Labovë e Kryqit (''Labovë of the Cross'') is a settlement in Southern Albania, which has taken the name of its famous church, the Dormition of the Theotokos Church. It consists of two neighbourhoods: Labovë e Poshtme (''Lower Labovë'') and Labovë e Sipërme (''Upper Labovë''). To distinguish it from its neighbour Labovë e Madhe (Labovë e Vangjel Zhapës), the village is known by two names ''Labovë e Kryqit'', in reference to a nearby old Byzantine church and ''Labovë e Libohovës'' (Labovë of

Libohovë Libohovë ( sq-definite, Libohova) is a town and a municipality in southern Albania. It is overlooked by Libohovë Castle and has a main street with views across the Drino valley. Libohovë is at the foot of the Bureto Mountain. The region forms ...

).Pashkët në Labovë të Kryqit
Gazeta Shqip, 12 April 2015. "Një vend që për shkak të historisë mistike, të larmishme dhe të lavdishme, njihet me disa emra; Labovë e Poshtme dhe Labovë e Sipërme (emërtimi i dy pjesëve të të njëjtit vendbanim), Labovë e Kryqit (emërtim që lidhet me praninë e një kishe të vjetër bizantine dhe të një kryqi që tani është zhdukur dhe Labovë e Libohovës (për ta dalluar nga Labova e Vangjel Zhapës që ndodhet në Odrie në veri të Lunxhërisë." It is part of the

Qendër Libohovë Qendër Libohovë is a former municipality in the Gjirokastër County, southern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Libohovë. The population at the 2011 census was 1,264.< ...

subdivision of the

municipality, in Gjirokastër County, southern

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

Name

Afanasy Selishchev (1931), derived Labovë from the Slavic ''hleb’'' meaning bread and Xhelal Ylli (1997) states that is not semantically possible. The suffix ''-ov-a'' is a Slavic formation. The root word of the toponym might denote the following: a Lab, an inhabitant of

Labëria Labëria is a historic region that is roughly situated in southwestern Albania. Its inhabitants are known as Labs (referred to as sq, Lab, pl. ''Lebër'', also dial. sing. ''Lap'') and its boundaries reach from Vlorë to Himara in the south, to ...

, the proto-Slavic ''*lap’'' for "leaf", or Bulgarian words for plants like ''lop'' (

petasites ''Petasites'' is a genus of flowering plants in the sunflower family, Asteraceae, that are commonly referred to as butterburs and coltsfoots.verbascum ''Verbascum'' is a genus of over 450 species of flowering plants, common name mullein (), in the figwort family Scrophulariaceae. They are native to Europe and Asia, with the highest species diversity in the Mediterranean. Mullein or "mullein le ...

), ''lopuh'' (

arctium tomentosum ''Arctium tomentosum'', commonly known as the woolly burdock or downy burdock, is a species of burdock belonging to the family Asteraceae. The species was described by Philip Miller in 1768. Distribution This species is native to Eurasia from Sp ...

). The proto-Slavic reflex ''a'' in the placename became ''o'' in Slavic, while in Albanian its ''a'', with an Albanian sound change of ''p'' to ''b''. If the toponym is derived from Lab, Ylli suggests it would mean the incoming Slavs encountered the earlier residents there, the Labs.

Sights

A Hellenistic era garrison was built in Labovë as part of the fortification system of

Chaonia Chaonia or Chaon ( Greek Χαονία or Χάων) was the name of the northwestern part of Epirus, the homeland of the Epirote Greek tribe of the Chaonians. Its main town was called Phoenice. In Virgil's ''Aeneid'', Chaon was the eponymous an ...

, the later region belonging to the northwestern ancient Greek group of tribes of the

Epirotes Epirus (; Epirote Greek: , ; Attic Greek: , ) was an ancient Greek kingdom, and later republic, located in the geographical region of Epirus, in north-western Greece and southern Albania. Home to the ancient Epirotes, the state was bordered by ...

Demographics

In the interwar period

Nicholas Hammond Nicholas Hammond (born May 15, 1950) is an American-born Australian actor and writer who is best known for his roles as Friedrich von Trapp in the film ''The Sound of Music'' and as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the 1970s television series ''The A ...

passed through the area and described Labovë as a place of mixed speech ( Albanian and

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

), with Albanian as the mother tongue. "Whereas Libohovë and the villages north of it are Albanian in speech, those of the plateau form the most easterly pocket of Greek speech in North Epirus. Between Libohovë and the plateau the two hamlets of Labovë (115 houses) are of mixed speech, the mother tongue being Albanian." In fieldwork done by Leonidas Kallivretakis in 1992, Labovë e Kryqit had an exclusive Albanian Orthodox population. p. 55.

Notable people

Vasileios of Dryinoupolis Bishop Vasileios of Dryinoupolis ( el, Βασίλειος Δρυϊνουπόλεως; 1858-1936; born Vasileios Papachristou, Βασίλειος Παπαχρήστου) was Greek metropolitan bishop, scholar, important figure of the Northern Epirus ...

metropolitan bishop and member of the

provisional Government of Northern Epirus The Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus ( el, Αὐτόνομος Δημοκρατία τῆς Βορείου Ἠπείρου, translit=Aftónomos Dimokratía tis Voreíou Ipeírou) was a short-lived, self-governing entity founded in the aft ...

(1914). * Aleksandër Meksi, (8 March 1939) former prime minister of Albania, his father Gabriel Meksi (1894–1958) was from Labovë.

References

Populated places in Gjirokastër {{Albania-geo-stub