Arnaut

Arnaut in Cairo, a painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme
Prayer in the house of an Arnaut chief, by Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1857.

Arnaut (Ottoman Turkish: ارناود; modern Turkish: Arnavut) is an ethnonym and exonym used to denote Albanians. Derived from the Byzantine Greek Arvanitis, it was used primarily during the Ottoman era to identify ethnic Albanians in official state records, regardless of their religious affiliation. The corresponding geographical designation, Arnavudluk (آرناوودلق), encompassed Albanian-populated regions including present-day Albania, Kosovo, western North Macedonia, southern Serbia, southern Montenegro, and parts of northern Greece.

Historically, the term also acquired a specific military connotation, often used by Western Europeans, Romanians, and Egyptians to describe Albanian mercenaries and soldiers serving in the Ottoman army, such as guards in the Danubian Principalities or skirmishers under Muhammad Ali of Egypt. Over time, the term was borrowed into several other languages, including Arabic (Arnā'ūṭ), Balkan South Slavic languages, Romanian, and Ukrainian, referring to local Albanian diaspora communities, historic military units, or geographical locations.

Etymology

The ethnonym Arnaut is derived from Turkish Arnavut, obtained through metathesis (-van- to -nav-) of the Byzantine Greek ethnonym Ἀρβανίτης Arvanítis, "Albanian", which evolved from Ancient Greek Ἀλβανίτης (approx. "Albanítes", which in turn derived from Ἀλβανός Albanós), through the evolution of the sound "β" from /b/ in Ancient Greek to /v/ in Byzantine Greek. A related Greek term is Arvanites.

Usage

Ethnic marker

During the Ottoman era, the name was used for ethnic Albanians regardless of their religious affiliations, just like it is today.

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, due to socio-political disturbances by some Albanians in the Balkans, the term was used as an ethnic marker for Albanians in addition to the usual millet religious terminology to identify people in Ottoman state records. The term used in Ottoman sources for the country was Arnavudluk (آرناوودلق) for areas such as modern Albania, western Macedonia, southern Serbia, Kosovo, parts of northern Greece and southern Montenegro. The name Arnavudluk for Albanian regions was a geographical designation, while Arnavud kavmı was an ethnic designation, with kavimiyet meaning 'ethnicity'. In modern Turkish Arnavutluk refers only to the Republic of Albania.

Transfer to other languages

The term Arnā'ūṭ (الأرناؤوط) also entered the Arabic language as an exonym for Albanian communities that settled in the Levant during the Ottoman era onward, especially for those residing in Syria. The term Arnaut (Арнаут), plural: Arnauti (Арнаути) has also been borrowed into Balkan South Slavic languages like Bulgarian and within Serbian the term has also acquired pejorative connotations regarding Albanians.

North Pontic coast and Ukraine

During the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) (before the first annexation of Crimea), many Albanians who fought on the Ottoman side switched sides and were resettled along the Southern Bug from Voznesensk to Mykolaiv. Along with the local population, they were drafted into the Buh Cossacks host.

In Ukraine, Albanians who lived in Budzhak and who later also settled in the Azov Littoral of Zaporizhzhia Oblast are also known as Arnaut. The city of Odesa has two streets: Great Arnaut Street and Little Arnaut Street.

Albanian Ottoman soldiers

Albanian Ottoman soldiers - Arnauts armed with Tançica, portrayed by Amedeo Preziosi in late 19th century.

Historically used as an exonym, the Turkish term Arnaut has also been used for instance by some Western Europeans as a synonym for Albanians that were employed as soldiers in the Ottoman army. In Romanian arnăut was used in a similar way, since at least the eighteenth century, for Albanian mercenaries dressed in traditional garb and hired either by the rulers of the Romanian principalities for their court guards, or by the boyars as bodyguards.

Albanian volunteers and mounted infantry were called Arnauts in Egypt, and they were greatly valued in the Egyptian Army, especially for their traditional role as skirmishers, experts of mountain fighting, patrolling and bodyguard units.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Malcolm 2009, pp. 233. "And a further complication is introduced by the term "Arnaut", which could be used as a synonym for "Albanian", but tended to suggest those Albanians (in the ethnic-linguistic sense) who acted as soldiers for the Ottomans — though these included Catholic Albanians as well as Muslim ones. (When early reports refer to the local Ottoman forces, such as the force led by Mahmut Begolli [Mehmet Beyoğlu], pasha of Peja, they usually state that they consisted largely of Arnauts. Those Serb historians who claim that the terms Arnaut and Albanian did not mean ethnic Albanians, when applied to the supporters of Piccolomini, seem to have no difficulty in accepting that they did have that meaning, when applied to those fighting against him.)"
  2. 1 2 3 Anscombe 2006, p. 88. "This Albanian participation in brigandage is easier to track than for many other social groups in Ottoman lands, because Albanian (Arnavud) was one of the relatively few ethnic markers regularly added to the usual religious (Muslim-Zimmi) tags used to identify people in state records. These records show that the magnitude of banditry involving Albanians grew through the 1770s and 1780s to reach crisis proportions in the 1790s and 1800s."; p. 107. "In light of the recent violent troubles in Kosovo and Macedonia and the strong emotions tied to them, readers are urged most emphatically not to draw either of two unwarranted conclusions from this article: that Albanians are somehow inherently inclined to banditry, or that the extent of Ottoman "Albania" or Arnavudluk (which included parts of present-day northern Greece, western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, Kosovo, and southern Serbia) gives any historical "justification" for the creation of a "Greater Albania" today."
  3. 1 2 Gawrych 2006, p. 22
  4. 1 2 Kolovos 2007, p. 41. "Anscombe (ibid., 107 n. 3) notes that Ottoman "Albania" or Arnavudluk... included parts of present-day northern Greece, western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, Kosovo, and southern Serbia"; see also EI2. s.v. "Arnawutluk. 6. History" (H. İnalcık) and Arsh, He Alvania. 31.33, 39-40. For the Byzantine period. see Psimouli, Souli. 28."
  5. 1 2 Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române (ediția a II-a revăzută și adăugită). Editura Univers Enciclopedic Gold for the Linguistics Institute of the Romanian Academy. 2009. Retrieved 11 May 2020 – via DEXonline.ro.
  6. 1 2 Norris 1993, pp. 209–210
  7. 1 2 "Seven ethnographical miracles of Ukraine". Ukrayinska Pravda. May 13, 2014.
  8. 1 2 Theißen 2007, p. 90
  9. ↑ Malcolm 1998, p. 29. "The name used in all these references is, allowing for linguistic variations, the same: 'Albanenses' or 'Arbanenses' in Latin, 'Albanoi' or 'Arbanitai' in Byzantine Greek. (The last of these, with an internal switching of consonants, gave rise to the Turkish form 'Arnavud', from which 'Arnaut' was later derived.)"
  10. ↑ Cole 2011, p. 15. "Arbëreshë was the term self-designation of Albanians before the Ottoman invasion of the 15th century; similar terms are used for Albanian-origin populations living in Greece ("Arvanitika," the Greek rendering of Arbëreshë) and Turkey ("Arnaut", Turkish for the Greek term Arvanitika)."
  11. 1 2 Anscombe 2006b, p. 772. "In this case, however, Ottoman records contain useful information about the ethnicities of the leading actors in the story. In comparison with 'Serbs', who were not a meaningful category to the Ottoman state, its records refer to 'Albanians' more frequently than to many other cultural or linguistic groups. The term 'Arnavud' was used to denote persons who spoke one of the dialects of Albanian, came from mountainous country in the western Balkans (referred to as 'Arnavudluk', and including not only the area now forming the state of Albania but also neighbouring parts of Greece, Macedonia, Kosovo, and Montenegro), organized society on the strength of blood ties (family, clan, tribe), engaged predominantly in a mix of settled agriculture and livestock herding, and were notable fighters — a group, in short, difficult to control. Other peoples, such as Georgians, Ahkhaz, Circassians, Tatars, Kurds, and Bedouin Arabs who were frequently identified by their ethnicity, shared similar cultural traits."
  12. ↑ Emin 2014, pp. 9–17.
  13. ↑ Murati 1991, p. 71. "emri etnik a nacional e shqiptarëve, përkundër trajtës së drejtë sllave Albanci, tash del të shqiptohet si Šiptari e Šipci me një konotacion përbuzës negativ, ashtu siç është përdorur në krye të herës te serbët edhe në kohën e Jugosllavisë së Vjetër bashkë dhe me formën Šiftari e Arnauti me po të njëtat konotacione pejorative. [the ethnic or national name of Albanians, despite the correct Slavic term Albanci, now appears to be pronounced as Šiptari and Šipci with a connotation that is contemptuously negative, as it was originally used among the Serbs at the time of the old Yugoslavia together with the forms Šiftari and Arnauti which have the same pejorative connotations.]"
  14. ↑ Državnoj štampariji 1878, p. 347. "зову Арнаут, Арнаутка, па од тог назива доцније им потомци прозову се Арнаутовићи. [...] Арнаучићи зли, пакосни и убојити."
  15. ↑ Flaherty, Chris (2021). "Arnaout: Albanian (mounted infantry) regiment". Turkish army Crimean war uniforms – Volume 2. Soldiers & Weapons. Vol. 41. Soldiershop Publishing. p. 23. ISBN 9788893277846.

Bibliography