Demetrio Camarda (
Arbërisht: Dhimitër Kamarda; 22 October 1821, in
Piana degli Albanesi – 13 March 1882, in
Livorno) was an
Arbëreshë Arbën/Arbër, from which derived Arbënesh/Arbëresh originally meant all Albanians, until the 18th century. Today it is used for different groups of Albanian origin, including:
* Arbër (given name), an Albanian masculine given name
* Arbëresh ...
linguist, patriot of the Arbëreshë, and publisher of Albanian
folklore
Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...
, with scientific knowledge also in the field of Indo-European
linguistics
Linguistics is the science, scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure ...
.
Camarda, along with
Girolamo De Rada
Girolamo de Rada ( Arbërisht: ''Jeronim de Rada''; 29 November 181428 February 1903) was an Arbëreshë folklorist, journalist, lawyer, playwright, poet, rilindas and writer. He is regarded as one of the most influential Albanian writers of t ...
were the main two initiators of the Italo-Albanian (Arbëreshë) cultural movement in Italy during the second half of the 19th century.
He was the follower of the literary work already performed by
Jeronim De Rada
Girolamo de Rada ( Arbërisht: ''Jeronim de Rada''; 29 November 181428 February 1903) was an Arbëreshë folklorist, journalist, lawyer, playwright, poet, rilindas and writer. He is regarded as one of the most influential Albanian writers of th ...
. His main work, ''Test of Comparative Grammar on
Albanian Language
Albanian ( endonym: or ) is an Indo-European language and an independent branch of that family of languages. It is spoken by the Albanians in the Balkans and by the Albanian diaspora, which is generally concentrated in the Americas, Europ ...
'' is the first scientific work of comparative historic study on the topic.
[''Saggio di grammatologia comparata sulla lingua albanese'', by Demetrio Camarda]
and ''Appendice al saggio di grammatologia comparata sulla lingua albanese'', by Demetrio Camarda
. He made an important contribution with the publication of ''The Albanian general alphabet'' in 1869.
References
Linguists from Italy
Arbëreshë people
1821 births
1882 deaths
People from Piana degli Albanesi
Albanian-language writers
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