(Sea in the historic memory of the Albanians /
Proverbs, rituals, customs, codex’s, texts and notions in Albanology)
The sea and its paradigm
have left their imprints and marks in the psyche, prehistoric and historic
memory of the Albanians. The memory of
the community has managed to record, conserve and transmit examples,
witnesses and proofs of coexistence between Albanians and sea, as well as
witnesses of their “anger” toward it.
Just as history does, the
folklore and especially the language craft memory and collective inheritance.
But such common memory, for better and more, was preserved and inherited in its
most expressive and articulated form as folklore.
There exist a considerable
number of scholars that have made research on the sea traces on the memory of
the Albanians. Thanks to these studies it has been able to collect, to
classify, to interpret the presence of sea in the cycle of Brave Knights, to
trace traditions, rites and crafts, fairytales, legends, oral traditions and
facts upon sailors, pirates and distinguished captains of the sea, as well as
other transversal data about the presence of a sea related culture such as,
olives, salt, fishing, the crafts and other special abilities that relate with
the sailing and the relationship of sailors with the coast, in the Albanian
tradition.
Throughout almost a century
of the existence of Albanology science, the question regarding the presence and
preservation of marine memory in Albanians has been transformed into one of key
problematic that was related and it is related directly with the theses of
Albanian’s lineage, autochthony and ethno genesis.
This theme has sourced
strong arguing among well known scholars and Albanologists. One of the theses
that has raised controversies regarding the so-formulated “lack of marine memory in Albanians”, mainly formulated upon the
autochthon/alokthon controversy, has been working as a thesis that relies on
the linguistic argumentation and the inclusion of the historic memory in
relation with the language, especially with the specific marine language.
In the 2nd
paragraph of the paper published under the title “ARE ALBANIANS DESCENDENTS OF
ILLYRIANS OR THRACIANS?”, (From volume III of Dr. G. Wegiandt’s
Balkan-Archive), the Austrian scholar lists opinions, evaluates and concludes
that: “The marine and fishing terms are
of a foreign source, Greek, Venetian, Slavic or Turkish, or they are entirely
new”.
In the same paper, right
after the title: “What proves that
Albanians come from Thracians and what proves that they don’t come from
Illyrians?” Dr. Gustav Weigandt offers this conclusion-these: “The marine and fishing terminology has
foreign roots”.
Theses of Dr. Weigandt
regarding the natives and settlers, on which “All the marine words are Greek, Venetian, Slavic or Turkish and in
general are very young[1]”,
it is further expanded when he expresses that: “The marine words such as boat,
ship, barge, scull, sail, wheel, mast, etc…, are foreign to Albanian language[2]”.
To further explore this
author we quote: “If Albanians were the
descendants of Illyrians and if they were to live in Illyricum forever, even if
they were to be rooted from the coast by Romans or Greeks, certainly that some
of the most usual words of marine and fishes would prove their own initial Indo-Germanic
root, which at present is not possible by all means”. Even the common word
“fish” is of a Latin root”[3].
Further, making comparisons
also with the other cultures with which Albanians and Albanian language have
had contacts, he remarks: “It is a known
fact that Illyrians were seaman and numerous harbors that were located deep
into their lands made the fishing activity easy to exercise. The ancient
venetians, who, according to the convincing arguments of Carl Paulis, were
Illyrians, must have arrived there (In Venice) by land, while the Japigeans and
Messapians of the lower part of Italy, also Illyrians in their origin, must
have arrived there from the sea. Due to all this, it becomes certain that they
had a enriched terminology of sailing and fishing, a terminology that, at least
partially, was to be found also in the Albanian language and Albanian people if
they were to be their descendants. All the words that relate with the sailing
are Greek, Venetian, Slavic or Turkish, and in general, recent.
When I stayed for some time in Durrës, in 1910, I heard that
the Turkish authorities had brought in some fisherman from Anatolia, so they
might teach Albanians the fishing, because the natives didn’t know how to, this
being a proof that they (the natives) should have come from the inner
territories. One should know that Durrës has been a harbor since
early times. Even to this day one might recognize in the hooks that still hang
in the city walls, where once the vessels were tied. But, as centuries went by,
the earth elevated and the harbor was taken by the sand.
In Elbasan, that is found near the river Shkumbin, that is full of
fish, I have been asking around about the fish names, but in vain, because all
names were of foreign origin; I heard only one native name, but this name was
recent. The marine terms such as boat, ship, barge, scull, sail, wheel, mast,
are foreign and not Albanian. Also the Romanians, being a non marine people,
have not preserved almost anything from the Latin terminology. Most of marine
terms that they use are Slavic and Turkish and recently plenty of other foreign
words were introduced as well; the names of the fish often are Russian.
Albanians that live in the watery parts of Greece, who had to work as
fisherman, use a terminology that is composed of Greek and Neo Italic words. If Albanians were the descendants of Illyrians and if they were to live
in Illyricum forever, even if they were to be rooted from the coast by Romans
or Greeks, certainly that some of the most usual words of marine and fishes
would prove their own initial Indo-Germanic root, which at present is not
possible by all means”. Even the common word “fish” is of a Latin root[4]
Professor E. Çabej, whose point of view
joins with those of other scholars and Albanologists such as N.
Yokl , S. Mladenov, W. Cimochovsky, who have been critical toward
the approach of Wegiandt, presents his own scientific arguments toward the
theses of Dr. Gustav Weigandt.
It is a widely accepted
fact that the lexicon of Albanian language has a lack of word-roots which
connect it directly with the marine lexicon, that there exist borrowings from
the Italian, Slavic or Turkish source when referring to the fields of sailing
and navy, as i.e.:
- From Italian: barkë (boat), baticë (tide-influx), zbaticë (tide-reflux), bunacë
(doldrums), furtunë (storm), gale, marinar (sailor), rem (oar), timon (wheel),
vapor (ship), vel (sail), mjastrall *il vento maestrale*, shirok *il vento
scirocco*, as well as some
fish names;
- From Slavic source: vozit (paddle), lopatë (scull), grezhë, kosh, vllak,
pestrovë, krap, belvicë (fish
names)[5].
Other basic words can be
added to above mentioned words despite their uncertain etymology, words such as
rwrw (sand), that is to be found in
Albanian probably by the Latin arena and Turkish kum (Turkish-kum-sand).
In advancing his
argumentation regarding the inheritance of Albanian in the marine field, Prof.
Eqrem 7abej remarks: “concentrating on
some of his arguments we will say that first of all, the marine and sailing
terminology is not entirely of foreign origin, as Weigandt pretends. Only the
technical vocabulary of this field is foreign: the names of marine vehicles, of
boats and vessels, the names of the fishing equipment and most of the fish’s
names. But, there exists a number of words of general character that belong to
the autochthon fund, such as det (sea), pellg (pond), va-u (ford), mal “buzë lumi a deti”
(mountain near sea or river), ships that relate with the words side, vessel, in
Ulqin, the little vessels and large vessels, meaning, “the little or large
sailing vehicles”.[6]
For the approach of this
paper, despite scientific argumentation, the categorization, classification and
most especially the explanation that Prof. Çabej offers are of a
primary importance when referring to the question of borrowings in the marine
technical vocabulary. Such borrowings/cultural import makes an open and known
fact for all those languages and cultures where along with the imported object,
the appropriate marking word that refers to such object is borrowed.
Citește
materialul integral în ComUnique Nr. 10-12 / 2015
[1]
Weigandt, Gustav, source quoted from “Përpjekja”
magazine, Tirana, 1995, No 3, pg. 80-88. Article: “Are Albanians Descendents of
Illyrians or Thracians?”
[2]
Weigandt, ibid.
[3]
Weigandt, ibid, pg. 83-84
[4]
Published in the “Diturija” magazine, No. 7 & 8, respectively in pg. 260,
291-295, Printed in 1928 Tiranë.
[5]
Çabej, E., Studime Gjuhësore, Vol. 3, Rilindja, Prishtinë, 1976, Pg. 58.
[6]
Çabej, E., Studime Gjuhësore, Vol. 3, Rilindja, Prishtinë, 1976, Pg. 34.