Reading Albanian Place Names

Definite and indefinite

Albanian marks definiteness with a suffix rather than a separate word. Vlorë is 'Vlorë'; Vlora is 'the Vlorë'. Both appear constantly, including on road signs, and neither is wrong.

This Atlas uses the indefinite form as the page title (Vlorë, Shkodër, Berat) and gives the Albanian definite form alongside it, because that is the form you will most often see locally.

Letters that are not what they look like

• ë — a soft, often barely voiced vowel; frequently silent at the end of a word.
• ç — 'ch' as in church.
• xh — 'j' as in jam.
• gj — a soft 'dy' sound, roughly as in 'due' in British English.
• q — a soft 'ty' sound; not a 'k'.
• dh — 'th' as in this. th — 'th' as in thin.
• rr — a strongly rolled r, distinct from single r.
• y — as in French 'tu' or German 'ü'.

Common elements in place names

• Mal / Malësi — mountain / highlands (Malësi e Madhe).
• Ujë / Uji — water (Uji i Ftohtë, 'the cold water').
• Syri — eye (Syri i Kaltër, 'the blue eye').
• Kepi — cape (Kepi i Rodonit).
• Liqeni — lake (Liqeni i Ohrit).
• Qafa — pass or col (Qafa e Thorës).
• Fushë — plain or field (Fushë-Krujë).
• Bregdeti — the coast.

Names you will see in two languages

Some places have long-established Greek names in the south (Himarë/Himara, Dhërmi/Drimades) and Italian forms inherited from the interwar period (Durrës/Durazzo, Vlorë/Valona). Older maps and books often use these.