Editing Arvanites (section)

==Names==
{{See also|Names of the Albanians and Albania}}
The name Arvanites and its equivalents are today used both in Greek ({{Lang|el|Αρβανίτες}}, singular form {{Lang|el|Αρβανίτης}}, feminine {{Lang|el|Αρβανίτισσα}}) and in Arvanitika itself ({{Lang|aat|Arbëreshë|italic=no}} or {{Lang|aat|Arbërorë|italic=no}}). In Standard Albanian ({{Lang|sq|Arvanitë, Arbëreshë, Arbërorë|italic=no}}) all three names are used. The name ''Arvanites'' and its variants are based upon the root ''arb/alb'' of the old ethnonym that was at one time used by all Albanians to refer to themselves.<ref>{{cite book|last=Demiraj|first=Bardhyl|chapter=Shqiptar–The generalization of this ethnic name in the XVIII century|pages=534–536|editor1-last=Demiraj|editor1-first=Bardhyl|title=Wir sind die Deinen: Studien zur albanischen Sprache, Literatur und Kulturgeschichte, dem Gedenken an Martin Camaj (1925–1992) gewidmet [We are his people: Studies on the Albanian language, literature and cultural history, dedicated to the memory of Martin Camaj (1925–1992)]|year=2010|location=Wiesbaden|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|isbn=9783447062213|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bmIVOGu0WWEC}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Lloshi|first=Xhevat|chapter=Albanian|pages=272–299|editor1-last=Hinrichs|editor1-first=Uwe|editor2-last=Büttner|editor2-first= Uwe|title=Handbuch der Südosteuropa-Linguistik|year=1999|location=Wiesbaden|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag}}</ref> It refers to a geographical term, first attested in [[Polybius]] in the form of a place-name {{Lang|el-Latn|Arvon}} ({{Lang|el|Άρβων}}), and then again in Byzantine authors of the 11th and 12th centuries in the form {{Lang|el-Latn|Arvanon}} ({{Lang|el|Άρβανον}}) or {{Lang|el-Latn|Arvana}} ({{Lang|el|Άρβανα}}), referring to a place in what is today Albania.<ref>[[Michael Attaliates]], ''History'' 297 mentions "Arbanitai" as parts of a mercenary army (c.1085); [[Anna Comnena]], ''Alexiad'' VI:7/7 and XIII 5/1-2 mentions a region or town called Arbanon or Arbana, and "Arbanitai" as its inhabitants (1148). See also Vranousi (1970) and Ducellier (1968).</ref> The name ''Arvanites'' ("Arbanitai") originally referred to the inhabitants of that region, and then to all Albanian-speakers. The alternative name ''Albanians'' may ultimately be etymologically related, but is of less clear origin (see [[Albania (toponym)]]). It was probably conflated with that of the "Arbanitai" at some stage due to phonological similarity. In later Byzantine usage, the terms "Arbanitai" and "Albanoi", with a range of variants, were used interchangeably, while sometimes the same groups were also called by the classicising names ''[[Illyrians]]''. In the 19th and early 20th century, ''Alvani'' (Albanians) was used predominantly in formal registers and ''Arvanites'' (Αρβανίτες) in the more popular speech in Greek, but both were used indiscriminately for both Muslim and Christian Albanophones inside and outside Greece.<ref name=Baltsiotis2011>{{cite journal|last=Baltsiotis|first=Lambros|title=The Muslim Chams of Northwestern Greece: The grounds for the expulsion of a "non-existent" minority community|journal=European Journal of Turkish Studies. Social Sciences on Contemporary Turkey|year=2011|issue=12|publisher=European Journal of Turkish Studies|doi=10.4000/ejts.4444|url=http://ejts.revues.org/4444|doi-access=free}} "Until the Interwar period ''Arvanitis'' (plural ''Arvanitēs'') was the term used by Greek speakers to describe an Albanian speaker regardless of his/hers religious background. In official language of that time the term ''Alvanos'' was used instead. The term ''Arvanitis'' coined for an Albanian speaker independently of religion and citizenship survives until today in Epirus (see Lambros Baltsiotis and Léonidas Embirikos, "De la formation d'un ethnonyme. Le terme Arvanitis et son evolution dans l'État hellénique", in G. Grivaud-S. Petmezas (eds.), ''Byzantina et Moderna'', Alexandreia, Athens, 2006, pp. 417–448."</ref> In Albania itself, the self-designation ''Arvanites'' had been exchanged for the new name ''Shqiptarë'' since the 15th century, an innovation that was not shared by the Albanophone migrant communities in the south of Greece. In the course of the 20th century, it became customary to use only ''Αλβανοί'' for the people of Albania, and only ''Αρβανίτες'' for the Greek-Arvanites, thus stressing the national separation between the two groups.

There is some uncertainty to what extent the term ''Arvanites'' also includes the small remaining Christian Albanophone population groups in [[Epirus (region)|Epirus]] and [[West Macedonia]]. Unlike the southern Arvanites, these speakers are reported to use the name ''Shqiptarë'' both for themselves and for Albanian nationals,<ref>Banfi (1996).</ref> although these communities also espouse a Greek national identity nowadays.<ref name="Hart"/> The word ''Shqiptár'' is also used in a few villages of [[Thrace]], where Arvanites migrated from the mountains of [[Pindus]] during the 19th century.<ref>Moraitis (2002).</ref> However they also use the name ''Arvanitis'' speaking in Greek. In Epirus the designation ''[[Cham Albanians|Chams]]'' is today rejected by Albanian speakers.<ref name="EuromosaicArAl"/> The report by GHM (1995) subsumes the [[Epirus (region)|Epirote]] Albanophones under the term ''Arvanites'', although it notes the different linguistic self-designation,<ref>Botsi (2003: 21).</ref> on the other hand, applies the term ''Arvanites'' only to the populations of the compact Arvanitic settlement areas in southern Greece, in keeping with the self-identification of those groups. Linguistically, the [[Ethnologue]]<ref>[http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=als Ethnologue (2005). "Albanian, Tosk: A language of Albania"].</ref> identifies the present-day Albanian/Arvanitic dialects of Northwestern Greece (in Epirus and [[Lechovo]]) with those of the Chams, and therefore classifies them together with standard [[Tosk Albanian]], as opposed to "Arvanitika Albanian proper" (i.e. southern Greek-Arvanitika). Nevertheless, it reports that in Greek the Epirus varieties are also often subsumed under "Arvanitika" in a wider sense. It puts the estimated number of Epirus Albanophones at 10,000. Arvanitika proper<ref>[http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=aat Ethnologue (2005). "Albanian, Arvanitika: A language of Greece"].</ref> is said to include the outlying dialects spoken in Thrace.