Huld Martin E. Basic Albanian Etymologies

Slavica Publishers Inc., 1984. — x, 213 p.Basic Albanian Etymologies is an examination of 250 "core" or essential lexical entries intended to provide Indo-Europeanists and historical linguists with a base from which the historical features of Albanian can be deduced. In evaluating previous etymological opinions, I have tried to remain skeptical even before the work of such masters of philologicallore as Pedersen, Jokl, and Hamp. I have done so out of no disrespect for their work but from a conviction that no etymology should be accepted for its author alone. I fully expect, and hope, that my own views will receive similar scrutiny in their turn.In as far as the data permit, the dialect records have been assembled and checked in order to illuminate the anterior stages of Albanian linguistic history. For this reason I have specifically avoided relying on Kristoforidhi's Λεξικόν since much of that material cannot now be rechecked. In the absence of a definite relative chronology, the exactness of the two attempted stages of Proto-Albanian must remain provisional. More complete dialect documentation must appear before certainty in the reconstruction of Proto-Albanian is achieved. Pains, however, have been taken in reconstructing Indo-European etymologies in order to specify the phonetic shape of the proto-form as precisely as possible.