The Arbëresh Dialect Provides A Window Into Old Albanian
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The Arbëresh dialect is a unique variety of the Albanian language spoken in Southern Italy.
It serves as a living time capsule for linguists and language learners alike.
This dialect preserves the exact way Albanian was spoken more than five hundred years ago.
Standard Albanian has changed significantly over the centuries due to outside influences.
Arbëresh, however, remained completely isolated from these historical shifts.
Learning about Arbëresh gives us a clear look into the roots of the modern Albanian language.
Table of Contents:
History of the Arbëreshë people
The Arbëreshë are an Albanian ethnolinguistic group living mainly in the southern regions of Italy.
Their ancestors left Albania during the 15th and 16th centuries.
They fled across the Adriatic Sea to escape the expanding Ottoman Empire.
Most of these refugees came from the southern part of Albania.
Because of this, the Arbëresh dialect is heavily based on the southern Tosk dialect of Albanian.
They settled in remote villages in Italy and formed tight-knit communities.
This geographic separation meant their language developed entirely independently from the Albanian spoken in the Balkans.
How isolation preserved Old Albanian
Languages constantly evolve through contact with neighboring cultures.
When the Arbëreshë left Albania, their language stopped evolving alongside the mainland language.
They brought with them the medieval vocabulary and grammar of the 1400s.
Mainland Albanian went through massive changes during five centuries of Ottoman rule.
The Arbëresh dialect skipped these specific changes completely.
Instead, it kept older sentence structures and ancient words that mainland Albanians eventually forgot.
It also absorbed some regional Italian influences over time.
Even with Italian additions, the core of Arbëresh remains an authentic snapshot of Old Albanian.
Missing Turkish loanwords
Modern Standard Albanian contains many loanwords from Turkish, Arabic, and Persian.
These words entered the language during the Ottoman occupation.
Mainland Albanians adopted new terms for administration, food, and daily items.
The Arbëreshë were already living safely in Italy when this happened.
Therefore, you won’t find these Turkish loanwords in the Arbëresh dialect.
Instead of using a Turkish-derived word, an Arbëresh speaker uses the original native Albanian word.
If a native word didn’t exist for a modern invention, they borrowed from Italian or Sicilian instead.
Comparing Arbëresh to Standard Albanian
Looking at a side-by-side comparison shows exactly how Arbëresh differs from Standard Albanian.
A great example is how pronunciation shifted on the mainland but stayed the same in Italy.
Hundreds of years ago, Albanian words often used a “gl” consonant sound.
Standard Albanian eventually changed this old “gl” sound into a “gj” sound.
The Arbëresh dialect never made this shift and still uses the original “gl” pronunciation today.
Gluhë
Glu
Many everyday vocabulary words also show clear historical splits.
Sometimes the Arbëresh word is an older Albanian word, while the Standard Albanian word is a newer adoption.
Here’s a brief comparison of some basic words.
| English | Standard Albanian | Arbëresh Dialect |
|---|---|---|
| Village | Fshat | Katund |
| Mother | Nënë | Mëmë |
| To work | Punoj | Shërbej |
| Boy | Djalë | Kopil |
| To speak | Flas | Flas / Zjarr |
It’s fascinating to see how meanings shift over time.
For example, the word kopil in Old Albanian and modern Arbëresh simply means “boy” or “young man”.
In modern Standard Albanian, this exact same word evolved to have a negative meaning.
When Arbëresh speakers greet each other, they also use older, traditional phrasing.
Çë bën?
Si rrini?
Although the two varieties have grown apart, a mainland Albanian and an Arbëresh speaker can still understand each other.
The Arbëresh dialect remains a beautiful, living piece of Albanian history.
