Author(s): Sadullah YILMAZ, OÄuz AKYÃZ
Turkish and Albanians have lived together for centuries, thus shared the same history through numerous interactions in many areas. During the Ottoman Reign many architectural structures such as mosques, madrassas, bridges, and bezistans were built, consequently cultural interactions occurred between the two peoples. Especially, the interaction between the languages had been very high as a result many words from Turkish were transferred into Albanian. Many words used in everyday language, place names, and surnames, as the most important component of one`s identity, are among the most significant examples reflecting the interactions between languages. Surnames coming out of a nation`s traditions, customs, culture and religion cannot be considered as mere assets of a language, they also serve a mission as culture bearers. Investigating the surnames in Albania one would see the five hundred years of Ottoman Reign and traces of Turkish language. Turku(Türk), Ballabani(Balaban),Ademi(Adem), Bak?r?(Bak?r), Ajaz?(Ayaz), Bajraktari(Bayraktar), Agai(Aga), Pelteku(Peltek), Tabaku(Tabak), Çeliku(Çelik), Terz?u(Terzi), etc. are among many other examples that can be found as part of Trukish culture living in this region. In this study it is aimed to unveil Turkish originated surnames in Albania as living heritage of Turkish language, as well as investigate origins of the words, their semantic values, such as Arabic and Persian words that hed been transferred into Albanian through Turkish.
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