Ethnic marker

During the Ottoman era, the name was used for ethnic Albanians regardless of their religious affiliations, just like it is today.^[1]

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, due to socio-political disturbances by some Albanians in the Balkans, the term was used as an ethnic marker for Albanians in addition to the usual millet religious terminology to identify people in Ottoman state records.^[2][11] The term used in Ottoman sources for the country was Arnavudluk (آرناوودلق) for areas such as modern Albania, western Macedonia, southern Serbia, Kosovo, parts of northern Greece and southern Montenegro.^[2][11][4] The name Arnavudluk for Albanian regions was a geographical designation, while Arnavud kavmı was an ethnic designation, with kavimiyet meaning 'ethnicity'.^[3] In modern Turkish Arnavutluk refers only to the Republic of Albania.^[12]

Transfer to other languages

The term Arnā'ūṭ (الأرناؤوط) also entered the Arabic language as an exonym for Albanian communities that settled in the Levant during the Ottoman era onward, especially for those residing in Syria.^[6] The term Arnaut (Арнаут), plural: Arnauti (Арнаути) has also been borrowed into Balkan South Slavic languages like Bulgarian and within Serbian the term has also acquired pejorative connotations regarding Albanians.^[13][8][14]

North Pontic coast and Ukraine

During the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) (before the first annexation of Crimea), many Albanians who fought on the Ottoman side switched sides and were resettled along the Southern Bug from Voznesensk to Mykolaiv. Along with the local population, they were drafted into the Buh Cossacks host.

In Ukraine, Albanians who lived in Budzhak and who later also settled in the Azov Littoral of Zaporizhzhia Oblast are also known as Arnaut. The city of Odesa has two streets: Great Arnaut Street and Little Arnaut Street.^[7]

Albanian Ottoman soldiers

Albanian Ottoman soldiers - Arnauts armed with Tançica, portrayed by Amedeo Preziosi in late 19th century.

Historically used as an exonym, the Turkish term Arnaut has also been used for instance by some Western Europeans as a synonym for Albanians that were employed as soldiers in the Ottoman army.^[1] In Romanian arnăut was used in a similar way, since at least the eighteenth century, for Albanian mercenaries dressed in traditional garb and hired either by the rulers of the Romanian principalities for their court guards, or by the boyars as bodyguards.^[5]

Albanian volunteers and mounted infantry were called Arnauts in Egypt, and they were greatly valued in the Egyptian Army, especially for their traditional role as skirmishers, experts of mountain fighting, patrolling and bodyguard units.^[15]