Agimi (the Dawn) was an Albanian literary society founded in Shkodër, Ottoman Empire in 1901.

Agimi was founded on 15 July 1901, in Shkodër (today's Albania) with the initiative of Catholic clerics Lazër Mjeda and Ndre Mjeda (brothers).[1][2] Other member would be writers and publicists Anton Xanoni,[3] and Mati Logoreci.[4] It aimed at stimulating the use of Albanian language in literature, in particular by means of a new alphabet.

The Mjeda brothers were initially members of the literary society Bashkimi. They moved own with their own society due to divergences on the future standard Albanian alphabet. Bashkimi had generated its own script, known as Bashkimi Alphabet which was based on pure Latin script.[5] Ndre Mjeda advocated for a more complex alphabet based on the Croatian model[6] with the used of diacritic letters, such as ž or č, in order to generate a distinct letter for each distinct sound.[2] This would be known as Agimi alphabet.

Current alphabet:A aB bC cÇ çD dDh dhE eË ëF fG gGj gjH hI iJ jK kL lLl llM mN nNj njO oP pQ qR rRr rrS sSh shT tTh thU uV vX xXh xhY yZ zZh zh
Agimi alphabet (reordered):A aB bC cČ čD dĐ đE eƏ əF fG gǴ ǵH hI iJ jK kL lŁ łM mN nŃ ńO oP pḰ ḱR rR̃ r̃S sŠ šT tÞ þU uV vDz dzDž džY yZ zŽ žQ q*W w*X x*

(*only in foreign words)

Sample text in the Agimi alphabet:

Kelit i fali lala ńi mołə tə bukurə. Sá škoj nə špiə i þa Linəsə, sə moterəsə. „Ḱyr sá e bukurə âšt kəjo mołə! Eja e t’ a dájmə baškə.“ „Me kênə mã e mađe, i þa e motəra, kišimə me e daə baškə; por mbassi âšt aḱ e vogelə, haje vetə.“ „Ani ča? þa Keli, t’ a hámə baškə, se mə vjen mã e mirə.“

Kəndime pər škołə tə para tə Šḱypəniəsə: Pjesa e parə, at Albanian National Library, f. 100.

Agimi alphabet was presented in 1902 at the International Congress of Orientalists, which was held in Hamburg, German Empire. It received a favorable reception by the Austro-Hungarian and German scholars.[1] In 1908, it was one of the three candidate alphabets presented at the Albanian Congress of Monastir (in today's Bitola). The society was represented by Ndre Mjeda and Mati Logoreci. Based on Congress delegate's votes it lost to Gjergj Fishta's Bashkimi alphabet and ranked third, so it wasn't adopted.[7]
The society members published many works during their active lifespan, some of them in the new alphabet. Such were Logoreci's work Dašamiri (The Patron), published in Trieste, 1907.[8] Ndre Mjeda and Anton Xanoni also published a number of readers for Albanian schools.[2]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 George Gawrych (2006), The Crescent and the Eagle: Ottoman Rule, Islam and the Albanians, 1874-1913, Library of Ottoman Studies, vol. 10, I. B. Tauris, p. 89, ISBN 978-1845112875
  2. 1 2 3 Koço Bihiku (1966), An Outline of Albanian Literature, Naim Frashëri State Pub. House, p. 36, OCLC 701994, In collaboration with his brother he founded in 1901 the «Agimi» («The Dawn») cultural society in Shkodra. Its members elaborated an alphabet basing each distinct sound on a separate character, and published textbooks for schools.
  3. ↑ Peter Prifti (2002), Land of Albanians: a crossroad of pain and pride, Horizont, p. 138, ISBN 9789992774366, OCLC 52631278
  4. ↑ Instituti i Gjuhësisë dhe i Letërsisë (Akademia e Shkencave e RPSH); Universiteti Shtetëror i Tiranës. Instituti i Historisë dhe i Gjuhësisë (1984), Studime filologjike, vol. 38, Akademia e Shkencave e RPSSH, Instituti i Gjuhësisë dje i Letërsisë, p. 120, ISSN 0563-5780, OCLC 2268583, Kur N. Mjeda themeloi shoqërinë «Agimi» dhe hartoi alfabetin e saj, kishte përkrah edhe M. Logorecin.{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ↑ Xhevat Lloshi (2008), Rreth alfabetit të shqipes: me rastin e 100-vjetorit të Kongresit të Manastirit, Logos-A, p. 71, ISBN 9789989582684, OCLC 494310096, Alfabeti i Bashkimit, dmth alfabeti latin i paster
  6. ↑ Suart E. Mann (1977), An Albanian Historical Grammar, Hamburg: Buske, p. 17, ISBN 9783871182624, OCLC 466999128, A rival alphabet based on Croat characters was propagated for a time by the Dawn Society (Agimi)...
  7. ↑ Robert B. Pynsent, Sonia I. Kanikova (1993), Reader's encyclopedia of Eastern European literature, NY: HarperCollins, p. 269, ISBN 9780062700070, OCLC 27430936
  8. ↑ Robert Elsie (2010), Historical Dictionary of Albania, Historical Dictionaries of Europe, vol. 75 (2 ed.), Scarecrow Press, Inc, p. 281, ISBN 978-0-8108-6188-6, ...he began publication of the short-lived fortnightly newspaper Dašamiri (The Patron), which he had printed in Trieste in the so called Agimi Alphabet.
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