Albania

• The most common use of Albania currently is as the name of a state - The Republic of Albania, or Shqipëria (~ 'the land of eagles') in its own language. It lies in south-eastern Europe, north of Greece on the Adriatic coast, with North Macedonia to the east and Kosovo (west) and Montenegro on its northern border. The country has existed in various forms: the Principality of Arbanon in 1190; the Kingdom of Albania (1272); the Despotate of Arta (1367); sanjaks (minor administrative districts) of the Ottoman Empire (1385-1431), despite Skanderbeg's heroic resistance; Albania achieved independence from the Ottomans in 1912.

The official (and widespread) language of Balkan Albania is Albanian, an Indo-European language alone in its own branch, with no close relatives.

From 1392 till 1797, some Adriatic coastal territories in modern northern Albania were under Venetian suzerainty. These lands (which varied through time) were known collectively as Venetian Albania.

• Historically, during the classical period of Greece and Rome, there was another territory in the Caucasus, with a coast on the Caspian Sea to the east, and Iberia to the west. It occupied roughly the same space as the modern Azerbaijan ((east of Armenia and Georgia, with a coast on the Caspian Sea, and north of Iran). This is best called Caucasian Albania; in its own time (~500BCE-1500CE) it seems to have been called Aghuank, derived from an Armenian word meaning 'gentle', 'lenient', or 'tender' or Arran (sometimes Ardhan), the legendary founder of the state. By the 6th century BCE, Caucasian Albania was under the control of the Persian Empire, as part of the Median satrapy.

The language of Caucasian Albania, called nowadays by some Albanian (no one knows what its speakers called it) is not an Indo-European language; it is an ancestor of the Udi language spoken in modern Azerbaijan. Only a few texts are known to have survived.

• In western Europe, Albania was a Latin transliteration (for the purposes of scholarship, then restricted to the Latin language) of the Gaelic Rìoghachd na h-Alba, ~'Kingdom of Scotland'. This was also transliterated, first into Greek as Ἀλβίων, then Latin as Albion. This was used until Early Modern English to mean 'Britain', in the sense of 'the main British Island'. Now it is best restricted to 'north Britain' - or Scotland. However, you will find that the poet William Blake and others use Albion as a rallying call for expressions of patriotism directed, with some indifference, to England or Britain, rather than to Scotland.
  • The (Scots) Gaelic word is Alba. You may come across the name in the forms Alba, Alban and Albain (Gaelic inflections), the literary English Albyn, and Albany, the name of the non-territorial Duchy of Albany, traditionally given to a younger son of the royal house, first in Scotland and then in the UK. Its name was used for settlements in many of the countries of the British Empire in the New World, most importantly for the state capital of New York State, Albany, which was named in honour of the then Duke of Albany (later James II of England (and VII of Scotland)). Albany was his Scots title; in England he was Duke of York, and in honour of that title, New York was named. Albany has been state capital since US Independence.

Although most of the words in this group have an initial vowel like that in 'that' and 'have' (IPA: /æ/), the first syllable in Albany is pronounced like 'all' (/ɔːl/), as is that in Alban.

Shakespeare uses the title Duke of Albany (with no geographical description) for Goneril's husband. Albany is also the name (with no article, in 'superior' circles) of a block of 69 bachelor apartments in Piccadilly, in London, which is highly regarded in 'high society'.

• • Alban is a personal name, in use both as a first name and a surname. It is most probably the Latin name Albanus, '[person from] a place known as white'; although it may be derived from Alba (v. sup.) which shares the same common Indo-European root *helbʰós. Several places in the Roman Empire were called Alba, notably Alba Longa (birthplace of Romulus and Remus), on the Alban hills (in Latin colles Albani, in Italian colli Albani) about 12 miles south-east of Rome. Alban wine was esteemed in ancient Rome.
    • Saint Alban is venerated as the first Christian martyr - and saint - in Britain. He was beheaded, it is said, in the British oppidum (settlement) of Verlamion (latinized as Verulamium, and renamed as the city of Saint Albans).