75-491: Arvanites ( / ˈ ɑːr v ə n aɪ t s / ; Arvanitika : Αρbε̱ρεσ̈ε̰ , romanized : Arbëreshë or Αρbε̰ρορε̱ , romanized: Arbërorë ; Greek : Αρβανίτες , romanized : Arvanítes ) are a population group in Greece of Albanian origin. They are bilingual , traditionally speaking Arvanitika , an Albanian language variety , along with Greek . Their ancestors were first recorded as settlers who came to what
150-618: A dachsprache ("roof language"), in the way dialects of a national language within the same country usually are. There are three main groups of Arvanitic settlements in Greece. Most Arvanites live in the south of Greece, across Attica , Boeotia , the Peloponnese and some neighbouring areas and islands. A second, smaller group live in the northwest of Greece, in a zone contiguous with the Albanian-speaking lands proper. A third, outlying group
225-454: A "backward country", or an opportune people with questionable morals, behaviors and a disrespect for religion. Other Arvanites during the late 1980s and early 1990s expressed solidarity with Albanian immigrants, due to linguistic similarities and being politically leftist. Relations too between Arvanites and other Orthodox Albanian speaking communities such as those of Greek Epirus are mixed, as they are distrusted regarding religious matters due to
300-517: A common (spoken or written) Standard Arvanitika has taken place. At the same time, Arvanites do not use Standard Albanian as their standard language either, as they are generally not literate in the Latin-based standard Albanian orthography, and are not reported to use spoken-language media in Standard Albanian. In this sense, then, Arvanitika is not functionally subordinated to Standard Albanian as
375-664: A common Albanian-Greek state. After the Greek War of Independence, Arvanites contributed greatly to the fulfilment of irredentist concept of Megali Idea which aimed to see all Greek populations in the Ottoman Empire freed and came to a halt with the end of the Greco-Turkish war in 1922. During the 20th century, after the creation of the Albanian nation-state, Arvanites in Greece have come to dissociate themselves much more strongly from
450-554: A past Albanian Muslim population living amongst them. Amongst the wider Greek speaking population however, the Arvanites and their language Arvanitika were viewed in past times in a derogatory manner. These views contributed toward shaping negative attitudes held by Arvanites regarding their language and thereby increasing assimilation. In post-dictatorial Greece, the Arvanites have rehabilitated themselves within Greek society through for example
525-514: A peak some time during the 14th century, and ended around 1600. Albanians first reached Thessaly , then Attica , and finally the Peloponnese. One of the larger groups of Albanian settlers, amounting to 10,000, settled the Peloponnese during the reign of Theodore I Palaiologos , first in Arcadia and subsequently in the more southern regions around Messenia , Argolis , Elis and Achaea . Around 1418,
600-695: A phara desired to be the leader of the phratry and would not be led by another. Women held a relatively strong position in traditional Arvanitic society. Women had a say in public issues concerning their phara, and also often bore arms. Widows could inherit the status and privileges of their husbands and thus acquire leading roles within a fara , as did, for instance, Laskarina Bouboulina . Traditional Arvanite folk songs offer valuable information about social values and ideals of Arvanitic societies. The traditional clothing of Arvanites included distinctive attire that sometimes identified them in past times as Arvanites from other neighbouring populations. Arvanite males on
675-586: A policy of actively discouraging and repressing the use of Arvanitika. In the decades following World War II and the Greek Civil War , many Arvanites came under pressure to abandon Arvanitika in favour of monolingualism in the national language, and especially the archaizing Katharevousa which remained the official variant of Greek until 1976. This trend was prevalent mostly during the Greek military junta of 1967–1974 . The 1460–1463 Ottoman taxation cadastre recorded
750-466: A population loss of 5.1%. The delineation of the border between Greece and Albania in 1913 left some Albanian-populated villages on the Greek side of the border as well as Greek-populated villages and cities in Northern Epirus , in present-day Albania. In the past, the coastal region of Thesprotia was also home to a Cham Albanian minority, whose number did not exceed 25,000 in the 1940s, alongside
825-526: A sample text in the three language forms. Trudgill (2004: 5) sums up that "[l]inguistically, there is no doubt that [Arvanitika] is a variety of Albanian". In terms of "ausbau" (sociolinguistic "upgrading" towards an autonomous standard language), the strongest indicator of autonomy is the existence of a separate writing system, the Greek-based Arvanitic alphabet . A very similar system was formerly in use also by other Tosk Albanian speakers between
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#1732845003814900-562: A second large group arrived, possibly fleeing Aetolia , Acarnania and Arta , where Albanian political power had been defeated. After the Ottoman incursion in 1417, other groups from Albania crossed western Greece and may have infiltrated into Achaea. The settled Albanians practiced a nomadic lifestyle based on pastoralism, and spread out into small villages. In 1453, the Albanians rose in revolt against Thomas and Demetrios Palaiologos , due to
975-547: A similar form of the Greek alphabet (e.g. [8] ). Texts in Arvanitika have survived in the private correspondence between Arvanites who used the dialect. Such is the correspondence of Ioannis Orlandos with Georgios Kountouriotis and other letters by members of the Kountouriotis family written in the Arvanitika of Hydra with Greek script. In public use, Arvanitika has been used in election pamphlets of Attica and Boeotia in
1050-600: A tourist attraction. The gross domestic product (GDP) of the region was €4.1 billion in 2018, accounting for 2.2% of Greek economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was €14,700 or 49% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 63% of the EU average. Epirus is the region in Greece with the third lowest GDP per capita and one of the poorest regions in the EU. Around 320,000 people live in Epirus. According to
1125-730: Is a descent model , similar to the Albanian tribal system of fis . Arvanites were organised in phares (φάρες) mostly during the reign of the Ottoman Empire . The apical ancestor was a warlord and the phara was named after him. In an Arvanitic village, each phara was responsible to keep genealogical records (see also registry offices ), that are preserved until today as historical documents in local libraries. Usually, there were more than one phares in an Arvanitic village and sometimes they were organised in phratries that had conflicts of interest. Those phratries didn't last long, because each leader of
1200-551: Is a summary of the widely diverging estimates (Botsi 2003: 97): Like the rest of the Greek population, Arvanites have been emigrating from their villages to the cities and especially to the capital Athens . This has contributed to the loss of the language in the younger generation. Today, regions with a strong traditional presence of Arvanites are found mainly in a compact area in southeastern mainland Greece, namely across Attica (especially in Eastern Attica), southern Boeotia ,
1275-552: Is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region in northwestern Greece . It borders the regions of Western Macedonia and Thessaly to the east, West Greece to the south, the Ionian Sea and Ionian Islands to the west and Albania to the north. The region has an area of about 9,200 km (3,600 sq mi). It is part of the wider historical region of Epirus , which overlaps modern Albania and Greece but lies mostly within Greek territory. Greek Epirus, like
1350-424: Is also some farming and fishing , but most of the area's food must be imported from more fertile regions of Greece. Epirus is home to a number of the country's most famous dairy product brands, which produce feta cheese among others. Another important area of the local economy is tourism, especially eco-tourism. The natural environment of the area, as well as its traditional villages and lifestyle, have made Epirus
1425-468: Is currently considered in danger of extinction due to it having no legal status in Greece. The language is also not available at any level of the educational system in Greece. Social changes, government policies, and public indifference have also contributed to the decline of the language. Arvanites were regarded as ethnically distinct from the Greeks until the 19th century. Amongst the Arvanites, this difference
1500-587: Is found in the northeast of Greece, in a few villages in Thrace . According to some authors, the term "Arvanitika" in its proper sense applies only to the southern group or to the southern and the Thracian groups together i.e. to those dialects that have been separated from the core of Albanian for several centuries. The dialects in the northwest are reported to be more similar to neighbouring Tosk dialects within Albania and to
1575-520: Is in a state of attrition due to language shift towards Greek and large-scale internal migration to the cities and subsequent intermingling of the population during the 20th century. The name Arvanites and its equivalents are today used both in Greek ( Αρβανίτες , singular form Αρβανίτης , feminine Αρβανίτισσα ) and in Arvanitika itself ( Arbëreshë or Arbërorë ). In Standard Albanian ( Arvanitë, Arbëreshë, Arbërorë ) all three names are used. The name Arvanites and its variants are based upon
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#17328450038141650-575: Is mainly alpine . The vegetation is made up mainly of coniferous species. The animal life is especially rich in this area and includes, among other species, bears, wolves , foxes, deer and lynxes . The Epirus Region ( Περιφέρεια Ηπείρου , Periféria Ipírou ), as it is currently defined, was established in the 1987 administrative reform and was divided into prefectures ( νομοί , nomí ), which were further subdivided into municipalities ( δήμοι , dhími ). Greece's local government reforms of 2011 streamlined local government by replacing
1725-457: Is today southern Greece in the late 13th and early 14th century. They were the dominant population element in parts of the Peloponnese , Attica and Boeotia until the 19th century. They call themselves Arvanites (in Greek) and Arbëror (in their language). Arvanites today self-identify as Greeks as a result of a process of cultural assimilation , and do not consider themselves Albanian. Arvanitika
1800-463: The Arvanites , a population group in Greece . Arvanitika was brought to southern Greece during the late Middle Ages by Albanian settlers who moved south from their homeland in present-day Albania in several waves. The dialect preserves elements of medieval Albanian, while also being significantly influenced by the Greek language . Arvanitika is today endangered, as its speakers have been shifting to
1875-466: The Greek War of Independence and the Greek Civil War , this has led to increasing assimilation amongst the Arvanites. The common Christian Orthodox religion they shared with the rest of the local population was one of the main reasons that led to their assimilation. Although sociological studies of Arvanite communities still used to note an identifiable sense of a special "ethnic" identity among Arvanites,
1950-518: The New Democracy and Popular Orthodox Rally parties, and re-elected in May 2014 and May 2019 . Epirus has few resources and its rugged terrain makes agriculture difficult. Sheep and goat pastoralism has always been an important activity in the region (Epirus provides more than 45% of meat to the Greek market), but there seems to be a decline in recent years. Tobacco is grown around Ioannina, and there
2025-527: The Ottoman conquest . Groups of Albanians moved into Thessaly as early as 1268 as mercenaries of Michael Doukas . The Albanian tribes of Bua , Malakasioi and Mazaraki were described as "unruly" nomads living in the mountains of Thessaly in the early 14th century in Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos' 'History'. They numbered approximately 12,000. Kantakouzenos describes a pact they made to serve
2100-561: The Republic of Venice or the Kingdom of Naples . Historian Thomas Gordon who traveled in the Kingdom of Greece in the 1830s and earlier in the 1820s described its Albanian-speaking areas: "Attica, Argolis, Boeotia, Phocis, and the isles of Hydra, Spetses, Salamis, and Andros" as well as "several villages in Arcadia, Achaia, and Messenia". Historian George Finlay in the mid 19th century estimated
2175-755: The Tosk dialect spoken in Southern Albania. However, it has received a great deal of influence from Greek , mostly related to the vocabulary and the phonological system. At the same time, it is reported to have preserved some conservative features that were lost in mainstream Albanian Tosk. For example, it has preserved certain syllable-initial consonant clusters which have been simplified in Standard Albanian (cf. Arvanitika gljuhë /ˈɡʎuxə/ ('language/tongue'), vs. Standard Albanian gjuhë /ˈɟuhə/ ). In recent times, linguists have observed signs of accelerated structural convergence towards Greek and structural simplification of
2250-535: The 16th and 18th century. However, this script is very rarely used in practice today, as Arvanitika is almost exclusively a spoken language confined to the private sphere. There is also some disagreement amongst Arvanites (as with the Aromanians ) as to whether the Latin alphabet should be used to write their language. Spoken Arvanitika is internally richly diversified into sub-dialects, and no further standardization towards
2325-680: The 19th century. These pamphlets were published in Greek and Arvanitika for the better propagation of party lines among Arvanites and to ease communication between non-Arvanite candidates who could not speak Arvanitika and Arvanite voters. Source: Arvanitikos Syndesmos Ellados Compared with Standard Tosk (red) , Gheg (green) and Arbëresh (blue) Albanian: Source: Η Καινή Διαθήκη στα Αρβανίτικα; "Christus Rex" website Source: Arvanitikos Syndesmos Ellados Epirus (region) Epirus ( / ɪ ˈ p aɪ r ə s / ih- PY -rəs ; Greek : Ήπειρος , romanized : Ípiros , [ˈi.pi.ros] )
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2400-481: The 2001 census, it has the lowest population of the 13 regions of Greece . This is partly due to the impact of repeated wars in the 20th century as well as mass emigration due to adverse economic conditions. The capital and largest city of the region is Ioannina , where nearly a third of the population lives. The great majority of the population are Greeks , including Aromanians and Arvanites . The region has shrunk by 17,313 people between 2011 and 2021, experiencing
2475-478: The Aegean islands, Arvanite women wore silk gowns with Turkish influences. Terms for Arvanite female clothing were in Arvanitika rather than in Greek. Arvanitika Arvanitika ( / ˌ ɑːr v ə ˈ n ɪ t ɪ k ə / ; Arvanitika: αρbε̰ρίσ̈τ , romanized : arbërisht ; Greek : αρβανίτικα , romanized : arvanítika ), also known as Arvanitic , is the variety of Albanian traditionally spoken by
2550-456: The Albanians, stressing instead their national self-identification as Greeks. At the same time, it has been suggested that many Arvanites in earlier decades maintained an assimilatory stance, leading to a progressive loss of their traditional language and a shifting of the younger generation towards Greek. At some times, particularly under the nationalist 4th of August Regime under Ioannis Metaxas of 1936–1941, Greek state institutions followed
2625-548: The Byzantine Emperor and pay tribute to him ca. 1332 in exchange for using the lowland areas of Thessaly in the summer months. Albanian groups were given military holdings Fanari in the 1330s and by the end of the 14th century and the Ottoman takeover of the region, they were an integral part of the military structures of Thessaly. Two of their military leaders known in Byzantine sources as Peter and John Sebastopoulos controlled
2700-522: The Epirus varieties are also often subsumed under "Arvanitika" in a wider sense. It puts the estimated number of Epirus Albanophones at 10,000. Arvanitika proper is said to include the outlying dialects spoken in Thrace. Arvanites in Greece originate from Albanian settlers who moved south from areas in what is today southern Albania during the Middle Ages. These Albanian movements into Greece are recorded for
2775-428: The Greek mainland wore the fustanella , a pleated like skirt garment or kilt, while those who lived on some Aegean islands wore baggy breeches of the seafaring Greeks. Arvanite women were known for wearing a chemise shirt that was heavily embroidered. They also wore a heavily embroidered foundi or gown like garment that was heavily embroidered in silk and on the mainland the sigouni , a woolen thick white coat. On
2850-463: The Ottomans adopted favorable tax policies towards them, likely in continuation of similar Byzantine practices. This policy had been discontinued by the early 16th century. Arvanites often took part in wars on the side of the Republic of Venice against the Ottomans, between 1463 and 1715. During the Greek War of Independence , many Arvanites played an important role on fighting on the Greek side against
2925-449: The Ottomans, often as national Greek heroes. With the formation of modern nations and nation-states in the Balkans , Arvanites have come to be regarded as an integral part of the Greek nation. In 1899, leading representatives of the Arvanites in Greece, including descendants of the independence heroes, published a manifesto calling their fellow Albanians outside Greece to join in the creation of
3000-500: The Peloponnese, and in Phthiotis . Albanians also settled on the islands of Kea , Psara , Aegina , Kythnos , Skopelos , Ios and Samos . They would thereafter assimilate into the Greek population. Arvanitika is a dialect of the Albanian language, sharing similar features primarily with other Tosk varieties. The name Arvanítika and its native equivalent Arbërisht are derived from the ethnonym Arvanites , which in turn comes from
3075-548: The authors did not identify a sense of 'belonging to Albania or to the Albanian nation'. Many Arvanites find the designation "Albanians" offensive as they identify nationally and ethnically as Greeks and not Albanians . Jacques Lévy describes the Arvanites as "Albanian speakers who were integrated into Greek national identity as early as the first half of the nineteenth century and who in no way consider themselves as an ethnic minority". Relations between Arvanites and other Albanian speaking populations have varied over time. During
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3150-569: The chronic insecurity and tribute payment to the Turks; they were also joined by the local Greeks, who by then had a common leader in Manuel Kantakouzenos . Following the Ottoman conquest, many Albanians fled to Italy and settled primarily in the Arbëreshë villages of Calabria and Sicily . On the other hand, in an effort to control the remaining Albanians, during the second half of the 15th century,
3225-457: The dialect of Albanian in Italy , which largely goes back to Arvanite settlers from Greece. Italian Arbëresh has retained some words borrowed from Greek (for instance haristis 'thank you', from ευχαριστώ ; dhrom 'road', from δρόμος ; Ne 'yes', from ναι , in certain villages). Italo-Arbëresh and Graeco-Arvanitika have a mutually intelligible vocabulary base, the unintelligible elements of
3300-668: The east, the Pindus Mountains that form the spine of mainland Greece separate Epirus from Macedonia and Thessaly . Most of Epirus lies on the windward side of the Pindus. The winds from the Ionian Sea offer the region more rainfall than any other part of Greece. The Vikos-Aoos and Pindus National Parks are situated in the Ioannina Prefecture of the region. Both areas have a wide range of fauna and flora . The climate of Epirus
3375-521: The first time in the late 13th and early 14th century. The reasons for this migration are not entirely clear and may be manifold. In many instances the Albanians were invited by the Byzantine and Latin rulers of the time. They were employed to re-settle areas that had been largely depopulated through wars, epidemics, and other reasons, and they were employed as soldiers. Some later movements are also believed to have been motivated to evade Islamization after
3450-419: The forefront especially since the early 1990s, when a large number of Albanian immigrants began to enter Greece and came into contact with local Arvanitic communities. Since the 1980s, there have been some organized efforts to preserve the cultural and linguistic heritage of Arvanites. The largest organisation promoting Arvanitika is the "Arvanitic League of Greece" ( Αρβανίτικος Σύλλογος Ελλάδος ). Arvanitika
3525-483: The identification of the language with Albanian as well. In recent times, Arvanites had only very imprecise notions about how related or unrelated their language was to Albanian. Since Arvanitika is almost exclusively a spoken language, Arvanites also have no practical affiliation with the Standard Albanian language used in Albania, as they do not use this form in writing or in media. The question of linguistic closeness or distance between Arvanitika and Albanian has come to
3600-429: The inhabitants of that region, and then to all Albanian-speakers. The alternative name Albanians may ultimately be etymologically related, but is of less clear origin (see Albania (toponym) ). It was probably conflated with that of the "Arbanitai" at some stage due to phonological similarity. In later Byzantine usage, the terms "Arbanitai" and "Albanoi", with a range of variants, were used interchangeably, while sometimes
3675-454: The language, which have been interpreted as signs of "language attrition", i.e. effects of impoverishment leading towards language death . Arvanitika has rarely been written. Reportedly ( GHM 1995 ), it has been written in both the Greek alphabet (often with the addition of the letters b, d, e and j, or diacritics, e.g. [7] ) and the Latin alphabet. Orthodox Tosk Albanians also used to write with
3750-471: The linguistic systems), linguists' assessment of the degree of mutual intelligibility between Arvanitika and Standard Tosk range from fairly high to only partial (Ethnologue). The Ethnologue also mentions that mutual intelligibility may even be problematic between different subdialects within Arvanitika. Mutual intelligibility between Standard Tosk and Arvanitika is higher than that between the two main dialect groups within Albanian, Tosk and Gheg. See below for
3825-519: The mid-15th century estimates that 30,000 Albanians lived in the Peloponnese at that time. Throughout the Ottoman–Venetian wars , many Albanians died or were captured in service to the Venetians; at Nafpaktos , Nafplio , Argos , Methoni , Koroni and Pylos . Furthermore, 8,000 Albanian stratioti , most of them along with their families, left the Peloponnese to continue their military service under
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#17328450038143900-540: The mountains of Pindus during the 19th century. However they also use the name Arvanitis speaking in Greek, while the Euromosaic (1996) reports notes that the designation Chams is today rejected by the group. The report by GHM (1995) subsumes the Epirote Albanophones under the term Arvanites , although it notes the different linguistic self-designation, on the other hand, applies the term Arvanites only to
3975-460: The negative image of their communities. However, this theory has been rejected by modern scholars and it is seen as a myth. In the 1990s, the Albanian president Sali Berisha raised a question about an Albanian minority in Greece, but the Arvanite cultural associations reacted angrily to his statement. Fara ( Greek : φάρα , means "seed", "descendants" in Albanian , from Proto-Albanian *pʰarā )
4050-513: The new name Shqiptarë since the 15th century, an innovation that was not shared by the Albanophone migrant communities in the south of Greece. In the course of the 20th century, it became customary to use only Αλβανοί for the people of Albania, and only Αρβανίτες for the Greek-Arvanites, thus stressing the national separation between the two groups. There is some uncertainty to what extent
4125-541: The north-east of the Peloponnese, the south of the island of Euboea , the north of the island of Andros , and several islands of the Saronic Gulf including Salamis , Hydra , Poros , Agistri and Spetses . In parts of this area they formed a solid majority until about 1900. Within Attica, parts of the capital Athens and its suburbs were Arvanitic until the late 19th century. There are also settlements in some other parts of
4200-414: The number of Albanians (Arvanites) in Greece to number about 200,000 out of approximately 1.1 million inhabitants in total based on the 1861 census. A demographic census by Alfred Philippson , based on fieldwork between 1887 and 1889, found that out of the approximately 730,000 inhabitants of the Peloponnese, and the three neighboring islands of Poros, Hydra and Spetses, Arvanites numbered 90,253, or 12.3% of
4275-511: The onset of the Greek war of Independence, Arvanites fought alongside Greek revolutionaries and against Muslim Albanians. For example Arvanites participated in the 1821 Tripolitsa massacre of Muslim Albanians, while some Muslim Albanian speakers in the region of Bardounia remained after the war, converting to Orthodoxy. In recent times, Arvanites have expressed mixed opinions towards Albanian immigrants within Greece. Negative views are perceptions that Albanian immigrants are "communists" arriving from
4350-431: The past Arvanitika had sometimes been described as "Graeco-Albanian" and the like (e.g., Furikis, 1934); although today many Arvanites consider such names offensive, they generally identify nationally and ethnically as Greeks and not Albanians . Arvanitika is part of the Tosk dialect group of Albanian, and as such closely related to the varieties spoken across southern Albania. It is also closely related to Arbëresh ,
4425-582: The populations of the compact Arvanitic settlement areas in southern Greece, in keeping with the self-identification of those groups. Linguistically, the Ethnologue identifies the present-day Albanian/Arvanitic dialects of Northwestern Greece (in Epirus and Lechovo ) with those of the Chams, and therefore classifies them together with standard Tosk Albanian , as opposed to "Arvanitika Albanian proper" (i.e. southern Greek-Arvanitika). Nevertheless, it reports that in Greek
4500-493: The prefectures with regional units ( περιφερειακή ενότητα , periferiakí enótita ) and re-structuring former municipalities and communities to reduce their total number. Today, the four regional units of Epirus are: Thesprotia , Ioannina , Arta , and Preveza . (2011) (2021) The region's governor, since 1 January 2011, is Alexandros Kachrimanis , who was elected in the November 2010 local administration elections for
4575-538: The propagation of the Pelasgian theory regarding Arvanite origins. The theory created a counter discourse that aimed to give the Arvanites a positive image in Greek history by claiming the Arvanites as the ancestors and relations of contemporary Greeks and their culture. The Arvanite revival of the Pelasgian theory has also been recently borrowed by other Albanian speaking populations within and from Albania in Greece to counter
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#17328450038144650-565: The region as a whole, is rugged and mountainous. It comprises the land of the ancient Molossians and Thesprotians and a small part of the land of the Chaonians , the greater part being in Southern Albania . It is largely made up of mountainous ridges, part of the Dinaric Alps . The region's highest spot is Mount Smolikas , at an altitude of 2,637 metres (8,652 ft) above sea level. In
4725-507: The root arb/alb of the old ethnonym that was at one time used by all Albanians to refer to themselves. It refers to a geographical term, first attested in Polybius in the form of a place-name Arvon ( Άρβων ), and then again in Byzantine authors of the 11th and 12th centuries in the form Arvanon ( Άρβανον ) or Arvana ( Άρβανα ), referring to a place in what is today Albania. The name Arvanites ("Arbanitai") originally referred to
4800-419: The same groups were also called by the classicising names Illyrians . In the 19th and early 20th century, Alvani (Albanians) was used predominantly in formal registers and Arvanites (Αρβανίτες) in the more popular speech in Greek, but both were used indiscriminately for both Muslim and Christian Albanophones inside and outside Greece. In Albania itself, the self-designation Arvanites had been exchanged for
4875-418: The small towns of Pharsala and Domokos . Ottoman control began in the late 14th century with the capture of Larissa in 1392-93 and consolidated in the early 15th century. Nevertheless, Ottoman control was threatened throughout this era by groups of Greeks, Albanians and Vlachs who based themselves in the mountainous areas of Thessaly. The main waves of migration into southern Greece started from 1350, reached
4950-418: The speech of the former Cham Albanians (Çamërishte) , who used to live in the same region. These dialects are classified by Ethnologue as part of core Tosk Albanian, as opposed to "Arvanitika Albanian" in the narrow sense, although Ethnologue notes that the term "Arvanitika" is also often applied indiscriminately to both forms in Greece. In their own language, some groups in the north-west are reported to use
5025-675: The taxable population of the Peloponnese by households ( ḫâne ), bachelors, and widows. Specifically, there were 6,551 (58.37%) Greek and 4,672 (41.63%) Albanian households, 909 (66.25%) Greek and 463 (33.75%) Albanian bachelors, and 562 (72.05%) Greek and 218 (27.95%) Albanian widows. Greeks tended to live in large villages and cities, while Albanians in small villages. Specifically, out of the 580 inhabited villages, 407 are listed as Albanian, 169 as Greek, and four as mixed; however, Greek villages had on average 3.5 times more families than Albanian ones. Many of these settlements have since been abandoned, while others have been renamed. A Venetian source of
5100-481: The term Arvanites also includes the small remaining Christian Albanophone population groups in Epirus and West Macedonia . Unlike the southern Arvanites, these speakers are reported to use the name Shqiptarë both for themselves and for Albanian nationals, although these communities also espouse a Greek national identity nowadays. The word Shqiptár is also used in a few villages of Thrace , where Arvanites migrated from
5175-706: The term Shqip ( Albanian language ) to refer to their own language as well as to that of Albanian nationals, and this has sometimes been interpreted as implying that they are ethnically Albanians. The Arvanitika of southern Greece is richly sub-divided into local dialects. Sasse (1991) distinguishes as many as eleven dialect groups within that area: West Attic, Southeast Attic, Northeast-Attic-Boeotian, West Boeotian, Central Boeotian, Northeast Peloponnesian, Northwest Peloponnesian, South Peloponnesian, West Peloponnesian, Euboean, and Andriote. Estimated numbers of speakers of Arvanitika vary widely, between 30,000 and 150,000. These figures include "terminal speakers" (Tsitsipis 1998) of
5250-468: The toponym Arbëna (Greek: Άρβανα), which in the Middle Ages referred to a region in what is today Albania . Its native equivalents ( Arbërorë, Arbëreshë and others) used to be the self-designation of Albanians in general. While Arvanitika was commonly called Albanian in Greece until the 20th century, the wish of Arvanites to express their ethnic identification as Greeks has led to a stance of rejecting
5325-485: The total population. In the mid-19th century, Johann Georg von Hahn had estimated their number throughout Greece to be between 173,000 and 200,000. There are no official figures about the number of Arvanites in Greece today (no official data exist for ethnicity in Greece). The last official census figures available come from 1951. Since then, estimates of the numbers of Arvanites has ranged from 25,000 to 200,000. The following
5400-456: The two dialects stem from the usage of Italian or Greek modernisms in the absence of native ones. While linguistic scholarship unanimously describes Arvanitika as a dialect of Albanian many Arvanites are reported to dislike the use of the name "Albanian" to designate it. Sociolinguistic work has described Arvanitika within the conceptual framework of "ausbausprachen" and " abstandssprachen " . In terms of "abstand" (objective difference of
5475-439: The use of Greek and most younger members of the community no longer speak it. The name Arvanítika and its native equivalent Arbërisht are derived from the ethnonym Arvanites , which in turn comes from the toponym Arbën or Arbër (Greek: Άρβανον), which in the Middle Ages referred to a region in modern Albania . Its native equivalents ( Arbërorë, Arbëreshë and others) used to be the self-designation of Albanians in general. In
5550-474: The younger generation, who have only acquired an imperfect command of the language and are unlikely to pass it on to future generations. The number of villages with traditional Arvanite populations is estimated to more than 500. There are no monolingual Arvanitika-speakers, as all are today bilingual in Greek. Arvanitika is considered an endangered language due to the large-scale language shift towards Greek in recent decades. Arvanitika shares many features with
5625-470: Was expressed in words such as shkljira for a Greek person and shkljerishtë for the Greek language that had until recent decades negative overtones. These words in Arvanitika have their related counterpart in the pejorative term shqa used by Northern Albanians for Slavs . Ultimately these terms used amongst Albanian speakers originate from the Latin word sclavus which contained the traditional meaning of "the neighbouring foreigner". With participation in
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