1 Two studies in Albanian etymology: vobektë ‘poor’, send ‘thing’ Marek Majer, University of Lodz (marek.majer@uni.lodz.pl) Abstract: The article contains a detailed study of the etymology of two Albanian lexemes. For vobektë ‘poor’ (primitive forms: Tosk vabëk, Geg vobeg), the standard explanation as a loanword from Slavic *ubogъ is maintained. However, it is argued that the Albanian forms can only be accounted for properly if one recognizes that the borrowing belongs to the earliest layer of Slavicisms. Then, the assumption of the pre-9 th century Proto-Slavic input form [ōbăg-] can yield the attested Albanian forms. For send ‘thing’, an entirely new account is offered. The etymon is specified as Proto-Indo-European *k u̯ endʰ-os n. ‘suffering’ (= Greek πένθος ‘unhappy event, sorrow’), with reference to the typologically common semantic developments ‘suffer’ > ‘toil, work’ and ‘work, deed’ > ‘thing, object’ (as observed e.g. in Macedonian and Bulgarian rabota). Keywords: vobektë, poor, send, thing, etymology, historical phonology, Slavic borrowings in Albanian, semantic change The purpose of this article is to investigate the origin of two central elements of the Albanian vocabulary relating to possession and material culture. Both words have been studied thoroughly in previous literature, but it appears that superior explanations can be offered regarding important formal issues (as in §1) or the essence of the etymology itself (as in §2). 1 Albanian vobektë ‘poor’ 1 1.1 Introduction, material, and basic etymological interpretation The adjective represented in standard Albanian by vobektë, today somewhat archaic and largely superseded by varfër (← Lat orphanus, Gr ὀρφανός ‘orphan’), was once the central word for ‘poor’. The word is attested throughout the history of Albanian in a great number of variants, which we shall subsume under the duo T vabëk | G vobeg. It is richly documented since Old Albanian (Buzuku fol. 48v: e ish një i vobeg ‘and there was a certain beggar’, Ressuli 1959: 135; Matrënga fol. 42: lumtë ata çë janë vabëk shpirti ‘blessed are the poor in spirit’, Matzginer 2006: 246; full Old Albanian material in DPEWA s.v. *vobég and Omari 2012: 313–314). It has been clear since Miklosich (1870: 36) that the word must, in one way or another, represent a borrowing of Slavic *ubogъ ‘poor’ (OCS 2 ubogъ, BCMS ùbog, Sln ubǫ̑ g, Ru ubógij, 1 An abridged formulation of the present analysis, with focus on the Slavic aspect of the topic, was also presented at the 49 th International Seminar on Macedonian Language, Literature and Culture in Ohrid (4-5 September 2022); a corresponding version in Macedonian is published as Majer (2023). An early version was also incorporated into a lecture at the Kolloquium Slavistische Linguistik, University of Zurich (25 May 2022). I would like to thank the participants of both the present Symposium for Albanian Studies and the above-mentioned Slavicist events for numerous helpful suggestions and corrections. I express particular gratitude to Plator Gashi (LMU Munich) for insightful discussion on several issues and for bibliographic assistance. All views and errors are mine. 2 Abbreviations: acc. – accusative; Alb – Albanian; Arom – Aromanian; BCMS – Bosnian/Croatian/Montenegrin/Serbian; Bg – Bulgarian; CSl – Common Slavic; Cz – Czech; def. – definite; En – English; f. – feminine, Fr – French; G – Geg; gen. – genitive; Germ – German; Gr – Ancient Greek; Ir – Irish; Lat – Latin; Latv – Latvian; LCAlb – Late Common Albanian; Lith – Lithuanian; m. – masculine, Mac – Macedonian; MGr – Middle Greek; n. – neuter, NGr – New Greek; O – Old; OCS – Old Church Slavic; OHG – Old High German; PAlb – Proto-Albanian; PBSl – Proto-Balto-Slavic; PGmc – Proto-Germanic; PIE – Proto-Indo-European; Pol – Polish; PSl – Proto-Slavic; Rom – Romanian; Ru – Russian; s. v. – sub verbo (under the heading); sg. – singular;