Elbasan alphabet

The Elbasan script is a mid 18th-century alphabetic script used for the Albanian language. It was named after the city of Elbasan where it was invented. It was mainly used in the area of Elbasan and Berat. It is widely considered to be the first original alphabet developed for transcribing the Albanian language.

The primary document associated with the alphabet is the Elbasan Gospel Manuscript, known in Albanian as the Anonimi i Elbasanit (The Anonymous of Elbasan). The document was created at St. Jovan Vladimir's Church in central Albania, but is preserved today at the National Archives of Albania in Tirana. Its 59 pages contain Biblical content written in an alphabet of 40 letters, of which 35 frequently recur and 5 are rare. Dots are used on three characters as inherent features of them to indicate varied pronunciation (pre-nasalization and gemination) found in Albanian. The script generally uses Greek letters as numerals with a line on top.

Another original script used for Albanian, was Beitha Kukju's script of the 19th century. This script did not have much influence either.

Elbasan

Elbasan (Albanian: Elbasan or Elbasani) is a city and a municipality in Elbasan County, central Albania. One of the largest cities in Albania, it is located on the Shkumbin River in the District of Elbasan and the County of Elbasan. The present municipality was formed at the 2015 local government reform by the merger of the former municipalities Bradashesh, Elbasan, Funarë, Gjergjan, Gjinar, Gracen, Labinot-Fushë, Labinot-Mal, Papër, Shirgjan, Shushicë, Tregan and Zavalinë, that became municipal units. The seat of the municipality is the city Elbasan. The total population is 141,714 (2011 census), in a total area of 872.03 km². The population of the former municipality at the 2011 census was 78,703.

It was called Neokastron (New Castle) in Greek, Novigrad (new city) in Slavic and Terra Nuova in Italian. The modern name may derive either from the IE root *alb (as Albania) or from the Turkish il-basan ("the fortress").

History

Ancient and early Byzantine periods

In August 2010 archaeologists discovered two Illyrian graves near the walls of the castle of Elbasan. In the second century BC, a trading post called Mansio Scampa near the site of modern Elbasan developed close to a junction of two branches of an important Roman road, the Via Egnatia, which connected the Adriatic Coast with Byzantium at the Hellespont. By the third or fourth century AD, this place had grown into a real city protected by a substantial Roman fortress with towers; the fort covered around 300 square meters. This city appears on late antique itineraries like the Tabula Peutingeriana or the Itinerarium Burdigalense as Scampis or Hiscampis.

Elbasan (Unicode block)

Elbasan is a Unicode block containing the historic Elbasan characters for writing the Albanian language.

References