The Arvanitic alphabet is an adapted version of the Greek alphabet and is used to write Arvanitic. There is no standard version; the Greek alphabet is normally used with the addition of the letters b, d, e and j. The following version is the one used in the Arvanitic translation of the Bible. The Greek language is written in the Greek alphabet, developed in classical times (ca 9th century BC) and passed down to the present. ... Arvanitic (Αρbε̱ρίσ̈τε Arbëríshte) is an Indo-European language originating in the Balkan peninsula and is spoken by about 150,000 people who are called Arvanites. ... The Bible (From Greek (τα) βιβλια, (ta) biblia, (the) books, plural of βιβλιον, biblion, book, originally a diminutive of βιβλος, biblos, which in turn is derived from βυβλος—byblos, meaning papyrus, from the ancient Phoenician city of Byblos which exported this writing material), is a word applied to sacred scriptures. ...
Arvanites (ΑÏbε̰ÏÏŒÏ, Arbërór or Σ̈κ̇ιπτάÏ, Shqiptár in Arvanitic, Arvanitë in Albanian, ΑÏβανίτες, ArvanÃtes in Greek) are the descendants of settlers from southern Albania that settled in various Greek lands during the Middle Ages, principally between the 13th century and 15th century.
The Albanian alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet, with the addition of the letters ë, ç, and nine digraphs to account for certain sounds in pronunciations.
Until 1908, when the Latin alphabet was introduced in Albanian, the Greek alphabet, Cyrillic alphabet, and the Ottoman Turkish version of the Arabic alphabet had been used to write Albanian.
Arvanites also live near the Albanian border, in most departments of Epirus and in the Florina and Kastoria departments of Macedonia; also, in the border (with Turkey) department of Evros (in Thrace) and in the Salonica department (where they settled along with other Orthodox refugees from Eastern Thrace, in the 1920s).
Like the rest of the population, since the 1950s, Arvanites have been emigrating from their villages to the cities and especially to the capital Athens, which, incidentally, was a mainly Albanian (Arvanite) small town in the early 1800s, before becoming the Greek states capital (Nakratzas, 1992:87-8).
Today, Arvanite ethnic identity is perceived by many members of the community as distinct from that of the other Greeks who have Greek as their mother tongue but as fully compatible with Greek national identity (likewise for many Vlachs and Macedonians).
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