Talk:Markos Botsaris
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The dictionary again.
It seems that somebody doesn't like this part, or, why is it deleted?
The Greek–Albanian dictionary
The original manuscript of the dictionary is at the National Library in Paris (Supplément Grec 251). Botsaris titled his dictionary “Lexicon of the simple Romaic and Arbanitic language” (Λεξικόν της Ρωμαϊκοις και Αρβανητηκής Απλής (sic)). The Greek terms are in columns on the left of the pages, not in alphabetical order, and the Albanian words on the right, written in Greek letters. Apart from single words, the dictionary includes complexes of words or short phrases. The Greek entries are in total 1701 and the Albanian 1494.
On the first page there is a hand-written notice by Pouqueville: “Ce lexique est écrit de la main de Marc Botzari à Corfou 1809 devant moi.” This manuscript, which includes also a kind of Greek–Albanian self-teaching method with dialogues written by Ioannes Vilaras and a French-Albanian glossary by Pouqueville, was donated by the latter to the Library in 1819. The dictionary was dictated to the young M. Botsaris by his father Kitsos (1754–1813), his uncle Notis (1759–1841) and his father-in-law Christakis Kalogerou from Preveza. Titos Yochalas, a Greek historian who studied and edited the manuscript, noticing that some Greek words are translated into Albanian in more than one way, believes that M. Botsaris was writing the Greek words and the elders were translating into Albanian. As many of the entries seem unlikely to be useful either for the Suliots or the Albanians of that time and circumstances, Yochalas believes that the dictionary was composed after Pouqueville's initiative, possibly as a source for a future French-Albanian dictionary. He also observes that the Albanian phrases are syntaxed as if were Greek, concluding that either the mother tongue of the authors was the Greek or the Greek language had a very strong influence on the Albanian, if the latter was possibly spoken in Souli (Yochalas, p. 53). The Albanian idiom of the dictionary belongs to the Tosk dialect of south Albanian and retains many archaic elements, found also in the dialect spoken by the Greco-Albanian communities of South Italy and Sicily. In the Albanian entries there are many loans from Greek (approx. 510), as well as from Turkish (approx. 190) and Italian (21). Yochalas Titos (editor, 1980) The Greek-Albanian Dictionary of Markos Botsaris. Academy of Greece, Athens 1980 (in Greek), Γιοχάλας Π. Τίτος, Το ελληνο-αλβανικόν λεξικόν του Μάρκου Μπότσαρη (φιλολογική έκδοσις εκ του αυτογράφου), Ακαδημία Αθηνών, 1980.]
Suggested edit to clarify language and identity context
Hi! I’d like to suggest a small but important clarification to avoid a misleading impression in the article. Currently, it says:
“Marko’s native language was a dialect of Albanian and not Greek, as such, he was known by his Albanian name, Marko Boçari…”
This could be misinterpreted to imply that he wasn’t Greek in identity, when in fact the Arvanite communities, including Botsaris, identified as Greeks, were Orthodox Christians, had been settled in the region for centuries, and wrote in Greek.
Proposed revision:
“Markos Botsaris was a native speaker of Arvanitika, a dialect of Albanian historically spoken by the Arvanite communities of Epirus. While this was his mother tongue, he also spoke and wrote in Greek. The Arvanites were Orthodox Christians who had lived in Greek regions for centuries and identified as Greeks.”
This reflects both linguistic reality and historical identity more accurately.
Thanks in advance! 212.205.179.166 (talk) 11:51, 13 June 2025 (UTC)
- they won't change anything. Even if it's the thruth ~2026-23972-60 (talk) 02:19, 30 June 2026 (UTC)
