Gjon Buzuku (15 March 1499 – 9 October 1577) was an

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

priest who wrote the first known printed book in

. Gjon Buzuku according to the elders wrote the Missal in the village of Brisk Posht in the Shestan - Krajë region, close to Northern Albania (Krajë is located on the shores of Shkodra Lake), then

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. There are claims that he was the

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

of two

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

s in north Albania or that he was a

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

. From March 20, 1554, to January 5, 1555, he wrote a translation of the Catholic

missal A missal is a liturgical book containing instructions and texts necessary for the celebration of Mass throughout the liturgical year. Versions differ across liturgical tradition, period, and purpose, with some missals intended to enable a pries ...

into the

Gheg Gheg (also spelled Geg; Gheg Albanian: ''gegnishtja'', Standard sq, gegërishtja) is one of the two major varieties of Albanian, the other being Tosk. The geographic dividing line between the two varieties is the Shkumbin River, which winds it ...

dialect of Albanian. He published it as a book of 220 pages. The

Apostolic Library The Vatican Apostolic Library ( la, Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, it, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City. Formally es ...

in the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

holds the only known copy of the book. It is missing the frontispiece and the first 16 sheets, which explains why the title and year of publication of the work are not known. The book was discovered in 1740 by

Gjon Nikollë Kazazi Gjon Nikollë Kazazi (in Latin: Giovanni Battista Nicolovich Casasi) was an Albanian Catholic cleric, who served as Archbishop of the Diocese of Skopje, known for discovering Meshari of Gjon Buzuku. Biography ''Monsignor'' Gjon Nikollë Kazazi ...

, the

archbishop of Skopje The Roman Catholic Diocese of Skopje (Lat:''Dioecesis Scopiensis''), is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church in North Macedonia. From the 4th century to 1656, when it was renamed to Archdiocese of Skopje, it was known as the ...

. In other libraries there are three photocopies from the original, one of them in

Tirana Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...

. In 1996, the librarians were not able to locate the book, which had been used in 1984 for the last time.

Eqrem Çabej Eqrem Çabej () (6 August 1908 – 13 August 1980) was an Albanian historical linguist and scholar who, through the publication of numerous studies gained a reputation as a key expert in research on Albanian language, literature, ethnology and l ...

wrote a monograph on the book in 1968. The dialect used in ''Mëshari'' was one of the main subjects of

Selman Riza Selman Riza (1909–1988) was an Albanian linguist and Albanologist. Riza was one of the founding members of the Albanological Institute of Pristina in 1953. Early life Selman Riza was born in Yakova (now Gjakova), Ottoman Empire on 21 Decemb ...

's works. The place the book was printed is thought to be either

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

Shkodër Shkodër ( , ; sq-definite, Shkodra) is the fifth-most-populous city of the Republic of Albania and the seat of Shkodër County and Shkodër Municipality. The city sprawls across the Plain of Mbishkodra between the southern part of Lake Shkod ...

. The book contains the liturgies of the main

holidays A holiday is a day set aside by Norm (social), custom or by law on which normal activities, especially business or work including school, are suspended or reduced. Generally, holidays are intended to allow individuals to celebrate or commemorate ...

. There are also texts of prayers and rituals and

catechetical Catechesis (; from Greek language, Greek: , "instruction by word of mouth", generally "instruction") is basic Christian religious education of children and adults, often from a catechism book. It started as education of Conversion to Christian ...

texts. Every page contains two columns. The initials are decorated. The grammar and the vocabulary are more archaic than in the Gheg text from the 17th century. The text is very valuable from the viewpoint of the history of language. The vocabulary is quite rich. The archaic text is easily read due to the circumstance that it is mainly a translation of known texts, in particular the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

. Most of the Gospels of Matthew,

Luke People *Luke (given name), a masculine given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Luke (surname) (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Luke the Evangelist, author of the Gospel of Luke. Also known as ...

and

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

were translated in the book. It also contains passages from the

Psalm The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...

s, the

Book of Isaiah The Book of Isaiah ( he, ספר ישעיהו, ) is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Major Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. It is identified by a superscription as the words of the 8th-century BC ...

, the

Book of Jeremiah The Book of Jeremiah ( he, ספר יִרְמְיָהוּ) is the second of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, and the second of the Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. The superscription at chapter Jeremiah 1:1–3 identifies the boo ...

, the Letters to the Corinthians, and many illustrations. The

orthography An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation. Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and mos ...

is peculiar. The

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and the o ...

with some additional letters is used. The consequent character of orthography and grammar seems to indicate an earlier tradition of writing. In Albanian, the book is known as ''

Meshari ''Meshari'' ( Albanian for "Missal") is the oldest published book in Albanian. The book was written by Gjon Buzuku, a Catholic cleric in 1555. The book contains 188 pages and is written in two columns. ''Meshari'' is the translation of the main ...

'' (''The Missal''). All we know about the author is from the book's colophon written by Buzuku himself in Albanian. The language used is a pre-runner to the official Gheg dialect of Albanian. However, it is clear that the Gheg dialect was used. Even today one can hear words and expressions from older Malësians that sound as if jumping from the pages of the missal.

Sources

External links

The colophon in English

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buzuku, Gjon Latin–Albanian translators 16th-century Albanian Roman Catholic priests Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown People from Bar, Montenegro 1499 births