Frang Bardhi and the first dictionary of Albanian (1635)
A cleric from Kallmet in Zadrima, the Dictionarium latino-epiroticum published in Rome, the proverbs he added at the end and the defence of Skanderbeg’s Albanian origin
Translated from the Albanian original by the editors. Shqip
Settings
Line spacing
Typeface
Appearance
Frang Bardhi, in Latin Franciscus Blancus, was born in 1606 in Kallmet in Zadrima, into a family that had produced several clerics. Like many young Albanian Catholics of the time, he studied in Italy, at the Illyrian college of Loreto and then in Rome, at the college of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith.
The dictionary
In 1635 this Congregation published his work Dictionarium latino-epiroticum in Rome, a Latin-Albanian dictionary. At that time Albanians were often called "Epirotes" in Latin. The dictionary contains about five thousand Latin words with their Albanian translations. It is regarded as the first known dictionary of the Albanian language.
Its main purpose was practical: to help clergy serving among Albanians understand and use the people's language. But for us today the dictionary has great historical value, because it shows how northern Albanian was spoken in the seventeenth century and preserves words that have since been forgotten or have changed.
The proverbs
At the end of the dictionary Bardhi added a few pages of expressions and Albanian proverbs, with Latin translations. This is one of the earliest written collections of Albanian folk wisdom. He also added lists of place names and everyday words such as numbers and days.
A dictionary is not just a list of words. It is evidence that a language lived, worked and thought.
The defence of Skanderbeg
In 1636 Bardhi published in Venice a work in Latin entitled Apology for Skanderbeg. He was answering a Bosnian bishop who had written that Skanderbeg was of Bosnian origin. Bardhi brought arguments from historical sources and from tradition to show that Skanderbeg was Albanian. This work shows that, even two centuries after the hero's death, his memory was part of the identity of educated Albanians.
The bishop
In 1635 or shortly after, Bardhi was appointed bishop of Sapa, in Zadrima. He wrote reports to Rome on the state of the faithful and the churches in his area, which are valuable sources for the history of that time today. He died young, in 1643.
Why we remember him
- He left the first known dictionary of Albanian, a foundation for later studies.
- He preserved proverbs that might otherwise have been lost.
- He defended with arguments a part of Albanian historical memory.
