Albanian

The vernacular tongue of modern Albania, a maritime province of European Turkey, which answers to the ancient Epirus; the inhabitants are a mixed race, including Arnauts, who are probably descended from the ancient Illyrians, Greeks, and Turks. The ancient language, called old Illyrian , and closely allied to Greek , has become mingled with Slavonic , written in Greek characters. The native name of the Albanian dialect is Skipetar . Both terms mean “mountaineers.” The modern language is sub-divided into the Ghegh and the Toski . See Hahn: “Albanische Studien,” Jena, 1854. Alemannic or Allemanian . The oldest form of Teutonic or High-German with which we are acquainted; it is the language attributed to the Suevi or Swabians, who, emigrating to the S., formed with other tribes a great confederation on the Rs. Maine, Rhine, and Danube. ⁂ See Bosworth’s “Dict. of the Anglo-Saxon Language,” ed. 1838, p. 120.     W. W. S.   Aleutian or Aliout-Liseyeff . The dialect of the Aleutian or Fox Islands, in the N. Pacific, between Asia and America. The inhabitants resemble the Moghols in physical peculiarities, but their language is allied to the Esquimaux . Vocab. Amer. Ethn. Trans., vol. ii., p. 130. ☞