Sami Frashëri, writer of the Albanian National Renaissance, passed away in Istanbul. He was born in Frashër of Përmet (the then Vilayet of Ioannina), on June 1st, 1850. He received his initial Turkish , Arabic and Persian lessons from the village headman. After his father’s death, the Frashëri family moved to Ioannina, where Sami graduated from the Greek high school “Zosimea”. He continued to learn Arabic and Turkish, despite the lessons in Greek at school and the French and Italian culture he received. After finishing high school, he went to Istanbul, again to Ioannina and Frashër, to finally settle in the empire’s capital, until the end of his life. Sami Frashër’s work in the field of culture includes his work in several languages, such as: Albanian, Turkish, Arabic, with translations, study work, textbooks, dictionaries, the well-known encyclopedia “Kamûs-ül Â’lâm” (1889–1898 ), the establishment and management of newspapers and magazines, such as “Drita” and “Dituria”, etc. The cultural, educational and literary work of Sami Frashër, related to the Albanians, in terms of language and terms of thematics, includes: “Besa or the given word” ( Besa yahud Ahde Vefa , 1874); “Albanian Language Alphabet” (1886), “Albanian Language Primer” (1886), “Dheshkronje” (1888) “Albania what has been, what is and what will become?” (1899). “Albania what has been, what is and what will become?” of Sami Frashër is the fundamental ideological work of the Albanian Renaissance, which connects and gives the great ideas of the nation and its political life, the units of historical, even mythical identity, and which projects its political future. (Sami Frashëri in the photo)
Text: The encyclopedic dictionary of Kosovo – Vol. I , Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo, Prishtina, 2018, page 464.
Photo: © https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sami_Frash%C3%ABri
Graphic processing: AHCF
