Gjon Buzuku was an Albanian catholic priest. It lived in 16. its exact life data are unknown to

albanian language

century. Buzuku became famous by the translation Roman missale into Gegi , a dialect of the Albanian language . The Meshari (dt. measuring book) is the first book printed in Albanian .

Gjon Buzuku originated from north Albania. It lived probably longer time in Venice or the closer environment of this city. It is to have been monk and late bishop one the northAlbanian Dioezesen, but cannot this be proven not surely. Few that one knows about Buzuku, is taken from the Kolophon on the last side of the Meshari, written by him .



From 1554 to at the beginning of of 1555 he worked on the translation missale of the Romanum , he let which print then. The pressure covers 188 sides. Already from the extent it is most important Alta LBA niche the language monument. The only well-known copy of the book is in the possession of the Vatikani library . The title page and the first 16 sides were lost, why the accurate title and the year of the pressure do not admit are.

The Meshari contains the liturgical texts for the catholic holidays, excerpts from the Bible , different prayers and rituals as well as some katechetische texts . The initials are decorated, beyond that are contained also numerous other illustrations. Buzuku used latin alphabet , which he increased around some additional letters, in order to show the sounds of the Albanian language. The measuring book is in the dialect from Maleesia e Madhe , a region northeast from Shkodra , drawn up.

Since it concerns with the texts of the book the translations of well-known contents, it is suitable particularly well for linguistic analyses. One stated that Buzuku used a rich vocabulary and its translation by a rather uniform Orthographie is characterised, which points on an experienced writer.

The oldest Albanian measuring book was rediscovered 1740 by archbishop Gjon Nikollee Kazazi of Skopje Petrovec. After the Second World War the book Buzukus was linguistically examined several times by Albanologen