[Ads-l] Albanians

[Paul A Johnston, Jr.]

The little town in New York State, Monroe, has a similar problem.  We are "Monrovians" but have probably never been to Liberia.

Paul

----- Original Message -----
> From: "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2015 10:51:58 AM
> Subject: Re: Albanians
> 
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Albanians
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> At 2/19/2015 10:21 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:
> >Wonder if the first vowel would disambiguate in=20
> >the spoken language.  Ah, yes, so saith OED, at=20
> >least in the primary pronunciation with open /O-/.
> 
> Probably, but the invitation wasn't written in IPA.
> 
> >There's also Albanian, n.3 and adj.1, another new one on me:
> >
> >Of or relating to Scotland or its people;=20
> >Scottish. Chiefly with reference to the time=20
> >prior to the Scottish Wars of Independence=20
> >(1296=AD1357), in later use often in relation to=20
> >the Scots (Scot n.1 1) who settled in what is now western Scotland.
> 
> I wondered, but then remembered.  To quote=20
> Wikipedia, "Albion", not just the island of Great Britain, but:
> 
> "... The name for Scotland in the Celtic=20
> languages is related to Albion: Alba in Scottish=20
> Gaelic, Albain in Irish, Nalbin in Manx and Alban=20
> in Welsh, Cornish and Breton. These names were=20
> later Latinised as Albania and Anglicised as=20
> Albany, which were once alternative names for Scotland."
> 
> Joel
> 
> 
> >Presumably they'd have been recognized as British but not as
> >English...
> >
> >LH
> >
> >On Feb 19, 2015, at 10:09 AM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
> >
> > > "Following the French and Indian War,=20
> > Albanians believed themselves to be British,=20
> > but visiting Britons did not recognize them as fellow countrymen."
> > >
> > > Since this is the first sentence of the=20
> > description of a talk titled "Degrees of=20
> > Britishness: The People of Albany, New York,=20
> > and Questions of Cultural Community Membership,=20
> > 1763--1775", I suffered a moment of=20
> > dislocation.  But the next sentence brought me back across the
> > ocean:
> > >
> > > "New World Dutch architecture, the Albany=20
> > Dutch dialect, and the Dutch Reformed Church=20
> > contributed to the British view of the=20
> > Albanians as inter-imperial foreigners:=20
> > subjects who lived within the British empire=20
> > but stood outside of the British cultural community."
> > >
> > > And I find it has a long history, even if not=20
> > as long as in the Caucasuses* -- "Albanian,=20
> > n.4", "A native or inhabitant of Albany, New York State", from
> > 1689.
> > >
> > > * Not to be confused with Secaucus, which is not close to Albany.
> > >
> > > Joel
> 
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