The Albanian Language in Antiquity

Within the Indo-European language family, to which most of the languages of Europe belong, Albanian forms a branch of its own. Along with Greek and the Romance languages, Albanian is the only direct descendant of those languages spoken in the Balkans in ancient times. Content and aim of the research project Albanian has only been known from written sources since the 16th century AD. Therefore, we do not know exactly what the language looked like in ancient times and in the early Middle Ages. It is also disputed in which region of the Balkans the precursor of Albanian, called Proto-Albanian, was spoken. Our project tries to find an answer to the questions of what the precursor of the Albanian language looked like between 1500 and 2000 years ago, and where this precursor was spoken. This can only be answered indirectly. The linguistic-historical comparison of words and the grammar of Albanian with other related languages allows certain conclusions about the earlier linguistic state of Albanian. In addition, the project is investigating the extensive ancient Greek and Latin vocabulary that Proto-Albanian borrowed, as well as the Proto-Albanian words that were incorporated into early Romanian. This will also allow us to determine the shape of Proto-Albanian more precisely. Scientific and social context The project aims first and foremost at the linguistic and cultural history of Albanian. The results will also be relevant for Greek, Latin, Romance and Indo-European linguistics. Furthermore, our results will contribute to a more balanced linguistic and cultural history of the Balkan Peninsula.