This document provides a summary of a lecture titled "Illyrian languages in Albanian dialects" given by Bajram Doka at a conference on Illyrian studies. The lecture discusses evidence that Illyrian languages were spoken across the Balkan peninsula in antiquity and influenced the development of Albanian dialects. It presents examples of Illyrian inscriptions and place names that have been transcribed into Albanian, as well as analysis of ancient authors showing Illyrian peoples inhabited areas now associated with Greek civilization. The document aims to demonstrate that Albanian dialects retain remnants of pre-Greek Illyrian languages once spoken more widely in the region.

1. Bajram Doka.
Lecture: “Illyrian languages in
Albanian dialects”
Illyrica Antiqua 2 - in honorem D. Rendic
Miočević
International Conference. Sibenik, 12-15
September 2013
I thank from the bottom of my heart the Croatian
hosts and organizers of the conference: Illyrica
Antiqua 2 - in honorem D. Rendic Miočević that is taking
place here in Sibenik. This conference addresses a
great historical mission that consists in furthering
the studies of the Illyrian issue, an issue that is in
constant progress.
I also wish the Croatian people success and
prosperity in their coexistence with the big European
family.
Allow me to congratulate the organizers of this
conference, in particular who honored me with an
invitation to present before you today the lecture
with the theme: “Illyrian languages, in the Albanian
language dialects”.
This lecture is fundamentally supported on the
results of my epigraphic research based on
linguistic analysis of the spoken Albanian dialects
and illustrated with facts and references from
many world well known researchers who dedikated
their work in the past civilizations. Due to time limit, I
could not mention all the names, but I thank them
all, without exception and with deep respect from
1

2. the bottom of my heart to all those who
contributed to our enlightenment on past
civilizations and upon whom I have based my
research.
____________________________________________
___________________________
Illyrian languages in Albanian Dialects.
The Balkans peninsula, until the eighteenth century
was known as the Illyrian peninsula. This region was
so called at the time thanks to the name of the
people who lived there since antiquity.
The Illyrian Peninsula is known by this name from
the ancient historians, the documents of the Roman
and Byzantine Empire, the geo-political maps
dedicated to that specific area and continues to be
so called by the end of the nineteenth century, a
time that coincides with the fall of the Ottoman
Empire.
Homer, in his time, in his work “Iliad and Odyssey”,
during the journey in that region describes the
people of the time who lived in Illyria.
Also of help to us on this is the Osinchan’s
inscription, a script that is dated 6500 years BC [42]
, his writing is the earliest in the Balkans and I have
fully transcribed it in Albanian.
The writings of the ancient authors do not mention
anywhere Helen, Greek or Slavic names.
At that time, only two big brotherly people were
known in the region, the Dardanians and Thracians
[37], [2] who lived side by side with mutual Ethnolinguistic influences. [34], [43].
Their holdings during the past millennias has
followed the ebb and flow effect.
2

3. Illyrian tribes of Thraco-Phrygians expanded
towards Armenia, Japods and Theocruts towards
Canaan, Etruscans and Venets towards Italy. [48],
[52]
Thrako-Illyrians lived next door to each other and
had mutual exchanges of ethno-linguistics, art,
traditions and territories [43], [44] the same could
be said for Phrygians and Brygians who migrated
from Illyria, the area east of Albania towards Asia
Minor, near their brethren, the Dardans who settled
in Ilium (Troy, Asia Minor) of the ancient Troy. [40],
[33], [35].
In antiquity, Illyrians lived in a wide territory,
whose northern border went up to the branches of
the Danube River (Sava and Drava)while in the south,
including prehistoric Epirus territory, the boundary
went to the Gulf of Ambrakia (Preveza) [3 ], [5], [18].
By comparing their ethno-genetic features with
Albanians these traces are found mixed in the
Pellasgian element and found further south in the
Gulf of Corinth, in Elefsina [30], [31], [33].
Strabo, in his time determines the spread of the
Illyrian tribes, in the east the Rhodope mountains,
from the north following the flow of the Danube to
the Alps, while the Illyrian coast started from the
Istrians [6,18] and continued south with the Epirus
tribes in the Gulf of Ambrakia, all the way to
Peloponnesus [33], [36].
From Illyrios, son of Kadmos and Harmonia [48],
were born the tribes of the dardans, dasarets,
parthians, geths, istrians, paeons, liburns, taulants
etc. .... [Enzo Gatti, Illyrians p.11], but the extent of
Illyrian ethnos should be looked upon beyond that
[31]. Ethno-genetic traces and toponymsdirect us in
Germanic countries and Scotland, towards the
European lowlands, [45], [52]. Pebbles found in the
3

4. Mas D’Azil cave in France, except for drawings in
them, also have one-syllable written words “El”,
“Ell” which have similarities EL ~ ILL, YLL {STAR}. All
these and also the inscription in the tablet found in
Glozel, in France show that: “.... people, unknown in
northern Europe have been able to write in an
alphabet in Glozel, near Vichy thousands of years
before the Egyptians developed their hieroglyphs.
[50], [52]. This culture resembles a flow directed
eastward from the west. [51]
According to Herodotus, the Balkan peninsula
residents mentioned to be living there are Thracians,
Kreshtianët {Crestians} (Dardans) [33] and
Pelasgians [3], the emergence of the Greeks
(Hellenes) begins late with the journey of the
settlers of this region, of the Danas from Egypt
and Cadmus from Phoenicia. [4].
Herodotus says that ancient Greece was called
“Pelasgia”. [1] and the Pelasgians in ancient times
presided an Illyrian people in Macedonia [2]. To
illustrate this, Bajram Doka has brought to this
conference an ancient writing (inscript) transcribed
in Albanian [33], [46].
The people of Kreshta, Kreshtians {Crestians} [1] at
that time lived in those lands where they later
would be called Dardans. In northern Albania,
mainly in the Alps region reside Alpianet {the
Alpians} (inhabitants of the Alps) and you find
everywhere the epic legends of their Kreshniks and
their epos, in Albania these legends are known as
“Cikli i Kreshikeve” {the Cycle of the Kreshniks}.
“Hellenistic culture arrived late on the Adriatic
coast, as it arrived in the Bosphorus region of the
Dnieper basin” [46]. This is how Milan Shuflaj
evaluates in his “Cities and castles of Albania.
Mainly in the Middle Ages”, p. 15, 16, 17. # [7], [33], [34],
[35]. The expansion of this culture had trade as its
4

5. main goal and thus it spread to the islands and then
gradually towards residential centers in coastal
areas. This is the first moment in ethno-linguistic
relation that the Illyrian language is faced with a
new element, previously unknown. This is known as
the first stage of the Thracian-Illyrian languages
encounter in history, this time with an outside
element that would create a new ethnos. An ethnos
that will scornfully call the locals barbarians. So
will be called all the nations that were not Greeks.
Can it be claimed that the Greeks may have come
from the north [47] where barbarian people lived?
The Greeks called barbarians all the people that did
not speak the language to be named later
Hellenistic language, and this does not exclude
Pelasgians who were living in the greece of that
time.
Identically the same happened later on with the
other new arrivals, who appeared one after the
other in the Illyrian peninsula who advanced by
assimilating or pushing the locals westward.
This imperialist concept is achieved only through a
long process of evolution. [7], [24].
To monopolize history, the pre-Helen civilizations,
the Pelasgo-Illyrian civilizations has been
carefully covered.
- And the solution was given by “Dheukalon”
(Δευκαλίων).
This word has no meaning in Hellenistic languages; it
is just a historical term and does not explain any
concrete action.
It is different in Albanian language. This is a phrase,
a verb that shows action (active verb) and is
composed by the union of two words.
Dheu {Earth,Soil,Ground} + kalon {pass} =
Dheukalon, so pass the earth.
5

6. The same happened to the ancient deities.
Zeus was not known in Aetolia. [9]
Are Pelasgians genuine greeks? No, responds
Herodotus [8].
Illyrian barbarians lived in Epirus, among them the
tribes of Chaonians, Thesprotians (Ç
ams - Chams)
who would not have preferred to fight against the
other Illyrians. [10, 19]
Residents of Epirus still retain vivid Illyrian
language in their Arvanitas dialect throughout
Greece, particularly in Epirus, Peloponnesus and
Corinth [Elefsina]. Louis Beonlow is expressed in
favor of this expansion in his work “Greece before
the Greeks” on page 230 . # [13], [14].
In support of this thesis come the insripts that
B.Doka has brought to this conference in the poster
titled: Illyrian languages in Albanian Dialects
(inscriptions in Peloponnesus, South Epirus). [33]
Also in its favor is another inscript [49] that the
Greek language does not succeeded in their
transcription (Eleusinian Inscriptions).
Surprisingly Albanian language is again successful!
If it is claimed that only greeks inhabited the land,
the question arises?! - Why should the Helens have
carved their monumental writings in the Albanian
Language? Or the inhabitants of the area were
Illyrians of Epirus, Albanian speaking Arvanitas?
On the autochthony of the Albanian language is
pronounced the eminent Croatian linguist Radoslav
Kateæ in “Ancient Balkan languages”, Von Georg
Stadmüller in “Die Albanische Volktumsgeschichte
AlsForschungsproblem” in VI, where at the bottom
of the opening presentation on the relations on the
Albanian history and language, he said that “Albania
is the supporting point of the Archimedes lever
where we have to rely on to scientifically solve all
the problems in the Balkans”. [15]
6

7. In support of this conclusion, based on the
analysis of the names of Illyrian-Pelasgian deities,
Matthew Aref would write: “Even today, some
historians, archaeologists, or linguists do not
know that the only language that is able to explain
or to descript them is the Albanian language; quite
the opposite happens with the greek language”. [17]
In continuation of the scientific analysis, in the
same work Mathieu Aref (p. 41) concludes that: “....
Greeks upon their arrival will find a place, a people,
a language, a religion, customs, a civilization and
very likely a written script.
The writing (inscription) of Osinchan 6500-7000 B.C.
and the one of the Sitovos cave, Bulgaria [40004500 b.c.], are again inscriptions that can only be
transcribed in the Albanian language and belong to
a period much more Ancient then when the start of
the blooming of the Hellenic period began.
So, they did not arrive in a desert where they were
supposed to do or invented everything from the
beginning. ... Indeed Illyrian-Pelasgian indigenous
populations in Greece were Hellenized, became fully
Greek by becoming bilingual. (Herodotus I, 57).
Those who resisted the Hellenic invasion remained in
their unreachable mountain recesses (Arcadia,
Epirus, Illyria, Pindus, Olympus, etc.).
Arvanito-Epirus language in Greece, is a precious
treasure to study and analyze seriously the geohistorical terms in the Illyrian-Pelasgian subtract.
These studies should be furthered in the field of
linguistics, heritage, rituals, costumes ... “. [17], [26],
[27], [28] the contribution that the Arvanito-Epirotes
have consistently provided from antiquity to the
formation of the Greek ethnos, and beyond.
Regarding the Illyrians great uprising of Dalmatia,
K. Patsch also provides information on other
Illyrian tribes, Illyrians of Epirus and Illyrians of
Macedonia. [29]. For the “barbarian” inhabitants of
7

8. Peloponnesus and their ethno-genesis, E. Kocaqi
gives a clear picture on: “The Pellazgo-Illyrian
role”, p. 21. # [46]
The prominent geographer Kieper says: “... it is
possible that through a myriad of linguistic evidence
of a pre-Hellenistic era, .... it is simply the same
people, who in history is known by the nameIllyrian”.
[12]
During the Roman occupation, the region was under
total pressure of Romanization and can be
considered as the second clash that the Illyrian
civilization faces for its ethno-linguistic survival.
Later, with the start of invasions from outside the
region, the Balkans again became the source of
creation of other ethnos that flourished mainly
after the arrival of the Slavs in the Balkans. This
confrontation imposed the creation of new ethnolinguistic relations. The supremacy was on the side
of the new comers.
This collision in the ethno-cultural plan can be
considered as the third clash with the Illyrians,
that this time made the transition from the
Romanizing rule to the Slavism rule. Illyrians who
managed to survive the complete assimilation were
those living in remote rural areas and in the central
and west area of the peninsula; the rest were either
assimilated or abandoned their homes by being
pushed westwards.
So, clean tracks of the Illyrian ethnos traces are
still preserved in the area, included toponimes they
areunderstandable in albanian language, still
remain all over the region from Dacia throughout
Dalmatia into Lombardia, one example I am
presenting is: (Lum-aregion in Albania, to Lumbard-e-nikin Croatia, into Lom- bard-i-a(Lumbard-e-nia - lat.)in Italy [in alb. the word bard(e,
i)= i bardhë, engl. =white;alb. barde-nik =i zbardhur,
engl. =to white].
Illyria’s invaders intended to possess everything
that was possible. There begins the adventure of the
hatred for the locals that was fed by Plato’s
8

9. idealism that: “Everyone has the right to turn
barbarians into slaves”.
After the arrival of the Slavs in Illyria in the XV
century, the region was placed under Ottoman
occupation that lasted almost 500 years. The
Illyrians who survived, like all the other peoples
of the Balkans, submitted to the Ottoman Empire.
Some of them, who could not withstand the imposing
methods of the empire, were forced to convert to
the Muslim faith. This effect can be considered as
the fourth clash of Illyrian civilization with the
assimilative flow that the entire surrounding
exercised against them.
One factor that cannot be underestimated in the
Albanian language is the Roman influence that was
conducted in the Daco-Thracian element. The
beginnings of this interference are felt with the
movements of these populations towards the
Adriatic shores in different times, imposed by the
pressure of attacks and invasions that were aimed
at the Daco-Thracian lands.
From the underground archaeological findings
from the Balkan region, based on the wide
historical-linguistic analysis it is difficult not to be
confronted with the extent of Illyrian ethnos and
faced with the conclusion of the autochthony of
the Albanian language as a worthy inheritor of the
Illyrians.
Thank you for the opportunity to be here.
We will see each other again during the poster
presentation session.
References:
1.Herodotus.http://archive.org/stream/historyherodotu00unkngoog#page/n558/
mode/2up (Book VI, p. 543.)
2.http://archive.org/stream/historyherodotu00unkngoog#page/n560/mode/2up
9

10. Essay II. The narrow use most proper. Page 545 (Herodotus. History. Book VI)
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11. 17 Xhuzepe Krispi . “Shqipja nëna e gjuhëve … “, f. 9, 12, 13,14,15, 16.
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september 12-15 , 2013.
11

12. Poster 2:
http://www.slideshare.net/bajramdoka5/illyrian-conference-poster-presentationillyrianlanguages?fb_action_ids=151891391657988&fb_action_types=slideshare%3Aupl
oad&fb_source=og_snowlift_photo_robotext, ose
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13