Geg clans of Albania!

Umm... who are they precisely? A clan group separated from others by their linguistical variety or..? I am in the dark here a little.

Information about their involment in politics would be good and welcome aswell.

Geg language its certainly not slang... and the few tosks who refer to it as slang say so because they are ignorant on the beauty of the norther dialect. Father Gjergj Fishta a catholic priest wrote in geg dialect and he is the best author and poet Albanian has ever had. I speak both dialects since ive lived in both sides of Albanian north and south and in my opinion geg is a richer dialect than the tosk one. The official language is Tosk because the dicatotor Hoxha despised some geg clans who absolutely hated and even sometimes fought against the communists. He also liked Tosk because he was a Tosk himslef from Gjirokastra. A lot of geg catholic priests and many other people were thrown in jail because they disagreed with him.

Shkodra is the epicenter of the geg culture in Albania.
To my suprize politicians in the government today from Shkoder and generally from the geg north are missing heavily in the Tirana . Although the presidential election was won by Berisha and he is supported mainly by the gegs so this might change. In the last 10 years or so Shkodra has been the most neglected city of all Albania thanks to the socialist government that just got booted.


Edited by vulkan02

It has been argued that 'Gheg' derives from the ancient Greek word 'gea' (earth). Some assumed that 'Ghegs' were the Giants of ancient Greek mythology, who appears widely in pre-Greek period. If this view is to be settled, then Greeks got their inspiration for 'Giants' based on the northern Illyrian tribes, who crept on the fringes of ancient Greece. 

Originally posted by Nick1986 It makes sense as Gog was a giant. A tall tribe of barbarians would have looked like giants to tribes of smaller stature

An identification with Gog would rank Albanians with the Asiatic tribes, which does not reconcile with the truth. The unique culture along with other indigenous traits means plainly that Albanians are by and large descendants of a pre-Greek people, most likely Illyrians and Thracians. If we are to maintain the identification of Geg with 'Gog', then we must ascertain ourselves that Gog is not related with Asiatic Mongols (as some Biblical interpretations make them out). One is tempted to relate Gog with 'Gyges' of Lydia. I would not hesitate to accept that possibility, but we need more evidences to back it up. I cling to the hypothesis which ought to link Ghegs with 'gea' or 'giants', which imply their native character.