Angelo Masci (
Arbërisht: Ëngjëll Mashi; 1758–1822) was an Italian
Arbëresh jurist and scholar.
Life
Born in
Santa Sofia d'Epiro
Santa Sofia d'Epiro ( aae, Shën Sofia e Epirit) is an Arbëresh town and ''comune'' in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy.
The town is bordered by Acri, Bisignano, San Demetrio Corone
San Demetrio Corone (Arbë ...
on 7 December 1758 to Noè and Vittoria Bugliari he first studied under Stefano Baffa.
At the age of twelve, Masci moved to Naples to continue his studies there under the supervision of his uncle Giuseppe (Zep) Bugliari, chaplain of the Royal Macedonian Battalion of Naples.
An alumnus of the faculty of law of the university of Naples, in 1809 he was appointed chief prosecutor of the court of cassation of
Catanzaro and in 1810 royal commissioner of northern
Calabria
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and
Basilicata
it, Lucano (man) it, Lucana (woman)
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.
Works
Masci's first published work was ''Esame politico-legale de dritti, e delle prerogative de'Baroni del regno di Napoli'' (1792), a treatise on the legal system in regard to the baronial privileges in the Kingdom of Naples. The treatise was used as a polemic against the possible establishment of baronial control over the Italo-Albanian College of
San Demetrio Corone
San Demetrio Corone (Arbëreshë: ''Shën Mitri'') is a town and municipality in the Calabria region of Italy, at an altitude of 521 meters and with 3,387 inhabitants. The town is among the most important cultural centers of the Albanian communit ...
.
In 1807, his best-known work ''Discorso sull'origine, costumi, e stato attuale della nazione Albanese'' was published in Naples. Using mostly classical works as sources, Masci grouped Illyrian, Macedonian and Epirote into one language family, which he considered the Ursprache of Albanian, but didn't name and identify it.
His work influenced
Conrad Malte-Brun, who republished it with the title ''Essai sur l'origine, les moeurs et l'état actuel de la nation albanaise'' in his ''Annales des voyages, de la géographie et de l'histoire''. In turn, Malte-Brun's essays partially influenced
Giuseppe Crispi
Giuseppe Crispi ( Arbërisht: Zef Krispi; 1781–1859) was an Italian philologist and priest of Arbëresh descent. One of the major figures of the Arbëresh community of Sicily of that era, he wrote a number of works on the Albanian language. ...
, who wrote the first monograph on the Albanian language, however, unlike Masci, Malte-Brun and Crispi identified that language family with Pelasgian.
Sources
{{DEFAULTSORT:Masci, Angelo
1758 births
1821 deaths
Italian people of Arbëreshë descent
18th-century Neapolitan people
19th-century Neapolitan people