Leskë ( sq-definite, Leska, formerly ''Lajthizë'' "place of hazelnuts"; Macedonian/ Bulgarian: Леска) is a village in the

Pustec Municipality Pustec Municipality ( sq, Bashkia Pustec; mk, Општина Пустец, ''Opshtina Pustets''), previously known as Liqenas Commune ( sq, Komuna Liqenas) from 1973 to 2013, is a municipality in the Korçë County of Albania. The population at th ...

of the

Korçë County Korçë County ( sq, Qarku Korçë, italic=unset), officially the County of Korçë ( sq, Qarku i Korçës, italic=unset), is a county in the Southern Region of the Republic of Albania. It is the largest by area and the seventh most populous of ...

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 The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the ...

. Leska is situated west of

Lake Prespa The Lake Prespa is located on the tripoint of North Macedonia, Albania, and Greece. It is a system of two lakes separated by an isthmus: the Great Prespa Lake, divided between the three countries, and the Little Prespa Lake, mostly within Greec ...

, near the village of

Pustec Pustec ( sq, Pustec; mk, Пустец) formerly known as Liqenas (1973–2013), is a village in Pustec (municipality), Pustec Municipality, Korçë County, eastern Albania. Situated on the southwestern shore of Lake Prespa, it is home to much of ...

. The village is mainly composed of

ethnic Macedonians Macedonians ( mk, Македонци, Makedonci) are a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group native to the region of Macedonia in Southeast Europe. They speak Macedonian, a South Slavic language. The large majority of Macedonians identi ...

Name

In early 20th century scholarly works of Selishchev, Jaranov and

Vasmer Max Julius Friedrich Vasmer (; russian: Максимилиан Романович Фа́смер, translit=Maksimilian Romanovič Fásmer; 28 February 1886 – 30 November 1962) was a Russo-German linguist. He studied problems of etymology in ...

, the village placename is given as ''Leska'', while Kanchov gives the form ''Ljaitiza'' which stems from the Albanian word ''Lajthi'' meaning

hazelnut The hazelnut is the fruit of the hazel tree and therefore includes any of the nuts deriving from species of the genus '' Corylus'', especially the nuts of the species '' Corylus avellana''. They are also known as cobnuts or filberts accordi ...

. The toponym ''Leska'' is topographic referring to

Hazel The hazel (''Corylus'') is a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae,Germplasmgobills Information Network''Corylus''Rushforth, K. (1999 ...

trees. "Леска... Во насловниот облик е забележена кај Селишчев (op. cit, 1), Јаранов и Фасмер (с. 192: Λέσκα), додека што К'нчов е запишана како Ляаитиза (алб. lajthi 'лешник'). Име е примарно, топографско, рамно на апел. Леска." In 2013, the village's official name was changed back from "Lajthizë" to "Leska".

History

In 1939, on behalf of 15 Bulgarian houses in Leska, Lazo Traykov signed a request by the local Bulgarians to the Bulgarian

tsaritsa Tsarina or tsaritsa (also spelled ''csarina'' or ''csaricsa'', ''tzarina'' or ''tzaritza'', or ''czarina'' or ''czaricza''; bg, царица, tsaritsa; sr, / ; russian: царица, tsaritsa) is the title of a female autocratic ruler (mon ...

Giovanna Giovanna is an Italian feminine first name. It is the feminine counterpart of the masculine Giovanni, which in turn is the Italian form of John; it is thus the Italian equivalent of Jane, Joanna, Jeanne, etc. In Brazil, the feminine name Giova ...

requesting her intervention for the protection of the Bulgarian people in Albania - at that time an Italian protectorate.

Demographics

The "La Macédoine et sa Population Chrétienne" survey by Dimitar Mishev (D. Brankov) concluded that village had 120

Bulgarian Exarchists Bulgarian Millet ( tr, Bulgar Milleti) was an ethno-religious and linguistic community within the Ottoman Empire from the mid-19th to early 20th century. The semi-official term ''Bulgarian millet'', was used by the Sultan for the first time in ...

residents in 1905. A 2007 estimate put the village population around 300 to 350 residents.Belo, Raki. Селищни имена в Мала Преска - Албания, в: Македонски преглед, ХХХ, №3, стр.135.

People from Leska

* Sotir Risto ( mk) (1974 - ), poet

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leske Populated places in Pustec Municipality Villages in Korçë County