, the Ottoman Turkish name for albania.
1.—Language.
Allegedly descended from Pelasgian, Albanian is an Indo-European language of “satem” type like Armenian, Indo-Iranian and Slavonic. No literary records occur before 1496 A.D., but ancient Illyrian and ancient Epirote, on the basis of personal and place names, are held to be the prototypes of Geg (northern) and Tosḳ (southern) Albanian respectively. Illyrian mantua , mantia , “bramble”, and grōssa , “file”, are Albanian mand …