It’s not a rare phenomenon amongst ‘Greek’ and Slav net warriors to truncate quotes out of their real content in order to make intentionally distorted conclusions. Such propagandists have put forth as “evidences” against Illyrian origin of Albanians some misleading pieces from John Wilkes’s book ‘Illyrians’. They always pick up pieces that suits to their low ambitions toward Albanian people.

Albanian Ties with Illyrian

Many lines of reasoning convince linguistic scholars that the Albanian people and language originated with the ancient lllyrians.
1. The national name Albania is the name Albanoi, an Illyrian tribe mentioned by the geographer Ptolemy of Alexandria about A.D 150.
2. The Albanoi territory then centered at Albanopoli, between Durrës and Kruja, the heartland of modern Albania.

According to the central hypothesis of a project undertaken by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, Old Albanian had a significant influence on the development of many Balkan languages. Intensive research now aims to confirm this theory. This little-known language is being researched using all available texts before a comparison with other Balkan languages is carried out. The outcome of this work will include the compilation of a lexicon providing an overview of all Old Albanian verbs.
Different languages in the same geographical area often reveal certain similarities, despite there being no evidence of a common origin. This phenomenon, known as “Sprachbund”, is also evident in the Balkan region where the Albanian, Greek, Bulgarian, Macedonian and Romanian languages display common words and structures. The question is whether these languages have influenced one another, or whether one specific language has been decisive in shaping the evolution of the others?

“The Pelasgi would have formed the pre-historical population of Epirus, Macedonia, Illyria, Greece, the Peloponnese and large Italian territories.  In Greece, the Pelasgi would have adopted the Hellenic language, when the Hellenic population came to dominate the Pelasgic one, while the native language would have lasted until both the Bulgarian invasion of Macedonia and the Serbian invasion of Illyria. In Albania, southern Illyria and Epirus, the Pelasgic population resisted assimilation by the Slavic population.

Albania

THE ANCIENT ILLYRIANS

Source: Based on information from R. Ernest Dupuy and Trevor N. Dupuy, The Encyclopedia of Military History, New York, 1970, 95; Herman Kinder and Werner Hilgemann, The Anchor Atlas of World History, 1, New York, 1974, 90, 94; and Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15, New York, 1975, 1092.

Mystery enshrouds the exact origins of today’s Albanians. Most historians of the Balkans believe the Albanian people are in large part descendants of the ancient Illyrians, who, like other Balkan peoples, were subdivided into tribes and clans. The name Albania is derived from the name of an Illyrian tribe called the Arber, or Arbereshë, and later Albanoi, that lived near Durrës. The Illyrians were Indo-European tribesmen who appeared in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula about 1000 B.C., a period coinciding with the end of the Bronze Age and beginning of the Iron Age. They inhabited much of the area for at least the next millennium. Archaeologists associate the Illyrians with the Hallstatt culture, an Iron Age people noted for production of iron and bronze swords with winged-shaped handles and for domestication of horses. The Illyrians occupied lands extending from the Danube, Sava, and Morava rivers to the Adriatic Sea and the Sar Mountains. At various times, groups of Illyrians migrated over land and sea into Italy.

“The Macedonians, who seized on the district anciently called Emathia, were, in all probability, of Illyrian origin“

(~A manual of the political antiquities of Greece, historically considered~ By Carl Friedrich Hermann, 1836, pg.32)

Illyrians as Dorians

Carleton S. Coon found a connection between the Illyrians and the Dorians based on his anthropological analyses of the Albanian and Montenegrin population as well as the Sfakian population in Crete. Coon discovered that Montenegro and Albania is highly concentrated Illyrian racial zone and that the Sfakians are directly descended from Doric tribes that invaded Crete from the direction of Macedonia and Illyria. Moreover, he discovered that Albanians, Montenegrins and Sfakians shared many similarities in stature, appearance, language, national costume, belligerent tendencies, tribal orders, and vendettas.

Macedonia – Its Albanian Affiliation

MACEDONIA – 4000 YEARS OF ALBANIAN CONTINUANCE

Written by: ALBPelasgian
Translated by: qiellikalter
© ARBERIAONLINE – All rights reserved

Η ΙΛΛΥΡΙΚΗ ΚΑΤΑΓΩΓΗ ΤΩΝ ΑΡΧΑΙΩΝ ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΩΝ

The writings of ancient Greek and Roman authors confirm implicitly the Illyrian identity of Ancient Macedonians: Pliny the Elder [IV, X, 33], Strabo [7, 7, 1; 7.7.8; 7, 11], Ptolemy [3, 12]. Based on this clear information, a large number of historians and linguists of the XIX-th and XX-th century uphold a hypothesis on Illyrian identity of Macedonians. We can mention here: Karl Otfrid Muller, William Smith, Charl Anthony, G. Finlay etc. Later on, other well known linguists that do support the thesis of an Illyrian essence in the Ancient Macedonians language are: G. Kazaroff, M. Rostovtzeff, M. Budimir, H. Baric (Miltiades Hatzopoulos: 1999).