arbën

Albanian

The word is used in the expressions Mal e arbën meaning "mountains and fields", and Shkojm ne Arbëni "to climb down the mountain, to go in the plain land", thus connecting the word with an original form *arb, related to (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Indo-European *arH- (“to plow”) and *h₂rh₃ (“arable land”), or 'plain land' (cf. Latin Latium from latus (“wide, plain”), and arvum (“corn-field”), Ancient Greek ἄρουρα (ároura, “arable land”)) or to Proto-Germanic *arbaz (cf. Old Norse arfr (“inheritance”)), Old Irish orbe (“id.”), Latin orbus (“bereaved, parentless”), Proto-Slavic *orbь (“slave”).
The term represents the name of a south Illyrian tribe attested in Ancient Greek (Ancient Greek Ἀλβανοί (Albanoí)), later on denoting a proper name for an ethnic Albanian until (around) the eighteen century when it was replaced with shqiptar (see shqip).

arbën m