[tied] Re: Albanian origins and much more

Let's try to inject some linguistics into the problem.


Rumanian and Albanian share a certain amount of linguistic material.
Unless I'm mistaken that is one of the really hard facts that have to
be incorporated somehow into the story: it has to be determined
where, when and how those common elements were acquired.


As to where, my favourite is, simply put, the mountain range behind
Ohrid (or adjacent areas). As to when, I'm thinking of the centuries
between, say, 500 and 700 CE, leaving speakers of Rumanian ample time
to expand (in time-honoured Balkan fashion) to areas where Nestor's
informants, or at least their great-grandparents, could notice their
presence (if Nestor's Valachians were really speakers of Rumanian,
but why not be nice for a change and assume they were?). It is my
impression that this is just a shade better in accordance with the
totality of the evidence than other scenarios. But note carefully
my "just a shade", because it would seem to be fairly obvious that
the evidence is not such as to positively exclude other areas, e.g.
Transsylvania, or even Bosnia.



Willem