words, is the one of the Byzantine proper names. The historical-cultural factor serves here again as a starting point. It is commonly known that in the Middle Ages Albania was a part of the Byzantine Empire. The locals were following the canons of the Greek Orthodox Church. Religious consciesness was the most important spiritual component of the everyday life of the people. Religious names and terms, irrespective of the used language, have been considered a part of the same cultural and religious community. There were only linguistic differences in these names, according to the phonetic peculiarities and the habits of use of each language. The same names appear in different phonetic forms both in Albanian and Greek. Many Albanian proper names of Byzantine origin represent an abridged form of the Greek original, the colloquial one. This form reflects a period when the Albanian language was still uncultivated and its functional use was restricted only to the colloquial style. When switching to the administrative-law style, the name appeared in its complete form, but this time in the official language of Byzantium, in Greek. As for the use of Modern Greek anthroponyms in Albanian, there is one main problem to be mentioned: should they be written with their original grammatical form, that is with the endings, or be adapted to the Albanian grammatical system by omitting this consonant? It is not possible to offer one simple solution. In the colloquial speech, the grammatical ending can disappear, but at the administrative level as well as in legal documents these endings are indispensable. Names of Modern Greek origin should be written according to the transcription principle, i.e. they should reflect as much as possible their original pronunciation. Anyway, the grammatical ending is not always necessary. The ending -ς could be omitted, where possible, not only in given names, but also in family ones. It could always be preserved in the Nominative case of the family names as a marker of Greek identity.