Hello everybody !
Being an Albanian concerned on the question of the origins of our people,
through searching the web I found your Forum which appears interesting to me.
You would have to excuse me because I am not a linguist therefore somebody
might become bored of what I will writte.
Reading some posts of this forum wakes a lot of questions in me and at the
same time teases my thoughts.
Some of the posts suggest that the origin of Albanian is not to be found in
Illyrians.
It is written "Illyrian" comes from "water". Does it mean the Illirians
were the people which came from the water (sea) ? By boats.
Does it have any connection whith the "people of water" in the old Egypt ?
Does the period of the appearing of illirians correspond to the perios of
the appearing of "people of water" in Egypt ?
Have you taken in consideration the suggestions that "Illyrian" might mean
"free people", "i lirë" (alb.) or even has to do with the "star", "yll"
(alb.) ?
Anyway, if the Illyrians were the people of the water (which came from the
sea), then something has to be sure, they didn´t call themselves Illyrians,
that was the name people who saw them coming from the water gave them
(probably pellasgs), therefore just because the Albanian "ujë" is not found
in "Illyrian" doesn´t mean that Illyrians have nothing to do with Albanians.
Do the Greeks call themselves Greeks ??
Do Albanians call themselves Albanians ?
Did Illyrians call themselves Illyrians ?
I think what many linguists have already said and done, the
Illyrian-Albanian connection has to be found in Greek Mythology.
Indeed you can find there many elements which you can hardly give a logical
explanation in Greek or any other language but Albanian.
Bringing forward the experience, a word, somebody´s word, Gods word, might
have been what the ancient people mostly occupied their time, therefore the
word which meant "to speak", "to tell", "to bring forward somebody´s
words", "message" might have been very important, and very common used. In
Albanian we have one word which has inside all words and meaning mentioned
above.
That is "të thuash"(tosc, dial.), "me thanë" (geg, dial.).
Below you will find some forms in which the word occurs in Albanian:
Them, thënë, thenë - tosc dialect.
Tham, thanë, than´ - geg dialect
Thua, thuaj, the, thotë, thot´, tha, - both dialects
The Italian linguist Giovanni Catapano thinks that there is a strong
connection between Albanian ancestors and "people from the water" which
appeared in anscient Egypt.
Thoth or Tehuti is said to be one of them. He is known to have a head of
eagle and to have been a messanger of the God.
He was bringing forward the Gods word, telling to the people what God was
telling him.
"God says.. to do this.." = "Zoti thotë.. " (alb.)
"What does God say ? " = "Çfarë thotë Zoti ?"
Thotëh, thot-hë, thot-h are forms or the Old Albanian of the same word we
are talking about.
So Thoth thot´h (brings forward) God´s word. If you have to bring forward
somebody´s words you would have to mention all the time the word "thot´h"
(tells, says), and there no wonder if people call you by your profession,
Thoth.
I see a connection between Albanian "thotë" and English "thought", German
"Danke". I don´t remember this form being used in Italian.
Now Thoth, Thoti or Tehuti (probably Theuti) is a male. If he was a female
he would probably being called Tehuta (Thehuta).
We know that Teuta was an Illyrian Queen whose Kingdom had Scuttari
(Shkodër, present Albania) as capital.
A Queen or King would always be a kind of God, or a God´s messanger, she
(he) has to make decisions in God´s name, has to say that this was the will
of the God. "The, them, thotë".
Therefore probably Teuta was playing a similar role - God´s messanger - as
Tehuti.
The phrase "është e thënë" (tosc) = "it is said (God has decided so)" is
very in common use among old Albanians.
In Geg you say "ásht´ thán´" or "a´ than´"
If you use this phrase very often you pronounce it as one word "athan"..
"atha:n".
Some forms:
E thënë, e thenë, áshtë thanë, asht´ thán´, a´ than´.
Athene is known as the Greek God of Speech = "e thënë" (alb.)
Not unlike Thoth.
So we have Thoth (Tehuti), Teuta, Athene connected by an almost logical
order through Albanian.
Some other phrases:
"me të thënë me të bërë" (tosc), "me t´thanme me t´bame" (geg) ~ "if it
said (by God) it would happen", "if it said we would do it".
"Ashtu qe e thënë" (tosc), "ashtu pat´ ken´ e thán´" ~ "God had decided so".
I would read your opinions with pleasure.
Regards
Alvin Ekmekciu
alvi@...