Re: Albanian = Illyrian (1)

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Miguel Carrasquer <mcv@...> wrote:

> To return to the original question. Is Albanian the modern

descendant of a

> pre-Roman language of Illyria?
>
> I think there are basically two possibilities. Albanian indeed

continues a

> pre-Roman language of Illyricum/Dalmatia, or Albanian continues a

pre-Roman

> language of Moesia Superior. The provinces of Thrace and Macedonia

[which

> included modern Albania and Kosovo] can be excluded because they

were

> "Greek". Dacia (north of the Danube) can be excluded because it

was in

> Roman hands for a short while only.
>
> Linking Albanian to Moesia has several advantages. Since Moesian

can in

> all probability be linked to the satem group composed of Dacian,

Getic and

> Thracian, the satem nature of Albanian is explained without much

ado.

> Linking Albanian to Illyrian, on the other hand, requires

explaining away

> the evidence for Messapic and some of the Illyrian glosses being

centum.

>
> Given that Romanian and Albanian seem to share a common substrate,

the

> identification of this substrate as Moesian also simplifies the

Eastern

> Romance dialectal picture: the Latin of Illyricum develops into

Dalmatian,

> the Latin of Moesia into Romanian.
>
> =======================
> Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
> mcv@...

************
I think that the best way to prove that Albanians are descendents of
Illyrians should be place names, used as by Weigand, as by his
imitators to deny autochthony of Albanians in today's territories.
I will prefer to start with first letter of the alphabet:

Arkthos, attested form, today Arta. Dropping of the stops and
evolution kt:ht:t, noticed also by Paul Kretschmer is only Albanian
characteristic.

Astibos, today Shtip could be explained only through Albanian
soundlaw: aphaeresis of unstressed /a/ and evolution of cluster /st/

> /sht/ (cf. aphaeresis of unstressed /a/ in: Lat. amicus > Alb.

mik 'friend', Lat. angustus > Alb. (i,e) ngushtë; cf. evolution of
cluster /st/ > /sht/ in: castellum > kështjel (Buzuku), kështjellë,
Lat. statura > shtat, also mentioned angustuse above etc.).

Avlona, today Vlora, attested in Geg Vlona, vlonjat 'inhabitant of
the Vlora' through aphaeresis of /a/, etc.

Konushevci