Year IV, January – June 2019, 1 – 2

Albanian Stradiots at the service of the Spanish Habsburgs

 Keywords: Albanian families Bua, Crescia, Renesi; Spanish Habsburgs; 16th and 17th centuries; Naples; Stradiots.

The purpose of this paper, the first in a series, is to provide the Albanologists with historical data concerning the lives and deeds of offspring from prominent Albanian families at the service of the Spanish Habsburgs during the 16th and 17th centuries. Residing at General Archives of Simancas (Valladolid, Spain), most of the authentic documents displayed and discussed on in the following essay have been unknown until now. This is the first study strictly devoted to several members of the Albanian families Bua, Crescia and Renesi.

A handful of documents about Gjon and Gjergj Castriot in Old Slavic (Part two)

Keywords: Ivan Kastriot, Gjon, Gjergj Castriot-Scanderbeg, Hilandar, Albanian keep, Arbanaški pirg, Šufadaja, Široki Brod, Mount Athos, Caracal, Philotheos

In this second part of documents from Jovan Radonić’s collection Ћураћ Кастриот Скендербег и Арбанија у XV веку (En. Gjergj Castriot – Scanderbeg and Albania in the 15th century), Arben Ndreca renders an interlinear translation of records by Gjon and Gjergj Castriot as well as by the community of monks in Hilandar, all of which written in Old Slavic. Ranging from 1420 to 1459 A.D., these records bear witness to different issues such as the relationship between the Castriots and Ragusa [Dubrovnik]; between them and Hilandar; the territorial extension of this household and, especially, the persistently feeble finances of Scanderbeg around 1459. In his commentary Ndreca dwells on the details of Gjon and his sons’ donation to the Serbian Monastery of Hilandar, namely, the purchase of the Albanian keep and the reasons behind such purchase, etc. The author also maintains that Gjon Castriot’s earlier record (S. L. 1426) too must have been drafted in Hilandar, judging by the opening and closing formulas used in this record. Quoted by prof. Dušan Sindik, the additional notes in Serbian by monk Nicander (cc. 1440 A.D.) on the reverse of the original records residing in Hilandar are published for the first time in Albanian. Author Ndreca also devotes special attention to the account of the Serbian monk Isaiah from Hilandar (1489 or 1517), who asserts that the Athonite monasteries of Caracal and Philotheos were run by Albanian monks in those years.

The missions in the north of Shkodra at the time of Msgr Gjergj Radovani

Keywords: Franciscans, missions, poverty, chastity, marriage, snakeroot, prefect, Medicine, pasha, Orthodox, Muhamedans.

Spiritual help in northern Albania was provided by the Franciscan friars in the past. Coming mainly from Italy, they had to face up to many problems, first of which was the language, when trying to penetrate a geographically difficult territory and a different milieu. Nevertheless, armed with faith and an authentic missionary spirit, they adapted to the situation and achieved important results. Living in chastity and poverty and possessing the basics of medicine, the friars also provided health assistance for the populace living in the “very high mountains” and, at times, also to the local Ottoman pashas. These missions depended on the bishop of the diocese were they belonged to as it clearly appears from this essay by Italo Sarro. The essay in fact shows the religious, social and economic situation of the missions in the north of Shkodra at the time of bishop Radovani. Running the diocese of Shkodra, Msgr Radovani never spared his efforts and aid to solve problems relating to the observance and the strengthening of the Catholic confession in the areas where it risked to succumb to the Orthodoxes or Muhamedans.

The philological conundrum of the engraving in Ardenica

Keywords: Monastery in Ardenica, Albanian, Greek, Aromanian alphabet, Engraving from Ardenica, Nectarie Tărpu, Νεκτάριος Τέρπος.

The study focuses on two inscriptions, in Albanian and Aromanian, placed sideways on the so-called “Woodcut of Ardenica”, constituting the background to the icon of the Virgin and Holy Mother in the monastery in Ardenica, Fier (Albania). There is clear evidence that the author of both inscriptions – as well as of those in Greek and Latin located above and below the icon – must be the Orthodox monk Nektarios Terpos (: (A)rom. Nectarie Tărpu, Gr. Νεκτάριος Τέρπος, Alb. Nektar Tërpo), as not incidentally, part of it bears his signature (: <ὁ ἱερονόμαχος Νεκτάριος>) along with the year 1731 (: <αψλα>) which in fact coincides with his lifetime. After describing the paratextual framework, the essay focuses on the philological analysis of the two inscriptions, which in turn enables a comparison of the graphic systems used in the tradition of written Albanian and Aromanian, within the cultural Orthodox area in this compact Albanian-speaking region. The essay explores and discusses as well some deviations in the common graphic code based on the Greek alphabet. It also examines the origin of the graphemes which are inconsistent with this alphabet. It can be asserted that these are loans, either borrowed from the Latin alphabet or from a graphic code with an authentic alphabet which, most probably and not incidentally, served as a common pillar to the cultures of both written languages.

Msgr Ernesto Cozzi or, how a missionary became an Apostolic Delegate to Albania (I part)

Keywords: Albania, Francesco Genovizzi, Jak Serreqi, Jesuits, Kultusprotektorat, Lazer Mjeda, Propaganda Fide, Willem Marinus van Rossum.

Msgr Ernesto Cozzi is often remembered as the first Apostolic Delegate to Albania from 1920 to 1926, the year when he passed away. However, what he was mostly distinguished for was the variety of the issues he dealt with, displaying capacity and determination. Initially a missionary in the remote Albanian mountains, he soon earned the admiration of his parishioners because of his devotion and personal integrity. The missionary picked up Albanian rapidly and studied the customs of the locals in-depth. An exceptional priest, Cozzi was an experienced doctor as well, always ready to provide medical assistance for his parishioners.
Msgr Cozzi shared the aspirations of the Albanians for independence and contributed actively to many of their uprisings against the Ottoman rule. During many a battle he proved to be a disciplined and intrepid chaplain. His appointment by the Holy See as an Apostolic Visitator, and then a Delegate, was received by the Albanians with great joy, as Cozzi was now considered one of them. His even-handed attitude was also appreciated by Ahmet Zogu and other politicians, including the leadership of the other confessions.
The article recounts the steps leading up to his appointment as an Apostolic Visitator, or Delegate, to Albania and Montenegro.

Translation of oral Arbëresh literature and the forgotten dispute between Schirò and De Grazia

Keywords: translations, authorial translation, oral tradition, written tradition, bilingualism, history of Arbëresh culture.

The essay focuses on a very important, though neglected, dispute in the history of Arbëresh literature. The two scholars initially involved in it Giuseppe Schirò and Demetrio De Grazia, both Arbëresh, manifested their opposite opinions about the translation in Italian of texts transmitted orally in Arbëresh. The controversy spread out and in time even several Italian scholars participated in it. In fact, such debate revolved around a typical feature of Arbëresh literature – that of bilingualism. Every author who followed after Luca Matranga decided to publish their works in Arbëresh accompanied by their authorial parallel text in Italian, so as to convey both versions “textual identity, dually and semantically circular”, as scholar Francesco Altimari put it. The purpose of such editions was to eliminate ab origine possible fissures between the “literary language” and the “language of the oral tradition”. The following essay explores and reconstruct the phases of this dispute.

Interlingual and intercultural translation. The relationship with alterity: the case of Ismail Kadare’s novel Broken April

Keywords: Albanian, translation, expressions, Ismail Kadare, language, culture, Broken April.

In her paper, author Turano focuses on issues relating with the translation of Ismail Kadare’s novel Broken April from Albanian into French and Italian. In fact, she analyses the different solutions adopted by Italian and French translators in order to render specific words and expressions mirroring special values ​in Albanian culture; words and expressions that refer to customs and traditions which can be easily understood in Albanian but can seem obscure to the average Italian or French readers. Despite the complexity of the problems encountered during the translation process, due to the natural limitations imposed by the foreign linguistic and cultural context, the translators succeeded in recreating the atmosphere of the original novel in Albanian, without missing out on the quintessence of this literary work. The Italian and French translations alike evoke the same emotional response and the same feelings as the original novel, witnessing that the translation of any literary work can potentially allow us to overcome language barriers, even though this raises additional theoretical and practical problems.

Semantic consumption as an unfathomed source of expressivity

Keywords: Phonetic linguistic consumption, contextual synonyms, symbolic sign, iconic sign, expression.

The stylistic effects of semantic consumption in any literary text have to do with the growth of the creative and affective potency of the speech through the usage of more expressive lexical units rather than their synonyms, which are erased by the expressive effect. The mechanism of this phenomenon is implemented within a given text whenever the information provided is not only operative but also impressive. Semantic consumption implements two or more language elements. The element, which is considered semantically consumed, may appear along the discourse and it can be supplemented by a more expressive synonym reinforcement or, it may not appear at all in the text. They deviate depending on the literary-artistic awareness of the author. In their place emerge synonymous units which enjoy remarkable content and expression. Writer Ismail Kadare, for instance, is an expert in extracting the right term from the core of the language to further elaborate it.

The “Raven” by Isuf Luzaj as a model of his philosophical poetry

Keywords: Philosophical Poetry, Isuf Luzaj, Raven, Farewell of the stars, analyses, Albanian poetry.

The following study centers around and analyses the poem “The Raven” by I. Luzaj. In fact, the poem appears to represent this author’s model of philosophical poetry. By analyzing its iconography, rhythm and metric, along with syntax, grammar, semantics, typology, symbols, archetypes and themes, author Hysa tries to dissemble the literary means used by the poet-philosopher when interweaving abstract ideas with poetic form.