Shkumbin

It derives from Latin Scampinus (recorded alternatively as {{langx|la|Scampis|label=none}}), which replaced the Illyrian name of the river: Genusus (recorded in {{langx|la|Genusus}}, also {{langx|la|Genessus|label=none}},{{cite book|title=Robert Elsie|page=459|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j7tLgANw8hAC&q=shkreli+tribe&pg=PA459|isbn=978-1-84511-118-2|last1=Fishta|first1=Gjergj|last2=Elsie|first2=Robert|date=2005-10-04|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic }} and in {{langx|grc|Γενούσος}}). A Slavic intermediation has been rejected. Its inclusion in Latin loanwords into Proto-Albanian and phonetic evolution coincides with the historical existence of a large Roman town (near present-day Elbasan), which gave the river its new name.{{sfn|Ismajli|2015|p=263}}{{harvnb|Demiraj|2006|p=150}}

Image:Lënie_-_Mapillary_(qiWNFQoyU8nkjFQPm5QpKw).jpg|left]]The river originates in the eastern Valamara Mountains between Maja e Valamarës ({{Convert|2375|m|ft|abbr=on}}) and Gur i Topit ({{Convert|2120|m|ft|abbr=on}}) in Southeastern Albania.{{cite web|author1=University of Tirana|title=Albert-Kurti-compressed.pdf|url=http://www.doktoratura.unitir.edu.al/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Albert-Kurti-compressed.pdf|website=doktoratura.unitir.edu.al|location=Tirana|page=43|language=Albanian|author1-link=University of Tirana}} After descending from the Valamaras, it flows northwards through Proptisht and Qukës with many deep gorges and canyons and passes the Gora Mountains. A significant inflow comes from Gur i Kamjës ({{Convert|1481|m|ft|abbr=on}}) southwest of Pogradec. Over the course, it flows inside a syncline between the Mokra and Shebenik Mountains in the east and the Polis Mountains in the west. Close to Librazhd the river turns some {{Convert|50|km|mi|abbr=on}} westwards of its origin and joins the Rapun stream.{{cite web|title=KREU I: PASURITË UJORE SHQIPTARE|url=http://37.139.119.36:81/publikime_shkencore/ALB-RIVERS-WEB-PDF/009-28-Kreu1-Ujerat-Shqiptare.pdf|page=19|language=Albanian}} At the end, the river crosses the Myzeqe Plain and forms a small delta in Karavasta Lagoon, the direct proximity of the Adriatic Sea.Shkumbin Valley about 5 km east of [[Elbasan|thumb|208px]]

The ancient name of the river was Genusus and was located in central southern Illyria. At the same time, it was referred as Scampini, as it was identified by the town of Scampa. In classical antiquity, the valley of the Shkumbin was inhabited by several Illyrian peoples. The Parthini lived in the middle valley of the river.{{cite book|title=The Cambridge Ancient History|volume=3, Part 1: The Prehistory of the Balkans, the Middle East and the Aegean World, Tenth to Eighth Centuries BC|last1=Boardman|first1=John|last2=Edwards|first2=I. E. S.|last3=Hammond|first3=N. G. L.|last4=Sollberger|first4=E.|year=1982|page=629}}{{harvnb|Wilkes|1992|p=93}}{{harvnb|Cabanes|2007|p=579|ps=: "Parthini (Partini, Partheni, Παρθῖνοι/Parthînoi, Παρθεηνᾶται/Partheēnâtai). Illyrian tribe (Str. 7,7,8; App. Ill. 2) near → Dyrrhachium (App. B Civ. 5,320). It is likely that they lived in the Shkumbi valley (in modern Albania) and controlled the important link between → Ionios Kolpos and → Macedonia, equivalent to the later → via Egnatia. Their neighbours to the east were the Dassaretae (Dassaretia) in the region of the modern Ohrid, and to the west the Taulantii (Thuc. 1,24; Diod. Sic. 12,30-40)."}} They neighbored to the west the Taulantii who lived in the coastal area including the lower valley of the river, and to the east the Dassaretii who lived in the region of Lake Ohrid, including the upper valley of the river.{{sfn|Castiglioni|2010|pp=88–89|ps=: "Le premier de ces deux témoignages est un fermoir de ceinture retrouvé dans un tombeau monumental de la localité albanaise de la basse Selce (Selcë e Poshtme) située dans le district de Pogradec, dans la partie orientale du pays, à quelques kilomètres du lac d'Ohrid et à 1010 m au-dessus du niveau de la mer. Ce centre a bénéficié dans le passé d'un essor économique plus florissant par rapport aux plus modestes agglomérations des alentours, grâce à la position centrale et prédominante qu'il occupe à l'intérieur de la contrée actuellement appelée Mokër, et grâce au contrôle de la route qui conduisait des côtes adriatiques de l'Illyrie à la Macédoine, route qui longeait le cours du fleuve Shkumbin (Genusus) et qui passait autrefois par les Gorges de Çervenake. La ville s'étendait sur les terrasses naturelles de la col-line de Gradishte ou Qyteze, dont la partie ouest descend abruptement vers le cours du fleuve Shkumbin."}} The ancient Via Egnatia followed the river, giving it the role of a strategically important corridor between orient and occident.{{cite web|author1=University of Tirana|title=MALLAKASTRA STUDIM GJEOGRAFIK|url=http://www.doktoratura.unitir.edu.al/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Doktoratura-Mariglen-Sherifaj-Fakulteti-i-Historise-dhe-i-Filologjise-Departamenti-i-Gjeografise.pdf|website=doktoratura.unitir.edu.al|page=21|language=Albanian|author1-link=University of Tirana}} The Via Egnatia started with two branches, the northern one from Epidamnos-Dyrrhachion, and the southern one from Apollonia. The two branches converged at Ad Quintum, near modern Elbasan, continuing eastwards through the valley of the Shkumbin.{{harvnb|Stocker|2009|pp=880–881}}

In Roman Imperial times, the line of division between the administrative provinces of Illyricum and Epirus Nova ran from the west somewhere between Scodra and Dyrrachium, to the east somewhere between the north side of the Shkumbin and Lake Ohrid.Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière Hammond. [https://books.google.com/books?id=_VBoAAAAMAAJ&q=%22in+terms+of+Roman+provincial+administration+ran+somewhere+between+Scodra+and+Dyrrachium+and+then+eastwards+on+the+north+side+of+the+Shkumbi+and+Lake+Ochrid%22 Migrations and invasions in Greece and adjacent areas.] Noyes Press, 1976. {{ISBN|978-0-8155-5047-1}}. p. 54. During this period, the valley of Shkumbin constituted roughly the border between the Latin and the Greek-speaking area.{{harvnb|Wilkes|1992|p=273}}

The river is roughly the geographical dividing line between Tosk and Gheg Albanian dialects, with Gheg spoken north of the Shkumbin and Tosk south of it. The dialectal split occurred after Christianisation of the region (4th century AD),{{cite book|author=Douglas Q. Adams|title=Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tzU3RIV2BWIC&pg=PA11|date=January 1997|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-884964-98-5|pages=9, 11}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=_kn5c5dJmNUC&pg=PA448 Indo-European language and culture: an introduction] By Benjamin W. Fortson Edition: 5, illustrated Published by Wiley-Blackwell, 2004 {{ISBN|1-4051-0316-7}}, {{ISBN|978-1-4051-0316-9}} (page 392) with the river as the historic dialectal boundary[https://books.google.com/books?id=F2SRqDzB50wC&dq=The+river+Shkumbin+in+central+Albania+historically+forms+the+boundary+between+those+two+dialects%2C&pg=PA23 Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World] By Keith Brown, Sarah Ogilvie Contributor Keith Brown, Sarah Ogilvie Edition: illustrated Published by Elsevier,2008 {{ISBN|0-08-087774-5}}, {{ISBN|978-0-08-087774-7}} (page 23) which straddled the Jireček line.Orel, Vladimir; Albanian Etymological Dictionary, Brill, 1998 {{ISBN|90 04 11024 0}}See also Hamp 1963.

{{commons category|Shkumbin}}

• Geography of Albania
• Central Mountain Range
• Rivers of Albania

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book|last=Cabanes|first=Pierre|title=Brill's New Pauly, Antiquity, Volume 10 (Obl-phe)|chapter=Parthini|editor-last1=Hubert|editor-first1=Cancik|editor-last2=Schneider|editor-first2=Helmuth|editor-last3=Salazar|editor-first3=Christine F.|volume=7|year=2007|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-14215-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UDIOAQAAMAAJ}}
• {{cite book|last=Castiglioni|first=Maria Paola|title=Cadmos-serpent en Illyrie: itinéraire d'un héros civilisateur|year=2010|publisher=Edizioni Plus|isbn=978-88-8492-742-2}}
• {{cite book|last=Stocker|first=Sharon R.|title=Illyrian Apollonia: Toward a New Ktisis and Developmental History of the Colony|year=2009|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tg8ynwEACAAJ}}
• {{Cite book|last=Wilkes|first=John J.|author-link=J. J. Wilkes|title=The Illyrians|location=Oxford, United Kingdom|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|year=1992|isbn=0-631-19807-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Nv6SPRKqs8C}}
• {{cite book|last=Ismajli|first=Rexhep|title=Studime për historinë e shqipes në kontekst ballkanik|trans-title=Studies on the History of Albanian in the Balkan context |url=http://www.ashak.org/repository/docs/RISMAJLI_397704.pdf |editor=Eqrem Basha|publisher=Kosova Academy of Sciences and Arts, special editions CLII, Section of Linguistics and Literature|number=55|year=2015|place=Prishtinë|lang=sq}}
• {{cite book|last=Demiraj|first=Shaban|title=The origin of the Albanians: linguistically investigated|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aXIbAQAAIAAJ|year=2006|location=Tirana|publisher=Academy of Sciences of Albania|isbn=978-99943-817-1-5}}

{{Rivers in Albania}}{{Portal bar|Geography}}

Category:Rivers of Albania

Category:Geography of Korçë County

Category:Geography of Elbasan County

Category:Geography of Tirana County

Category:Drainage basins of the Adriatic Sea

Category:Braided rivers in Albania