Dardani

The Dardani (/ˈdɑːrdənaɪ/; Ancient Greek: Δαρδάνιοι, Δάρδανοι; Latin: Dardani), or Dardanians (Δαρδανίωνες) were a tribe which occupied the region that took its name from them of Dardania, at the Thraco-Illyrian contact zone; their identification as either an Illyrian or Thracian tribe is uncertain. Their territory itself was not considered part of Illyria by Strabo. The term used for their territory was (Ancient Greek: Δαρδανική), while other tribal areas had more unspecified terms, such as (Ancient Greek: Αὐταριατῶν χώρα), for the Autariatae. Other than that, little to no data exists on the territory of the Dardani prior to Roman conquest, especially on its southern extent. Albanian historians concluded that the kingdom of Dardani included the territory of today's Kosovo and southern Serbia and later on north-western Macedonia during the wars with Macedonia.

Etymology

According to Johann Georg von Hahn in 1854, 19th century historical linguistics concluded that Dardanoi and Dardania may be related to a word or derived from proto-Albanian meaning pear tree (dardha in modern Albanian the definite form, dardhë indefinite form < PAlb *dardā), in view of the fact that toponyms related to fruits or animals are not unknown in the region (cf. Alb.rush-grapes < PAlb. râgusa, reflected in Illyrian Ragusa, Greek Ραγούσα, the ancient name of the city of Dubrovnik, Alb. dele/delmë "sheep" supposedly related to Dalmatia, Ulcinj in Montenegro < Alb. ujk, ulk "wolf" etc.). Opinions differ whether the ultimate etymon of this word in Proto-Indo-European was *g'hord-, or *dheregh-.