Baki Ymeri: The Albanian-Romanian phenomenology―a miracle of history

nga **Agim Gashi** Fri Sep 04, 2009 1:54 am

The Albanian-Romanian phenomenology―a miracle of history

The Albanians are the Romanians’ only relatives from the Dacian-Thracian-Illyrian family. We will uncover here a fascinating terrain of interlinkages dating back to the beginning of history and which have not yet been sufficiently explored. Our Roman-ness did not begin with Trajan’s invasion (101–106 AD), nor did it begin with Decebalus or Burebista. It started much earlier, by means of pastoral farming. We will analyze here its linguistic, ethnographic, and ethnological elements. The ethno-spiritual relationships between the Thracian-Romanian and Illyrian-Albanian pastoralism date from the proto-Roman and proto-Latin periods.

By Baki Ymeri

We will attempt to get to know the very interesting―and still rather mysterious―age and scope of the spiritual ties between Romanians and Albanians. The Albanians are the Romanians’ only relatives from the Dacian-Thracian-Illyrian family. We will uncover here a fascinating terrain of interlinkages dating back to the beginning of history and which have not yet been sufficiently explored.

The Albanian-Romanian relationships are so profound and ample that even today the expression Vllahu është vëlla (English translation: “The Vallachian is our brother”) is commonplace in Albania. “The Albanians and the Romanians are blood brothers, used to say Nicolae Iorga. “I have written about the Albanians before and I am delighted to return to this subject. This is a truth that nobody has written before: That who controls the Albanians and the Macedonian Romanians, he controls the Orient. There are plenty of Romanians in Albania who are no different from Albanians. These two nations are the strongest there. Romanians are getting along better with the Albanians than with others. Odd thing! Albanians’ traditions are identical to those of Romanians from Macedonia, and, stranger still, they are very similar to those of Romanians from the Principates There is nothing strange in this supposition if we take into account Romanians’ pastoral life to the North and South of the Danube. Our Roman-ness did not begin with Trajan’s invasion (101–106 AD), nor did it begin with Decebalus or Burebista. It started much earlier, by means of pastoral farming. We will analyze here its linguistic, ethnographic, and ethnological elements. The ethno-spiritual relationships between the Thracian-Romanian and Illyrian-Albanian pastoralism date from the proto-Roman and proto-Latin periods. I have chosen this topic because Albanians share ancient ties with the Romanians through language. These date back to before Christianly through an ethno-geographical link: Albania–Kosova–Timok Valley–Romania. History and religion explain and justify the closeness of these peoples both as ancient neighbors and modern developing nations. Old and deep ties connect the Romanians and the Albanians; only second hand politicians have ever ignored them. While Romanians survived in the arch traced out by the Carpathian Mountains and the Danube, the Albanians survived in an area that the Romans, the Slavs, the Turks did not manage to dominate. These three successive waves did not manage to destroy nor annihilate the Albanian identity and did not alter its features that render it so close to Romanians.

Albanians and Romanians have always been neighbors, except during the Slavic dominance. Their close ties reveal themselves in language, folklore, customs, traditions, clothing, and toponymy. In his work titled “Rumanische Toponomastik” (1924), Iorgu Iordan gives names that are direly linked to the Albanian, such as Arbănaşi (in Buzău), Arnăutul (Negru), Fântâna Arnăutului, Movila Arnăutului, Arnaut Bostan-Dere (in Constantza), etc. Some authors believe that arbănaş also means Aromanian. Daco-Romans from Muntenia and Moldavia often referred to Aromanians as Albanians, because they came from the Albanian provinces, as they did in Bulgaria. It is similarly known that Albanians who settled in Romania in centuries past were known to the locals as arnăuţi and even Turks. The Romanian toponymy has a number of words other than arbănaşi and arnăut which relate to the Albanian toponymy. The Romanian-Albanian ties have remarkable features that relate to time, space, history, social-psychology, religion, culture, and art. These ties are based on a profound sympathy―something that explains their diversity, vitality, and cordiality. In the PhD thesis with the same title, I provided a chronological account of the cultural events which took place between the 16^th and the 20^th Centuries. Drawing on a mix of unique publications by Romanian and foreign researchers, I have thus tried to show that we have a common heritage in that we share traditions, customs, habits, beliefs, and rituals. While the Romanian-Albanian ties are linked to the very essence and origin of the two peoples, the later relations with their Slavic neighbors are of political circumstance. I have tackled the issue of the Slavic danger in another paper, in which I tried to argue for a truth that is little known here. While the Russians and the Serbs, through their expansionist politics, have endangered both our identity and the existence of certain Romanian or Albanian territories (e.g., Bessarabia, Bukovina, Western Banat, The Timok Valley, Kosova, etc.), our relations with the Albanians have always been cordial and collaborative. This paper does not take a political stance in discussing Kosova - currently under the protection of the international community- as should Bessarabia be, too. I do not focus on the politics because I wish to discuss the issue from the linguistic and historical point of view, whilst bringing in novel elements. When it comes to language, the Albanian language is of key importance in the study of non-Latin elements pertaining to the Romanian language. “The most straightforward Romanian elements inherited from the Thracian-Dacian language are those that have similar or identical counterparts in Albanian.”

vijon

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