vallë

See also: valle, Valle, and vallé

Albanian

Alternative forms

• vall, val — dialectal

Etymology

Cognate with Romanian oare, oară, with the same usage. Likely ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *welh₁- (“to wish”), though the trajectory is uncertain. Compare German wohl (“possibly”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvaɫə/
• Rhymes: -aɫə

Particle

vallë

1. used in questions to emphasise doubt, uncertainty or disbelief.

   përse vallë? ― I wonder why

   • 1827, Vangjel Meksi, Δγιάτα ἐ ῥέ, Matthew 2:2, page 3:

     Κοὺ βάλ' ἔ̰σ̈τε̰ μπρέτι ἰ Τζιφούτετ κ̇ὲ̰ οὐ λὲ;

     [Ku val' është mbreti i Çifutet që u le?]

     Where, I wonder, is the king of the Jews that was born?

References

• “vallë”, in FGJSSH: Fjalor i gjuhës së sotme shqipe [Dictionary of the modern Albanian language]‎^[1] (in Albanian), 1980, page 2109b
• Mann, S. E. (1948) “vall”, in An Historical Albanian–English Dictionary, London: Longmans, Green & Co., page 545a
• Kristoforidhi, Kostandin (1904) “βάλε̯”, in Λεξικὸν τῆς Ἀλβανικῆς γλώσσης [Lexikòn tês Albanikês glṓssēs] (in Greek), Athens, page 14
• Meyer, G. (1891) “vałɛ”, in Etymologisches Wörterbuch der albanesischen Sprache [Etymological Dictionary of the Albanian Language] (in German), Strasbourg: Karl J. Trübner, →DOI, page 462
• Orel, Vladimir E. (1998) “vallë”, in Albanian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill, →ISBN, page 494