In Balkans we have?

Menumorut makes a sense in his post.

@Akrita

Originally posted by Bulldog Do Albanians have any connection to "Caucasian Albania"???

Originally posted by Bulldog Why is the name the same??

Originally posted by Arb�r Z @Nikodimo In All Empires I have posted Illyrian words clearly linked with albanian, and I ll just type some right now   Enchelees - Ngjale (Eel) Taulantis - Dalandyshe ( Swallow (bird)) Byllines - Pyll(Forest) but it could be also Buall (Bull) Dalmates/Delmates - Dele/Delme (sheep) Dassaretes/Dessaretes - Dash/Desh (ram) Hyllus - Hylli(Star) - Hyu(god) Bardhyles - Bardhe (White)+Yll (Star) (Whitestar) Dardanes - Dardhe (Pear) Lissus - Lis - (Oak tree) Skodra - Kodra (Hill) Ulcigno - Ulq (Wolves) Scampinium/Scamba - Shkumba(foam)   And many others, I am not mentioning toponyms from the epirus region, because I do not want to through oil to the flame.

I don't know if these toponyms and ethnonyms can be seen as reliable evidence.You see even the name of the Carpians can be linked with the Albanian word Karpe-rock.So,equally using the same way of thinking the Albanians can still be descendants of the Carpians.
I don't know how reliable is to link the name of a people with a meaning in your language.For example in Greek Rome would mean Power and Romani could mean the powerful but of course this is pure coincidence and the Romans were not Greeks
The same applies to the name of the Medians.In Greek med-omai means think or govern.It comes from the same root with other Indoeuropean languages,like Latin.So there is a meaning in Greek but of course the Medians were not Greeks
What I want to say is that these cannot be regarded as strong evidence although it is an argument.
Btw,this is false
Byllines - Pyll(Forest) but it could be also Buall (Bull)
If all the Illyrian tribe ethnonyms had a meaning in Illyrian then definitely this is not the right etymology.Pyll comes from palludem(swamp),it is a loan word from the latin.Buall is a probably a loan word from Gothic,since this type exists only in Germanic languages.
What i personally believe is that trying to link the Albanians with the Illyrians or the Romanians with the Dacians is the same as writing a science fiction novel.That's my humble opinion.
I read much of the information that exists on the matter and I realised that many scholars doesn't accept this connection,like Wilkes for example.
Even wikipedia states that the problem of the origin of the Albanian people is not yet solved.
To me the Albanians are just Albanians,the Bulgarians just bulgarians and so on for all the Balkan people.For example us the Greeks,we are Greeks not Pelasgians.We appeared out of the darkness of history 4000 years ago and at that time the Greeks were nothing compared to the history of the Egyptians or the Assyrians.But slowly the Greeks created their own glorious history,as did many other people.
I cannot really understand why some Balkan people don't take pride in their identity and in their history and start raking the past in order to find the glorious ancestors that lived so many years ago.In fact the deeds of the Albanians since the time they appeared on the scene of history are more glorious than the deeds of the Illyrians.I really can't understand this pursuit for glorious (doubtful)ancestors and this crusade in order to prove that everybody is autochtonous.Why do some people think that way?Is it insecurity?Nobody is going to take their lands,even if their coming is recorded in history and they are not autochtonous
Is it a way to legalise claims on other countries?Then this is unacceptable and outrageous.History should not be the daughter of politics
I am sorry but i cannot understand this mentality.
P.S.the Greeks were also not autochtonous 4000 years ago when we came here,but with the time we built our own history on this blessed land.Why don't you do the same?After many years I hope no one will mix politics and history in the Balkans.

I also am not fully convinced about Romanians being Dacians, and Albanians being Illyrians, but then a question arises: What are they? Apparently they are quite unique in their environment. I mean the Romanians speak a latin language in a region surrounded by slavs. Do we know any barbarian tribe that came at some time and settled there? And then how did it get latinized? The same for Albanians. How was the unique Albanian language created, if say the Albanians are slavs?

Originally posted by nikodemos @Anton It is one thing to say that the ethnic character of your nation was influenced in the early Middle Ages by certain thracian elements and it is another thing to say that the Bulgarians are the descendants of the Thracians.You are clever enough to understand this,i hope.As you can understand the national character of the Bulgarians and the Bulgarian culture was also influenced very much by the Greek culture.Does it mean then that the Greeks are the ancestors of the Bulgarians?

Edited by Anton - 07-Sep-2006 at 18:07

Originally posted by xristar Bulgarians have less cultural Thracian influence than the Greeks. Certain customs (I'm having the Anastenaria in mind) are supposed to be of Thracian origin (they are certainly pagan). These customs were practiced mainly in what in now south Bulgaria. But these customs survived in the Greek population of the area, and less in the Bulgarian.   I think that the ancient Thracians allied themselves more with the Greeks than with the Slavs or Turks that came from the north.

You realize that the terminology of this custom in bulgarian is actually paraphrased greek.

Originally posted by bg_turk Originally posted by xristar Bulgarians have less cultural Thracian influence than the Greeks. Nonsense! You stole Macedonian history, but keep your hands away from the Thracians.

Originally posted by xristar You realize that the terminology of this custom in bulgarian is actually paraphrased greek.

Edited by Anton - 09-Sep-2006 at 09:17