| Also Known As: Arvanitic,Arberichte,Arvanitika
Description:
Arvanitika or Arvanitic (Arvanitika: αρbε̰ρίσ̈τ arbërisht, Greek: αρβανίτικα arvanitika) is the variety of Albanian traditionally spoken by the Arvanites, a population group in Greece. Arvanitika is sometimes also described as Graeco-Albanian or similarly, although today such designations are considered offensive by many Arvanites themselves, who identify nationally and ethnically as Greeks and not Albanians (GHM 1995). Arvanitika is today an endangered language, as its speakers have been shifting to the use of Greek and most younger members of the community no longer speak it.
The name Arvanítika and its native equivalent Arbërishte are derived from the ethnonym Arvanites, which in turn comes from the toponym Arbëna (Greek: Άρβανα), which in the Middle Ages referred to a region in what is today Albania (Babiniotis 1998). Its native equivalents (Arbërorë, Arbëreshë and others) formerly were the self-designation of Albanians in general. Both Arbëna and Albania/Albanian go further back to name forms attested since antiquity, and may be ultimately variants of the same root, although this is debated.
Arvanitika was brought to southern Greece during the late Middle Ages by settlers..... full article at Wikipedia |
