[181] Montenegro is peopled by descendants of Serbians who took refuge in its mountains after the crushing defeat of Serbia by Turkey on the battlefield of Kossovo in 1389. [182] J. Erdeljanović: Broj Srba, i Khrvata, Belgrade, 1911. [183] E. Haumant: La nationalité serbo-croate, _Ann. de Géogr._, No. 127, Vol. 23, Jan. 15, 1914, pp. 45-59. [184] N. Zupanić: Zumbercani i Marindolci, prilog antropologii i etnografiji Srba u Kranjskoj Prosvetni Glasnik, Belgrade, 1912. [185] E. Haumant: La nationalité serbo-croate, _Ann. de Géogr._, No. 127, Vol. 23, Jan. 15, 1914, p. 48. [186] A. Evans: The Adriatic Slavs and the Overland Route to Constantinople, _Geogr. Journ._, Vol. 47, No. 4, April 1916, p. 251. [187] G. Blondel: La Bosnie, _Bull. Soc. Norm. de Géogr._, Jan.-March 1912, p. 18. [188] C. Diehl: En Méditerranée, Paris, 1912. CHAPTER X LANGUAGE PROBLEMS OF THE BALKAN PENINSULA The Serbian linguistic area, noticed in the preceding chapter, is both the political and physical link connecting central Europe with the Balkan peninsula. Beyond Serbia, to the south or southeast, the true Balkan domain is reached. This region is occupied chiefly by Greeks and Bulgarians. The Albanian and Rumanian populations of its western section, although distinct in speech, nevertheless lack the cultural and historical background required in the formation of nationality. The Albanians inhabit the rugged lands which were known as Illyricum and Epirus in classical times. Secluded within the narrow, trough-shaped relics of ancient mountain folding, the natives had no immediate contact with their Greek neighbors on the south, or with Serbians on the north. Hence Albanian has survived in the most inaccessible portions of the Dinaric rocky country. In its grammar Skip or Modern Albanian is exclusively Aryan in form. Nevertheless only four hundred entries out of a total of 5,140 listed in G. Meyers’ Etymological Dictionary of Albanian can be classified as unalloyed old Indo-European. The intrusion of Tatar modified into Turkish words is considerable and amounts to no less than 1,180 words. Romanic enters into the total to the extent of 1,420 forms, thus predominating. Some 840 words are Greek, while 540 are of Slavic origin. In the belief of some etymologists the name Albania is related to the old Celtic form Alb or Alp, which means mountain. Comparison with the Celtic form “Albanach,” used in Scotch vernacular to name the mountainous section of Scotland, is of utmost interest and significance. The Albanians, however, do not call themselves by this name. They designate themselves as Skipetars or rockmen, and apply this appellation indiscriminately to all the inhabitants of Upper and Lower Albania who do not use Greek, Serbian or Rumanian as a vernacular. Many resemblances in the language spoken by Albanians and Rumanians point to a probable early association of the two peoples.