Albanian Soldiers of Ottoman

Albanian Highlanders

Great pic.  

Nice pictures. I like most last picture of the first post. It is really funny.

nice pictures Mordoth,

Doest "Arnavut" have any meaning in Albanian?

Doest "Arnavut" have any meaning in Albanian?

Thank Arber_Z what about the dish Albanian Liver (Arnavut Cigeri) and my question about it?

Great pics! I really like this one:

Originally posted by Mordoth SOKOL BEG

He has an awsome mustache.

arber_z, my neighbours are kiwis (new zealanders) and timorese, i only met one albanian down here for one minute. No offence but albanians dont exactly make it in the text books/tv down here. So you can understand why i depend on this medium to learn more about your people.

when you mean fustenela was formed in ondulations, you mean layers right? and does those warriors have particular weapons or swords?

Edited by Leonidas - 24-Oct-2006 at 07:29

Doest "Arnavut" have any meaning in Albanian

No not in our language.
However there is an interesting story about this. The term Arnaboud, in Persian, translated into something like "those who never cameback".
This was taken quite seriously by some Albanian muslims who wanted to especially identify with the Islamic world(this was around the 17th century). I believe this had its origins with Celebi's travels in Albania. He stated that Albanians were a misplaced Arab tribe(one of the Quran, I do not know the name) and that having settled in Europe, their langauge mixed with that of the "Franks"(Latins).

Later on, many in the empire started taking it seriously. And many Albanians were declaring themselves Arnauts(Especially in FYROM, where the word has not yet fully dissappeared).
With the 19th century "rediscovery" of Albania by European travels and with further study of the Albanians by people like Hahn, the theory was called utterly prepostreous and abandoned. As nationalism started to take shape among the Albanians, the term began to be linked with the Ottomans and started to die out, other Albanians found the term degrading as it implied connection to the middle east, whereas "Albanian" was far more pleasing since it had the Latin connection and thus one with Europe.

However both the term Arnaut and Arnavut come from the Greek version "Arvanite", or slavic "Arbanase", which in Albanian is Arber, the name of Medieval Albania.
    

is this a regional thing for albanians?

very much in the times of the late Empire. If you notice many janissaries wearing it, they either adopted it from Albanian ones or were Albanians.

The fustanelle was something that was usually associated with the pastoral wanderer. With the decline of Ottoman power, Albania became more and more a zone of utter anarchy. The lawlessness became transfered into a type of brigand, in Greek it was called "Klepht' as you may know, coming from the Turkish term Kacak or the slavic Hajduke.

These groups originally started in Albania during this period in the 18th century when ottoman control began to wane. They were thieves who preyed on unarmed villagers and basically made life a living hell in Albania(there is a Muslim poet in this time who wrote a long poem, about two hundred pages, in Albanian using Arabic script, lamenting this end of civility in the land).

When taken into the Ottoman ranks, they became known as the bashi-bazouks. To even hit or insult one could mean death for a turkish general, something which became an unwritten rule. They were wild enough to the point where Mehmet Ali of Egypt would simply throw them into some land he wanted to defeat to simply lower their numbers.
Not paying them what they wanted could result in the devastation of the land(something which happened in Bosnia in the mid 1800's). After the death of the janissary these guys became regulars in the ottoman army. Something which breeded contempt for the Turkish general who had to put up with their disregard for discipline. The fustanella was their real mark. And the carrying of a weapon.

Andre Gerolymatos book, The Balkan Wars: Conquest, Revolution, and Retribution discusses the deep influence these guys had on the development of the various Christian revolts in the Ottoman Empire(particularly the Greek one), and the significant romantic picture they played on the nationalists of these areas.

The mustache has its origins in the Janissary system. Under the Ottomans, only non-convert muslism were allowed to wear beared, therefore Albanians, being mostly Christian converts were only allowed to wear a mustache. Something which caught on.

    
    

Edited by Theodore Felix - 24-Oct-2006 at 13:55