The Pelasgian origin of the Albanians under the American George Fred Williams

Written by Jonader Agolli

Translated and edited by Joralda Agolli

George Fred Williams wrote in 1914: “Back in prehistory, before the Homeric singers sang to the deities and mythological heroes, before the Greek language was even written, lived a people known as Pelasgians …

Albanians are the only ones who have come so far from this powerful prehistoric race. Only in the recent years has been determined that the Pelasgians were the ancient Illyrians… These Illyrians passed in Italy with the name Tosk, as they are called yet in Albania, while in Italy have remained as Tosk, Tuscan, and Etruscan…

Albanian has been the true language of Homer; the Greeks have borrowed it from the Pelasgian rhapsody… Albanian was the native language of the conquests of the Great Alexander and Pyrrhus of Epirus, one of the greatest generals in history…

Herodotus (484-425 BC) imputes the history to the Pelasgians, which these are mentioned much earlier than the Greek civilization; the rough paper covering the sides of the Pantheon in Athens is still called Pelasgian. They built great walls called cyclopean and for whom Prof. Pokok says that these were built long before the Greeks of Homer existed. From this strong prehistoric race were only Albanians. Only in recent times is explicated that the old

Illyrians were Pelasgians, the first Indo-European branch, whose empire spread from Minor Asia to the Adriatic and from the North to the Danube.

It is a tragedy beyond any imagination that this great and very ancient race comes to this condition, which deserves to be called the scandal of the European civilization. It is not surprising that the Ottoman conqueror stopped any digging on Albanian soil, which could remind the people its former glory…

What great wealth of knowledge awaits the archaeologist when the Albanian land opens the Pelasgians treasures of history? ”

From studies of young writers, as Prof. Max Müller and Prof. Pot, this origin became stable through Albanians. It is useless to require the gods of Greece on the etymology of its language. In Albanian these are very clear and their meanings are right.

Many more could be added to this list. These prove that Albanians today are the land of the ancestors and speak the language of their great-grandparents. Even before the Hellenic branch was recognized in the mountains of Thessaly, Shkoder, Albania’s main city, was undoubtedly the magnificent capital of the kingdom of Illyria. When the Albanian language is studied perfectly well and when her oral tradition is exhumed, then many of the works of Homer will be reviewed and some of them will also need to be corrected.