Nikollë Gazulli

Traveling the villages of the parish and elsewhere (including Kelmend, Hot, Pukë, Dajç on the Buna, and Ulcinj), Gazulli collected and analyzed thousands of rare words, phrases, proper nouns, folklore, history, etc. He summarized them in two major works: Fjalorth i ri (fjalë të rralla të përdoruna në Veri të Shqipnisë) (“New Dictionary [Rare Words Used in Northern Albania]") published in 1941 in the journal Visaret e kombit; and Fjalori toponomastik ("Toponymic Dictionary") published from 1939 to 1943 in Fishta's magazine, Hylli i Dritës.

Fjalorth i ri and Tase's Fjalorthin e ri, fjalë të rralla të përdoruna në Jug të Shqipnís ("Ne Dictionary of Rare Words Used in Southern Albania," Visaret e Kombit, Issue 12, Tirana, 1941) were the first two regional dialect dictionaries in Albanian. Fjalori toponomastik was the first dictionary of place names.

Jokl and Gazulli corresponded actively. Jokl actively consulted with Gazulli for etymological insights. While Jokl found words such as shkarthdhi ("scattered") and pershkardhë ("whitewashed"), for instance, to be of Slavic origin, Nikollë found the same pattern in place names such as Gomsiqe, Bardhanjol, and Kashnjet. Always on the lookout for rare, previously unwritten words, Gazulli asked Jokl on 14 December 1930, to borrow a book or dictionary to explain their meaning in other languages.^[6]

Gazulli's scrupulousness was ridiculed by the erudite Karl Gurakuqi, the High Inspector of Education and promoter of Gazulli's who censored some erotic words from Fjalorth i ri that were considered uncouth at the time. Gazulli wrote the Fjalori toponomastik under the pseudonym, "Gelasius." His work was rarely quoted during the communist regime, though the few exceptions included Eqrem Çabej and Xhuvani's essays, "Parashtesat e gjuhes shqipe" ("Prefixes in the Albanian Language," 1956) and "Prapashtesat e gjuhes shqipe" ("Suffixes in the Albanian Language," 1962), which both cite Fjalorth i ri. The compilers of the Fjalor i gjuhes shqipe ("Dictionary of the Albanian Language") published in 1954 cited Gazulli as well, including Çabej, Kostaq Cipo, Mahir Domi, Anton Krajni, and Osman Myderizi.^[7]

• Fjalorth i ri (fjalë të rralla të përdoruna në Veri të Shqipnisë), Tirana, 1941, published in the journal Visaret e kombit, Issue XI, (524 pages with 4819 words). Reprinted by Çabej Publications and edited by Enkelejda Shamku-Shkrelit in 2005.
• Fjalori toponomastik, published in parts in the journal Hylli i Dritës Issue 2, February 1939, year XV, pp. 120–129 and Issues 9–12, 1943, pp. 391–406 (shkronjat A-K), over the course of 21 issues and 173 pages (unfinished).