by Lulzim Osmanaj. Edited and translated by Petrit Latifi

THE OLDEST ALBANIAN MANUSCRIPT THE AUTHOR OF THE BELLIFORTIS APPENDIX MANUSCRIPT IS GULIELM ADAMI OF THE YEAR 1332 (Archbishop of Tivar, 12th-14th century). The transcription, analysis and transliteration were done by the researcher Lulzim Osmanaj, October 2024 From the Latin text it seems that we are dealing with initiation rites that include a kind of phallic ceremony

The manuscript is about some boys who are getting ready to enter the family of men, so they are in the phase of puberty, adolescence

1. est hoc lucibulum signorum duodecim pulchrum

1. This is the beauty of the twelve bright signs.

2. puseo virgineus aptetur die solari

2. The virgin boy must be initiated on a sunny day at

3. hora mane prima tenens circulare sinistra

3. the first hour of the morning, holding the round thing in the left hand

4. corporis dyaphoni sed dextra facculam sumat

4. of (his) inharmonious body, but in the right hand he may take a torch,

5. et circumscriptum duodecies pronuncciando

5. pronouncing twelve times what has been paraphrased.

6.intervallo deposito postea require petitum

6. After an interval, ask for what is required,

7. preascriptum presens est hoc subtile probatum

7. described earlier. Present is the subtle thing that is being tested.

8. noscit qui intelligit sufficit expressio simplex

8. He who understands, knows. A simple expression suffices.

9. prescriptosque ligant duodecim altitudines celi

9. And the twelve heights of heaven, and also the virtues that

10. nec non et virtutes queque continentur in ipsis

10.contain in them, can bind the things

prescribed.

L.O/11.We heard a star(s) leaving the forest, dayce dayci

11.A star(s) was heard(s), leaving the forest, dayce dayci (listen, listen)

11.A star was heard leaving the forest, listen to the star, listen

12.dayze yan yon yan

12.They are our stars, listen, they are ours

12.They are ours, listen to our star, distinguish it

13.pusionis dextram ragam aurem sed sinistram

13.Speak (in) the boy’s right ear ‘ragam’, but (in) the left

13.Speak in the boy’s right ear ‘ragam’llagem but on the left

14 echem pronunccies totiens sit reiterando

14 ‘ekhem’ ehem,epshem as often as it needs to be repeated

15. donec compleveris corporis dyaphoni normam

15. until you complete the norm of the inharmonious body.

16. postea ligabunt enoch et helias prophete

16. After this, the prophets Enoch and Elijah and the high priesthood

17. nec non magisterium summum invocatum prescriptos

17 who is called, will bind the things determined.

18.ragam ragma mathy zagma concuti perbra

18.Ragam(rock),like rock(ragma) mathy(i math,i big), big sound (zagma) I was shocked (concuti) perbra tij,në tij(perbra)

18.Like a strong rock of math with a resounding sound stands beside him,

19.iste aus auskar auskary ausckarye zyma bomchity

19.Ishte (ista) afsh(aus) afshkar(auskary) afsh k….. sexual she bom çiti,explosion of thunder(bomchity)

19.Ishte sexual afsh when she,he sound boom çiti,explosion like thunder..

20. wasram electen eleat adolecten zor dorchedine..

20.vashëri,vajzeri(wasram) adolescent(adolechten) zor,võðî dorqendîsë ( dorchedine)

20.The teenage girls were scared when they heard the star, they were hand-embroidering and…

21. bestmus lisne zehanar zehanara zensa

21.the voice of Hana (zehanar ) the voice of Hanare (zehanara) was heard (lisne) za se(zensa) don’t believe (bestmus )

21. A voice of Hana was heard a moonlight fell

Don’t believe that Hana fell in the…

22.echem biliat adolecten zeth dorchene zehat stochis

22.ehem (echem) the girls, the girls(biliat) who were busy(zeth) dorqendis(dorchene) we heard the voices(zehat) like the storm(stochis)

22.ehem,epshen the girls, who were busy embroidering when they heard the voices of the storm

23.lisne zehanar zehanara zehayssa

23. The light of the house was heard (lisne) (zehanar) the light of the house falls as much light as the house

23. They saw the light of the house, they heard the noise when the house made a noise and it no longer exists

24. strictum quod est supra recludes virginea cera

24 The strong thing that is like for, you must seal it with virgin wax,

25. similiter policem unguis dextri posisionis

25 in the same way the thumb of the boy’s right claw.

26. manu quoque dextra teneatur rotundum ut supra

26 You can also hold the round thing in the right hand as above,

27. quod si gravatur super eque sinistram

27 and if it is weighed down, in the same way on the left hand.

28. sit et unda fluens de qua complebis quesitum

28 There may be a flowing wave in which you will fulfill the request.

29 deo gracias

29 for the sake of God“

Decompositions and transliterations according to researcher Lulzim Osmanaj

Old words in the Albanian/Illyrian language

Old Albanian-ilirian words

1.Ni-Ni,nji,një (referring to the number 1)

2.Nidju-nigju,njigju,ndigu,ndegju

3.Yze-yll,ylli,yllz but also izë in Robert Elsie

4.Mbenis-me nis, to start

5.Chmilfet-ç’mi lshet,ç’pelcet

6.Ragam-shkembe i fërte, but also llagem

7.Echem-ekhem,ehem,epshem

8.Mathy-math,i math,i madh (e mathy)ancient Macedonian,Illyrian

9.Perbra-përbri (përbri njeri tërbi)

10.Zagma-za math ,ringing

11.Concuti-shock(Latin)

12.Iste-was

13.Aus-afsh

14.Auskar-afsh kar..penis sexual afsh

15.Bomchity-thunder,explosion,boom qiti explode boom,bam

16.Wasram-vashëri,maiden,(Cikni Kosovar dialect)

17.adolecten-adolescent (Latin)

18.Zor-difficult,hard

19.Dorchedine-dorqendisë (girls doing embroidery)

20.Bestmus-don’t believe,don’t believe,(Illyrian-Albanian)

21.Zehanar-zë hane,hanar edhe ra hana,(Illyrian-Albanian)

22.Lisne-degjo (lisne-language Israeli, Yiddish)

23. Bilyat-daughters, girls, chicks(Irish, Mesopotamian, Etruscan)

24. Zeth-shout, quarrel

25. Stochis-storm

26. Zehayssa-exactly, how much voice has

27. yan, yon-are, ours(Illyrian)

28. Electen-elected (Latin)

29. Dayze-hear, distinguish, share, share the voice

30. Kar-kar, penis

31. Racha-ra, has fallen

From time to time, words that remind you of Latin also appear: concuti, electen, adolecten

Latin Alb

Concuti-shock

Electen-choice

Adolecten-adolescent

THE OLDEST MANUSCRIPT OF THE ALBANIAN LANGUAGE FORGOTTEN BY THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES GULEIM ADAMI OF 1332. (ADAMI Manuscript, XII-XIV century)

The second evidence we have is from an anonymous author, who in all likelihood was a priest of the Dominican order, who in 1308, during his journey through the Balkans, when describing Albania and the Albanians, among other things, wrote: “here the aforementioned Albanians have a language distinct from the Latins, Greeks and Slavs, so that they do not understand each other at all with other peoples” [Habent enim Albani prefati linguam distancitam a latinis, grecis et slavis ita quod in nullo se inteligunt cum aliis nationibus].

The third testimony is that of Gulielm Adam, or as he is known as the “Archbishop of Tivar” who in 1332, by order of Pope John XXII, wrote the treatise “Directorium ad passagium faciendum”, thus also making a report to Philip VI of Valois, king of France, entitled: “DIRECTORIUM AD PASSAGIUM FACIENDUM (DIRECTIONS FOR CROSSING THE SEA), where he provides information about Albania and the Albanians. Here we also find the sentence famous quote that made him famous in history:

“And although the Albanians have a completely different language from the Latins, they have the Latin letters in use and in all their books.”

The text we are dealing with consists of a total of ten lines interwoven into a somewhat mysterious Latin text on the last page of the manuscript. It was interpreted as Albanian and was actually translated by the Romanian engineer Dumitru Todericiu with the collaboration of Professor Dumitru Polena (Bucharest) in 1967 and referred to as an early Albanian text in Götz Quarg’s edition of the Bellifortis manuscript in the same year. The text is also briefly mentioned by Dhimitër Shuteriqi in his work on Albanian sources from 1332 to 1850. The Romanian scholars Todericiu-Polena did not actually manage to decipher the manuscript word for word. 

They managed to adapt it to the eight lines where, based on the few words they managed to transliterate, one of them they could not decipher.

In 1967, the scholar Dumitru Todericiu studied microfilms of the Bellifortis text, manuscript 663, preserved in the Musée Condé of the Château de Chantilly in France. This work was written by Konrad Kyeser around 1402-1405.

The original Latin context is an astrological context, part of an initiation ritual practiced by young boys when they become men, and a remnant of the ancient phallic cult, very common in the Balkan peninsula. On page 153v Todericiu discovered an insertion of text in a strange language. Until then, scholars considered it to be a text without actual meaning, written in an artificial language. Believing that the words were in Albanian, Todericiu, together with Professor Dumitru Polena from Bucharest, after four months of work obtained a modern version of the text[3]:

A star has fallen in a place in the forest, distinguish the star, distinguish it. .

Distinguish the star from the others, they are ours, they are.

Do you see where the great voice resounded? Stand by it

That thunder. It did not fall. It did not fall on you, the one who would have done it.

Like the ears, you should not believe … that the moon fell when …

Try to include what explodes far away …

Call upon the light when the moon falls and no longer exists …

Dr. Robert Elsie, a specialist in Albanian studies, considers that “The Romanian translation of Todericiu/Polena of the non-Latin lines, although it may provide some clues as to whether the text is indeed Albanian, is fanciful and based, among other things, on a false reading of the Manuscript, including the omission of an entire line […]

Several lines of evidence, both linguistic and non-linguistic, support an Albanian origin for the text under study. Albanian, which remains to be definitively proven, would be the oldest text on record in that language”[4].

Compared to other European languages, Albanian does not have an ancient literary tradition. In fact, for historical, political, economic and geographical reasons, Albanian was among the last national languages ​​of Europe to be written. There are no visible traces of the Albanian language before the fifteenth century.

This is a disaster not only from a linguistic point of view, in order to better understand the history of the Albanian language and its origin, but also from a literary point of view, because the written literature of a nation is the first indicator of the cultural history of the nation. The beginnings of Albanian literature, or more precisely, the beginnings of the past in the Albanian language are quite sporadic and somewhat mysterious.

In the history of Albanian literature, it is generally accepted that the earliest Albanian text that we know so far and that can be dated is the Baptism Formula from 1462: Unte paghesont premenit Atit et birit et spertit senit, an Albanian translation by Pal Ëngjëlli, Archbishop of Durrës, of the religious formula known in Latin.

However, the fifteenth century offers us another text, a rather strange text which may be an earlier starting point of Albanian writing. It is the Bellifortis Manuscript, and the appendix by the author Gulielm Adami from 1332, which is 130 years older than the Baptismal Formula. The Bellifortis Manuscript is a medieval treatise in Latin on the military science of that time.

The author of the famous work “Bellifortis” was the German Konrad Kyezer (1366-1405), a German expert in pyrotechnics, i.e. in firearms. Bellifortis was a work of importance for the princes of Central Europe because it showed in technical detail all the contemporary possibilities of warfare with firearms. 

A copy of the Bellifortis manuscript, from 1402-1405, is preserved in the Musée Condé of the Château de Chantilly in northern France. This manuscript copy has an addition on the last page (ms. 348/663, fol. 153v) that is of particular importance for Albanological studies and that, according to the Austrian scholar Katharina Hranictky, the Latin-Albanian addition dates back to the 12th century.

From the content, this addition of 29 lines is not at all connected with the work of Konrad Kyeser. This addition is a mystical text written by an unknown writer partly in Latin and partly, i.e. ten lines, in a language that until today was thought to be incomprehensible but which, according to the scholar Lulzim Osmanaj, turns out to be Albanian. The reference to the twelve signs is undoubtedly astrological.

The oldest document in the Albanian language 1332

Researcher Lulzim Osmanaj has managed to decipher over thirty words from the old Albanian language through the Albanian language, namely the Gheg dialect. The fascinating nature of the rest of the text, however, excludes a word-for-word translation.

After a brief look at the text, the question immediately arises: is Bellifortis Albanian?

And, if we are dealing with a text in the Albanian language, what kind of Albanian is this?

Is there a clear basis for Albanian that is visible through the fog of transformations and taboos?

The text seems Albanian to me. I am convinced, at least, that There is no other European language that matches the text better than the Albanian language. Then from what I have analyzed I am able to resolve the final issue that the “Bellifortis Manuscript” is written in the old Albanian language, also influenced by some Latin words, which was normal for the time.

According to researcher Lulzim Osmanaj, the writing also has ancient Illyrian, Mesape, Etruscan, and ancient Macedonian words that are transformations and inheritances in the old Albanian language and up to the standard Albanian language, such as the words;

bestmus- don’t believe, don’t be afraid, don’t be unbelieving,

/yan-jan,/ dayze- listen to the voice or hear the voice,

/biliat-bijat,vajzat but the word biliat is also found in the Mesape-Illyrian-Etruscan language,

/ mathy-madh,math or as in ancient Illyrian Macedonian Emathia-e math etc.

It can be seen that in addition to the repetitions of words as in b., c., d., and f., a whole row, i.e. row h. is completely repeated as row i., of course with many transformations or taboos.

If we are dealing here with a text in the old Albanian language, how is it explained then that this text was found on the last page of such a manuscript and this in the north of France?

Despite the distance between Albania and France, it is entirely possible that there were Albanians in France in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. In 1269, Charles of Anjou (1226-1285) arrived in Vlora and was proclaimed rex Albaniae (king of Albania) three years later. Angevin rule in Albania continued until the middle of the fourteenth century, during which time entire regions of northern Albania converted to Catholicism. 

It would not be surprising then if some of these Catholics, or at least some French priests with knowledge of the Albanian language, returned to France after the French withdrawal from Albania. I am therefore convinced that the Bellifortis appendix or as I call it the “Dorështojca” of William Adam in 1332. 

Musée Condé, Château de Chantilly, ms. 348/663, fol. 153v.

Guillem Adami, the French cleric who served as Archbishop of Tivar, during the years 1324-1341, was born on July 9, 1270. He was the author of the Treatise, “Guide to Making the Journey to the Holy Land”, which has the values ​​of a great source for the history of Albania. In it, the author provides data on our cities such as Shkodra, Drishti, Shasi, Ulcinj, Tivar, etc.

For the episcopal see of Pulti i Madh and Pulti i Vogël, Sepa and Arben and for the population of these areas. Of importance is his statement that “Although the Albanians have a language very different from Latin, they still use the Latin alphabet in all their books”. This proves that the Albanian language was written with the Latin alphabet before 1332, that the Albanians even before this year had written “Books” with Latin letters.

Based on the Latin testimony of the Frenchman Gulielm Adami, Konica, who often dealt with the past of Albanian writing and Albanian literature, in his posthumous work, made the assumption that Albanian, which, according to the aforementioned testimony, has its books in 1332, written in the Latin alphabet, must have been written, for example, at least since 1272, when Charles I of Anjou of Naples declared himself “Rex Albaniae”, but even earlier, perhaps from the end of the 11th century to the end of the 12th century, when the Normans descended on Albania to attack the Byzantines who held the country.

This manuscript, which was purchased in Warsaw in 1590, was said to have belonged to the Albanian national hero, Skanderbeg (c. 1405-1468), who bought it as a gift from King Ferdinand of Aragon and Naples.

The medieval Götz Quarg edition is believed and has been discussed from time to time in Balkan studies as a Latin-Albanian initiation rite. What is remarkable is mainly the fact that the codification of Old Albanian began very late in the second half of the 15th century.

Therefore, this would be the oldest written document of this language for which a second document can now be provided. Some owners apparently obscured the useless passages later, but they were deciphered and became readable again today.

However, according to Austrian authors and at the same time Prof. Dr. Katharina Hranitzcky, professor of Art History at the University of Vienna, the whispered words Ragam Ragma Mathi Zagma Concuti Perbra were already noticed as an addition to a Roman Liturgy (Breviary Romanum) from the 12th century to the century (13th-14th lines).

She has managed to decipher the writing in some lines differently than the Romanian authors and Robert Elsie such as/ Ragin ragina mathi zachina…..lysne zehaner zehanora zohossa)

Studies and scientific research in various archives and libraries are very important because they enable us to recognize and enrich ourselves with new data for Albanology and national history in general.

The scholar, writer, poet and prose writer, Lulzim Osmanaj, as a member of the Bavarian Library and the Heilbronn Library, as well as a member of the Academy.

Our roots have, through his research and studies, reached the conclusion that the “BELLIFORTIS” Manuscript belongs to Gulielm Adam, Archbishop of Tivar.

Lulzim Osmanaj, like many other previous researchers such as the Romanian researchers Dumitru Todorici and Dumitru Polena, Robert Elsie, Shaban Demiraj, Faik Konica, etc., conducted research in the Bavarian Library where over 80 thousand books are stored, as well as research in the Digital Library of Vienna, Linz, Heidelberg, Rome, but also the Vatican Library to find any traces of this document or manuscript or to get any more advice. Consultation with German colleagues, experienced specialists from all fields, agreed that the Tivar Manuscript is in the Albanian language.

We, relying on competent Latinists, such as Prof. Sotir Papakristo and Stefan Prifti, we have accepted that Albanian had been written a little since the 13th century (in the history of Albanian literature “for high schools, which was published in 1955). We have further assumed that the period of the first state of Arbëri, that of 1190-1216, could be the time of the beginnings of writing Albanian.

It is one of the most important moments in the early life of our people. , when Catholicism and Orthodoxy were in a fierce battle with heresy, which had conquered the Balkans and Albania itself and a good part of the West, from the Atlantic coast to France and which Pope Innocent III was fighting. This pope also agreed with Archon Dhimitër, who was in charge of Arbëri, after 1208, to send him a prelate from Durrës, so that religion would be strengthened in Arbëri.

The German linguist and Sanskrit scholar Franz Bopp first recognized the Indo-European character of Albanian in 1854. The fundamental change that has occurred in the phonology and morphology of the language since the Indo-European period is, however, difficult to trace due to the lack of texts dating back to the fifteenth century. Then we can finally conclude that the “Dorështojca” Bellifortis is the work of the Archbishop of Tivar, GJULIEM ADAMI, author of the 1332/14th century”

References

ELSIE, Robert

Arnold von Harff’s Albanian Lexicon, 1497. In: Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft 97 (1984), pp. 113-122.

KYESER, Conrad aus Eichstatt

Bellifortis. Umschrift und Übersetzung von Götz Quarg (Düsseldorf 1967).

SHUTERIQI, Dhimitër S.

Albanian writings in the years 1332-1852 (Tirana 1976).

STADTMÜLLER, Georg

Altheidnischer Volksglaube und Christianisiering in Albania. In: Orientalia Christiana Periodica 20 (1954), p. 211-246.

TODORICIU, Dumitru

Cel mai vechi Albanian text? In: Contemporanul 24. Xi. 1967 (Bucharest).

TODORICIU, Dumitru

Un tekst albanez mai vechi decît formula de botez din 1462. In: Magazin Istoric 8 (1967), p. 8284. Societatea de stiinte historica si philologice din Republica Socialista România (Bucharest).

TODORICIU, Dumitru

An unknown Albanian text inserted in a medieval manuscris de tehnica militara redactat at the beginning of the eleventh century. In: Studia Bibliologica 2 (1967), p. 311-325. Universitatea Bucuresti. Instituti Pedagogjik – Facultatea de Philologie. Sectia de biblioteconomie (Bucuresti).

[first published in Zeitschrift für Balkanologie, Berlin, 22.2 (1986), p. 158-162.]

Lulzim OSMANAJ

Studium der albanischen Sprache und Lösung des Rätsels den Anhang ,,Bellifortis“-(Lulzim Osmanaj,Heilbronn,Bavaria,October 2024;

( Forscher,Schriftsteller,Dichter und Prosaschriftsteller,)

Studies on the antiquity of the Albanian language and the solution of the mystery of the appendix of „Bellifortis“;-(Lulzim Osmanaj,

Heilbronn,Bavaria,October 2024

(Study,writer,poet,proser)