In Hora of Arbëresh (it. Piana degli Albanesi) in Sicily, Demetrio Camarda, Arbëresh linguist and philologist, clergyman, was born. He studied to become a priest in Rome. After being ordained in the Byzantine rite in 1844, he lived in Naples and in his native village until 1848, when he was expelled from the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies by the Bourbon authorities, on the charge that he had collaborated with the liberals. At first he went to Rome and then to the Benedictine monastery of Cesena. In 1852, he was appointed a teacher at the secondary school in Livorno, where he spent the rest of his life as a parish priest. Demetrio Camarda was among the cultural leaders of Arbëresh in the nineteenth century, whose publications in the Albanian language and literature inspired not only Albanians in Italy, but also influenced to the Renaissance movement in the homeland. Camarda is mentioned for his work “Saggio di grammatologia comparata sulla lingua albanese”, Livorno, 1864 (“Test of comparative grammar on the Albanian language”), one of the first works of Albanian diachronic philology, where he tried to prove the affinity of the language Albanian with Greek. This work was followed by “Appendice al saggio di grammatologia comparata”, Prato, 1866 (“Appendix for the test of comparative grammar”), a collection of Arbëresh folk songs. Camarda also wrote a grammar of the Albanian language and published a book of Albanian poetry dedicated to Dora d’Istria, with the title “A Dora d’Istria gli Albanesi”, Livorno, 1870 (“Dora d’Istria, the Albanians”), which contained poems by Preng Doçi, Zef Jubani, Thimi Mitko, Jeronim de Rada, Françesk Anton Santori, Zef Serembe, etc. He passed away in Livorno, Italy, in 1882. (In the photo: Dhimitër Kamarda)
Text: Robert Elsie, History of Albanian literature , “Dukagjini”, Pejë, 2001, pages 142-143.
Photo: © https://www.shqiperia.com/blog/mendimi-dhimiter-kamardes-mbi-gjuhen-shqipe-sipas-linguistit-italian-g-ascoli/
Graphic processing: AHCF
