Labovë e Madhe

Labovë, alternatively Labova e Madhe (Great Labova; el, Μέγα Λάμποβο) or Labova e Zhapës (Zappas' Labova), is a village in the former Odrie municipality, Gjirokastër County, Southern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became part of the municipality Gjirokastër. It is situated roughly 650m above the sea level.

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, the proto-Slavic ''*lap’'' for "leaf", or Bulgarian words for plants like ''lop'' ( petasites), ''lopen'' ( verbascum), ''lopuh'' (arctium tomentosum). 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.

Mihalis Kokolakis (2003) states that some Greek speaking villages such as Labovë who used characteristic Greek suffixes like ''ovo'' had their endings rendered with ''ova'' based on Albanian pronunciation in the 1895 Ottoman Salname (administration yearbook) containing population statistics. ) "ii) Αλδανισμοί... Συναντάμε επίσης τις χαρακτηριστικές καταλήξεις -όβα και -άτ αντί -οβο και -ατές, ακόμη και σε χωριά ελληνόφωνα που διατήρησαν τις «ελληνικές» καταλήξεις: Λάμποβο"

History

Labovë was one of the Albanian Christian villages in the possession of the House of Moutzohoussates ( sq, Muçohysaj), the ancestral house of Ali Pasha.

The village was home of the Greek entrepreneurs and national benefactors Evangelos Zappas and his cousin, Konstantinos Zappas. Because of their family name the town is alternatively called "Labovë e Zhapës" although officially it is still called Labovë. The Zappas sponsored the foundation of educational facilities known as ''Zappeian School'' (Ζάππεια Διδασκαλεία). In 1875-1876 this consisted of: a primary and a high school, a weaving school for girls, and a library containing 400 volumes from Greek and Latin authors. Evangelis Zappas participated in 1860 in the debate about Albanian being written and held the view that the language could not become a literary one but should not be abandoned and that a Greek-based alphabet be used for Albanian in the Labovë school founded by him. para. 16 "At the same period, two wealthy persons Evangelos Zappas, from Labova e Madhe/Mega Lambovo (with a letter to Elpis), and Hristaki Zografo from Qestorat/Kestorati, another village from Lunxhëri, proposed the use of an alphabet with Greek characters. To understand the mentalities, it wasn’t a problem for Hristaki Zografo to promote the teaching of the Albanian language at elementary or primary schools and at the same time to be the president of the Epirotic Syllogue (Ηπειρωτικός Σύλλογος) in Istanbul for the expansion of the Greek educational network in the Ottoman Empire." p. 201. "Evangelos Zappas (1800-1865) avait participé à la guerre d’indépendence, puis avait fait fortune en Roumanie. Il finança l’ouverture d’écoles, dans son village natal et dans d'autres locatités de l’Epire. En 1860, il participa à ce débat sur la littérarisation de la langue albanaise, qui se déroulait non seulement dans le journal de Pykaios, mais aussi dans l’Elpis, un périodique de la capital grecque. Dans une lettre adressée à ce journal, il estimait que la langue albanaise n’etait pas en mesure de devenir une langue littéraire, mais qu’elle ne devait pas être abandonnée. Il suggérait l’usage de l’alphabet, à base grecque, employeé dans l'ecole de Labovë fondée par ses soins."

In 1913, the village was disputed by Greece and newly independent Albania. Greek forces occupied the village and Greece claimed Labovë due to its Orthodox population, and a large part of southern Albania as North Epirus. Villagers were divided between two groups, one that supported Albanian independence and the other wanting to become part of Greece. The International Border Commission allotted Labovë to Albania. Labovë inhabitants of the modern period recount that it happened due to a village marriage held at the time. Albanian songs were sung and Greek forces in Labovë asked villagers to sing in Greek and not Albanian, so as to affirm their Greek character. Albanian songs continued and by the following day, the Border Commission concluded there was nothing Greek in Labovë and that it should become part of Albania.

At 1929 a proposal to re-establish a school for the Greek-speaking children of Labovë was dismissed by state officials, as according to their report the initiative had not been well received by local Albanian Christians.

Demographics

In the interwar period Nicholas Hammond passed through the area and described Labovë as a place of mixed speech (Albanian and Greek), 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 Madhe had an Orthodox Albanian population and Aromanians formed a significant community in the village. p. 51. "ΑΧ Αλβανοί Ορθόδοξοι Χριστιανοί, Β Βλάχοι"; p.56. "LABOVA E MADHE ΛΑΜΠΟΒΟ ΜΕΓΑΛΟ/Ζαππαίο 246 ΑΧ + Β" The Aromanian presence in Labovë dates to the 20th century when during the communist era of Albania they settled in the village. p. 133. R. Rrămăn (Aromunen mit der Eigenbezeichnung Rrămăn = Farscheroten, Arvanitovlachen)"; p. 146. "Labovë... hoher Anteil R; zu kommunischtischer Zeit angesiedelte aromunische Bevölkerungsgruppen aus südostalbanischen Gebirgen und aus Greichenland."

Notable people

*Kristo Meksi, Albanian politician
*Vangjel Meksi, translator of the New Testament in Albanian
*Evangelis Zappas, Greek benefactor
*Konstantinos Zappas, Greek benefactor
*Petros Zappas, Greek entrepreneur and politician
* Ghica family, Romanian-Albanian noble family
*Meksi family
*Apostol Meksi Albanian folkorist

References

Further reading

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Labova E Madhe
Populated places in Gjirokastër
Villages in Gjirokastër County
Aromanian settlements in Albania