Vangjel Meksi
Encyclopedia
Vangjel Meksi was an Albanian
physician, writer, and translator. One-time personal physician to Ali Pasha
, the 19th-century Albanian ruler of the Pashalik of Yanina, Meksi produced the first translation of the New Testament
into Albanian
with the help and sponsorship of the British and Foreign Bible Society
(BFBS). Meksi did not live to see his work's publication however, which was supervised by Gregory IV of Athens
. As a member of Filiki Etaireia, a secret society whose purpose was to establish an independent Greek state, Meksi joined the Greeks in the Siege of Tripolitsa
during their war of independence
against the Ottoman Empire
and died shortly afterwards.
As well as its value to Albanian Christians, who could for the first time read the Gospels in their own language, Meksi's work advanced the study of written Albanian, and in particular informed the work of 19th-century linguists and philologists such as Joseph Ritter von Xylander, August Schleicher
, and Johann Georg von Hahn
. Their studies of the Albanian language were significantly influenced by Meksi's Bible translation.
, and pursued secondary studies in Yanina, then an important Ottoman
provincial center (now in Greece
). His first employment was as a folk physician
to the court of Ali Pasha
, the Albanian
ruler of the Pashalik of Yanina, a position he held until 1803. Armed with a letter of recommendation from Ali Pasha, Meksi was admitted to the University of Naples in Italy, where he studied medicine under Dr. Nicola Acuto and practiced in a hospital administered by the parish of San Giovanni a Carbonara
. After completing his studies in 1808, Meksi returned to Yanina and once again served in Ali Pasha's court, this time as one of his four physicians. His colleagues were Dr. Metaxa, (degree in medicine from the University of Paris
), Dr. Saqeralliu (degree in medicine from the University of Vienna
), and Dr. Loukas Vagias, (brother of Thanasis Vagias
, with a degree in medicine from Leipzig University).
he began to develop an interest in the Albanian alphabet and grammar. He published two translations into Albanian during 1814, both now lost, one of which was a religious work by Abbé Claude Fleury
(1640–1723).
Meksi also wrote a grammar of the Albanian language
in Albanian. It too has been lost, but it is mentioned in many letters reporting Meksi's work as an Albanian philologist
written by Robert Pinkerton to his superiors at the British and Foreign Bible Society
(BFBS), which subsequently sponsored the translation of the New Testament into Albanian. The work must have been written before 1819 and may be either the first Albanian grammar or the second, after that of Jani Evstrat Vithkuqari; it is not known which was published first.
In this period Meksi also created a new Albanian alphabet, rationalizing and consolidating the many different pre-existing alphabets, employing a mix of Greek and Latin characters. Using his new alphabet, he wrote a book called Orthography of the Albanian language, .
. They assured him that a translation of the New Testament into Albanian was indeed possible. In a letter to his superiors at the BFBS, dated August 28, 1816, Pinkerton wrote that the Albanian nation occupied a large part of the ancient Illyria
, that they spoke a language completely different from Slavic
, Turkish
, Greek
, or Latin, and that for the Albanian Orthodox the mass was recited in Greek, a language that believers and even some of the priests did not understand. According to Pinkerton, the translation could be done by one or more Albanians from the Ionian islands
under the supervision of an Albanian bishop.
In 1819, apparently with the blessing of his superiors at the BFBS, Pinkerton met with Meksi in Istanbul. Meksi, who was then a teacher in Serres
, had been recommended to Pinkerton because of his Albanian grammar book. Pinkerton also relates in one of his letters to the BFBS that Meksi was well regarded by the Albanian community, the Greek Orthodox Church, and by Patriarch Gregory V of Constantinople
. Gregory, according to Pinkerton, also offered to find two suitable clergymen to assist Meksi in his endeavor. Lastly, Pinkerton recommended that the Greek alphabet be used as the most suitable for the Albanian language. On October 19, 1819, Pinkerton and Meksi concluded a contract to translate the New Testament into Albanian on behalf of the society. It was agreed that the Bible would have to be translated into the Albanian dialect of Yanina. Meksi completed the work in two years, ten months earlier than the contract's deadline.
Early in 1821 Mr. Leeves of the BFBS visited Thessaloniki
to supervise the translation. On February 8, 1821 he wrote that the work had been completed, and that the only outstanding task was a final review by a competent person, who had already been assigned to the task. In 1822 the revised manuscript was sent to Malta
to be printed, and in 1823 Leeves sent from Malta to the representative of the society in Corfu
the first copy of a printed New Testament in Albanian. Meanwhile the New Testament had had a final revision performed by the Archimandrite
of Euboea
, Grigor Gjirokastriti, an Albanian who subsequently became Archbishop Gregory IV of Athens
. Archimandrite Grigor had recommended that the Bible be printed in a large typeface in two columns, one in Albanian and the other in modern Greek, because Albanians would rather read modern Greek than Koine.
On March 16, 1824 Mr. Lowndes, the BFBS's secretary in Corfu, sent a letter to the society in which he mentioned that the sum paid to Meksi for his work was 6,000 piastras
and that Archimandrite Grigor was paid 60 crowns. On September 5, 1824 the Saint Matthew's Gospel was published in Albanian. According to Lowndes' letters, the Albanian community of Missolonghi was extremely excited when mass was said with a piece from Saint Matthew, as since its translation they had been impatient to hear it in Albanian. In July 1827 the form in which the first 500 copies of the New Testament were to be bound was decided in London. The entire edition amounted to 2,000 copies.
Although Gjirokastriti's edition of the New Testament was written in Albanian, it used the Greek alphabet. It is not known which alphabet Meksi used in his own manuscript.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
was not against the work of Meksi or the Bible Society at that time. On the contrary, for the translation the British missionaries successfully appealed to Gregory V and enlisted the help of an Orthodox bishop, Gjirokastriti, for the final edition of the New Testament in Albanian.
rule over the Balkans
and to establish an independent Greek state. When the Greek War of Independence
broke out in 1821, after his translation had been completed, Meksi joined the Greeks in the Siege of Tripolitsa
. Despite suffering from a serious bout of pneumonia
, he continued to work as a physician during the war. He is also said to have taken part in the negotiations leading to an agreement proposed by Theodoros Kolokotronis
that permitted the Albanians who were defending Tripolitsa to leave unharmed, an arrangement that helped the Greeks to capture the town from the Turks.
version by two years and the Romanian
translation by twenty. A second edition was published in 1858 in Athens, but as it had not been revised by any native speakers of Albanian it was full of errors.
Meksi's work was important for the development of written Albanian, and his endeavors strengthened the conviction that a stable Albanian alphabet
had to be created. His translation served as the basis for Joseph Ritter von Xylander's studies of the Albanian language, which definitively refuted the thesis that the language had a Tatar
origin. Von Xylander concluded that Albanian had an Indo-European
root.
Two other international scholars also studied the Albanian language mainly based on Meksi's translation of the New Testament: August Schleicher
, who stated that his knowledge of the conjugation of Albanian verbs was based on Meksi's work, and Johann Georg von Hahn
an Austrian diplomat, philologist
, and specialist in Albania
n history, language, and culture, who translated the Bible into Gheg Albanian
with the help of Kostandin Kristoforidhi
.
Albanians
Albanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Albania and neighbouring countries. They speak the Albanian language. More than half of all Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo...
physician, writer, and translator. One-time personal physician to Ali Pasha
Ali Pasha
Ali Pasha of Tepelena or of Yannina, surnamed Aslan, "the Lion", or the "Lion of Yannina", Ali Pashë Tepelena was an Ottoman Albanian ruler of the western part of Rumelia, the Ottoman Empire's European territory which was also called Pashalik of Yanina. His court was in Ioannina...
, the 19th-century Albanian ruler of the Pashalik of Yanina, Meksi produced the first translation of the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
into Albanian
Albanian language
Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece...
with the help and sponsorship of the British and Foreign Bible Society
British and Foreign Bible Society
The British and Foreign Bible Society, often known in England and Wales as simply as Bible Society, is a non-denominational Christian Bible society with charity status whose purpose is to make the Bible available throughout the world....
(BFBS). Meksi did not live to see his work's publication however, which was supervised by Gregory IV of Athens
Gregory IV of Athens
Gregory IV, known as Grigor Gjirokastriti was an Albanian scholar and cleric who became Archbishop of Athens in 1827–1829.Gregory was born in Gjirokastër in the mid to late-18th century. In ca. 1744 he was a teacher in the New Academy, a famous educational institution in Moscopole, a leading...
. As a member of Filiki Etaireia, a secret society whose purpose was to establish an independent Greek state, Meksi joined the Greeks in the Siege of Tripolitsa
Siege of Tripolitsa
The Siege of Tripolitsa or the Fall of Tripolitsa to Greek rebels in the summer of 1821 marked an early victory in the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire, which had begun earlier in that year....
during their war of independence
Greek War of Independence
The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution was a successful war of independence waged by the Greek revolutionaries between...
against the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
and died shortly afterwards.
As well as its value to Albanian Christians, who could for the first time read the Gospels in their own language, Meksi's work advanced the study of written Albanian, and in particular informed the work of 19th-century linguists and philologists such as Joseph Ritter von Xylander, August Schleicher
August Schleicher
August Schleicher was a German linguist. His great work was A Compendium of the Comparative Grammar of the Indo-European Languages, in which he attempted to reconstruct the Proto-Indo-European language...
, and Johann Georg von Hahn
Johann Georg von Hahn
Johann Georg von Hahn was an Austrian diplomat, philologist and specialist in Albanian history, language and culture....
. Their studies of the Albanian language were significantly influenced by Meksi's Bible translation.
Early life
Meksi was born in 1770 in Labovë, a village near GjirokastërGjirokastër
Gjirokastër is a city in southern Albania with a population of 43,000. Lying in the historical region of Epirus, it is the capital of both the Gjirokastër District and the larger Gjirokastër County...
, and pursued secondary studies in Yanina, then an important Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
provincial center (now in Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
). His first employment was as a folk physician
Folk medicine
-Description:Refers to healing practices and ideas of body physiology and health preservation known to a limited segment of the population in a culture, transmitted informally as general knowledge, and practiced or applied by anyone in the culture having prior experience.All cultures and societies...
to the court of Ali Pasha
Ali Pasha
Ali Pasha of Tepelena or of Yannina, surnamed Aslan, "the Lion", or the "Lion of Yannina", Ali Pashë Tepelena was an Ottoman Albanian ruler of the western part of Rumelia, the Ottoman Empire's European territory which was also called Pashalik of Yanina. His court was in Ioannina...
, the Albanian
Albanians
Albanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Albania and neighbouring countries. They speak the Albanian language. More than half of all Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo...
ruler of the Pashalik of Yanina, a position he held until 1803. Armed with a letter of recommendation from Ali Pasha, Meksi was admitted to the University of Naples in Italy, where he studied medicine under Dr. Nicola Acuto and practiced in a hospital administered by the parish of San Giovanni a Carbonara
San Giovanni a Carbonara
San Giovanni a Carbonara is a church in Naples, southern Italy. It is located at the northern end of via Carbonara, just outside what used to be the eastern wall of the old city...
. After completing his studies in 1808, Meksi returned to Yanina and once again served in Ali Pasha's court, this time as one of his four physicians. His colleagues were Dr. Metaxa, (degree in medicine from the University of Paris
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
), Dr. Saqeralliu (degree in medicine from the University of Vienna
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
), and Dr. Loukas Vagias, (brother of Thanasis Vagias
Thanasis Vagias
Thanasis Vagias was a Greek counselor and confidant of Ali Pasha, a Muslim Albanian ruler of Ottoman Epirus. Vagias was born in Lekël, Tepelenë. His name had become notorious because, under Ali's service, he led an attack against the village of Kardhiq, near Gjirokaster, modern southern Albania....
, with a degree in medicine from Leipzig University).
Philological activity
After falling out of favor with Ali Pasha, for reasons unknown, Meksi left the court in 1810 to travel around Europe. During a brief stay in VeniceVenice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
he began to develop an interest in the Albanian alphabet and grammar. He published two translations into Albanian during 1814, both now lost, one of which was a religious work by Abbé Claude Fleury
Claude Fleury
Claude Fleury , was a French ecclesiastical historian.Destined for the bar, he was educated at the aristocratic College of Clermont . In 1658 he was nominated an advocate to the parlement of Paris, and for nine years followed the legal profession...
(1640–1723).
Meksi also wrote a grammar of the Albanian language
Albanian language
Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece...
in Albanian. It too has been lost, but it is mentioned in many letters reporting Meksi's work as an Albanian philologist
Philology
Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...
written by Robert Pinkerton to his superiors at the British and Foreign Bible Society
British and Foreign Bible Society
The British and Foreign Bible Society, often known in England and Wales as simply as Bible Society, is a non-denominational Christian Bible society with charity status whose purpose is to make the Bible available throughout the world....
(BFBS), which subsequently sponsored the translation of the New Testament into Albanian. The work must have been written before 1819 and may be either the first Albanian grammar or the second, after that of Jani Evstrat Vithkuqari; it is not known which was published first.
In this period Meksi also created a new Albanian alphabet, rationalizing and consolidating the many different pre-existing alphabets, employing a mix of Greek and Latin characters. Using his new alphabet, he wrote a book called Orthography of the Albanian language, .
Translation of the New Testament
Pinkerton, who in 1816 was the BFBS's representative in Moscow, had met that year with a community of Albanians in Vienna, then capital of the Austrian EmpireAustrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
. They assured him that a translation of the New Testament into Albanian was indeed possible. In a letter to his superiors at the BFBS, dated August 28, 1816, Pinkerton wrote that the Albanian nation occupied a large part of the ancient Illyria
Illyria
In classical antiquity, Illyria was a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula inhabited by the Illyrians....
, that they spoke a language completely different from Slavic
Slavic languages
The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...
, Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
, Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
, or Latin, and that for the Albanian Orthodox the mass was recited in Greek, a language that believers and even some of the priests did not understand. According to Pinkerton, the translation could be done by one or more Albanians from the Ionian islands
Ionian Islands
The Ionian Islands are a group of islands in Greece. They are traditionally called the Heptanese, i.e...
under the supervision of an Albanian bishop.
In 1819, apparently with the blessing of his superiors at the BFBS, Pinkerton met with Meksi in Istanbul. Meksi, who was then a teacher in Serres
Serres
Serres is a city in Greece, seat of the Serres prefecture.Serres may also refer to:Places:* Serres, Germany, a part of Wiernsheim in Baden-WürttembergIn France:* Serres, Aude in the Aude département...
, had been recommended to Pinkerton because of his Albanian grammar book. Pinkerton also relates in one of his letters to the BFBS that Meksi was well regarded by the Albanian community, the Greek Orthodox Church, and by Patriarch Gregory V of Constantinople
Patriarch Gregory V of Constantinople
Gregory V was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1797 to 1798, from 1806 to 1808 and from 1818 to 1821. He was responsible for much restoration work to the Patriarchal Cathedral of St George, which had been badly damaged by fire in 1738...
. Gregory, according to Pinkerton, also offered to find two suitable clergymen to assist Meksi in his endeavor. Lastly, Pinkerton recommended that the Greek alphabet be used as the most suitable for the Albanian language. On October 19, 1819, Pinkerton and Meksi concluded a contract to translate the New Testament into Albanian on behalf of the society. It was agreed that the Bible would have to be translated into the Albanian dialect of Yanina. Meksi completed the work in two years, ten months earlier than the contract's deadline.
Early in 1821 Mr. Leeves of the BFBS visited Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
to supervise the translation. On February 8, 1821 he wrote that the work had been completed, and that the only outstanding task was a final review by a competent person, who had already been assigned to the task. In 1822 the revised manuscript was sent to Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
to be printed, and in 1823 Leeves sent from Malta to the representative of the society in Corfu
Corfu
Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...
the first copy of a printed New Testament in Albanian. Meanwhile the New Testament had had a final revision performed by the Archimandrite
Archimandrite
The title Archimandrite , primarily used in the Eastern Orthodox and the Eastern Catholic churches, originally referred to a superior abbot whom a bishop appointed to supervise...
of Euboea
Euboea
Euboea is the second largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. The narrow Euripus Strait separates it from Boeotia in mainland Greece. In general outline it is a long and narrow, seahorse-shaped island; it is about long, and varies in breadth from to...
, Grigor Gjirokastriti, an Albanian who subsequently became Archbishop Gregory IV of Athens
Gregory IV of Athens
Gregory IV, known as Grigor Gjirokastriti was an Albanian scholar and cleric who became Archbishop of Athens in 1827–1829.Gregory was born in Gjirokastër in the mid to late-18th century. In ca. 1744 he was a teacher in the New Academy, a famous educational institution in Moscopole, a leading...
. Archimandrite Grigor had recommended that the Bible be printed in a large typeface in two columns, one in Albanian and the other in modern Greek, because Albanians would rather read modern Greek than Koine.
On March 16, 1824 Mr. Lowndes, the BFBS's secretary in Corfu, sent a letter to the society in which he mentioned that the sum paid to Meksi for his work was 6,000 piastras
Two Sicilies piastra
The ducat was the main currency of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies between 1816 and 1860. When the Congress of Vienna created the kingdom merging the Kingdom of Naples and the Kingdom of Sicily, the ducat became at par a continuation of the Neapolitan ducat and the Sicilian piastra issued prior to...
and that Archimandrite Grigor was paid 60 crowns. On September 5, 1824 the Saint Matthew's Gospel was published in Albanian. According to Lowndes' letters, the Albanian community of Missolonghi was extremely excited when mass was said with a piece from Saint Matthew, as since its translation they had been impatient to hear it in Albanian. In July 1827 the form in which the first 500 copies of the New Testament were to be bound was decided in London. The entire edition amounted to 2,000 copies.
Although Gjirokastriti's edition of the New Testament was written in Albanian, it used the Greek alphabet. It is not known which alphabet Meksi used in his own manuscript.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople , part of the wider Orthodox Church, is one of the fourteen autocephalous churches within the communion of Orthodox Christianity...
was not against the work of Meksi or the Bible Society at that time. On the contrary, for the translation the British missionaries successfully appealed to Gregory V and enlisted the help of an Orthodox bishop, Gjirokastriti, for the final edition of the New Testament in Albanian.
Greek War of Independence
Meksi was a member of the Filiki Etaireia, a secret society whose purpose was to overthrow OttomanOttoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
rule over the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
and to establish an independent Greek state. When the Greek War of Independence
Greek War of Independence
The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution was a successful war of independence waged by the Greek revolutionaries between...
broke out in 1821, after his translation had been completed, Meksi joined the Greeks in the Siege of Tripolitsa
Siege of Tripolitsa
The Siege of Tripolitsa or the Fall of Tripolitsa to Greek rebels in the summer of 1821 marked an early victory in the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire, which had begun earlier in that year....
. Despite suffering from a serious bout of pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
, he continued to work as a physician during the war. He is also said to have taken part in the negotiations leading to an agreement proposed by Theodoros Kolokotronis
Theodoros Kolokotronis
Theodoros Kolokotronis was a Greek Field Marshal and one of the leaders of the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire....
that permitted the Albanians who were defending Tripolitsa to leave unharmed, an arrangement that helped the Greeks to capture the town from the Turks.
Legacy
Meksi did not live to see the 1827 publication of his translation of the New Testament; he had died a bachelor six years earlier, at the age of about 51. The first publication of a Bible translation from Greek to a modern Balkanic language, it ran to 2,000 copies, a huge number for the time. It preceded the modern BulgarianBulgarian language
Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...
version by two years and the Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
translation by twenty. A second edition was published in 1858 in Athens, but as it had not been revised by any native speakers of Albanian it was full of errors.
Meksi's work was important for the development of written Albanian, and his endeavors strengthened the conviction that a stable Albanian alphabet
Albanian alphabet
The modern Albanian alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet, and consists of 36 letters:Note: The vowels are shown in bold. to the pronunciation of the letters.-History:...
had to be created. His translation served as the basis for Joseph Ritter von Xylander's studies of the Albanian language, which definitively refuted the thesis that the language had a Tatar
Tatar language
The Tatar language , or more specifically Kazan Tatar, is a Turkic language spoken by the Tatars of historical Kazan Khanate, including modern Tatarstan and Bashkiria...
origin. Von Xylander concluded that Albanian had an Indo-European
Indo-European languages
The Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major current languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and South Asia and also historically predominant in Anatolia...
root.
Two other international scholars also studied the Albanian language mainly based on Meksi's translation of the New Testament: August Schleicher
August Schleicher
August Schleicher was a German linguist. His great work was A Compendium of the Comparative Grammar of the Indo-European Languages, in which he attempted to reconstruct the Proto-Indo-European language...
, who stated that his knowledge of the conjugation of Albanian verbs was based on Meksi's work, and Johann Georg von Hahn
Johann Georg von Hahn
Johann Georg von Hahn was an Austrian diplomat, philologist and specialist in Albanian history, language and culture....
an Austrian diplomat, philologist
Philology
Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...
, and specialist in Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
n history, language, and culture, who translated the Bible into Gheg Albanian
Gheg Albanian
Gheg is one of the two major varieties of Albanian. The other one is Tosk, on which standard Albanian is based. The dividing line between these two varieties is the Shkumbin River, which winds its way through central Albania....
with the help of Kostandin Kristoforidhi
Kostandin Kristoforidhi
-Additional readings:*])]*])]*])]*. In: Besa. Nr. 193, Jg. 2007. S. 2–7....
.