|
Niš was known as Нишь<ref>Данчо Господинов и кол. (2003) История на града Лом и Ломска околия. Изток-Запад, {{ISBN|9789548945691}}, стр. 387.</ref> or Ньшь<ref name="Mišić">{{Cite book |title=Leksikon gradova i trgova srednjovekovnih srpskih zemalja — prema pisanim izvorima |trans-title=Lexicon of towns and market places in the medieval Serbian lands — according to written sources |editor-last=Mišić |editor-first=Siniša |year=2010 |publisher=Zavod |location=Belgrade |page=188}}</ref> (''Nyšь'') in [[Serbian Cyrillic alphabet|Old Serbian]] and [[Reforms of Bulgarian orthography|Old Bulgarian]]. ''Nāissus'' is the [[Ancient history|Ancient]] name of the city.<ref name="Detelić">{{cite book |last=Detelić |first=Mirjana |title=Epski gradovi. Leksikon |trans-title=Epic Cities. A lexicon |date=2007 |publisher=Balkanološkog instituta SANU |location=Belgrade |isbn=9788671790406 |page=289 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dk0WAQAAIAAJ}}</ref> Naissus is itself probably a derivative of the older *''Nāviskos'', from *''Nāvia'' ("trough valley"), the [[Celtic languages|Celtic]] name of the [[Nišava River]], which flows through the city. In [[historical source]]s, the town is mentioned as Naissus, Ναϊσσός, Naessus, urbs Naisitana, Нишь, Ньшь, Nisso and Nix.<ref name="Mišić" />
''Niš'' evolved from the toponym attested in Ancient Greek as ''ΝΑΙΣΣΟΣ'' (Naissos) achieving its present form via phonetic changes in [[Proto-Albanian language|Proto-Albanian]] and thereafter the placename entered Slavic.<ref>[https://dokumen.tips/documents/179876370-s-pulaha-popullsia-shqiptare-e-kosoves-gjate-shekujve-xv-xvi.html?page=1 Popullsia Shqiptare e Kosoves Gjate Shekujve] p. 11-12</ref><ref name="Maynard557568">{{harvnb|Geniş|Maynard|2009|p=557}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Indo-European Languages|last=Rusakov|first=Alexander|publisher=Routledge|year=2017 |isbn=9781317391531|editor1-last=Kapović|editor1-first=Mate|pages=556|chapter=Albanian|editor2-last=Giacalone Ramat |editor2-first=Anna|editor3-last=Ramat|editor3-first=Paolo|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8i0lDwAAQBAJ}}</ref><ref name="Vermeer">{{cite book | last=Vermeer | first=Williem | title=The Disintegration of Yugoslavia | publisher=Rodopi | series=European Studies | year=1992 | isbn=978-90-5183-353-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jfWpy1D3StAC&pg=PA107 | page=107}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Katičić|first=Radoslav|author-link=Radoslav Katičić|title=Ancient Languages of the Balkans|date=1976|publisher=Mouton|isbn=9789027933157|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T8ZhAAAAMAAJ|page=186|quote=On the other hand ''Niš'' from Ναϊσσός, ''Štip'' from Ἄστιβος, ''Šar'' from ''Scardus'', and ''Ohrid'' from ''Lychnidus'' presuppose the sound development characteristic for Albanian.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite thesis|last=Curtis|first=Matthew Cowan|title=Slavic-Albanian Language Contact, Convergence, and Coexistence |url=https://etd.ohiolink.edu/apexprod/rws_etd/send_file/send?accession=osu1338406907|publisher=The Ohio State University |year=2012 |page=42}}</ref><ref name="Prendergast2017">{{cite thesis |last1=Prendergast |first1=Eric |year=2017 |title=The Origin and Spread of Locative Determiner Omission in the Balkan Linguistic Area |page=80 |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7nk454x6 |publisher=UC Berkeley}}</ref><ref>''The contemporary form of the name of ancient Naissos, an important place in Dardania which is now called Niš, is best explained with the help of the historical phonetics of the Albanian language.'' For more see: [[Vladimir I. Georgiev]] (1981) Introduction to the History of the Indo-European Languages. Publishing House of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, p. 142, {{ISBN|9535172611}}.</ref><ref>Hamp, Eric P. "Albanian" p. 1663 in Part 2, The study of languages, edited by Einar Haugen, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton, 2019, pp. 1626-1692. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111684970-016</ref>{{excessive citations inline}} ''Nish'' might indicate that Proto-Albanian was spoken in the region in pre-Slavic antiquity.<ref name="Vermeer"/> According to Ismajli (2015), when this settlement happened is a matter of debate, as Proto-Albanians might have moved relatively late in antiquity in the area which might have been an eastern expansion of Proto-Albanian settlement as no other toponyms known in antiquity in the area presuppose an Albanian development.<ref name="Ismajli">{{cite book|last=Ismajli|first=Rexhep|title=Studime për historinë e shqipes në kontekst ballkanik|trans-title=Studies on the History of Albanian in the Balkan context |url=http://www.ashak.org/repository/docs/RISMAJLI_397704.pdf |editor=Eqrem Basha|publisher=Kosova Academy of Sciences and Arts, special editions CLII, Section of Linguistics and Literature|number=55|year=2015|pages=109, 263|place=Prishtinë|language=sq}}</ref> The development of ''Nish'' < ''Naiss-'' may also represent a regional development in late antiquity Balkans which while related may not be identical with Albanian.<ref name=":1">{{cite web |last1=Matzinger |first1=Joachim |title=Die albanische Autochthoniehypothese aus der Sicht der Sprachwissenschaft |url=https://www.albanologie.uni-muenchen.de/downloads/meldungen/gastvortrag_matzinger_nov_2016/muenchen_2_ethnogenese.pdf |page=13 |date=2016}}</ref> Attempts have been made to explain the place name in various ways as "a purely Slavic development", such as by Serbian linguist [[Aleksandar Loma]],<ref name=Matzinger/><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Лома |first=Александар |date=2003 |title=Откуде Ниш? |url=https://dais.sanu.ac.rs/handle/123456789/2173 |journal=Ниш и Византија, зборник радова I |language=sr |pages=15–21 |quote=Образовани људи знају да је Ниш пословењен облик античког имена града ''Naissus'' (као што се Видин своди преко средњовековног облика Бдињ на антички ''Bononia''), дакле да је посреди предсловенски топоним. ({{translation|Educated individuals know that ''Niš'' is a Slavicized form of the city's ancient name ''Naissus'' (just as ''Vidin'' resolves – through the medieval form ''Bdin'' – to the ancient name ''Bononia''), and hence that is a pre-Slavic toponym.}})}}</ref> however, Austrian linguist Joachim Matzinger, who maintains the Albanian transmission of ''Naiss > Niš'', states that "a discussion with historical South Slavic linguistics is an urgent desideratum".<ref name=Matzinger>Matzinger, Joachim (2016). "Die albanische Autochthoniehypothese aus der Sicht der Sprachwissenschaft": "''Es wird versucht, den Ortsnamen auf verschiedene Weise auch als rein slawische Entwicklung zu erklären, siehe Aleksandar LOMA [...] Das letzte Wort ist hier noch nicht gesprochen, eine Diskussion mit der historischen südslawischen Linguistik ist ein dringendes Desiderat!"'', p. 14</ref>
==History==
|
