Gheg
/ɡɛɡ
/noun (plural same or Ghegs)
1A member of one of the two main ethnic groups of Albania, living mainly in the north of the country.There are two major ethnic groups in Albania - the Ghegs and the Tosks....
- Although dialect and cultural differences between the Ghegs and Tosks can be substantial, both sides identify strongly with the common national and ethnic culture.
- The Ghegs and Kosovars have been especially successful in the Bronx area of New York City, selling and managing real estate.
2 [mass noun] The dialect of Albanian spoken by the Gheg, with about 2 million speakers. Compare with Tosk.Until World War II, Gheg was the dominant dialect....
- In 1952, a standardized Albanian language was adopted, which is a mixture of Gheg and Tosk but with a prevailing Tosk element.
adjective
Relating to the Gheg or their dialect.During the 1920s and 1930s, the government tried to establish a mixed Tosk and Gheg dialect from the Elbascan region as the official language....
- The subject remains controversial, with northern intellectuals having reopened in recent years the possibility of reviving a literary standard for the Gheg dialect.
- In addition to the standard Albanian terms (mostly similar to the Tosk dialect), Elsie often provides us with the variant forms of Gegerishte (the Gheg dialect of northern Albania).
Origin
From Albanian Geg.