Re: [tied] Re: Albanian origins and much more

On 04-12-21 09:03, willemvermeer wrote:

> In all the talk about Albanian origins, some of which is obviously
> too speculative to be very convincing, what strikes me most is the
> absence of what seems to me one of the hardest pieces of evidence
> there is about the past of the Albanian language. That is the fact
> that the names of the major towns of Naissos (in southern Serbia) and
> Astibos (in Macedonia) reached Slavic in a shape that proves early
> Albanian intermediacy (Nis^ and S^tip). You'll never get Slavic Nis^
> and S^tip from anything reasonably resembling Naissos and Astibos.

I am aware of this kind of evidence and I believe it was mentioned in
one of our many past discussions of Albanian origins. I agree that it's
"hard" and important.

> But if you put Albanian in between there is no problem. This is
> remarkable because most place names the speakers of Slavic borrowed
> after their arrival on the Balkans can easily be explained on the
> basis of Latin or Greek. (Another example of a place name that was
> borrowed from a non-Latin and non-Greek population is Plovdiv.)

Yes, the local survival of the name Pulpudeva (rather than anything
derivable from "cosmopolitan" Philippopolis or Trimontium) down to a
time when it could be transmitted to the Slavs is really remarkable.
What do you think the "non-Latin and non-Greek population" was in this case?

> Nis^ and S^tip suggest that Albanian was the dominant language of the
> area at the stage when speakers of Slavic felt the need to be
> apprised of the names of those towns.

Agreed.

Piotr