qesh

Albanian

Alternative forms

  • (Northeastern Gheg) kesh

Etymology

First attested in 1555 by Buzuku as qesh, as is also seen in all Old Albanian authors, both Gheg and Tosk. From a Common Albanian *qeshë, from Proto-Albanian *kʲeśśi < *kéśśi (i-umlaut) < *káśśi, inherited from Pre-Proto-Albanian *kánśi < *kánsii̯i, from Proto-Indo-European *kn̥Hsei̯éti (to be pleased, rejoice), from Proto-Indo-European *kenH-.[1]

Although Tosk -q- and Gheg -k- often point to an Old -kl-, it is not always the case and Northeastern Gheg is known for depalatalization of -q- > -k-. If it were *klesh in Old Albanian, a Malsia variant of *kjesh would be needed, and kesh should be more common in Gheg. Similar developments are seen in qepë (onion), qep (beak), qese (bag), qit (to put, pull out).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /cɛʃ/ (Tosk)
  • IPA(key): /tɕɛʃ/ (Gheg)

Verb

qesh (aorist qesha, participle qeshur)

  1. (intransitive) to laugh

Declension

Derived terms

References

  1. ^ Demiraj, Bardhyl et al. (2021), “qesh”, in DPEWA. Digitales Philologisch-Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altalbanischen [DPEWA. Digital Philological-Etymological Dictionary of Old Albanian]

Further reading

  • FGJSSH: Fjalor i gjuhës së sotme shqipe [Dictionary of the modern Albanian language]‎[1], 1980
  • qesh”, in FGJSH: Fjalor i gjuhës shqipe [Dictionary of the Albanian language] (in Albanian), 2006
  • Newmark, Leonard (1999), “qesh”, in Oxford Albanian-English Dictionary[2]