link to phylogenetic tree: R1a
link to phylogenetic tree: R-Z2103
link to phylogenetic tree: J-L283
link to phylogenetic tree: E-V13
link to phylogenetic tree: J-M410
link to phylogenetic tree: R-Y2902
link to phylogenetic tree: R-L1029
link to phylogenetic tree: R-Z2705
link to phylogenetic tree: I-Y3120
Greek and Albanian are two old Indo-European languages in Europe, parallel to Celtic, Germanic, Slavic, Baltic and Romanic languages in Europe. In the Roman and Greek period several other languages were still present in Europe, but and we have limited knowledge on the languages spoken. From the Pre-Indo-European languages little knowledge is available. Basque is still spoken, and reports are given on the Indo-European languages like Illyrian, Dacian and Thracian.
Scripts are found in Tartessian, Iberian, Etruscan and Rhaetian language. Small amounts of scripts are found of Sicani and North Picenian, and Lemnian and Minoan on the island in the Mediterranean Sea. The disappeared languages have often only tiny pieces of script (duplicated from other scripts) and the knowledge is extremely limited. Language specialists debated on the options between Celtic languages, Indo-European or isolates. Hardly any consensus among the language specialists is present for these old languages. The only consensus seems to be that many languages were spoken, and at least part of the languages were Indo-European (Illyrian, Dacian, Thracian). Some have also suggested a shared origin of Pre-Indo-European languages in a language family (Tyrrhenian), including Rhaetic, Etruscan and Lemnian. No consensus is present among specialist on the Pre-Indo-European language family.
Scenario's
Albanian is the language of R-Z2705
The history of Albanian is recent.
The word Albanian was not used in Roman times. Given the location and Latin documents a relation with the Illyrian tribes was often suggested.
A relation with their Indo-European language fits in this scenario. Why they were called Illyrians in the Latin texts and later Albanians is unclear. If we look at the people in Albania in the phylogenetic Y-DNA tree, we see a few braches with a large population percentage. The largest in percentage has a recent population growth, which is R-Z2705. This has a sudden population jump near 1500-1300ybp. You can see this branch in diagrams on the Slavic page and in the diagrams above.
In this diagram the samples are used within longitude 19-22 and latitude 40-43. This is in Albania and close to Albania. In the period 200 BCE - 2000 CE we show the branches that were also shown in the Slavic diagram. In this case we see that the majority of branches have a stable pattern. One branch shows a clear expansion in a short period. This is R-Z2705, a branch that descends from the R1b-branch which is associated with the Satem branch of the Indo-European languages. The branch expanded from a first split 1500 ybp to 25 surviving branches in 1300 ybp (with the data in arch-9.04). After 1300 ybp the percentage of the different branches was stable and is close to 20 percent in the defined region. It seems likely that this fast expanded branch had a larger percentage in a smaller region in the early period, and later the different branches mixed in a larger region to the present percentages in the region of 3x3 degrees.
Alternative scenario: another powerful branch
In this alternative scenarios we can think of another branch that grew in size. The other branches that grew in size grew significantly less than this branch, so it seems less likely that a smaller growing branch would have more impact than a much more growing branch.
Alternative scenario: a generalized Illyrian language
One can think of a scenario that the Illyrian language was stable and present in a large region. A stable language is in general present in an area that is centralized and powerful, so natural local changes in a language will have little chance to survive. In the period after the Romans it is thought that this areas was not stable managed and people survived locally with their families on the land and exchange with other cultures and languages was limited. It is likely that only after the arrival of Christianity that the exchange of ideas, knowledge and a shared Lingua Franca became common in this area. It means that is possible that the ancestors of the early Albanian speaking people spoke Illyrian or Dacian, but i don't think it is likely that a local language was spoken as a Lingua Franca in this region during the Byzantine Empire. It is more likely that local people spoke local languages.
Alternative scenario: a Lingua Franca by coincidence
One can suggest that in the Middle Ages the Christian religion and exchange of products became more and more important over time. Exchange of ideas and products require a language of communication. One option to reach a shared language is a powerful tribe, and others decide to follow the language of this tribe. One can also think of priests or traders who go from place to place and exchange try to talk to people. One can think of a process in which a language of a piest or trader influenced the people and who adjusted their language or changed their language. One can think of a coincidence that the language of these priests or traders resulted in a shared Lingua Franca. I have seen no other examples where a language became a Lingua Franca without being the language of a ruling power, so i consider this an unlikely scenario.
Most likely scenario
It seems likely that the R-Z2705 branch is the origin of the present Albanian language, while the language and dialect of other small groups after 1500 ybp changed their dialect and language to this language of a powerful branch and Albanian became the Lingua Franca in this region.
