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44-541: The House of Balšić ( Serbian Cyrillic : Балшићи ; Albanian : Balsha, Balshaj ), or Balsha , were a noble family that ruled " Zeta and the coastlands " (current-day southern Montenegro and northern Albania ), from 1362 to 1421, during and after the fall of the Serbian Empire . Balša , the founder, was a petty nobleman who held only one village during the rule of Emperor Dušan the Mighty (r. 1331–1355), and only after

88-534: A "Montenegrin family" about whose origin there are no reliable sources. Other Montenegrin authors consider them to be a Montenegrin dynasty as well. According to Elizabeth Roberts, whether their origins were Serbian, Albanian, or both, has never been conclusively established, but they were "culturally Serbianized". According to Svetlana Tomin the Balšići probably originated from Slavicized Vlachs . In older scholarship, Karl Hopf (1832–1873) considered "unquestionably part of

132-766: A 2014 survey, 47% of the Serbian population write in the Latin alphabet whereas 36% write in Cyrillic. The following table provides the upper and lower case forms of the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet, along with the equivalent forms in the Serbian Latin alphabet and the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) value for each letter. The letters do not have names, and consonants are normally pronounced as such when spelling

176-528: A challenge in Unicode modeling, as the glyphs differ only in italic versions, and historically non-italic letters have been used in the same code positions. Serbian professional typography uses fonts specially crafted for the language to overcome the problem, but texts printed from common computers contain East Slavic rather than Serbian italic glyphs. Cyrillic fonts from Adobe, Microsoft (Windows Vista and later) and

220-457: A few other font houses include the Serbian variations (both regular and italic). If the underlying font and Web technology provides support, the proper glyphs can be obtained by marking the text with appropriate language codes. Thus, in non-italic mode: whereas: Since Unicode unifies different glyphs in same characters, font support must be present to display the correct variant. The standard Serbian keyboard layout for personal computers

264-517: A large portion of Albanian territory, from Tivari to Prizren, and from Vlorë to Berat. Hence they became the chiefs of the largest feudal polity in northern Albania during the 14th century to the 15th century. The administrative and political center of Balša's feudal entity between 1355 and 1396 was the city of Shkodër, which also became the main center of a wide interregional economic network. Balšić family members founded and renovated several Eastern Orthodox monasteries and churches. Between 1368 and 1389

308-510: Is as follows: Robert Elsie Robert Elsie (June 29, 1950 – October 2, 2017) was a Canadian-born German scholar who specialized in Albanian literature and folklore . Elsie was a writer, translator, interpreter, and specialist in Albanian studies , being the author of numerous books and articles that focused on various aspects of Albanian culture and affairs. Born on June 29, 1950 Vancouver , British Columbia , Canada, Elsie studied at

352-615: Is necessary (or followed by a short schwa , e.g. /fə/).: Summary tables According to tradition, Glagolitic was invented by the Byzantine Christian missionaries and brothers Saints Cyril and Methodius in the 860s, amid the Christianization of the Slavs . Glagolitic alphabet appears to be older, predating the introduction of Christianity, only formalized by Cyril and expanded to cover non-Greek sounds. The Glagolitic alphabet

396-596: Is seen as being more traditional, and has the official status (designated in the constitution as the " official script ", compared to Latin's status of "script in official use" designated by a lower-level act, for national minorities). It is also an official script in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro , along with Gaj's Latin alphabet . Serbian Cyrillic is in official use in Serbia , Montenegro , and Bosnia and Herzegovina . Although Bosnia "officially accept[s] both alphabets",

440-450: Is so boring. So slow. One only waits for it". At the time of Elsie's death, it was initially reported in the media that he had requested in his will to be buried in Albania, although it emerged two weeks after those events that Elsie did not specify in his will where to be buried. Instead it was the decision of his life partner, Stephan Trierweiler, that he should be buried in Albania due to

484-477: Is the only one in official use. The ligatures : were developed specially for the Serbian alphabet. Serbian Cyrillic does not use several letters encountered in other Slavic Cyrillic alphabets. It does not use hard sign ( ъ ) and soft sign ( ь ), particularly due to a lack of distinction between iotated consonants and non-iotated consonants, but the aforementioned soft-sign ligatures instead. It does not have Russian/Belarusian Э , Ukrainian/Belarusian І ,

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528-469: The Albanian language . As a translator Robert Elsie offered the reader "a selection of songs from the best known cycle of Albanian epic verse ". Elsie during his lifetime authored many works of scholarship and had no major unpublished work left for completion prior to his death. On October 2, 2017, Elsie died of motor neuron disease in Bonn , Germany . His last words before passing away were, "Death

572-559: The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, in particular as an interpreter for several noted cases including the trial of Slobodan Milošević . Elsie's scholarly travels and interest in Albanian dialects brought him into contact with Albanians from Albania, Kosovo , Greece , Montenegro , Italy , Croatia , Bulgaria , Ukraine , Macedonia , and Turkey and made dozens of recordings of

616-532: The Latin alphabet instead, and adding several consonant letters for sounds specific to Serbian phonology . During the same period, linguists led by Ljudevit Gaj adapted the Latin alphabet, in use in western South Slavic areas, using the same principles. As a result of this joint effort, Serbian Cyrillic and Gaj's Latin alphabets have a complete one-to-one congruence, with the Latin digraphs Lj, Nj, and Dž counting as single letters. The updated Serbian Cyrillic alphabet

660-552: The Nazi puppet Independent State of Croatia banned the use of Cyrillic, having regulated it on 25 April 1941, and in June 1941 began eliminating " Eastern " (Serbian) words from Croatian, and shut down Serbian schools. The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet was used as a basis for the Macedonian alphabet with the work of Krste Misirkov and Venko Markovski . The Serbian Cyrillic script was one of

704-535: The Nemanjić and Crnojević dynasties. Before World War II , the family was the namesake of the association football club GSK Balšić Podgorica. Simplified family tree: Serbian Cyrillic alphabet Reformed Serbian based its alphabet on the previous 18th century Slavonic-Serbian script, following the principle of "write as you speak and read as it is written", removing obsolete letters and letters representing iotated vowels , introducing ⟨J⟩ from

748-693: The University of British Columbia , graduating in 1972 with a diploma in Classical Studies and Linguistics . In the following years, he continued his post-graduate studies at the Free University of Berlin , at the École Pratique des Hautes Études and at the University of Paris IV: Paris-Sorbonne , at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies , and at the University of Bonn , where he finished his doctorate on Linguistics and Celtic Studies in 1978 at

792-487: The djerv (Ꙉꙉ) for the Serbian reflexes of Pre-Slavic *tj and *dj (* t͡ɕ , * d͡ʑ , * d͡ʒ , and * tɕ ), later the letter evolved to dje (Ђђ) and tshe (Ћћ) letters . Vuk Stefanović Karadžić fled Serbia during the Serbian Revolution in 1813, to Vienna. There he met Jernej Kopitar , a linguist with interest in slavistics. Kopitar and Sava Mrkalj helped Vuk to reform Serbian and its orthography. He finalized

836-546: The 3 and 13 October 1914 banned the use of Serbian Cyrillic in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia , limiting it for use in religious instruction. A decree was passed on January 3, 1915, that banned Serbian Cyrillic completely from public use. An imperial order on October 25, 1915, banned the use of Serbian Cyrillic in the Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina , except "within the scope of Serbian Orthodox Church authorities". In 1941,

880-615: The Balsha owned their own ships and operated as Albanian pirates . Because of their anti-Ottoman attitude, the pirate activity of these Albanian lords was tolerated by the Republic of Venice . However, they limited Venice's operations. In the Prince-Bishopric and Principality of Montenegro , supporters of the Petrović-Njegoš dynasty claimed them to be descended from the Balšići, as well as

924-506: The Balšić family members, and the description of the Balšas as Albanian lords stands in current scholarship, while on the other hand a number of scholars consider them of Serbian or of otherwise Slavic origin. Both Serbian and Albanian authors claim them. In medieval Serbian documents the Balšas are referred to as " Arbanas lords". The well-known Bulgarian biographer of the 15th century, Constantine

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968-626: The Latin script is almost always used in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina , whereas Cyrillic is in everyday use in Republika Srpska . The Serbian language in Croatia is officially recognized as a minority language; however, the use of Cyrillic in bilingual signs has sparked protests and vandalism . Serbian Cyrillic is an important symbol of Serbian identity. In Serbia, official documents are printed in Cyrillic only even though, according to

1012-797: The Linguistics Institute. From 1978 on, Elsie visited Albania several times with a group of students and professors from the University of Bonn. For several years, he also attended the International Seminar on Albanian Language, Literature and Culture (Seminari Ndërkombëtar për Gjuhën, Letërsinë dhe Kulturën Shqiptare), held in Pristina , Kosovo. From 1982 to 1987, he worked for the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bonn, and from 2002 to 2013 for

1056-475: The Ottomans and Bosnians. The origin of the eponymous founder of the Balšić family – Balša I – is obscure and several hypotheses about it have been put forward by modern scholars. The region the family ruled over was defined by highly porous borders and experienced high rates of intermarriage among the local peoples' aristocracies. Contemporary medieval sources provide evidence for the Albanian ethnic belonging of

1100-569: The Ottomans referred to Đurađ II Balšić as "ruler of Albanian Shkodra". Also the Hungarian king Sigismund , when he met him personally in 1396, called him "ruler of Albania". One contemporary archival source in Vienna Archives mentions Balša II as "ruler of Albanians" during the Battle of Kosovo 1389. The fragmental assertions that their progenitor descended from " Emperor Nemanja ", and that he held

1144-606: The Philosopher , who lived in the court of the Serbian ruler Stefan Lazarević , refers to Đurađ II Balšić and Balša III as Albanian lords. Historical sources from Ragusa document the Albanian ethnic affiliation of the Balša family, mentioning "the Albanian customs of the Balša". In the funds of the Ragusan archives the Balsha are one of the extremely present Arbanon families. Furthermore,

1188-993: The Serb tribe". Ivan Stepanovich Yastrebov (1839–1894), Russian Consul in Shkodër and Prizren , when speaking of the Balšići, connected their name to the Roman town of Balletium ( Balec ) located near modern Shkodër which delivers from Illyrian, related to the Albanian term ballë . According to Serbian historian Ilarion Ruvarac , "The Balšić were in no way Serbs but Albanians, regardless of whether they were Albanians or Vlachs in their distant origins". Serbian historian Vladimir Ćorović (1885–1941) concluded, based on their name, that they had Roman ( Vlach ) origin. Croatian ethnologist Milan Šufflay (1879–1931) mentioned them as of "Romanian and Vlach origin". Croatian linguist Petar Skok considered them to have been of Vlach origin, and Serbian historian Milena Gecić supported his theory. Giuseppe Gelcich theorized on

1232-558: The alphabet in 1818 with the Serbian Dictionary . Karadžić reformed standard Serbian and standardised the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet by following strict phonemic principles on the Johann Christoph Adelung ' model and Jan Hus ' Czech alphabet . Karadžić's reforms of standard Serbian modernised it and distanced it from Serbian and Russian Church Slavonic , instead bringing it closer to common folk speech, specifically, to

1276-551: The area of Bojana river in the neighborhood of Shkodër are very uncertain. In a 14th-century letter, Balša II claimed descent from the Nemanjić family . In current scholarship many historians consider the Balša as being part of the local Albanian nobility . According to Malcolm , the Balšići were probably of Albanian stock who had been but culturally Serbianized to a large degree. Ćirković concluded that they are of non-Slavic origin, being referred to in medieval Serbian documents as "Albanian (arbanas) lords". Murzaku says that

1320-523: The death of the emperor, his three sons gained power in Lower Zeta after acquiring the lands of gospodin Žarko ( fl. 1336–1360) under unclear circumstances, and they then expanded into Upper Zeta by murdering voivode and čelnik Đuraš Ilijić (r. 1326–1362†). Nevertheless, they were acknowledged as oblastni gospodari of Zeta in edicts of Emperor Uroš the Weak (r. 1355–1371). After the death of Uroš (1371),

1364-567: The deep love Elsie had for the country. Elsie's coffin was brought to Albania to lay in repose at the National Library in Tirana for people to come and pay their respects. A farewell ceremony paying tribute to Elsie was held in Tirana, bringing together friends, academics and politicians from Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia. During his lifetime, Elsie developed a fondness for Theth , seeing it as an Albanian " Shangri-La ". On October 18, he

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1408-545: The dialect of Eastern Herzegovina which he spoke. Karadžić was, together with Đuro Daničić , the main Serbian signatory to the Vienna Literary Agreement of 1850 which, encouraged by Austrian authorities, laid the foundation for Serbian, various forms of which are used by Serbs in Serbia , Montenegro , Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia today. Karadžić also translated the New Testament into Serbian, which

1452-506: The family feuded with the Mrnjavčevići , who controlled Macedonia . When the last lord of the main branch of the family, Balša III died in 1421 without an heir, his possessions were passed on to his uncle, Despot Stefan the Tall . Later that year, the Republic of Venice took advantage of Balša's death and seized the towns of Bar and Ulcinj , and some of his other territories were seized by

1496-529: The family had an Albanian origin. Madgearu mentions the Balšić as a noble Albanian family, however he states that their Albanian origin is unclear, due to the debate over the family's origin. Bartl mentions the Balšić as a noble family of probably Serbian origin. Elsie mentions them as of "probably Slavic origin". Gelichi considers them Serbian-Montenegrin. Winnifrith states that they were Slavs who fought other Albanians. Brendan Osswald has described them as Serbian, as does Iordachi. Bojka Djukanovic describes them as

1540-517: The family name was included in a list of early Albanian surnames in Romania. The oldest mention of any member of the family can be traced to a 1304 letter which Helen of Anjou sent to Ragusa through her trustee Matija Balšić. The earliest mention of the family itself can be traced to a charter of Serbian emperor Stefan Uroš V dated 29 September 1360, which is also the earliest known mention of its founder Balša. According to scholar Thomas Fleming, Balša

1584-511: The holders of Lower and Upper Zeta, respectively. Balša dies the same year, and his sons, the Balšić brothers , continue in ruling the province spanning Podgorica , Budva , Bar and Shkodër . The Balšići managed to elevate themselves from petty nobility to provincial lords. They created their own state or state-like entity, comprising Zeta, and the cities of Shkodër, Drisht, Tivar, Ulqin, and Budva. Subsequently they managed to expand their rule over

1628-470: The origin in his La Zedda e la dinastia dei Balšidi: studi storici documentati (1899) . The theory, which was later adopted by Čedomilj Mijatović , argued that they were descendants of the Frankish nobleman Bertrand III of Baux , a companion of Charles d'Anjou . It is regarded as highly improbable. German linguist Gustav Weigand (1860–1930) supported a mixed Albanian – Aromanian origin after he noted that

1672-768: The semi-vowels Й or Ў , nor the iotated letters Я (Russian/Bulgarian ya ), Є (Ukrainian ye ), Ї ( yi ), Ё (Russian yo ) or Ю ( yu ), which are instead written as two separate letters: Ја, Је, Ји, Јо, Ју . Ј can also be used as a semi-vowel, in place of й . The letter Щ is not used. When necessary, it is transliterated as either ШЧ , ШЋ or ШТ . Serbian italic and cursive forms of lowercase letters б , г , д , п , and т (Russian Cyrillic alphabet) differ from those used in other Cyrillic alphabets: б , г , д , п , and т (Serbian Cyrillic alphabet). The regular (upright) shapes are generally standardized among languages and there are no officially recognized variations. That presents

1716-582: The two official scripts used to write Serbo-Croatian in Yugoslavia since its establishment in 1918, the other being Gaj's Latin alphabet ( latinica ). Following the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, Serbian Cyrillic is no longer used in Croatia on national level, while in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro it remained an official script. Under the Constitution of Serbia of 2006, Cyrillic script

1760-484: Was a "fairly obscure" magnate from the area surrounding Bar and Budva . Writing in 1601, Mavro Orbini describes him as a petty nobleman that held only one village in the area of Lake Skadar during the rule of Emperor Dušan the Mighty (r. 1331-1355). Only after the death of the emperor, Balša and his three sons gained power in Lower Zeta after acquiring the lands of gospodin Žarko (fl. 1336-1360) and by murdering voivode and čelnik Đuraš Ilijić (r. 1326-1362†),

1804-608: Was based on the Slavic dialect of Thessaloniki . Part of the Serbian literary heritage of the Middle Ages are works such as Miroslav Gospel , Vukan Gospels , St. Sava's Nomocanon , Dušan's Code , Munich Serbian Psalter , and others. The first printed book in Serbian was the Cetinje Octoechos (1494). It's notable extensive use of diacritical signs by the Resava dialect and use of

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1848-611: Was gradually superseded in later centuries by the Cyrillic script, developed around by Cyril's disciples, perhaps at the Preslav Literary School at the end of the 9th century. The earliest form of Cyrillic was the ustav , based on Greek uncial script, augmented by ligatures and letters from the Glagolitic alphabet for consonants not found in Greek. There was no distinction between capital and lowercase letters. The standard language

1892-639: Was officially adopted in the Principality of Serbia in 1868, and was in exclusive use in the country up to the interwar period . Both alphabets were official in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and later in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia . Due to the shared cultural area, Gaj's Latin alphabet saw a gradual adoption in the Socialist Republic of Serbia since, and both scripts are used to write modern standard Serbian. In Serbia , Cyrillic

1936-576: Was published in 1868. He wrote several books; Mala prostonarodna slaveno-serbska pesnarica and Pismenica serbskoga jezika in 1814, and two more in 1815 and 1818, all with the alphabet still in progress. In his letters from 1815 to 1818 he used: Ю, Я, Ы and Ѳ. In his 1815 song book he dropped the Ѣ. The alphabet was officially adopted in 1868, four years after his death. From the Old Slavic script Vuk retained these 24 letters: He added one Latin letter: And 5 new ones: He removed: Orders issued on

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