Accentual Stratification of Ancient Greek Loanwords in Albanian

Author(s): Martin E. Huld

Source: Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung, 99. Bd., 2. H. (1986), pp. 245-253
Published by: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht (GmbH & Co. KG)
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 Accentual Stratification
of AncientGreek Loanwords in Albanian

It is well knownthatAlbanianpossessestwo strataof Romance

loansclearlydistinguished bythetreatmentof theconsonantgroups
ct and x.l) Due to thelargenumberof Romanceloans in Albanian,
the data are abundantand well-documented (eg Meyer-Lübke
1904-06: 1054-55).A westernor Dalmatianstrainis attestedby i
drejtë'straight,
right-handed'< Lat direction(cf Veglioticdratbut
Rum dreapton the rightside') and i shtrenjtë(Gheg shtrêjt witha
nasalizedvowel)'dear,expensive'< *strínctum < Lat strictum,con-
taminatedby the presenttenseof the finiteverb,stringo, (cf Vegl
stratbutRum stnmt).Otherloans,ascribableto theeasternor Da-
cian strain,are luftë'a fight'< *lucta(cf Lat luctãtio'wrestling
match'and Rum lupta' war') and kofshë"hip' < Lat coxa (cf Rum
coapsa).
AlthoughtheloansfromancientGreekare farfewer,it is theob-
ject of thispaperto demonstratethattheytoo fallintotwo distinct
geographicalgroups,discerniblethroughthe placementof accent.
The presenceof Greekloan-wordshad been notedbeforeAlbert
Thumbundertookhis fundamental Elemente
study,"Altgriechische
des Albanesischen" (1910), in which he demonstratedthata small
numberof loan-wordsin the Albanianlexiconwere not only of
Greekoriginbutwereas old or olderthanthe abundantRomance
layer.The majorimportof Thumb'sresearchwas thatit provided
clearevidencethattheancestorsof theAlbanianswerealreadyset-
tledin theBalkansduringclassicaltimes.NorbertJoklbrieflynoted
thatsome itemssuch as mokër(Gheg mokën)2)'millstone' are best

l) Romanceand Greekformsare givenin the standardspellingsratherthan

The Greekaccent(') is thatof the standardorthography
phonetictranscriptions.
and not the place of accent as perceivedwhen a Greek word was borrowed.
Otheraccebts(') denotetheplace of accentwhenborrowedintoAlbanian.
2) The changeof earlierintervocalic-n- to -r- is diagnosticof the southern
or Tosk dialectupon whichthe literarystandardexpressedin the Fjalori gjuhës
se sntmeshqipe [Dictionaryof the Contemporary Albanian Language],Tirane,
1980. Gheg formsand certainotherdialectalor non-standardformsare taken
fromthe predecessor,the Fjalor i gjuhësshqipe[DictionaryoftheAlbanianLan-
guage],Tirane,1954,whichis morecompleteforbotanicalnames.

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246 MartinE. Huld

derivedfromdialectalformssuch as NorthwestGreek //q«ra

ratherthanAtticjuTjxavrj 'machine,device'(1924: 89); however,it
was leftto EqremÇabej to emphasizethewesterndialectalnature
of the Greeksourcefor loans like draper(Gheg drapën)'pruning
hook' (1961: 250). The Greek antecedentof thisword musthave
been ôgánavov ratherthan ôgsnavov'sickle'withWest Greekga
insteadof Attic-Ionicge just as in 'Doric iagóç besideAtt iegóç
'holy'(cf Buck 1955:24).
The presenceof ancientWest Greek loans in Albanianimplies
thatin classicalantiquity theprecursors of theAlbanianswerea Bal-
kan tribeto the northand westof the Greeks.Such peoplewould
probablyhave been'Illyrians' to classicalwriters. This conclusionis
neitherverysurprising norveryenlightening sincetheethnographic
terminology of mostclassicalauthorsis notveryprecise.An Illyrian
label does littleto solvethecomplexproblemsof theoriginsof the
Albanianlanguage.
Althoughsome of the mostobviousGreekloans- eg vere(Gheg
ven) 'wine'< *foivä and pjepër(Gheg pjepën)'melon'< nencov
-are ambiguous,mostof theearlyGreekloans can be dividedinto
twogroupsbased on whethertheywerestressedon thepenultimate
or antepenultimate syllablewhentheywere firstincorporated into
theAlbanianlexicon.Uncompounded, nativeAlbaniannouns,adjec-
tivesand numeralswereregularlystressedon the syllableimmedi-
atelyprecedingthepenultimate mora.3)A fewdoubletsescapedco-
lumnalization and emphasizetherule,eg nip'grandson,nephew'<
*népõo(t)sbeside mbesë'granddaughter, niece' < *nepoótieh, and
gjarpër'snake'< *sérpënos beside shtërpinj'vermin'< *sërpénôi, a
thematicized plural.By and large, Latinand Byzantine loans follow
theserulesregardlessof theplacementof theaccentin theoriginal
language,eg kal(è')'horse'< Lat cáballüs, djall 'devil'< LLat diábo-
lüs and kllogjër'ergot'< xaXóyr¡goc 'monk'.4)
One stratum of ancientGreekloansshowsthistypically Albanian
accentplacement.Suchwordsare

3) To emphasizethemoraicstructure, whichdetermines theplacementof the

accent,I mark final syllablesas heavy (") or light Q; Indo-European vowel
lengthis indicatedby gemination.
4) AlthoughLat diabolusis ultimately
fromGk öiaßoÄoctheimmediateRom-
ance sourceis indicatedby the treatmentof intervocalicvoiced stopswhichare
preservedin Greek and Byzantinewords but lost in Romance and some native
words.

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 of AncientGreek Loanwords
AccentualStratification 247

1) angarî'corvée < âyyaçeíã 'id',5)

2) pëllëmbë 'palmof thehand' < *naXáfiã{nahájiri)'id',6)
3) llërë'elbow'< *áXévã(áXévq) 'id',
4) brukë'tamarisk'< *¡Xigvxa 'id',and
(fivgixTj)
5) mëllagë[FGS mullagë] 'mallow' < *fiaXáxã (juaÃáxv)'id'.
The reflexof g for% m mëllagëpresupposesdialectalvoicing(per-
hapsthrougha fricative stage)of theGreekaspirate, thesamesound
changepresumedin
6) maráj[FGS mërajë]'fennel< *jiágadgiov(Ion fiagadgov).
Rumanianmarariu 'fennel'is a reflexof thesameGreekantecedent.
The nativeAlbaniansimplification of *-dri-to -j- is seenin ujë 'wa-
ter <s *udriom. On the basis of the voicingof the Greekaspirate,
we mayadd
7) bredh'firtree'< ßga&v 'savin'.The Albanianformrepresents
a singularized plural,a formation thatis commonin the language,
derivedfrom*bradh,cognatewithRum brad'pinetree',also from
thesameGreekdialect.The ultimatesourceis an unidentified Semi-
ticdialect(< PS *bratu).
The Greekdialectfromwhichtheseformsaretakenhas no signif-
icantliterary or epigraphicattestations, but it maybe called'Make-
donian'in the sense thatit was allied to the nativeidiom of the
Greek-speaking populationof the Argeadkingdom.The statusof
thisdialectwas deducedbyOtto Hoffmannin 1906.The Etymologia
Magna containstwopropernameswhichshowthesamevoicingof
theaspirates, BíXinnoçQiXinnoç and Beg£víxr]'*08g£víxri (cf(psgevi-
xog) as well as xeßaÄrjvxecaAijv 'head'.The factthatthe second
name becomescommononly amongthe Makedoniandynastyof
Ptolemymakestheascription of thesewordsto Makedonianlikely.
Hesychius also labels forms showingthe same sound changesas
Makedonian, aßgovfeg (emendedfromaßgovreg)cxpgveg
er and
ôágaÇ'onXriv{=uágaÇ). The soundchangemay,however, be more
widespreadforHesychiusascribessimilarwordsto Thracian(vißcc
Xióva[ = viça]) or "Lakonian,"whichseemsto be a vaguedesigna-
tionforWestGreekdialects,(ßova'ayeArj naíôcov[ = (pvfj]).Evenif
we acceptthe hypothesis thatsome of theselabels are errors,the

5) This is a Gheg or northerndialect formincorporatedinto the literary

standard.Beforenasals,a become e in Tosk.
6) Hahn (1854.2: 115) givesthe definition'distancebetweenthe thumband
littlefinger. This and thefollowingtermmayhave been borrowedfirstas meas-
urements.

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248 MartinE. Huld

representation ofvoicelessaspiratesbyvoicedstops(perhapssymbo-
lizing voiced spirants)mustbe commonto morethanone dialect.
Hesychius notes a Lakonian aiôœooa'aï&ovoa which shows the
voicedstopforaspiratebut does not have the characteristic Make-
donianmonophthonization of ai to a.
Aristophanes's use of a for d in the mock-Spartan of Lysistrata
indicatesthatWest Greek spirantization had occurredby the late
fifthcentury, althoughthe earliestnativeuse of a for ã is in a
fourth-century inscription{oiço = âeov,IG V.i: 1317.5).These spir-
antsmayin certaincases haveacquireda lenisor voicedarticulation
whichwas orthographically represented byvoicedstopswithwhich
thespirantsmaythenhavebeenin complementary The
distribution.
situationmayhavebeen analogousto thestatusof d in Spanishes-
cudo(< Lat scutum)and crudo(< Lat crüdus).If Makedonianspi-
rantization keptpace withthatin Sparta,a fifth-century datewould
give a reasonable time-frama fortheloans in question.Such a date
wouldcorrespond to thefirstculturalstirrings of powerin Makedo-
nia and providea milieuforsome of the putativeloans,especially
angan. Others like pëllëmbëand Heremay reflectmeasurements
commonto transhumescent shepherds.7) It does notseemlikelythat
a local dialectwould have exertedsuch influenceafterthe engran-
dizementof the MakedoniankingdomunderPhilipII and Alexan-
der III, in whose timesAttickoinebecamethe administrative lan-
guage.8)
The Makedoniannatureof theseloans is supportedby the geo-
graphicaldistribution of classicalplace-namesthatshow the same
effectsof theAlbanianaccentrule:
8) Nis (Alb Mi A) < ad Natssum, eïç Naïaaov,
9) Ruse (in Bogdan, modern *Rush, present-day Dubrovnik)<
ad Rugúsãs,
10) Stip(Alb Skip) < eïç "Aonßovand
11) Vlorë(Gheg Vlonë) < eïç AvXœva.
Theseplace-namesleavelittledoubtthattheAlbanianaccentrules
wereobservedoverMacedonia,Epirusand UpperMoesia (see Map

7) RuthTringhamsuggestedto me duringa conferenceon southeastEuro-

pean archaeologyheld at UCLA February1984 thatpastoraltranshumescence
would providea convenientand intelligible explanationfor such loans and the
polyglotsituationthat ancientMakedonien glossespresent.
8) The native dialect was apparentlysomethingof an anachronismwhen
AlexanderIII insistedupon itsuse in theproçedingsagainstPhilotason charges
of treason.By the thirdcentury,PhilipV uses Atticfor decrees (7G9.Ü: 517).

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 AccentualStratification
of AncientGreek Loanwords 249

One). It is veryprobablethatat least one of the non-Greeklan-

guagesof ancientMakedoniawas eithertheancestorofAlbanianor
itsverynearrelative.Among"Makedonian"glossesis agoçvÀr/ in
whichãÇoç is a respectable
proto-form forAlb ah 'beechtree'.Other
Albanoidglossesare xaoróvÇvXov. Adafiãveç= Alb kashtë'thatch,
Aaxcoveç= Alb dhi < *dtZãwithlostintervocalic
straw',SiÇcc'cciÇ.
voiced spirantand possiblyôgáviç (emendedfromâçáviç) 'ëXa-
(poç= Alb dre-ri(Gheg dre-ni).
The historyof the second ancientGreekstratumin Albanianis
morecomplex.The majorityof thesewordsrepresent eitheredible
or
plants agricultural implements,and all showconsistentand un-Al-
banianantepenultimate accent.This factsuggeststhatthesewords

Map one:
Albaniansiteswithregularaccent

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250 MartinE. Huld

were not borrowed directlyinto Albanian from an intimatelyasso-

ciated Greek-speakingpopulation as the Makedonian loans were but
came frommore remotetrade contacts.Such loans are
12) draper (Gheg drapën) 'pruning hook' < ôçánavov rather
than Attic ôgénavov 'sickle',
13) mëngè'r 'oil press' < ¡láyyavov 'pulleyblock',9)
14) mokër 'mill' < *fiã%ava for fiTjxavfj'device',10)
15) stipelle'hole, grotto' < anr¡Xaiov'cave',
16) alëm 'unguent' < *äÄÄ£ijujuafor äXsijifia 'ointment',11)
17) lakër'lettuce' < Xáxavov 'garden herbs' and
18) kumbull'plum' < *xoxxvjuaÀovfor xoxxvjuîjàov.
This sameaccentualpatternis also seenin a numberof toponyms, eg
19) drisht< ad Drwastum,
20) Dunes < ad Dúrrhachium, ie *eïçAvçgáxiov,11)
21) Ishëm< ad ísamnum, and
'
22) Pojan < ad Apóllionam< eïç AnoXXœviav.
Two pointsare noteworthy. Severalitemsseemto requirespecif-
icallynon-Attic features
such as longã to o in mokërsincetj gave e
in shpellë.Because Dyrrhachium and Apolloniawere foundedby
Corcyraean-Corinthian colonistsin 627 and 588 BC, it would seem
that the ultimatesource was eitherCorinthianor an allied mild
Doric dialect.The consistentantepenultimate accentis maintained
evenwhenthisviolatestheoriginalGreekand Latinaccentrulesas
in mokër< */iãxaváor Durrës< Dúrrhachium. If the accentis
neitherGreeknor Latin,it also cannotbe SlavicsinceSerbianDrac
reflectsSlavic *Duracï,withan unstressed initialsyllable.
The limitedgeographicaldistribution of these place-names,a
smallportionof thelowlandplains(see Map Two), impliesthatthe
source was similarlycircumscribed. The semanticlimitationsof
chieflyagricultural implements and florasuggestthattheseterms
wereacquiredby theancestorsof theAlbaniansthroughtradecon-

9) ë is regularin Tosk, see note 5 above.

10) Native long aa and ee tell togetheras o in Albanian,but in theseGreek
loans only ã became o; 77remainsas e.
") Clear / (Written/) comes froma cluster;single intervocalic*/ is dark
(written//).The double XXin non-Atticcould reflecta clusterindicatedby the
matricallengthening beforeX in the relatedHomericXina,eg £ 171:
Xvjuaranavra xadrjçevaXeiy/aroöe XirísXaifcp.
u) A Slavic intermediary is sometimespositedto accountforAlbanians; Lat
c(h)i givesq.

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 of AncientGreek Loanwords
AccentualStratification 251

'!
•:-:-:-:-:":-:-:":::3Sor^-<ï<»T
'
XvXvXvXv/Md ÍSAMNUK ' £ l^
XvXvXvX'C'AD DURRHACHJUM X. V|

Uft,
^¿•.•••••.•.'.•••••.•.•ÄSaamptnwei, M V
^¡fcV.V.V.V.r FZwm^ fir
AnOAAQNIAM^
8
S ' *^J
^L« •.•/.•.•.•.•^EIE J ^f

Map two:
Albaniansiteswithantepenultimate
accent

tacts.On thebasisof thesesemanticconsiderationsand theaberrant

accent,we have to reckon witha non-Albanian
distinct, population
occupyingthe lowlandplainsof the AlbanianAdriaticcoast. This
languagewas,perhaps,thatof an AdriaticUlyrian'populationakin
to the Messapi of Apulia.Personalnameshave been foundat the
necropolisesof Durrës and Pojan which closelyresemblethose
foundin Messapicinscriptions(Toçi 1969).These Adriaticcoastlan-
dersmusthavebeenthemediatorsof Greekcultureamongthewest
Balkantribesforsometime.
Whatis mostcuriousis thatno loans fromthe nativelexiconof
thislanguagecan be definitely
identifiedin Albanian.13)
If theexis-
13) Possible loans are vjedhullë'badger and modhull'chickpea'. Comparison

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252 E. Huld
Martin

tenceof thisAdriaticstratumis accepted,the relationsbetweenit

and pre-Albanian can be comparedto thatbetweenMiddle Welsh
and Middle English.Middle Welsh romanceshave a numberof
commercial loans fromOld English,eg pwnt'pound' < OE pund
butfewloans fromcontemporary Middle Englishthatare not ulti-
mately of Old French origin,eg bliant 'cambray< ME blihant<
OFr bliauntand swrcotWcoat' < ME surkot< OFr surcot.
Usually these loans reflecttrade goods that reached the Welsh
throughthemediumof Englishcommerce. I suspectthattheGreek
agrarianterms from the mildDoric dialectreached theBalkantrib-
esmenwhoselanguage was ancestral to Albanian as a resultof trade
contactsbetweenthemand the Greekcolonies like Apolloniaand
Epidamnuswhichwere mediatedby speakersof the antepenulti-
mate-accenting languageof theAdriatictribesmen. The retention of
theiraccentuation underlinesthefundamental differencesinthepre-
Albanians'relationswiththemand withtheMakedonianGreeksor
Romans.

CaliforniaState University Martin E. Huid

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Los Angeles,Calif.90032 USA

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withRumanianviezureand mazaresuggestsan earlierpalatal,but beforeother

consonantsAlbanianshouldneutralizeall dorsals; if the medialvowels are ori-
ginal thenthe accentuationis aberrant.

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 AccentuaiStratification
of AncientGreek Loanwords 253

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