Robert Elsie and albanian language

Abstract

Robert Elsie, an eminent Albanologist of our days, has left behind a rich scientific and cultural creativity. This is best evidenced by his works published in Albanian, but most of them in foreign languages, first of all in English. This is testified by a large number of studies, treatments, observations and articles published on various issues related to Albanian language, its written and oral literature, ethnography, anthropology and mythology. This writing in an analytical and synthetic way represents the contribution of Robert Elsie given to the Albanian language, respectively to its history and present. This is how the following works by Robert Elsie are considered: Early Albanian translations of the Bible in Todhri's manuscripts; Albanian alphabets: borrowed and created; Dictionary of Albanian folk culture; then studies and treatises: The Elbasan Manuscript of the Gospels 1761 and the struggle for the creation of an Albanian alphabet; Albanian literature in Greek manuscripts: Orthodox tradition in the eighteenth century and early nineteenth century in Albanian writings; A robbery in Dubrovnik and the emergence of the Albanian language and culture; Early data on the existence of the Albanian language; Evliya Çelebi's Albanian Dictionary of 1662 and what the nomadic dervish should know; Belfortortis text and early Albanian; Arnold Von Harf's Dictionary 1497; The Fate of Gjon Buzuku; “The First Albanian Voice - On the First Recording of the Albanian Language”; as well as its digital platform called Albanian Language. At the end of this article, Robert Elsie's attitudes towards the standard language, which are shown in his numerous interviews, are presented. At the end of this article, I can conclude that Elsie's contribution to Albanian language can be summarized in the following points: 1. discovery and actualization of his new findings to document the antiquity of the Albanian language, the history of Albanian writing and its alphabets, always observed in relation to the temporal and spatial context, and 2. revisiting, often supplementing and reinterpreting the studies of local and foreign Albanologists for data and phenomena of Albanian language.