Albanian villages and toponyms in Serbia in the 19th century

Written by Petrit Latifi

There are and were many Albanian names of villages in southern Serbia, according to Serbian sources from the 19th century.

“Prebreza Albanian village, Pretesnja Arnaut village, Pridvorica Arnaut village, Popova Albanian village”¹

“.. the Albanian village of Trnovac, and a little further on its hamlet of Turija. To the left of Trnovac, behind the village of Rakovac, is the village of Loparnica with the ruins of an old church. According to the locals, the village of Bujanovce was settled 200 years ago like this: During the time..”²

“an Albanian village in front of Derveno, in the mountains, on the left bank of the Morava. There is a well-preserved ancient …”³

“Donja Okruglica, an abandoned Albanian village”… ⁴

“.. the Albanian village of Drenovce and then Brijanje, both deserted. From Brijanje, the road branches off to the left for Stubla, Belanovce and Stopanje to Leskovac; I took the right, to the southwest, along the Pusta Reka, past the abandoned Albanian villages , through Donje …”⁵

“In Pusta Reka, between Stubla, Plavac, Granica, and Lopatnica, there is an Arnaut village called Kacabak. It is one area of its 2,500 hectares (up to 4,000 chains). All that land was kept for the needs of the state, on occasion, for the establishment of other”⁶

“Sekirača is an Albanian village right in the corner.”⁷

” In Poreč, under the very foot of the Pesjak mountain, there was a single Albanian village , called Vračani. Isljam Garani, a famous robber and outlaw, was born in …”⁸

“…and on the sad ruins of the once great Novo Brdo, a poor Albanian village of 15 houses spreads out.”⁹

“… the village of Nereze, 1/2 hour west, is the Albanian village of Krushopek. In this village, a whole small church still stands. The Albanians, who have compacted the land around it, keep hay and straw in it.”¹⁰

“… across Hrtica), on a stream that, near the village of Oplana, flows into Brvenica, there is the Albanian village of Rakanica.”¹¹

“A few minutes from Lucani, along the water, there are brick walls and the remains of an old bridge. Končule is an Albanian village on both sides of the Morava River in a small valley in the Morava Strait. A demarcation line has been drawn along the edge of the mountain from Karpina to Karadag. The left half of the village, that is, the one on the left bank of the Morava River, has been burned down and is deserted. There are a few Albanian houses on the right.”¹²

“The Albanian village of Dejkovac , and in the background the terrible Gafurovci , whose strength was talked about so much , as if it were some great …”¹³

” the Albanian village of Sazlija. But what is that in front of us, on the right, a square hill, and what is that on its …”¹⁴

“The village of Čabar, Albanian and until recently very rich, today has the first owners with 30 families in the house, who were left with eight to ten acres of land, because the Ibar …”¹⁵

“We have seen that this village is considered the center of Albanian villages in Moravica. The women of Norčanka are the most beautiful Albanian …”¹⁶

“… The Arnaut village of Shushitsa. The inhabitants did not know a word of Serbian, and began to ask rather rudely in their own language..”¹⁷

“… the village of Limljani and the Lim River and the Lim River; Pepići is an Albanian village in Vasojevići (in Polimlje), and in Crmnica there is a katun of the same name on Sutorman? Isn’t that a remnant of Albanian names, since lim or ľuma among them means a river in general …”¹⁸

“There was a settlement of Samodreža, but not a single Serbian householder in it – the Arnaut village, down to the last house. Everything else, Rakić said then, is exactly as Vice-Consul Stanković described in his report from 1891.”¹⁹

“… the village of Golovishte. It is now a purely Albanian settlement. The Camovci, originally from Maci, live there. There are only 6 houses. Although it has been a purely Albanian , Muslim village for a hundred years , parts of its area are still called: Bregovec …”²⁰

“… the Arnaut village , Belanovica, and the cold autumn rain accompanied us the whole way. We tied the horses to an Arnaut house, from where the Arnauts had just escaped, and the commander, officers and the staff priest, Archimandrite Platon Jovanović, spent the night in …”²¹

“… the Albanian village of Seljanci, since the border was set on Kopaonik, has not spared them a rifle or a butt. The Muhajirs did not allow them to calm down their pans in their houses, nor did they allow them free passage to the city square, while the Nizam’s chauffeurs …”²²

“… the Albanian village of Berilje, where in 1866 the often-mentioned leader of the Herzegovinian rebels, “serdar” Peko Pavlović, founded the first Montenegrin colony. “²³

“… The village has two cemeteries: one on Glavica, where most of the village is buried , and the other “Arnaut cemetery” in the Brestovi area, next to the road to Kragujevac. In the valley of the Nikoljska Reka there is the old church of Nikolje, an endowment of Despot Stevan …”²⁴

“… the Albanian village of Kondul: but since he does not mention it at all in the text of the work, it must be assumed that there are no remains or monuments of Christian antiquity in it..”²⁵

“The Albanian village of Kokla, on the mountain slope, seemed to me, after the city of Thebes, quite decent, and we…”²⁶

“… the Albanian village of Pojani.”²⁷

“… the Albanian village of Dobrosin “²⁸

“… the Albanian village of Vrbica, where we were welcomed by Hamdija and Bek Hashani.”²⁹

” the Albanian village of Greva“³⁰

“… the village of Banja is a purely Albanian village and that its inhabitants have “left”. “³¹

“… The Albanian village of Kaluđerov Laz in the Rožaje municipality has been abandoned since 1999, when the army killed several civilians who were in a refugee column.”³²

“Ižance is the only Albanian village whose mahala names are determined by their topographic position”³³

References

Albanian villages and toponyms in Serbia in the 19th century

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