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Feeling inspired by the "are Italians white" thread.
This was Google translated from the Bulgarian language. I tried to clean it up as best as I can, and several parts had to be cut for brevity (or at least fitting the character limit) but some things are inevitably still going to get lost in translation. You can, of course, read the full text for yourself, but unless you can speak fluent Bulgarian, I suggest you use a translator app (which you may have to turn off periodically so that you can translate certain words and phrases individually). I'm sure @Fougaro and @Basil II will like this, for it will prove useful in trolling Albanians in internet discussions and the like.
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TL;DR: the fundamental structure of the Albanian language doesn't coincide in any way with the Hellenic or Romance languages, as it logically would be if the Albanians were the descendants of the increasingly Latinized and Hellenized Illyrians, but rather with Eastern Iranian languages, particularly the ancient Scytho-Sarmatian languages (of which proto-Bulgarian itself is actually related to).
This was Google translated from the Bulgarian language. I tried to clean it up as best as I can, and several parts had to be cut for brevity (or at least fitting the character limit) but some things are inevitably still going to get lost in translation. You can, of course, read the full text for yourself, but unless you can speak fluent Bulgarian, I suggest you use a translator app (which you may have to turn off periodically so that you can translate certain words and phrases individually). I'm sure @Fougaro and @Basil II will like this, for it will prove useful in trolling Albanians in internet discussions and the like.
Modern Albanians number about 7 million and occupy a compact territory in several countries - Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Greece. and Italy (Fig. 1). They speak two dialects, northern "Gheg" and southern "Tosk", which is now the official norm. There are many nasal vowels in the Gheg dialect. In the dialect of Tosk, rhotacism has occurred - the consonant "н" (En) in some positions has passed into "p" (Er). Albanians call their tongue gjuha shqipe, and themselves the Shqip or Shiptaret. This name was first recorded in the 14th century. Some associate this name with the Albanian word shqiponje (eagle) and argue that the double-headed eagle (Byzantine sign) is the coat of arms of modern Albania. Most likely, however, is the hypothesis of Demiraj [Shaban Demiraj. Preyardhia e shqiptarëve nën dritën e dëshmive të giuhës shqipe (The origin of the Albanians in terms of Albanian linguistic evidence). Shkenca, 1999, p. 194], who notes that in Albanian sqip means "clear, intelligible", hence shqiptar - "a person whose language is intelligible".
Italian Albanians are called Arberishtja or Arberichte, the Greek Albanians, Arvantis (Arvanite), hence in Turkish - Arnavut. In the Old Bulgarian language the name "land of Arbanassi" is used, sometimes "Verbanassi". From the common basis of these words is formed the internationally known name of today's Albanians. This name probably comes from the ancient name of the Arbanon Valley, located along today's Shkumbin River in the middle of the country. In antiquity, the Illyrian tribe "Albanians" lived in the same area, whose name is probably given to the valley. The earliest mention of this tribe is from the second century BC. in History of the World, written by Polybius, where there is talk of a city called Arbon, located in present-day central Albania. Its Illyrian population is called Arbanios and Arbanitai. In the first century AD. Pliny mentions the Illyrian tribe Olbonense. In the II century AD. Ptolemy, a geographer and astronomer from Alexandria, drew a map of Illyria, which marked the town of Albanopolis northeast of Durres and mentioned that the Illyrian tribe Albanoi lived around that town.
There is a time difference of about 10 centuries between the last mention of ancient (non-Hellenized and non-Latinized) Illyrians and the first mention of today's Albanians. The Illyrians, already a fully Hellenized tribe, were last mentioned in the 7th century in the Miracula Sancti Demetri (7th century) [Malcolm, Noel. "Kosovo, a short history"], Macmilan, London, 1998, p. 22-40]. According to Byzantine chronicles, modern Albanians, as a people other than the earlier Latinized Illyrian population, were "discovered" for the first time in 1043, although for centuries Illyria was part of the Roman and Byzantine Empires. The Byzantine princess Anna Comnina wrote in detail about modern Albanians in her chronicles about the wars of her father Alexius Comnenus (1081-111
with the Normans.
The interval VII - X century is critical for the origin of the modern Albanians. Before this interval, the ancient Illyrians were already melted down to the point of indistinguishability from the Greeks. During this interval, invasions and settlements of Proto-Slavs, Avars, Kutrigurs and Proto-Bulgarians began, which completely changed the ethnic composition of most of the Balkan Peninsula, including the region of Illyria, Paeonia, and Macedonia. After this interval, Anna Komnina spoke of a new population in the area of present-day Northern Albania, ethnically different from that of the then Greeks, Bulgarians, and Serbs. To denote it, she resurrects the above-mentioned ancient term Arbanitai or Arbanon, which has been forgotten for nearly 10 centuries. This is probably an example of the well-known Byzantine tradition of naming new tribes and peoples after their old ancestors, although there is no ethnic connection between them. In the same way, the first Bulgarians on the other side of the Danube were called Huns, Moesi, and Scythians according to the chronicler's preferences.
To emphasize the great temporal (and possibly ethnic) difference between the ancient Albanians (pure Illyrians from the 2nd century BC to the 2nd century AD), the medieval Greco-Latinized Illyrians (V-VII c. AD) and modern Albanians (XI - XXI century) in the text below will use the name Shiptars as equivalent to "modern Albanians".
In 1774, the German historian Thumann hypothesized that Albanians and the Albanian language originated from the Illyrians and the Illyrian language [Johannes E. Thunmann "Untersuchungen uber die Geschichte der Oslichen Europaischen Volger" Teil, Leipzig, 1774]. This hypothesis has not been proven, and it will hardly ever be possible to prove it, because the Illyrian language itself is completely unknown to modern scholars and one cannot compare a modern language with a long-dead and completely unknown language. This opinion is expressed in a very contradictory and unconvincing way in the Macedonian textbook for the Albanian language. [Mustafa Ibrahimi. Te mësojmë shqip: kurs për fillestarë dhe studentë (botimi i dytë) = Learning Albanian: a course for beginners and students (second edition). Shkup=Скопje: Interlinqua, 2005, с. 7].
On the one hand, it is claimed that Albanians and the Albanian language have Illyrian origins. In this regard, it is stated that some ancient names from this area can be explained in words from modern Albanian: Dardania from dardhe (pear), Dalmatia = dele < delme (sheep), Dimalum = di mal < dy male (two mountains), Bardhyl < bardhë (white), Daz < dash (ram) and others. On the other hand, it is stated that the Illyrian language is dead and very few words of it have been preserved. Only a few well-known Illyrian words are mentioned, which can be explained in words from today's Albanian: peli = pleq (old), aspetos = shpejtë (fast). In my opinion, the Albanian Diel - Sun can be borrowed from the Paeonians, in which the main god - the Sun was called Dyalos (Dryalos).
The language of the Messapians, an ancient Western Balkan tribe, is relatively well known because more than 600 inscriptions in their language, written in Greek letters, have been found in southern Italy. There are claims of kinship between Illyrians and Messapians, but so far this has not been proven. Only a few Messapian words resemble words from modern Albanian: bije-bilie - girl; dardhë - pear; dele (delme) - sheep; dallendysche - swallow. More or less in modern Bulgarian there are so many words from the Latinized language of the Thracians (комин, гуша и дисаги, бисаги - Latin remains), but no serious scholar claims that modern Bulgarian is a descendant of the Thracian language. In fact, such a play on words is simply meaningless and proves nothing. You can choose from two Indo-European languages, modern or extinct, and find dozens of words that have the same sound and the same meaning in both languages. For example, about 15 such words have been found in dead Avestan and modern English, but this does not mean that the English are descendants of the Avestans.
Despite the extreme scarcity of evidence, official Albanian historiography accepts this hypothesis and argues that "Albanian is the only living indigenous language in the Balkans, where Illyrian was once spoken, while other local languages (Messapian, Thracian-Dacian, Ancient Macedonian, Phrygian, Ancient Greek, even Illyrian?!) are extinct." [Mustafa Ibrahimi. Te mësojmë shqip: kurs për fillestarë dhe studentë (botimi i dytë) = Learning Albanian: a course for beginners and students (second edition). Shkup=Skopje: Interlinqua, 2005, с. 7]. In principle, there is no modern nation of pure ethnic origin. A significant part of modern Albanians, especially those from southern Albania, carry the blood of the Albanianized local Bulgarian population from the times of the First and Second Bulgarian Kingdoms. Nevertheless, in the minds of modern Albanians is built the idea that they are descendants of the ancient Illyrians - a cultured people, more ancient than the Greeks. This idea strongly stimulates the Albanian sense of national cohesion and exclusivity. Modern Albanians have a negative attitude towards the surrounding Slavs and call them shkei = slaves (from the Greek-Latin sclavi - slaves).
Apart from the local "Illyrian" hypothesis, other hypotheses have been made about a more distant, but still Balkan origin of the Scythians. The Bulgarian scientist Ivan Duridanov [Duridanov, Ivan. "The Language of the Thracians", [The Language of the Thracians, Science and Art, Sofia, 1976] notes that the names for sea and fishing terms in modern Albanian are of foreign origin, from which he concludes that the Proto-Albanians lived far from the sea (sic!). According to him, the Proto-Albanians are not Illyrians - because the Illyrians have lived on the shores of the Adriatic Sea for thousands of years and are known as excellent seafarers - but Dardanians. In fact, the Dardanians are also an Illyrian tribe and they should "understand" the Illyrian language, including its maritime terms.
The second hypothesis about the origin of the Proto-Albanians is stated by the Bulgarian specialist in comparative linguistics V. Georgiev. It subdivides the Paleo-Balkan languages into several closely related language communities: Illyro-Macedonian, Hellenic, Phrygian-Armenian, Thracian-Pelasgian and Daco-Moesian [Georgiev V. I. Research in comparative historical linguistics. M., 1958. S. 143]. V. Georgiev classifies the Proto-Albanians in the group of Daco-Moesians, i.e. according to him the Proto-Albanians come from the region of the Lower Danube.
All these hypotheses do not agree with the existence of the so-called language line of Konstantin Jireček (Konstantin Jireček: Die Romanen in den Städten Dalmatiens während des Mittelalters, I, 42-44). This mental line of history begins in the middle of present-day Albania, runs along the northern border of present-day Macedonia, and heads east along the ridge of the Balkan Mountains. The ancient indigenous population of the Balkans living south of this line was practically completely Hellenized as early as the first centuries AD, while that of the north was Latinized. The Illyrians in the area of today's Albania welcomed the Roman conquerors not as a primitive tribe, but as subjects of an ancient Illyrian kingdom with a hereditary monarchy. The Romans waged more than 100 years of war with this kingdom before finally defeating it in 168 BC and including it in the province of Iliricum until 395, or a total of 563. The fate of the Thracians and Macedonians is similar. In a much shorter time (about 350 years) the Macedonians and Thracians north of the Balkans became Latinized and began to speak Latin, and those south of the Balkans were Hellenized.
How the Proto-Albanians under these conditions protected themselves from complete Hellenization and especially Latinization to the point of complete isolation is a complete mystery.
For example, the Byzantine emperor Justin I (518-527) was an Illyrian by birth. Earlier in the Roman Empire, there were times when both the emperor and the pope were Illyrians by birth. Such are Diocletian and his Illyrian nephew, Pope Gaius (283-296), born near the modern city of Shkodra! It is certain that their families and their more distant relatives were Greekized or Romanized long before they became basileis, emperors or popes. If modern Albanians came from such Illyrians, they would have to speak corrupted Greek or Latin. Instead, they speak a language completely different from that of Greeks and Latins.
In modern Albanian there are practically no borrowings from the ancient Greek language!
There are two extreme opinions on the question of the presence of Latin borrowings in the language of the Scythians.
One group of researchers claims that there are many but strongly altered Latin borrowings in the language of the Scythians. In this regard, research on the lexicon of the Albanian language from the 1970s is cited, claiming that out of 5,110 Albanian words, 1,420 have Latin-Romance origins, 1180 are of Ottoman-Turkish origin, 540 - of Bulgarian (for example, jug юг, rob роб), 840 modern Greek. The remaining 1130 words are considered to be Albanian proper, of which 400 are Indo-European and 730 are of unknown origin (Trautman Reinhold, 194. Other authors (H. Pedersen, N. Jokl, E. Chabei) give a higher share of the original Albanian words in the lexicon of this language. According to these authors, the Latin vocabulary entered the speech of the local population in the era of Roman rule in the Balkans, but subsequently underwent radical changes. Apart from dropping the last syllables, there has been a complete change in the phonetic appearance of the bases of the words, which makes them almost unrecognizable.
For instance, in the Gheg dialect ranё, in the Tosk dialect rёrё, (sand) < Latin. arēna (sand); Gheg. vner, Tosk. vrer (bile) < Latin. venēnum; kal (horse) < Latin. caballus, gjel (rooster) < Latin. gallus; ar (gold) < Latin. aurum; kofshё (thigh) < Latin soha; pus (well) < Latin. puteus; kushёrí (cousin) < Latin. consobrīnus; mik (friend) < Latin. amīcus; fqi (neighbor) < Latin. vicēnus; gaz (joy) < Latin. gaudium; fe (faith) < Latin. fidēs; lter «altar» < Latin. altare; ferr "hell" < Latin infernum, etc. However, it is quite possible that these words, or most of them, were adopted in the late Middle Ages, when the majority of Albanians were Catholics. Today, about 20% of Albanians in Albania are Catholic.
The above circumstances give grounds for the second group of researchers to claim that in modern Albanian there are practically no (or very few) borrowings from the early Greek and early Latin (Cabej, Eqrem "Die aelteren Wohnsitze der Albaner auf der Balkanhalbinsel im Lichte der Sprache und Ortsnamen", Florence, 1961; Eric P. Hamp, University of Chigaco The Position of Albanian (Ancient IE dialects, Proceedings of the Conference on IE linguistics held at the University of California, Los Angeles, April 25-27, 1963, ed. By Henrik Birnbaum and Jaan Puhvel). If modern Albanians are descended solely or mainly from an ancient local population, they should have many early Greek and Latin words in their language. It is even more normal to expect them to have adopted, if not entirely, early medieval Greek, then at least to have a significant share of early Greek vocabulary. The people neighboring the "Proto-Albanians" - the Macedonians - were completely Hellenized in the first centuries BC. A little later, the Thracians south of the Balkans were Hellenized.
Archaeological evidence is particularly important, denying the direct connection of modern Albanians with the ancient local population. The most discussed are the group of necropolises in the central Albanian region between the towns of Komani and Kruja, which modern Albanian historians are very biased towards as a link between the ancient Illyrians and the modern Shiptars. However, the objective analysis of the burial practice in these necropolises shows the opposite, namely that they are related to the settlement of large groups of population, heterogeneous in origin, coming from the Middle Danube region.
Italian Albanians are called Arberishtja or Arberichte, the Greek Albanians, Arvantis (Arvanite), hence in Turkish - Arnavut. In the Old Bulgarian language the name "land of Arbanassi" is used, sometimes "Verbanassi". From the common basis of these words is formed the internationally known name of today's Albanians. This name probably comes from the ancient name of the Arbanon Valley, located along today's Shkumbin River in the middle of the country. In antiquity, the Illyrian tribe "Albanians" lived in the same area, whose name is probably given to the valley. The earliest mention of this tribe is from the second century BC. in History of the World, written by Polybius, where there is talk of a city called Arbon, located in present-day central Albania. Its Illyrian population is called Arbanios and Arbanitai. In the first century AD. Pliny mentions the Illyrian tribe Olbonense. In the II century AD. Ptolemy, a geographer and astronomer from Alexandria, drew a map of Illyria, which marked the town of Albanopolis northeast of Durres and mentioned that the Illyrian tribe Albanoi lived around that town.
There is a time difference of about 10 centuries between the last mention of ancient (non-Hellenized and non-Latinized) Illyrians and the first mention of today's Albanians. The Illyrians, already a fully Hellenized tribe, were last mentioned in the 7th century in the Miracula Sancti Demetri (7th century) [Malcolm, Noel. "Kosovo, a short history"], Macmilan, London, 1998, p. 22-40]. According to Byzantine chronicles, modern Albanians, as a people other than the earlier Latinized Illyrian population, were "discovered" for the first time in 1043, although for centuries Illyria was part of the Roman and Byzantine Empires. The Byzantine princess Anna Comnina wrote in detail about modern Albanians in her chronicles about the wars of her father Alexius Comnenus (1081-111
with the Normans.The interval VII - X century is critical for the origin of the modern Albanians. Before this interval, the ancient Illyrians were already melted down to the point of indistinguishability from the Greeks. During this interval, invasions and settlements of Proto-Slavs, Avars, Kutrigurs and Proto-Bulgarians began, which completely changed the ethnic composition of most of the Balkan Peninsula, including the region of Illyria, Paeonia, and Macedonia. After this interval, Anna Komnina spoke of a new population in the area of present-day Northern Albania, ethnically different from that of the then Greeks, Bulgarians, and Serbs. To denote it, she resurrects the above-mentioned ancient term Arbanitai or Arbanon, which has been forgotten for nearly 10 centuries. This is probably an example of the well-known Byzantine tradition of naming new tribes and peoples after their old ancestors, although there is no ethnic connection between them. In the same way, the first Bulgarians on the other side of the Danube were called Huns, Moesi, and Scythians according to the chronicler's preferences.
To emphasize the great temporal (and possibly ethnic) difference between the ancient Albanians (pure Illyrians from the 2nd century BC to the 2nd century AD), the medieval Greco-Latinized Illyrians (V-VII c. AD) and modern Albanians (XI - XXI century) in the text below will use the name Shiptars as equivalent to "modern Albanians".
In 1774, the German historian Thumann hypothesized that Albanians and the Albanian language originated from the Illyrians and the Illyrian language [Johannes E. Thunmann "Untersuchungen uber die Geschichte der Oslichen Europaischen Volger" Teil, Leipzig, 1774]. This hypothesis has not been proven, and it will hardly ever be possible to prove it, because the Illyrian language itself is completely unknown to modern scholars and one cannot compare a modern language with a long-dead and completely unknown language. This opinion is expressed in a very contradictory and unconvincing way in the Macedonian textbook for the Albanian language. [Mustafa Ibrahimi. Te mësojmë shqip: kurs për fillestarë dhe studentë (botimi i dytë) = Learning Albanian: a course for beginners and students (second edition). Shkup=Скопje: Interlinqua, 2005, с. 7].
On the one hand, it is claimed that Albanians and the Albanian language have Illyrian origins. In this regard, it is stated that some ancient names from this area can be explained in words from modern Albanian: Dardania from dardhe (pear), Dalmatia = dele < delme (sheep), Dimalum = di mal < dy male (two mountains), Bardhyl < bardhë (white), Daz < dash (ram) and others. On the other hand, it is stated that the Illyrian language is dead and very few words of it have been preserved. Only a few well-known Illyrian words are mentioned, which can be explained in words from today's Albanian: peli = pleq (old), aspetos = shpejtë (fast). In my opinion, the Albanian Diel - Sun can be borrowed from the Paeonians, in which the main god - the Sun was called Dyalos (Dryalos).
The language of the Messapians, an ancient Western Balkan tribe, is relatively well known because more than 600 inscriptions in their language, written in Greek letters, have been found in southern Italy. There are claims of kinship between Illyrians and Messapians, but so far this has not been proven. Only a few Messapian words resemble words from modern Albanian: bije-bilie - girl; dardhë - pear; dele (delme) - sheep; dallendysche - swallow. More or less in modern Bulgarian there are so many words from the Latinized language of the Thracians (комин, гуша и дисаги, бисаги - Latin remains), but no serious scholar claims that modern Bulgarian is a descendant of the Thracian language. In fact, such a play on words is simply meaningless and proves nothing. You can choose from two Indo-European languages, modern or extinct, and find dozens of words that have the same sound and the same meaning in both languages. For example, about 15 such words have been found in dead Avestan and modern English, but this does not mean that the English are descendants of the Avestans.
Despite the extreme scarcity of evidence, official Albanian historiography accepts this hypothesis and argues that "Albanian is the only living indigenous language in the Balkans, where Illyrian was once spoken, while other local languages (Messapian, Thracian-Dacian, Ancient Macedonian, Phrygian, Ancient Greek, even Illyrian?!) are extinct." [Mustafa Ibrahimi. Te mësojmë shqip: kurs për fillestarë dhe studentë (botimi i dytë) = Learning Albanian: a course for beginners and students (second edition). Shkup=Skopje: Interlinqua, 2005, с. 7]. In principle, there is no modern nation of pure ethnic origin. A significant part of modern Albanians, especially those from southern Albania, carry the blood of the Albanianized local Bulgarian population from the times of the First and Second Bulgarian Kingdoms. Nevertheless, in the minds of modern Albanians is built the idea that they are descendants of the ancient Illyrians - a cultured people, more ancient than the Greeks. This idea strongly stimulates the Albanian sense of national cohesion and exclusivity. Modern Albanians have a negative attitude towards the surrounding Slavs and call them shkei = slaves (from the Greek-Latin sclavi - slaves).
Apart from the local "Illyrian" hypothesis, other hypotheses have been made about a more distant, but still Balkan origin of the Scythians. The Bulgarian scientist Ivan Duridanov [Duridanov, Ivan. "The Language of the Thracians", [The Language of the Thracians, Science and Art, Sofia, 1976] notes that the names for sea and fishing terms in modern Albanian are of foreign origin, from which he concludes that the Proto-Albanians lived far from the sea (sic!). According to him, the Proto-Albanians are not Illyrians - because the Illyrians have lived on the shores of the Adriatic Sea for thousands of years and are known as excellent seafarers - but Dardanians. In fact, the Dardanians are also an Illyrian tribe and they should "understand" the Illyrian language, including its maritime terms.
The second hypothesis about the origin of the Proto-Albanians is stated by the Bulgarian specialist in comparative linguistics V. Georgiev. It subdivides the Paleo-Balkan languages into several closely related language communities: Illyro-Macedonian, Hellenic, Phrygian-Armenian, Thracian-Pelasgian and Daco-Moesian [Georgiev V. I. Research in comparative historical linguistics. M., 1958. S. 143]. V. Georgiev classifies the Proto-Albanians in the group of Daco-Moesians, i.e. according to him the Proto-Albanians come from the region of the Lower Danube.
All these hypotheses do not agree with the existence of the so-called language line of Konstantin Jireček (Konstantin Jireček: Die Romanen in den Städten Dalmatiens während des Mittelalters, I, 42-44). This mental line of history begins in the middle of present-day Albania, runs along the northern border of present-day Macedonia, and heads east along the ridge of the Balkan Mountains. The ancient indigenous population of the Balkans living south of this line was practically completely Hellenized as early as the first centuries AD, while that of the north was Latinized. The Illyrians in the area of today's Albania welcomed the Roman conquerors not as a primitive tribe, but as subjects of an ancient Illyrian kingdom with a hereditary monarchy. The Romans waged more than 100 years of war with this kingdom before finally defeating it in 168 BC and including it in the province of Iliricum until 395, or a total of 563. The fate of the Thracians and Macedonians is similar. In a much shorter time (about 350 years) the Macedonians and Thracians north of the Balkans became Latinized and began to speak Latin, and those south of the Balkans were Hellenized.
How the Proto-Albanians under these conditions protected themselves from complete Hellenization and especially Latinization to the point of complete isolation is a complete mystery.
For example, the Byzantine emperor Justin I (518-527) was an Illyrian by birth. Earlier in the Roman Empire, there were times when both the emperor and the pope were Illyrians by birth. Such are Diocletian and his Illyrian nephew, Pope Gaius (283-296), born near the modern city of Shkodra! It is certain that their families and their more distant relatives were Greekized or Romanized long before they became basileis, emperors or popes. If modern Albanians came from such Illyrians, they would have to speak corrupted Greek or Latin. Instead, they speak a language completely different from that of Greeks and Latins.
In modern Albanian there are practically no borrowings from the ancient Greek language!
There are two extreme opinions on the question of the presence of Latin borrowings in the language of the Scythians.
One group of researchers claims that there are many but strongly altered Latin borrowings in the language of the Scythians. In this regard, research on the lexicon of the Albanian language from the 1970s is cited, claiming that out of 5,110 Albanian words, 1,420 have Latin-Romance origins, 1180 are of Ottoman-Turkish origin, 540 - of Bulgarian (for example, jug юг, rob роб), 840 modern Greek. The remaining 1130 words are considered to be Albanian proper, of which 400 are Indo-European and 730 are of unknown origin (Trautman Reinhold, 194
. Other authors (H. Pedersen, N. Jokl, E. Chabei) give a higher share of the original Albanian words in the lexicon of this language. According to these authors, the Latin vocabulary entered the speech of the local population in the era of Roman rule in the Balkans, but subsequently underwent radical changes. Apart from dropping the last syllables, there has been a complete change in the phonetic appearance of the bases of the words, which makes them almost unrecognizable.For instance, in the Gheg dialect ranё, in the Tosk dialect rёrё, (sand) < Latin. arēna (sand); Gheg. vner, Tosk. vrer (bile) < Latin. venēnum; kal (horse) < Latin. caballus, gjel (rooster) < Latin. gallus; ar (gold) < Latin. aurum; kofshё (thigh) < Latin soha; pus (well) < Latin. puteus; kushёrí (cousin) < Latin. consobrīnus; mik (friend) < Latin. amīcus; fqi (neighbor) < Latin. vicēnus; gaz (joy) < Latin. gaudium; fe (faith) < Latin. fidēs; lter «altar» < Latin. altare; ferr "hell" < Latin infernum, etc. However, it is quite possible that these words, or most of them, were adopted in the late Middle Ages, when the majority of Albanians were Catholics. Today, about 20% of Albanians in Albania are Catholic.
The above circumstances give grounds for the second group of researchers to claim that in modern Albanian there are practically no (or very few) borrowings from the early Greek and early Latin (Cabej, Eqrem "Die aelteren Wohnsitze der Albaner auf der Balkanhalbinsel im Lichte der Sprache und Ortsnamen", Florence, 1961; Eric P. Hamp, University of Chigaco The Position of Albanian (Ancient IE dialects, Proceedings of the Conference on IE linguistics held at the University of California, Los Angeles, April 25-27, 1963, ed. By Henrik Birnbaum and Jaan Puhvel). If modern Albanians are descended solely or mainly from an ancient local population, they should have many early Greek and Latin words in their language. It is even more normal to expect them to have adopted, if not entirely, early medieval Greek, then at least to have a significant share of early Greek vocabulary. The people neighboring the "Proto-Albanians" - the Macedonians - were completely Hellenized in the first centuries BC. A little later, the Thracians south of the Balkans were Hellenized.
Archaeological evidence is particularly important, denying the direct connection of modern Albanians with the ancient local population. The most discussed are the group of necropolises in the central Albanian region between the towns of Komani and Kruja, which modern Albanian historians are very biased towards as a link between the ancient Illyrians and the modern Shiptars. However, the objective analysis of the burial practice in these necropolises shows the opposite, namely that they are related to the settlement of large groups of population, heterogeneous in origin, coming from the Middle Danube region.
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TL;DR: the fundamental structure of the Albanian language doesn't coincide in any way with the Hellenic or Romance languages, as it logically would be if the Albanians were the descendants of the increasingly Latinized and Hellenized Illyrians, but rather with Eastern Iranian languages, particularly the ancient Scytho-Sarmatian languages (of which proto-Bulgarian itself is actually related to).
