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The change from Arbëria to Shqipëria happened in 1700s. It is derived from shqip "to speak clearly“. The Ottoman society, was based on religious identity more than ethnic one, so we gradually countered that by adopting a name that means "those who speak the same language“. It denoted Albanian speakers as a common people, which was necessary for the time.
And why "Arbëreshë" couldn't continue to be used for Albanian speakers? Had it changed meaning?
If I were to make a guess it would that when someone converted to Islam at the time they would be called a turk. So they would say “he turned turk”. Of course the opposite of that, someone who remained Christian might have still been referred to as Arbëreshë. So to counter that the term Shqiptar might have been preferred. This is just a guess though so take it with a grain of salt.
So if I understood correctly, Albanians that converted to Islam were called "Turks" which was synonym with Muslim. And the Albanians that remained Christian continued to be called Arbërëshe.
So Arbëreshe meant Christian Albanian, and "Turk" meant Muslim Albanian. And in order to include Albanians regardless of religion under one name, you used the term "Shqip" which means something like someone that speaks the same tongue (Albanian)?
So Arbëreshe and Turk were dropped cause of their religious connotations, to be replaced by a language-based name.
Did I get it right?
Yes, but I don’t know nearly enough about the topic, its just an uneducated guess haha
The guy who replied to you is wrong.
It's not about religion. It has to do with the Ottomans being a centralised multiethnic empire. So to tell apart Albanians from others language became the most important thing. Hence the word coming from "speaking clearly". Easiest way to tell if someone was Albanian when there's so many ethnic groups is to ask if they speak it.
Not true at all. Albanian Christian and Muslims did not call each other or themselves different names.
this is actually a very good question, i'm curios too
I mean us Greeks also changed our name from Romans to Hellenes, but we know exactly when and why. I never understood the Albanian name change though.
neither did i, especially since the called themselves that way for so long and it was their own name, not borrowed or given
Also they changed it during Ottoman occupation, but everyone continued calling them Arbëreshë-derived names (Alvanós, Arnaut, Albanci etc)
Fun fact Albanians in Greece that migrated in the early middle ages to the ottoman conquest call each other Arvaniti and those who immigrated in the 1700s call themselves Shqipetar.
yes quite weird, maybe they considered it a Turkish given name(it wasn't though)
u/Accompl_Town_54 answer pretty much explains it.
I'm honestly not sure why, but i do know that the word "Shqip" existed even during those times and it referred to the Albanian language. "Shqiptoj" means "pronounce" in Albanian.
I read somewhere else that the reason Albanians started calling each other "Shqiptar" is bc they understood each other's language because it was pronounced "clearly" to them.
It started becoming widely used in the 17th century or so. Also the word "Shqip" is the only word in Albanian which refers to a language and doesn't end in "-isht" like "greqisht, turqisht, serbisht". Simply "Shqip".
The first Albanian principalities formed on the 11-12th century. One of the first and most prominent of these principalities which covered a specific area in central Albania was the principality of Arbër. It's considered to be the first Albanian state, similar to how Greeks had city states. Like someone saying they're Spartans and from Sparta. They're still Greek fundamentally. In the 15th century Skanderbeg managed to unite the princes of Albanians and the thing these people had in common was the language: Shqip. Hence Shqiptar. The region was still called Arbër but his state included other states and tribes.
https://sq.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principata_e_Arb%C3%ABrit
The short answer is nobody knows.
If I were to come up with a theory with my limited historical knowledge, I'm guessing the term came from the central kingdom at that time, that unfortunately did not include the majority of Albanians.
The Arberesh community that moved to Italy hailed from those parts and that's probably the reason they kept the name.
The rest of Albanians maybe did not identify with the term and later come up with the new name, which has the same base as shqipto (pronounce). Maybe that was a way to identify linguistically during the ottoman invasion and that's what stuck.
The way he lays on the wall, tells me everything is going well in his life. Real Chad.
Is this painted by Paja Jovanović?
It's Charles Bargue
Thanks for clearing that up
Well considering what zoomers r doing to day to day language im sure it will be called something else soon enough
Shqip(onjë) + (ush)tar
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Ohh that makes sense, so Arbëresh came to be a Christian Albanian. So in order to include Muslim Albanians the term Shqiptar was coined.
That must be it, because back in Ottoman times religion was the most important identity one had. The Millet system was in force, that divided people based on their religion and not ethnicity or language.
I remember in Greek historiography during the Greek Revolution, Muslim Albanians were always called "Tourkalvanoi" meaning "Turkish Albanians". Christian Albanians though were simply called Arvanites. Today of course we just call all Albanians Alvanoi, but you can see how important religion was for your identity back then.
Nah it's bullshit, it has nothing to do with religion. It predates Islam in Albania.
No, Arbereshe never meant a Christian Albanian. There is no evidence of that. I have no idea where the guy you replied to got that, but it's wrong.
Albanian Christians and Muslims never used a different ethnonym for each other.
The transition is due to the Ottoman Empire being centralised and multi-ethnic, so Albanians began identifying each other by asking if they understood them, since non-Albanians wouldn't.
And why didn't you use Arbëreshe instead? Why did it have to be replaced?
Because before the Ottomans "Arberia" was more of a distinct place and Albanians called it that and called themselves Arbereshe, ruled by Albanian feudal lords for the most part. After the Ottomans this stopped existing as the Ottomans took over and changed the political landscape.
In the new diverse empire people Albanians needed to identify each other from foreigners more easily and began identifying other Albanians by what language they speak. It probably spread from the centre southwards and northwards. It arose from Albanians simply asking others if they "spoke clearly" (since that's what shqiptoj means) to identify Albanians among non-Albanians.
Evolution of language is pretty random, so maybe it was by chance at first, since it would have had to have spread from one place, but then it caught on. Most likely for the reasons I stated.
It's a good thing we didn't start calling ourselves Epirotes, which important Albanians were doing in the Late Middle Ages. We could probably be in Macedonia's position. Marin Barleti used Epirote as a synonym for Albanian, and so did Skanderbeg, and the first dictionary in Albanian that was written by a bishop and was a Latin-Albanian one called the "Dictionarium latino-epiroticum".
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By the way we did not just call Muslim Albanians "Tourkalvanoi", but Muslim Greeks as well. Crete after being occupied by the Ottomans in 1669, saw a mass-conversion of Cretans to Islam. They made a good chunk of the population, even 30% and the vast majority were ethnic Greeks that kept their language and culture. But, the Cretans called them "Tourkokritikoi" meaninh "Turkish Cretans". For Greeks, it was impossible to be Greek and not be Orthodox Christian. But the Muslim Cretans, were Ottoman collaborators and enjoyed their privileges. And there was great animosity and multiple massacres and revolts. They were finally deported to Turkey in the early 20th century. Muslim Cretans in Turkey, have been completely assimilated into the Turkish nation today, even though their grandparents still spoke Greek.
This is bullshit lol
We dont know but if i were to sugest is becos of flag wich looks like a eagel which translate shqiponjë which in lagends is that this origanetet to people that were proctet by eagels and so this people were called shqiptar of cours this is a leagend so dont take it seriously
I'm not sure this legend is actually real, because the double-headed has been widely used in this region. It was the imperial standard of the Byzantine Empire, and was adopted by many cultures from Turks to Serbs to Germans and Russians. If you look around you, Montenegro and Serbia also have this type of eagle in their flag. Greece also uses this eagle for the Greek Orthodox Church and the Greek Army. It's not exclusive to Albanians, it can be found in many cultures but it had Byzantine origins.
I think the explanation of common language is much more realistic, doesn't it mean something like that in Albanian?