title: OneWeb

text: The satellites will provide user service in the Ku-band, communicating in the microwave range of frequencies in the 12–18 GHz portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Links to gateway ground stations will be in the Ka-band. The satellites use a technique called "progressive pitch" in which the satellites are slightly turned to avoid interference with Ku-band satellites in geostationary orbit. The user terminal antenna on the ground are either phased array antenna measuring approximately or dual motorised tracking antennas and will provide Internet access at 50+ megabits/second downlink bandwidth and 10-20 megabits/second uplink bandwidth. The satellites will be designed to comply with "orbital debris-mitigation guidelines for removing satellites from orbit and, for low-orbit satellites, assuring that they reenter the Earth's atmosphere within 25 years of retirement".


title: OneWeb

text: On 27 February 2019, OneWeb successfully launched the first 6 of the 648 planned satellites (600 active plus 48 on-orbit spares) into low Earth orbit from the Centre Spatial Guyanais using a Russian Soyuz ST-B rocket.


title: OneWeb

text: In November 2019, OneWeb planned monthly launches to begin in January 2020, although the first of these launches was delayed to early February 2020, and bankruptcy and subsequent reorganization delayed the third launch to December 2020. Since December 2020, OneWeb has launched 72 additional satellites from Vostochny, Siberia on 25 March and on 26 April 2021. On 1 July 2021, OneWeb launched a further 36 satellites, to take its in-orbit mega-constellation to 254 satellites and making OneWeb the second largest satellite fleet in orbit.


title: OneWeb

text: In March 2021, OneWeb stated its market would be primarily to businesses, governments including defence, phone network operators and clusters of communities, rather than to individual domestic customers which Starlink primarily targets. Users willing to connect were advised to contact their local telecom operator.


title: OneWeb

text: In May 2021, OneWeb said that its then current constellation (218 spacecraft) as well as an additional 36 satellites planned to launch on 1 July 2021, would be ready to provide internet services to regions north of 50° latitude by the end of 2021. This includes the United Kingdom, Alaska, Northern Europe, Greenland, Iceland, the Arctic Seas, and Canada.


title: OneWeb

text: The company's 648-satellite network was planned for completion by late 2022, with OneWeb making global internet services available at that time. Owing to launch delays from Roscosmos (see below) the constellation is now expected to be completed in early 2023 following three launches early that year.


title: OneWeb

text: With such a large number of satellites being added to the already crowded low Earth orbit, plans for handling the satellites once the operational life of each satellite is completed are an important consideration. Concerns about adding to the existing space debris problem have been expressed.


title: OneWeb

text: With OneWeb satellites having higher orbits than the competing Starlink megaconstallation satellites (which will deorbit in ~5 years without action due to atmospheric drag), OneWeb satellites will not passively deorbit in a reasonable timeframe. As such, each OneWeb satellite has fuel allocated to be able to actively deorbit at its end of life. OneWeb satellites are also equipped with an Altius DogTag magnetic grappling fixture, to make it possible for another spacecraft to attach and change the orbit of satellites whose built-in deorbit functionality fails, though there does not currently exist commercial services to carry out this active debris removal service. The risk of a OneWeb satellite becoming a source of debris was determined to be <0.01, which meets NASA's Technical Standard.


title: OneWeb

text: OneWeb competitor, satellite fleet operator ABS, has expressed concerns about the amount of electromagnetic interference that the OneWeb constellation could add to existing terrestrial transceivers.


title: OneWeb

text: Vladimir Sadovnikov of the Federal Security Service (FSB) stated in 2018 that the FSB was opposed to OneWeb covering Russia, saying that OneWeb could be used for espionage purposes. OneWeb's request for a frequency band was previously rejected by the Ministry for Digital Development and Communications, purportedly due to outstanding legal issues. FSB also proposed increasing scrutiny on other satellite Internet equipment in Russia.


title: OneWeb

text: Competition to OneWeb for producing smaller and lower-cost satellites, in general, is thought to come "from other makers of small satellites, thought to include companies such as Nevada-based Sierra Nevada Corp. and Britain's Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd." as of 2014.


title: OneWeb

text: Amazon announced a large broadband internet satellite constellation proposal in April 2019, planning to launch up to 3,236 satellites in the next decade in what Amazon calls "Project Kuiper", a satellite constellation that will work in concert


title: OneWeb

text: with Amazon's previously-announced large network of 12 satellite ground station facilities (the "AWS Ground Station unit") announced in November 2018.


title: OneWeb

text: As of June 2022, the major competitor is SpaceX's Starlink satellite network with around 500,000 customers. While OneWeb will only work with partner telephone companies, SpaceX is also serving consumers directly.


title: OneWeb

text: Historically, earlier companies that have attempted to build satellite internet service networks and provide space-based internet connections have not fared well, as these services were hobbled by high costs which consequently attracted few users. Iridium SSC filed for bankruptcy protection in 1999, Globalstar did the same in 2002, and Teledesic suspended its satellite construction work in the same year.


title: Callum Blue

text: Daniel James Callum Blue (born 19 August 1977), known professionally as Callum Blue, is an English actor. Best known for his roles on the Showtime series "Dead Like Me" and "The Tudors", as well as his roles as Zod in the American television series "Smallville", Alex in the British television series "The Secret Diary of a Call Girl" alongside Billie Piper, and Andrew Jacoby in the film "" alongside Anne Hathaway.


title: Irreligion in the United States

text: In the United States, between 8% and 15% of citizens polled in 2019 demonstrated nonreligious attitudes and naturalistic worldviews, namely atheists or agnostics. The number of self-identified atheists and agnostics was around 4% each, while many persons formally affiliated with a religion are likewise non-believing.<ref name="2021/01/14"></ref>


title: Irreligion in the United States

text: The percentage of Americans without religious affiliation, often labeled as "Nones", is around 20-29% - with people who identify as "nothing in particular" accounting for the growing majority of this demographic and while both atheists and agnostics accounting for the relatively unchanged minority of this demographic. "Nones" is an unclear category. Researchers argue that most of the "Nones" should be considered "unchurched", rather than objectively nonreligious; especially since most "Nones" may still hold some religious and spiritual beliefs. For example, 72% of American "Nones" believe in God or a Higher Power. The "None" response is more of an indicator for lacking affiliation than an active measure for irreligiosity, and a majority of the "Nones" can either be conventionally religious or "spiritual".


title: Irreligion in the United States

text: Social scientists observe that nonreligious Americans are characterized by indifference. Very few incorporate active irreligion as part of their identity, and only about 1-2% join groups promoting such values.


title: Irreligion in the United States

text: A 2007 Barna group poll found that about 20 million people say they are atheist, have no religious faith, or are agnostic, with 5 million of that number claiming to be atheists. The study also found that "[t]hey tend to be more educated, more affluent and more likely to be male and unmarried than those with active faith" and that "only 6 percent of people over 60 have no faith in God, and one in four adults ages 18 to 22 describe themselves as having no faith."


title: Irreligion in the United States

text: In the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) report, 15% of the US population identified as having "no religion", almost double the 1990 figure.


title: Irreligion in the United States

text: Irreligiosity is often under-reported in American surveys; many more express lack of faith in god or have alternative views on god (e.g. deism), than those who self-identify as atheists, agnostics and the like. In 2012, 23% of religious affiliates did not consider themselves to be "religious", though this is subjective.


title: Irreligion in the United States

text: The number of atheists and agnostics found in common surveys tends to be quite low since, for instance, according to the 2019 Pew Research Center survey they were 3.1% and 4% respectively and according to the 2014 General Social Survey they were 4% and 5% respectively. However, their self-identification and actual views on God do differ since one study observed that out of people who did not believe in God or a universal spirit, only 24% actually self-identified as "atheists" and 15% as "agnostics". In one 2018 research paper using indirect probabilistic methods with considerable uncertainty estimated that 26% of Americans are atheists, which is much higher than the 3%-11% rates that are consistently found in surveys.


title: Irreligion in the United States

text: A 2012 study by the Pew Research Center reported that, of the U.S. adult population, 19.6% had no religious affiliation and an additional 16% identified as "neither spiritual nor religious". Furthermore, atheists made up 2.4% and agnostics made up 3.3% of the US population. It also notes that a third of adults under the age of 30 are religiously unaffiliated. However, out of the religiously unaffiliated demographic: the majority describe themselves either as a religious (18%) or as spiritual but not religious (37%) while a significant minority (42%) considers themselves neither spiritual nor religious. Additionally, out of the unaffiliated: 68% believe in God, 12% are atheists, 17% are agnostics and overall 21% of the religiously unaffiliated pray every day.


title: Irreligion in the United States

text: The Pew Religious Landscape survey reported that as of 2014, 22.8% of the U.S. population is religiously unaffiliated, atheists made up 3.1% and agnostics made up 4% of the U.S. population. Out of all Americans who identify as unaffiliated including atheists and agnostics, 41% were raised Protestant and 28% were raised Catholic according to the 2014 Pew Religious Landscape survey.


title: Irreligion in the United States

text: The 2014 General Social Survey reported that 21% of Americans had no religion with 3% being atheist and 5% being agnostic.


title: Irreligion in the United States

text: Some 20% of Americans considered themselves neither religious nor spiritual. Irreligiousness is highest among young, white, unmarried, educated males.


title: Irreligion in the United States

text: When asked, around a third (24%-34% in different years) answered they were "not religious", and another 8% as atheist. Many of these identify/affiliate themselves with established religious groups and most believe in God. In one survey, 88% considered themselves as at least moderately spiritual.


title: Irreligion in the United States

text: According to the 2014 General Social Survey the percentages of the US population that identified as no religion were 21% in 2014, 20% in 2012, just 14% in 2000, and only 8 percent in 1990. Furthermore, the number of atheists and agnostics in the US has remained relatively flat in the past 23 years since in 1991 only 2% identified as atheist and 4% identified as agnostic while in 2014 only 3% identified as atheist and 5% identified as agnostic.


title: Irreligion in the United States

text: According to the 2008 Pew Religious Landscape report, as 2007, 16.1% of the US population identified as "no religion", atheists made up 1.6% and agnostics made up 2.4% of the US population.


title: Irreligion in the United States

text: According to a 2012 Pew Report on the "Nones", 19.6% of the population identified as "no religion", atheists made up 2.4% and agnostics made up 3.3% of the US population.


title: Irreligion in the United States

text: The Pew Religious Landscape survey reported that as of 2014, 22.8% of the American population is religiously unaffiliated, atheists made up 3.1% and agnostics made up 4% of the US population.


title: Irreligion in the United States

text: A 2010 Pew Research Center study comparing Millennials to other generations showed that of those between 18 and 29 years old, only 3% self-identified as "atheists" and only 4% as "agnostics". Overall, 25% of Millennials were "Nones" and 74% were religiously affiliated. Though Millennials are less religious than previous generations at the same age frame, they are also much less engaged in many social institutions in general than previous generations.


title: Irreligion in the United States

text: According to the American Values Atlas from PPRI, 24% of the US Population is unaffiliated with a religion in 2017.


title: Irreligion in the United States

text: According to the Cooperative Congressional Election Study in 2016 31% were "nones" in 2016 and 29.5% were "nones" in 2018.


title: Irreligion in the United States

text: According to a Pew study, 7% of those raised Protestant are now unaffiliated whereas 4% of those raised Catholic are now unaffiliated.


title: Irreligion in the United States

text: In 2019, a Pew study found that 65% of American adults described themselves as Christians while the religiously unaffiliated, including atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular”, is 26%.


title: Irreligion in the United States

text: According to a 2018 Pew report, 72% of the "Nones" have belief in God, a higher power, or spiritual force.


title: Irreligion in the United States

text: Several groups promoting irreligion – including the Freedom From Religion Foundation, American Atheists, Camp Quest, and the Rational Response Squad – have witnessed large increases in membership numbers in recent years, and the number of nonreligious student organizations at American colleges and universities increased during the 2000s (decade). However, the growth of atheist groups is very limited and will possibly shrink due to atheists normally being non-joiners. The overwhelming majority of the nonreligious in the US do not express their convictions in any manner, and only a negligible percentage joins irreligious organizations. As such, the overwhelming majority on the nonreligious do not join secular groups. Only a very small minority of the nonreligious, around 1% to 2%, actually join these kinds of groups.


title: Irreligion in the United States

text: Some of the underlying factors in the increases in people identifying as "Nones" seem to not be that significant numbers of people are dropping religion, but rather that, in recent times, it has become more socially acceptable for younger and older generations to identify as a "None" than in previous decades, when identifying as having no religion carried negative stigmas. With young people usually having lower religious observance than older people and them feeling more comfortable identifying as a "None", generational replacement factors could play a role in the increment.


title: Irreligion in the United States

text: Other possible driving factors may be just broader general cultural changes in the American way of life. The growth of the internet and social media has altered the sense of community and spirituality and the growth of self-focused citizenry, as opposed to community-focused citizenry, has broadly led to less civic involvement and less loyalty to many public institutions.


title: Irreligion in the United States

text: Other possible driving forces could be political backlash. Young adults, in particular, have turned away from organized religion because they perceive it as deeply entangled with conservative politics and some seek to distance themselves from polarized systems.


title: Irreligion in the United States

text: Others have suggested that delays in marriage, settling down, and having children among younger people reduces or delays the number and commitment of people participating in traditional religions or religious activities.


title: Irreligion in the United States

text: Robert Fuller argues that the ascendency of science as a way of understanding the world makes it difficult for some people to believe in the supernatural or accept the "blind faith" that religion often requires. That modern biblical scholarship has illuminated the human authorship of the Bible as opposed to divine revelation. And that most educated people are aware of the role that cultural conditioning plays in shaping beliefs.


title: Irreligion in the United States

text: Younger generations as a whole have lost trust and belief in numerous institutions along with religion. For instance, Millennials, which make up about 1/3 the "Nones" demographic, tend to have less belief and trust in institutions such as the labor market, the economy, government and politics, marriage, the media, along with churches; than previous generations. The Nones tend to be more politically liberal and their growth has resulted in some increases in membership of secular organizations. However, the overwhelming majority of those without religion are not joining secular groups or even aligning with secularism.


title: Irreligion in the United States

text: A region of the western United States known as the “Unchurched Belt” is traditionally considered to contain the highest concentration of irreligious people, although this may have been surpassed by New England.


title: Irreligion in the United States

text: In the late 2010s, 21% of registered voters were religiously unaffiliated; they are considered to be the largest "religious" voting block.


title: Irreligion in the United States

text: More than six-in-ten religiously unaffiliated registered voters are Democrats (39%) or lean toward the Democratic Party (24%). They are about twice as likely to describe themselves as political liberals than as conservatives, and solid majorities support legal abortion (72%) and same-sex marriage (73%). In the last five years, the unaffiliated have risen from 17% to 24% of all registered voters who are Democrats or lean Democratic. According to a Pew Research exit poll 70% of those who were religiously unaffiliated voted for Barack Obama.


title: Irreligion in the United States

text: In January 2007, California Congressman Pete Stark became the first openly atheist member of Congress. In January 2013, Kyrsten Sinema became the first openly non-theist Congresswoman, representing the State of Arizona.


title: Earth Defense Force

text: Earth Defense Force, known in Japan as , is a series of third-person shooter video games. The series is published by the Japanese company D3 Publisher as part of the "Simple" series.


title: Earth Defense Force

text: In 2013, radio waves from deep space are picked up by scientists, proving the existence of extraterrestrial life. The Earth Defense Force, a unified multinational military, is founded a few years later, in case the aliens prove to be hostile. In each of the games the player assumes the role of an EDF soldier during an alien invasion.


title: Earth Defense Force

text: The first game in the series was originally released in Japan as Simple 2000 series Vol. 31: The 地球防衛軍 for the PlayStation 2. "Chikyū Bōeigun" or "Earth Defense Force" was created by Sandlot as part of D3 Publisher's "Simple series" of budget-priced games on a compact disk. It was later distributed in PAL format on CD in Europe by Agetec, Inc. under the title "Monster Attack".


title: Earth Defense Force

text: "Chikyū Bōeigun 2" is the second game in the series, released for the PlayStation 2. The game was released in Europe as "Global Defence Force" but was not released in North America. A PlayStation Portable version of the game, titled Earth Defense Forces 2 Portable was released on April 7, 2011, in Japan. A remake for the PlayStation Vita, entitled Earth Defense Force 2: Invaders from Planet Space (or Earth Defense Forces 2 Portable V2 in Japan), was released on December 11, 2014, in Japan, with a North American port released on December 8, 2015.


title: Earth Defense Force

text: "Earth Defense Force 2017", known in Japan as "Chikyū Bōeigun 3" is the third game in the series, released for the Xbox 360. It was the first game in the series to be released in North America. A PlayStation Vita version of "Earth Defense Force 3" was announced on June 5, 2012, as Earth Defense Forces 3 Portable. The new version includes both local and online co-operative play, as well as the return of Palewing from "Earth Defense Force 2". The game was released on September 27, 2012, in Japan. A port of the game is planned to be released for the Nintendo Switch in Japan on October 14, 2021.


title: Earth Defense Force

text: "Earth Defense Force 2025", known in Japan as "Chikyū Bōeigun 4", was released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on July 4, 2013, in Japan. Developed by Sandlot, it is a direct sequel to "Earth Defense Force 2017". It features four player online co-operative play. It was released in February 2014 in North America and Europe.


title: Earth Defense Force

text: Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair, an updated port, was released for the PlayStation 4 on April 2, 2015, in Japan and on December 8, 2015, in North America. Europe has an estimated release date for February 12, 2016, and European players are able to play with North American players online according to Ryan Graff from publisher XSEED Games. A Nintendo Switch version is planned to be release in Japan in 2022.


title: Earth Defense Force

text: "Earth Defense Force 5" was announced at TGS 2016, and was released on December 7, 2017, for the PlayStation 4 in Japan. The game was released on December 11, 2018, in North America and Europe.


title: Earth Defense Force

text: "Earth Defense Force 6" is a sequel to "Earth Defense Force 5" and was released on August 25, 2022 for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 in Japan.


title: Earth Defense Force

text: "Chikyū Bōeigun: Tactics", known as "Global Defence Force Tactics" in Europe, is a turn-based strategy game, taking place after the events of "Global Defence Force".


title: Earth Defense Force

text: "Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon" is the fourth game in the series, released for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows. It was the first game in the series to be developed outside Japan and also the first to feature online co-operative play.


title: Earth Defense Force

text: "Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain" was announced at TGS 2017. Under development by Yuke's, the game has been described as "more serious than the series’ traditional campy tone." The game was released on April 11, 2019 for the PlayStation 4 worldwide.


title: Earth Defense Force

text: "Earth Defense Force: World Brothers" was announced on June 23, 2020 as an action spin-off with voxel graphics for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and PC. Developed by Yuke's, the game was released on December 24, 2020 in Japan and on May 27, 2021 in North America and Europe.


title: Earth Defense Force

text: Despite generally mixed reviews, the "Earth Defense Force" series, particularly from "Earth Defense Force 2017" and onwards, has been described as having a cult following. Joe Juba of "Game Informer" defined "Earth Defense Force 2017" as a cult classic, stating that "the developers at Sandlot clearly want to tell a story about humanity's struggle against giant invading ants and robots, and the passion for that story shines through despite its technical shortcomings"; in reviewing "Earth Defense Force 5" five years later, he similarly opined that the series has "always had a single-minded commitment to one simple truth: It's fun to use weird weapons to blast lots of aliens." Though Jim Sterling gave "Earth Defense Force 2025" a negative review, they did acknowledge that the series "has managed to earn itself a fierce cult following through audacity alone".


title: 1966 FIFA World Cup squads

text: Below are the squads for the 1966 FIFA World Cup final tournament in England. Spain (3), West Germany (3) and France (2) had players representing foreign clubs.


title: 1966 FIFA World Cup squads

text: Each national team had to submit a squad of 22 players. All the teams included 3 goalkeepers, except Brazil, Chile and North Korea who only called two.


title: Rational function

text: In mathematics, a rational function is any function that can be defined by a rational fraction, which is an algebraic fraction such that both the numerator and the denominator are polynomials. The coefficients of the polynomials need not be rational numbers; they may be taken in any field "K". In this case, one speaks of a rational function and a rational fraction "over K". The values of the variables may be taken in any field "L" containing "K". Then the domain of the function is the set of the values of the variables for which the denominator is not zero, and the codomain is "L".


title: Rational function

text: The set of rational functions over a field "K" is a field, the field of fractions of the ring of the polynomial functions over "K".


title: Rational function

text: where formula_3 and formula_4 are polynomial functions of formula_5 and formula_4 is not the zero function. The domain of formula_7 is the set of all values of formula_5 for which the denominator formula_9 is not zero.


title: Rational function

text: However, if formula_10 and formula_11 have a non-constant polynomial greatest common divisor formula_12, then setting formula_13 and formula_14 produces a rational function


title: Rational function

text: which may have a larger domain than formula_16, and is equal to formula_16 on the domain of formula_18 It is a common usage to identify formula_16 and formula_20, that is to extend "by continuity" the domain of formula_16 to that of formula_22 Indeed, one can define a rational fraction as an equivalence class of fractions of polynomials, where two fractions formula_23 and formula_24 are considered equivalent if formula_25. In this case formula_26 is equivalent to formula_27.


title: Rational function

text: A proper rational function is a rational function in which the degree of formula_28 is less than the degree of formula_29 and both are real polynomials, named by analogy to a proper fraction in formula_30.


title: Rational function

text: Most commonly, the "degree" of a rational function is the maximum of the degrees of its constituent polynomials and , when the fraction is reduced to lowest terms. If the degree of is , then the equation


title: Rational function

text: has distinct solutions in except for certain values of , called "critical values", where two or more solutions coincide or where some solution is rejected at infinity (that is, when the degree of the equation decrease after having cleared the denominator).


title: Rational function

text: In the case of complex coefficients, a rational function with degree one is a "Möbius transformation".


title: Rational function

text: The degree of the graph of a rational function is not the degree as defined above: it is the maximum of the degree of the numerator and one plus the degree of the denominator.


title: Rational function

text: In some contexts, such as in asymptotic analysis, the "degree" of a rational function is the difference between the degrees of the numerator and the denominator.


title: Rational function

text: In network synthesis and network analysis, a rational function of degree two (that is, the ratio of two polynomials of degree at most two) is often called a .


title: Rational function

text: is defined for all real numbers, but not for all complex numbers, since if "x" were a square root of formula_37 (i.e. the imaginary unit or its negative), then formal evaluation would lead to division by zero:


title: Rational function

text: A constant function such as "f"("x") = π is a rational function since constants are polynomials. The function itself is rational, even though the value of "f"("x") is irrational for all "x".


title: Rational function

text: Every polynomial function formula_39 is a rational function with formula_40 A function that cannot be written in this form, such as formula_41 is not a rational function. However, the adjective "irrational" is not generally used for functions.


title: Rational function

text: The rational function formula_42 is equal to 1 for all "x" except 0, where there is a removable singularity. The sum, product, or quotient (excepting division by the zero polynomial) of two rational functions is itself a rational function. However, the process of reduction to standard form may inadvertently result in the removal of such singularities unless care is taken. Using the definition of rational functions as equivalence classes gets around this, since "x"/"x" is equivalent to 1/1.


title: Rational function

text: The coefficients of a Taylor series of any rational function satisfy a linear recurrence relation, which can be found by equating the rational function to a Taylor series with indeterminate coefficients, and collecting like terms after clearing the denominator.


title: Rational function

text: Since this holds true for all "x" in the radius of convergence of the original Taylor series, we can compute as follows. Since the constant term on the left must equal the constant term on the right it follows that


title: Rational function

text: Then, since there are no powers of "x" on the left, all of the coefficients on the right must be zero, from which it follows that


title: Rational function

text: Conversely, any sequence that satisfies a linear recurrence determines a rational function when used as the coefficients of a Taylor series. This is useful in solving such recurrences, since by using partial fraction decomposition we can write any proper rational function as a sum of factors of the form and expand these as geometric series, giving an explicit formula for the Taylor coefficients; this is the method of generating functions.


title: Rational function

text: In abstract algebra the concept of a polynomial is extended to include formal expressions in which the coefficients of the polynomial can be taken from any field. In this setting given a field "F" and some indeterminate "X", a rational expression is any element of the field of fractions of the polynomial ring "F"["X"]. Any rational expression can be written as the quotient of two polynomials "P"/"Q" with "Q" ≠ 0, although this representation isn't unique. "P"/"Q" is equivalent to "R"/"S", for polynomials "P", "Q", "R", and "S", when "PS" = "QR". However, since "F"["X"] is a unique factorization domain, there is a unique representation for any rational expression "P"/"Q" with "P" and "Q" polynomials of lowest degree and "Q" chosen to be monic. This is similar to how a fraction of integers can always be written uniquely in lowest terms by canceling out common factors.


title: Rational function

text: The field of rational expressions is denoted "F"("X"). This field is said to be generated (as a field) over "F" by (a transcendental element) "X", because "F"("X") does not contain any proper subfield containing both "F" and the element "X".


title: Rational function

text: is the ratio of two polynomials with complex coefficients, where is not the zero polynomial and and have no common factor (this avoids taking the indeterminate value 0/0).


title: Rational function

text: Every rational function can be naturally extended to a function whose domain and range are the whole Riemann sphere (complex projective line).


title: Rational function

text: Like polynomials, rational expressions can also be generalized to "n" indeterminates "X"..., "X", by taking the field of fractions of "F"["X"..., "X"], which is denoted by "F"("X"..., "X").


title: Rational function

text: An extended version of the abstract idea of rational function is used in algebraic geometry. There the function field of an algebraic variety "V" is formed as the field of fractions of the coordinate ring of "V" (more accurately said, of a Zariski-dense affine open set in "V"). Its elements "f" are considered as regular functions in the sense of algebraic geometry on non-empty open sets "U", and also may be seen as morphisms to the projective line.


title: Rational function

text: Rational functions are used in numerical analysis for interpolation and approximation of functions, for example the Padé approximations introduced by Henri Padé. Approximations in terms of rational functions are well suited for computer algebra systems and other numerical software. Like polynomials, they can be evaluated straightforwardly, and at the same time they express more diverse behavior than polynomials.


title: Rational function

text: Rational functions are used to approximate or model more complex equations in science and engineering including fields and forces in physics, spectroscopy in analytical chemistry, enzyme kinetics in biochemistry, electronic circuitry, aerodynamics, medicine concentrations in vivo, wave functions for atoms and molecules, optics and photography to improve image resolution, and acoustics and sound.


title: Rational function

text: In signal processing, the Laplace transform (for continuous systems) or the z-transform (for discrete-time systems) of the impulse response of commonly-used linear time-invariant systems (filters) with infinite impulse response are rational functions over complex numbers.


title: French East India Company

text: The French East India Company () was a colonial commercial enterprise, founded on 1 September 1664 to compete with the English (later British) and Dutch trading companies in the East Indies.


title: French East India Company

text: Planned by Jean-Baptiste Colbert, it was chartered by King Louis XIV for the purpose of trading in the Eastern Hemisphere. It resulted from the fusion of three earlier companies, the 1660 Compagnie de Chine, the Compagnie d'Orient and Compagnie de Madagascar. The first Director General for the Company was François de la Faye, who was adjoined by two Directors belonging to the two most successful trading organizations at that time: François Caron, who had spent 30 years working for the Dutch East India Company, including more than 20 years in Japan, and Marcara Avanchintz, an Armenian trader from Isfahan, Persia.


title: French East India Company

text: In 1604, French king Henry IV authorized the first "Compagnie des Indes Orientales", granting the firm a 15-year monopoly of the Indies trade. This precursor to Colbert's later "Compagnie des Indes Orientales", however, was not a joint-stock corporation, and was funded by the Crown. The seventeenth century was littered with failed French efforts to settle and trade in the East Indies. They were influenced by the successful trading of the Dutch in Asia. During the time between 1630s and early 1660s, French efforts were smaller in scale, but they enjoyed success. French vessels traversed the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, and northwestern coast of the Indian subcontinent. These accomplishments paled France in comparison with England and Dutch Republic. France's Atlantic ports pursued to compete and amalgamate with each other. The commercial and capital expertise was disbursed around the coastal regions of Brittany and Normandy.


title: French East India Company

text: The initial capital of the revamped "Compagnie des Indes Orientales" was 15 million livres, divided into shares of 1000 livres apiece. Louis XIV funded the first 3 million livres of investment, against which losses in the first 10 years were to be charged. The initial stock offering quickly sold out, as courtiers of Louis XIV recognized that it was in their interests to support the King's overseas initiative. The "Compagnie des Indes Orientales" was granted a 50-year monopoly on French trade in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, a region stretching from the Cape of Good Hope to the Straits of Magellan. The French monarch also granted the Company a concession in perpetuity for the island of Madagascar, as well as any other territories it could conquer. The company possessed greater resources and better political banking than France's previous ventures in the Indian Ocean. Colbert's obsession with VOC led to series of early letdowns. One of France's main aims was to establish a French entrepôt in Madagascar to rival the Dutch colony of Batavia.


title: French East India Company

text: By the 1680s, the company went insolvent and they had little choice but to rent out its monopoly to a group of merchants. The Indian trade remained under the company for approximately thirty years. In 1716, Scottish financier John Law arrived at the French court. The French court were in deep misery and were impotent to cover their debts caused due to War of Spanish Succession. Law approached the Crown with a scheme to construct a national bank and introduce paper currency, which would facilitate France's shift to credit economy.


title: French East India Company

text: The Company failed to found a successful colony on Madagascar, but was able to establish ports on the nearby islands of Bourbon and Île-de-France (today's Réunion and Mauritius). By 1719, it had established itself in India, but the firm was near bankruptcy. In the same year the "Compagnie des Indes Orientales" was combined under the direction of John Law with other French trading companies to form the "Compagnie Perpétuelle des Indes". The French economy crashed drastically in 1721 due to Law's reforms. Following this event, the company again started trading and settling in India. The reorganized corporation resumed its operating independence in 1723.


title: French East India Company

text: The company's interest in the Mughal Empire was to prove no easier. The French arrived at the Indian subcontinent decades after the English, Portuguese and Dutch in establishing trade in India. On 4 September 1666, the French secured a royal mandate from Emperor Aurangzeb that granted them to trade on the port of Surat. By 1683, the French had directed their attention toward the prominent site of Pondicherry, however the shift did little to offset the Company's chronic shortage of capital. With the decline of the Mughal Empire, the French decided to intervene in Indian political affairs to protect their interests, notably by forging alliances with local rulers in south India. From 1741 the French under Joseph François Dupleix pursued an aggressive policy against both the Indians and the British until they ultimately were defeated by Robert Clive. Several Indian trading ports, including Pondichéry and Chandernagore, remained under French control until 1954.


title: French East India Company

text: France's main rivalry came from the British. As a result of constant wars in Europe, notably the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War the British were able to exert control over French territories in India. With the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the territories were returned to France. The Company was not able to maintain itself financially, and it was abolished in 1769. King Louis XV issued a 1769 edict that required the Company to transfer to the state all its properties, assets and rights, which were valued at 30 million livres. The King agreed to pay all of the Company's debts and obligations, though holders of Company stock and notes received only an estimated 15 percent of the face value of their investments by the end of corporate liquidation in 1790.


title: French East India Company

text: The company was reconstituted in 1785 and issued 40,000 shares of stock, priced at 1,000 livres apiece. It was given monopoly on all trade with countries beyond the Cape of Good Hope for an agreed period of seven years. The agreement, however, did not anticipate the French Revolution, and on 3 April 1790 the monopoly was abolished by an act of the new French Assembly which enthusiastically declared that the lucrative Far Eastern trade would henceforth be "thrown open to all Frenchmen". The company, accustomed neither to competition nor official disfavor, fell into steady decline and was finally liquidated in 1794.


title: French East India Company

text: Even as the company was headed consciously toward extinction, it became embroiled in its most infamous scandal. The Committee of Public Safety had banned all joint-stock companies on 24 August 1793, and specifically seized the assets and papers of the East India Company. While its liquidation proceedings were being set up, directors of the company bribed various senior state officials to allow the company to carry out its own liquidation, rather than be supervised by the government. When this became known the following year, the resulting scandal led to the execution of key Montagnard deputies like Fabre d'Églantine and Joseph Delaunay, among others. The infighting sparked by the episode also brought down Georges Danton and can be said to have led to the downfall of the Montagnards as a whole.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: The 2019 SummerSlam was the 32nd annual SummerSlam professional wrestling pay-per-view and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live brand divisions. The event took place on August 11, 2019, at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was the second SummerSlam to be held at this particular venue, after the 2004 event.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: Twelve matches were contested at the event, including three on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, Seth Rollins defeated Brock Lesnar to win Raw's Universal Championship for a second time. In the penultimate match, Bray Wyatt debuted his new "Fiend" persona and defeated Finn Bálor. In other prominent matches, Charlotte Flair defeated WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus by submission, Kevin Owens defeated Shane McMahon to keep his job, SmackDown's WWE Champion Kofi Kingston fought Randy Orton to a double countout thus Kingston retained the title, and Goldberg defeated Dolph Ziggler.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: SummerSlam is an annual pay-per-view (PPV) and WWE Network event, produced every summer by WWE since 1988. Dubbed "The Biggest Party of the Summer," it is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, referred to as the "Big Four". It has since become considered WWE's second biggest event of the year behind WrestleMania. The 2019 event was the 32nd event in the SummerSlam chronology and was scheduled to be held on August 11, 2019, at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, being the second SummerSlam to be held at this particular venue, after the 2004 event. It featured wrestlers from the Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live brands.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: The show comprised twelve matches, including three on the Kickoff pre-show. The matches resulted from scripted storylines, in which wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, "Monday Night Raw", "SmackDown Live", and the cruiserweight-exclusive "205 Live".


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: At WrestleMania 35, Seth Rollins defeated Brock Lesnar to win the Universal Championship. Lesnar then disappeared from television for several weeks before inserting himself in the 2019 Money in the Bank ladder match and won, earning a match for a world championship of his choice at any time within the next year. After teasing some cash-ins, Lesnar finally cashed in his Money in the Bank contract at Extreme Rules and won back the Universal Championship right after Rollins had just retained the title. On the following night's "Raw", Rollins won a cross-brand 10-man battle royal to earn a rematch against Lesnar at SummerSlam. During "Raw Reunion" on July 22, Lesnar's advocate Paul Heyman stated that Lesnar cashed in on Rollins because Rollins had done the same to Lesnar back at WrestleMania 31 in March 2015. On the July 29 edition of "Raw", Lesnar brutally attacked Rollins during his match with Dolph Ziggler, with several steel chair shots and F-5's onto the canvass, the steel chair, into the ringpost, which injured Rollins' ribs in the process(kayfabe) and caused him to bleed from his mouth. Rollins was then stretchered out of the arena. Subsequently, Lesnar stopped the ambulance in which Rollins was, and dragged him out, delivering another F-5 onto the stretcher. Lesnar would then attack Rollins one final time before their match on the next "Raw," after Rollins tried to confront him with a steel chair.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: On the July 15 episode of "Raw", Natalya won a fatal four-way elimination match to determine the number one contender against Becky Lynch for the Raw Women's Championship at SummerSlam. After Lynch's match on the July 29 episode, Natalya applied the Sharpshooter on Lynch and later suggested a submission match, which was made official the following week.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: On the July 16 episode of "SmackDown", after SmackDown Women's Champion Bayley and Ember Moon won their tag team match in which Moon scored the pin, Bayley selected Moon as the number one contender for her title at SummerSlam.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: During the summer of 2019, Kevin Owens became furious with Shane McMahon due to the latter taking up more and more screen time each week from other wrestlers and exerting even more authority, which was in contradiction to what The McMahon Family (Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, Shane McMahon, and Triple H) had promised several months prior. Despite Shane's attempts to ban Owens from "SmackDown", Owens would nevertheless show up and attack Shane at opportune moments. During "Raw Reunion" on July 22, Owens challenged Shane to a match at SummerSlam and said he would quit the WWE if he were to lose, and Shane accepted.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: On the July 23 episode of "SmackDown", WWE Champion Kofi Kingston selected Randy Orton as his next title defense at SummerSlam. Kingston referenced their past rivalry in 2009 where Kingston defeated Orton, but claimed that Orton used his influence to keep Kingston out of the main event scene. Orton stated that he was right that he held Kingston back and accepted the challenge. Orton also claimed credit for Kingston becoming WWE Champion, as it was Orton who had injured Ali, who Kingston had replaced in the WWE Championship match at Elimination Chamber, which led to Kingston winning the title at WrestleMania 35.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: Following the Superstar Shake-up in April, Bray Wyatt, who had been on hiatus since the previous summer, began appearing as an eerie children's entertainer in pre-taped segments called "Firefly Fun Fouse". He eventually revealed a new sinister alternate persona called "The Fiend". After wild card guest Finn Bálor's match on the July 15 episode of "Raw", the lights went out and Wyatt appeared as "The Fiend" and attacked Bálor. The following week on "SmackDown", Bálor challenged Wyatt to a match at SummerSlam. Wyatt appeared inside the Fun House and stated that he was a fan of Bálor, however, "The Fiend" was not and that "The Fiend" accepted the challenge.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: At Extreme Rules, AJ Styles defeated Ricochet to win the United States Championship thanks to help from his O.C. teammates, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. On the July 29 episode of "Raw", Ricochet won a gauntlet match, to earn a rematch for the title at SummerSlam.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: On the July 23 episode of "SmackDown", WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels' appearance on "Miz TV" was interrupted by Dolph Ziggler, who insulted Michaels. The Miz intervened but was pulled back by Michaels. Ziggler then attempted to punch Michaels, but accidentally struck Miz instead and then superkicked Michaels. The following week, a match between Miz and Ziggler was scheduled for SummerSlam, however, during the contract signing on the August 5 episode of "Raw", Miz revealed that their match would actually take place on the following "Raw" and that Ziggler would fight someone else at SummerSlam. Ziggler presumed that this referred to Michaels but instead, WWE Hall of Famer Goldberg (whom Ziggler disparaged in his promos against Michaels) appeared and was revealed as Ziggler's opponent.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: Backstage during the July 23 episode of "SmackDown", Charlotte Flair voiced her displeasure that she was not scheduled to compete at SummerSlam. Despite not being on the card, Flair stated she would be part of SummerSlam to prove that she was the "greatest female superstar of all-time". The following week, WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus was a guest on Jerry Lawler's "King's Court". They were interrupted by Flair, who challenged Stratus to a match at SummerSlam. After disparaging comments from Flair, Stratus accepted the challenge.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: On the August 6 episode of "205 Live", Oney Lorcan won a six-pack challenge to earn the right to face Drew Gulak for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship on the SummerSlam Kickoff pre-show.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: Three matches were contested on the SummerSlam Kickoff pre-show. In the first match, Drew Gulak defended the WWE Cruiserweight Championship against Oney Lorcan. In the end, Gulak performed a "Cyclone Crash" to retain the title.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: Next, Buddy Murphy faced Apollo Crews. In the end, Murphy was attacked by Rowan – who Murphy had accused of attacking Roman Reigns on recent episodes of "Raw" and "SmackDown" – thus Murphy won via disqualification. Following the match, Rowan continued to attack Murphy at ringside and performed a powerbomb on Murphy onto the ring apron.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: Following that, Elias performed a song insulting Toronto which prompted Toronto native and WWE Hall of Famer Edge to interrupt Elias. After trading some insults, Edge performed a spear on Elias.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: In the final pre-show match, Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross defended the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship against The IIconics (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce). In the end, Bliss performed "Twisted Bliss" on Royce to retain the title.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: The actual pay-per-view opened with the submission match in which Becky Lynch defended the Raw Women's Championship against Natalya. During the match, Lynch applied a Sharpshooter of her own on Natalya, however, Natalya immediately fired back with a "Dis-arm-her" of her own. In the climax, Natalya applied the sharpshooter again only for Lynch to counter and apply the "Dis-arm-her", forcing Natalya to submit to retain the title.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: Next, Goldberg faced Dolph Ziggler. As soon as the match began, Ziggler performed a superkick on Goldberg for a one-count. Ziggler performed a second superkick on Goldberg for another one-count. As Ziggler attempted a third, Goldberg performed a spear followed by a "Jackhammer" on Ziggler to win the match in under two minutes. Following the match, Ziggler taunted Goldberg, who responded by performing another spear on Ziggler. After Goldberg went backstage, Ziggler taunted him again, prompting Goldberg to return and perform one final spear on Ziggler.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: After that, The O.C.'s AJ Styles (accompanied by fellow O.C. members, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson) defended the United States Championship against Ricochet. In the end, as Ricochet attempted a Phoenix splash on Styles, Styles countered into a "Styles Clash" to retain the title. Following the match, Gallows and Anderson performed the "Magic Killer" on Ricochet.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: In the fourth match, Bayley defended the SmackDown Women's Championship against Ember Moon. In the end, Bayley performed a "Bayley-to-Belly" on Moon from the top rope to retain the title.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: After that, Kevin Owens put his WWE career on the line against Shane McMahon. Before the match began, Shane introduced Elias as the special guest enforcer. During the match, Elias distracted Owens, allowing Shane to attack Owens with multiple cheap shots. Shane countered a pop-up powerbomb attempt with a DDT for a near-fall. Owens eventually performed a pop-up powerbomb on Shane, only for Elias to pull the referee out from the ring. Owens then attacked Elias, which also incapacitated the referee. Owens further attacked Elias with multiple chair shots. With the referee down, Owens performed a low blow and stunner on Shane to win the match and keep his job.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: Next, Charlotte Flair faced Trish Stratus. Stratus applied her own figure-four leglock on Flair followed by the "Figure-Eight Leglock". Stratus performed a "Stratusfaction" for a near-fall. In the end, Flair forced Stratus to submit to the "Figure-Eight Leglock" to win the match. After the match, Stratus was given a standing ovation.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: After that, Kofi Kingston defended the WWE Championship against Randy Orton. Orton delivered multiple side slams to Kingston on the broadcast tables. As Orton went for a superplex, Kingston countered into a tornado DDT for a near-fall. Orton eventually performed an "RKO" in midair on Kingston, however, Kingston rolled out of the ring. Outside the ring, Orton taunted Kingston's family, who were in the front row, and a brawl ensued between Kingston and Orton at ringside. Both were counted out, thus Kingston retained the title, and Kingston continued to beat down Orton.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: In the penultimate match, Finn Bálor faced off against Bray Wyatt's new persona, "The Fiend". "The Fiend" dominated the match. In the end, "The Fiend" countered a "Coup de Grace" from Bálor into the Mandible claw, causing Bálor to pass out and allow "The Fiend" to get the pinfall victory.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: In the main event, Brock Lesnar accompanied by his advocate Paul Heyman defended the Universal Championship against Seth Rollins. At the start of the match, Rollins rolled out of a Suplex attempt and performed a Stomp for a near-fall. Rollins then performed two Superkicks and attempted another Stomp, but Lesnar caught Rollins with an F-5. Lesnar performed multiple German and Vertical Suplexes on Rollins. Outside the ring, Rollins performed a Frog Splash on Lesnar through the Spanish announce table and then another Frog Splash and a Stomp in the ring for a near-fall. In the end, as Rollins attempted a third Stomp, Lesnar caught him and attempted a second F-5, however, Rollins countered and performed a third Superkick and the third Stomp to win by pinfall, regain the Universal title from Lesnar for a second time and giving him his first clean defeat as defending world champion in WWE.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: The event received fairly positive reviews. Jason Powell of "Pro Wrestling Dot Net" described SummerSlam as "a solid show overall that closed with a satisfying title change." He described the main event as "a good match," saying that "Lesnar had his supporters in the crowd, but it seemed like Rollins won over some of his detractors as the match went on. The injury angle made some of Lesnar's offense seem even more punishing."


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: Powell also gave the Wyatt-Bálor match a positive review and said that "Wyatt's Fiend persona came off very well and the live crowd clearly loved it." Powell criticized the Kingston-Orton match finish and called it "weak" while saying that it was "a lousy finish to a decent match that was poorly executed." Powell described the Goldberg-Ziggler bout as "a fun Goldberg-style match. I love that they started it with Dolph getting the surprising offense before Goldberg did what felt inevitable. This was a nice redemption moment for Goldberg after he suffered the concussion and his match with Undertaker fell apart in Saudi Arabia, not to mention that the Canadian fans weren't still holding a grudge over booting Bret Hart in the head."


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: The following night on "Raw", new Universal Champion Seth Rollins thanked the fans for their support before being interrupted by The O.C. (United States Champion AJ Styles and Raw Tag Team Champions Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson). Styles claimed to be the better champion and challenged Rollins to a champion versus champion non-title match, which ended in a disqualification due to interference from Gallows and Anderson. Ricochet and Braun Strowman ran out to make the save. Also on the show, Paul Heyman said that he was informed by WWE officials that Brock Lesnar would not be granted a rematch for the Universal Championship.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch said she respected Natalya and put out a warning to the rest of the women's division. Natalya later came out with her arm in a sling and declared that she would face Lynch again. She was interrupted by the returning Sasha Banks, who last appeared at WrestleMania 35. After hugging and consoling Natalya, Banks attacked her, thus turning heel. Lynch came out for the save, but was attacked by Banks with a steel chair.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: Dolph Ziggler had his match with The Miz, which he also lost. After the match, he taunted Miz, who performed a "Skull Crushing Finale" on Ziggler.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: Following their SummerSlam match, Shane McMahon fined Kevin Owens US$100,000 for attacking a designated official, Elias, who was again appointed as the special guest enforcer for Owens' match against Samoa Joe where Elias cost Owens the match by making a fast three count. After several more weeks of feuding, Shane ultimately fired Owens. Owens then threatened Shane with a lawsuit for wrongful termination, which in turn resulted in Owens challenging Shane to a ladder match where if Shane won, Owens would drop the lawsuit and leave the WWE for good, but if Owens won, Shane would be gone. Shane accepted and the match was scheduled for "SmackDown's 20th Anniversary" on October 4. where Owens defeated Shane.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: The New Day (WWE Champion Kofi Kingston and SmackDown Tag Team Champions Big E and Xavier Woods) faced Randy Orton and The Revival (Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder) in a six-man tag team match in which Orton and The Revival won. Following the match, Orton performed an RKO on all three members of The New Day. A rematch between Kingston and Orton was subsequently scheduled for Clash of Champions.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: Also on "SmackDown", Daniel Bryan and Rowan forced Buddy Murphy to reveal that he was lying in saying that Rowan was Roman Reigns' attacker. Later on the show, Bryan and Rowan revealed that they conducted their own investigation to find out who attacked Reigns.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: For defeating Trish Stratus, Charlotte Flair issued a challenge to Bayley for the SmackDown Women's Championship at Clash of Champions, which Bayley accepted.


title: SummerSlam (2019)

text: On "205 Live", Oney Lorcan had a rematch against Drew Gulak for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship, however, Gulak retained the title.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: The origin of the Albanians has been the subject of historical, linguistic, archaeological and genetic studies. Albanians continuously first appear in the historical record in Byzantine sources of the 11th century. At this point, they were already fully Christianized. Albanian forms a separate branch of Indo-European, first attested in the 15th century, having evolved from one of the Paleo-Balkan languages of antiquity. The surviving pre-Christian Albanian culture shows that Albanian mythology and folklore are of Paleo-Balkanic origin and that almost all of their elements are pagan.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: Albanians have Paleo-Balkan origin. Theories which specifically they vary between attributing this origin to Illyrians, Thracians, Dacians, or another Paleo-Balkan people whose language was unattested; among those who support an Illyrian origin, there is a distinction between the theory of continuity from Illyrian times, and those proposing an in-migration of a different Illyrian population. These propositions are however not mutually exclusive. The Albanians are also one of Europe's populations with the highest number of common ancestors within their own ethnic group even though they share ancestors with other ethnic groups.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: The two ethnonyms used by Albanians to refer to themselves are Arbëresh(ë)/Arbënesh(ë) (northwestern variant) and Shqiptar(ë). Arbëresh is the original Albanian ethnonym and forms that basis for most names of Albanians in foreign languages and the name of Albania as a country. Greek "Arvanitai", "Alvanitai" and "Alvanoi", Turkish "Arnaut", Serbo-Croatian "Arbanasi" and others derive from this term.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: Two different theories exist for the Ethnonym Shqiptar. Demiraj posits that Shqiptar derives from verb "shqipoj" (speak clearly) from Latin "excipio" (understand). It gradually replaced Arbëresh as the Albanian endonym by the end of the 18th century.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: The second theory is the idea that Shqiptar originated from the "Scapudar" family in medieval Drivastum is an early occurrence of the term.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: However this theory does not make chronological sense. "Shqiptar" from the Scapudar family is considered chronologically impossible.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: The third proposed etymology is that Shqiptar flows from the word "shqiponjë" (eagle). Its first attestation with its present meaning is in the dictionary of Francesco Maria da Lecce (1702) who addresses his readers as my "dear Shqipëtar" in its preface. This third theory matches the laws of Albanian word formation.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: The ethnic name "Albanian" was used by Byzantine and Latin sources in the forms "arb-" and "alb-" since at least the 2nd century A.D, and eventually in Old Albanian texts as an endonym. It was later replaced in Albania proper by the term "Shqiptar", a change most likely trigged by the Ottoman conquests of the Balkans during the 15th century. However, the ancient attestation of the ethnic designation is not considered a strong evidence of an Albanian continuity in the Illyrian region, since there are many examples in history of an ethnic name shifting from one ethnos to another.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: Michael Attaleiates (1022-1080) mentions the term "Albanoi" twice and the term "Arbanitai" once. The term "Albanoi" is used first to describe the groups which rebelled in southern Italy and Sicily against the Byzantines in 1038–40. The second use of the term "Albanoi" is related to groups which supported the revolt of George Maniakes in 1042 and marched with him throughout the Balkans against the Byzantine capital, Constantinople. The term "Arvanitai" is used to describe a revolt of Bulgarians (Boulgaroi) and "Arbanitai" in the theme of Dyrrhachium in 1078–79. It is generally accepted that "Arbanitai" refers to the ethnonym of medieval Albanians. As such, it is considered to be the first attestation of Albanian as an ethnic group in Byzantine historiography. The use of the term "Albanoi" in 1038-49 and 1042 as an ethnonym related to Albanians have been a subject of debate. In what has been termed the "Ducellier-Vrannousi" debate, Alain Ducellier proposed that both uses of the term referred to medieval Albanians. Era Vrannousi counter-suggested that the first use referred to Normans, while the second did not have an ethnic connotation necessarily and could be a reference to the Normans as "foreigners" (aubain) in Epirus which Maniakes and his army traversed. The debate has never been resolved. A newer synthesis about the second use of the term "Albanoi" by Pëllumb Xhufi suggests that the term "Albanoi" may have referred to Albanians of the specific district of Arbanon, while "Arbanitai" to Albanians in general regardless of the specific region they inhabited.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: Pre-Indo-European (PIE) sites are found throughout the territory of Albania. Such PIE sites existed in Maliq, Vashtëm, Burimas, Barç, Dërsnik in Korçë District, Kamnik in Kolonja, Kolsh in Kukës District, Rashtan in Librazhd and Nezir in Mat District. As in other parts of Europe, these PIE people joined the migratory Indo-European tribes that entered the Balkans and contributed to the formation of the historical Paleo-Balkan tribes to which Albanians trace their origin. [..] At any rate, in this case, as in other similar cases, one should take into account that the previous populations during the process of assimilation by the immigrating IE tribes have played an important part in the formation of the various ethnic groups generated by their long symbiosis. Consequently, the IE languages developed in the Balkan Peninsula, in addition to their natural evolution, have also undergone a certain impact by the idioms of the assimilated Pre-IE peoples. In terms of linguistics, the pre-Indo-European substrate language spoken in the southern Balkans has probably influenced pre-Proto-Albanian, the ancestor idiom of Albanian. The extent of this linguistic impact cannot be determined with precision due to the uncertain position of Albanian among Paleo-Balkan languages and their scarce attestation. Some loanwords, however, have been proposed such as "shegë" ("pomegranate") or "lëpjetë" ("orach", compare with Pre-Greek "lápathon", "λάπαθον", "monk's rhubarb"). Albanian is also the only language in the Balkans which has retained elements of the vigesimal numeral system - "njëzet" ("twenty"), "dyzet" ("forty") - which was prevalent in the Pre-Indo-European languages of Europe as the Basque language which broadly uses vigesimal numeration, highlights.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: This pre-Indo-European substratum has also been identified as one of the contributing cultures to the customs of Albanians.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: The first attested mention of Albanian occurred in 1285 at the Venetian city of Ragusa (present-day Dubrovnik, Croatia) when a crime witness named Matthew testified: "I heard a voice crying in the mountains in Albanian" ().


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: The earliest attested written specimens of Albanian are Formula e pagëzimit (1462) and Arnold Ritter von Harff's lexicon (1496). The first Albanian text written with Greek letters is a fragment of the "Ungjilli i Pashkëve" (Passover Gospel) from the 15 or 16th century. The first printed books in Albanian are "Meshari" (1555) and Luca Matranga's "E mbsuame e krështerë" (1592).


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: However, as Fortson notes, Albanian written works existed before this point; they have simply been lost. The existence of written Albanian is explicitly mentioned in a letter attested from 1332, and the first preserved books, including both those in Gheg and in Tosk, share orthographic features that indicate that some form of common literary language had developed.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: In the Balkans and southern Italy, several toponyms, river and mountain names which have been attested since antiquity can be explained etymologically via Albanian or have evolved phonologically through Albanian and later adopted in other languages. Inherited toponyms from a Proto-Albanian language and the date of adoption of non-Albanian toponyms indicate in Albanology the regions were the Albanian language originated, evolved and expanded. Depending on which proposed etymology and phonological development linguists support, different etymologies are usually used to link Albanian to Illyrian, Messapic, Dardanian, Thracian or an unattested Paleo-Balkan language.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: Albanian is attested in a written form beginning only in the 15th century AD, when the Albanian ethnos was already formed. In the absence of prior data on the language, scholars have used the Latin and Slav loans into Albanian for identifying its location of origin. Proto-Albanian had likely emerged before the 1st century AD, when contacts with Romance languages began to occur intensively. Some scholars have attempted to conjecture the unattested language, and have eventually drawn up interpretations on the assumed proto-Albanian "Urheimat" and society based on the reconstructed lexicon.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: That Albanian possesses a rich and "elaborated" pastoral vocabulary which has been taken to suggest Albanian society in ancient times was pastoral, with widespread transhumance, and stock-breeding particularly of sheep and goats. Joseph takes interest in the fact that some of the lexemes in question have "exact counterparts" in Romanian.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: They appear to have been cattle breeders given the vastness of preserved native vocabulary pertaining to cow breeding, milking and so forth, while words pertaining to dogs tend to be loaned. Many words concerning horses are preserved, but the word for horse itself is a Latin loan.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: Hydronyms present a complicated picture; the term for "sea" ("det") is native and an "Albano-Germanic" innovation referring to the concept of depth, but a large amount of maritime vocabulary is loaned. Words referring to large streams and their banks tend to be loans, but "lumë" ("river") is native, as is "rrymë" (the flow of river water). Words for smaller streams and stagnant pools of water are more often native, but the word for "pond", "pellg" is in fact a semantically shifted descendant of the old Greek word for "high sea", suggesting a change in location after Greek contact. Albanian has maintained since Proto-Indo-European a specific term referring to a riverside forest ("gjazë"), as well as its words for marshes. Curiously, Albanian has maintained native terms for "whirlpool", "water pit" and (aquatic) "deep place", leading Orel to speculate that the Albanian Urheimat likely had an excess of dangerous whirlpools and depths. However, all the words relating to seamanship appear to be loans.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: Regarding forests, words for most conifers and shrubs are native, as are the terms for "alder", "elm", "oak", "beech", and "linden", while "ash", "chestnut", "birch", "maple", "poplar", and "willow" are loans.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: The original kinship terminology of Indo-European was radically reshaped; changes included a shift from "mother" to "sister", and were so thorough that only three terms retained their original function; the words for "son-in-law", "mother-in-law" and "father-in-law". All the words for second-degree blood kinship, including "aunt", "uncle", "nephew", "niece", and terms for grandchildren, are ancient loans from Latin.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: Openness to loans has been called a "characteristic feature" of Albanian. The Albanian original lexical items directly inherited from Proto-Indo-European are far fewer in comparison to the loanwords, though loans are considered to be "perfectly integrated" and not distinguishable from native vocabulary on a synchronic level. Although Albanian is characterized by the absorption of many loans, even, in the case of Latin, reaching deep into the core vocabulary, certain semantic fields nevertheless remained more resistant. Terms pertaining to social organization are often preserved, though not those pertaining to political organization, while those pertaining to trade are all loaned or innovated.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: While the words for plants and animals characteristic of mountainous regions are entirely original, the names for fish and for agricultural activities are often assumed to have been borrowed from other languages. However, considering the presence of some preserved old terms related to the sea fauna, some have proposed that this vocabulary might have been lost in the course of time after proto-Albanian tribes were pushed back into the inland during invasions. Wilkes holds that the Slavic loans in Albanian suggest that contacts between the two populations took place when Albanians dwelt in forests 600–900 metres above sea level. Rusakov notes that almost all lexemes related to seamanship in Albanian are loan-words, which may indicate that speakers of the proto-language did not live on the Adriatic coast or in close proximity to it.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: Linguistic contact between Albanian and Greek has been securely dated to the Iron Age. Previous contacts may include contacts between the respective post-PIE languages which gave rise to the two languages. According to Huld (1986), Ancient Greek loans originate from two distinct geographical groups; Greek-speaking populations from ancient Macedonia and the Greek colonies on the Adriatic coast. It has been known since the 1910 work of German linguist Albert Thumb, that Albanian possesses a small number of Greek loans as old or older than its earliest Latin loans. Krzysztof (2016) suggests that Doric Greek may have also received some loanwords from Proto-Albanian, that could be as early as the 7th century BC; he specifically points to seven words recorded by the Greek grammarian Hesychius of Alexandria (5th century AD), and particularly to the term 'a kind of earring', which was first attested in the work of the choral lyric poet Alcman.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: Words borrowed from Greek (e.g. Gk (NW) "mākhaná" "device, instrument" > "mokër" "millstone", Gk (NW) "drápanon" > "drapër" "sickle" etc.) date back before the Christian era and are mostly of the Doric Greek dialect, which means that the ancestors of the Albanians were in contact with the northwestern part of Ancient Greek civilization and probably borrowed words from Greek cities (Dyrrachium, Apollonia, etc.) in the Illyrian territory, colonies which belonged to the Doric division of Greek, or from contacts in the Epirus area. The earliest Greek loans began to enter Albanian circa 600 BC, and are of Doric provenance, tending to refer to vegetables, fruits, spices, animals and tools. Joseph argues that this stratum reflects contacts between Greeks and Proto-Albanians from the 8th century BC onward, with the Greeks being either colonists on the Adriatic coast or Greek merchants inland in the Balkans. The second wave of Greek loans began after the split of the Roman empire in 395 and continued throughout the Byzantine, Ottoman and modern periods.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: An argument in favor of a northern origin for Albanian is the relatively small number of loanwords from Ancient Greek, mostly from Doric dialect, even though Southern Illyria neighbored the Classical Greek civilization and there were a number of Greek colonies along the Illyrian coastline. According to Bulgarian linguist Vladimir I. Georgiev, the theory of an Illyrian origin for the Albanians is weakened by a lack of any Albanian names before the 12th century and the limited Greek influence in Albanian (See "Jireček Line"). In Georgiev's argument, if Albanians had been inhabiting a homeland situated near modern Albania continuously since ancient times, the number of Greek loanwords in Albanian should be higher. According to Hermann Ölberg, the modern Albanian lexicon may only include 33 words of ancient Greek origin.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: However, in view of the amount of Albanian–Greek isoglosses, which the scholar Vladimir Orel considers surprisingly high (in comparison with the Indo-Albanian and Armeno-Albanian ones), the author concludes that this particular proximity could be the result of intense secondary contacts of two proto-dialects.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: Curtis (2012) does not consider the number of surviving loanwords to be a valid argument, as many Greek loans were likely lost through replacement by later Latin and Slavic loans, just as notoriously happened to most native Albanian vocabulary. Some scholars such as Çabej and Huld have challenged the argument that Greek evidence implies a "northern" origin, instead suggesting the opposite, that the specifically Northwestern/Doric affiliations and ancient dating of Greek loans imply a specifically Western Balkan Albanian presence to the north and west of Greeks specifically in antiquity, though Huld cautions that the classical "precursors" of the Albanians would be "'Illyrians' to classical writers", but that the Illyrian label is hardly "enlightening" since classical ethnology was imprecise. Example include Ancient Greek "λάχανον" and its Albanian reflex "lakër" because it would appear to have been loaned before <"χ>" changed from an aspirated stop /kʰ/ to a fricative /x/, "μᾱχανά" and its Albanian reflex "mokër" which likewise seems to reflect a stop /kʰ/ for <"χ>" and also must be specifically Doric or Northwestern (other Greek dialects have <"e>" or <"η>" rather than <"ά>)," and "θωράκιον" and its Albanian reflex "targozë" which would appear to have predated the frication of Greek <"θ>" (before the shift in Koine, representing /tʰ/).


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: Latin loans are dated to the period of 167 BC to 400 AD. 167 BC coincides with the fall of the kingdom ruled by Gentius and reflects the early date of the entry of Latin-based vocabulary in Albanian. It entered Albanian in the Early Proto-Albanian stage and evolved in later stages as a part of the Proto-Albanian vocabulary and within its phonological system. Albanian is one of the oldest languages that came into contact with Latin and adopted Latin vocabulary. It has preserved 270 Latin-based words which are found in all Romance languages, 85 words which aren't found in Romance languages, 151 which are found in Albanian but not in Balkan Romance and its descendant Romanian, and 39 words which are found only in Albanian and Romanian. The contact zone between Albanian and Romanian was likely located in eastern and southeastern Serbia. The preservation of Proto-Albanian vocabulary and linguistic features in Romanian highlights that at least partly Balkan Latin emerged as Albanian-speakers shifted to Latin.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: The other layer of linguistic contacts of Albanian with Latin involves Old Dalmatian, a western Balkan derivative of Balkan Latin. Albanian maintained links with both coastal western and central inland Balkan Latin formations. Hamp indicates there are words that follow Dalmatian phonetic rules in Albanian, giving as an example the word "drejt" 'straight' < "d(i)rectus" matching developments in Old Dalmatian "traita" < "tract". Romanian scholars Vatasescu and Mihaescu, using lexical analysis of Albanian, have concluded that Albanian was also heavily influenced by an extinct Romance language that was distinct from both Romanian and Dalmatian. Because the Latin words common to only Romanian and Albanian are significantly less than those that are common to only Albanian and Western Romance, Mihaescu argues that Albanian evolved in a region with much greater contact with Western Romance regions than with Romanian-speaking regions, and located this region in present-day Albania, Kosovo and Western North Macedonia, spanning east to Bitola and Pristina.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: The Christian religious vocabulary of Albanian is mostly Latin as well, including even the basic terms such "to bless", "altar," and "to receive communion". It indicates that Albanians were Christianized under the Latin-based liturgy and ecclesiastical order which would be known as "Roman Catholic" in later centuries.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: The contacts began after the South Slavic migrations of the Balkans in the 6th and 7th centuries. The modern Albanian lexicon contains around 250 Slavic borrowings that are shared among all the dialects. Slavic settlement probably shaped the present geographic spread of the Albanians. It is likely that Albanians took refuge in the mountainous areas of northern and central Albania, eastern Montenegro, western North Macedonia, and Kosovo. Long-standing contact between Slavs and Albanians might have been common in mountain passages and agriculture or fishing areas, in particular in the valleys of the White and Black branches of the Drin and around the Shkodër and Ohrid lakes. Such contact with one another in these areas has caused many changes in Slavic and Albanian local dialects.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: As Albanian and Slavic have been in contact since the early Middle Ages, toponymical loanwords in both belong to different chronological strata and reveal different periods of acquisition. Old Slavic loanwords into Albanian develop early Slavic *s as sh and *y as u within Albanian phonology of that era. Norbert Jokl defined this older period from the earliest Albanian-Slavic contacts to 1000 AD at the latest, while contemporary linguists like Vladimir Orel define it as between the 6th and the 8th century AD. Newer loanwords preserve Slavic /s/ and other features which no longer show phonological development within Albanian. Such toponyms from the earlier period of contact in Albania include Bushtricë (Kukës), Dishnica (Përmet), "Dragoshtunjë" (Elbasan), "Leshnjë" (Leshnjë, Berat and other areas), Shelcan (Elbasan), Shishtavec (Kukës/Gora), Shuec (Devoll) and "Shtëpëz" (Gjirokastër), "Shopël" (Iballë), "Veleshnjë" (Skrapar) and others. Similar toponyms in a later period produced different results e.g. "Bistricë" (Sarandë) instead of "Bushtricë" or "Selcan" (Këlcyrë) instead of "Shelcan". Part of the toponyms of Slavic origin were acquired in Albanian before the finalization of the Slavic liquid metathesis (ca. end of the 8th century). They include Ardenicë (Lushnjë), Berzanë (Lezhë), Gërdec and Berzi (Tiranë) and a cluster of toponyms along the route Berat-Tepelenë-Përmet.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: It has been concluded that the partial Latinization of Roman-era Albania was heavy in coastal areas, in the plains, and along the "Via Egnatia", which passed through Albania. In these regions, Madgearu notes that the survival of Illyrian names and the depiction of people with Illyrian dress on gravestones is not enough to prove successful resistance against Romanization, and that in these regions there were many Latin inscriptions and Roman settlements. Madgearu concludes that only the northern mountain regions escaped Romanization. In some regions, Madgearu concludes that it has been shown that in some areas a Latinate population that survived until at least the seventh century passed on local place names that had mixed characteristics of Eastern and Western Romance into Albanian.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: The Komani-Kruja culture is an archaeological culture attested from late antiquity to the Middle Ages in central and northern Albania, southern Montenegro and similar sites in the western parts of North Macedonia. It consists of settlements usually built below hillforts along the Lezhë (Praevalitana)-Dardania and Via Egnatia road networks which connected the Adriatic coastline with the central Balkan Roman provinces. Its type site is Komani and the nearby Dalmace hill in the Drin river valley. Limited excavations campaigns occurred until the 1990s. Objects from a vast area covering nearby regions the entire Byzantine Empire, the northern Balkans and Hungary and sea routes from Sicily to Crimea were found in Dalmace and other sites coming from many different production centres: local, Byzantine, Sicilian, Avar-Slavic, Hungarian, Crimean and even possibly Merovingian and Carolingian. Within Albanian archaeology, based on the continuity of pre-Roman Illyrian forms in the production of several types of local objects found in graves, the population of Komani-Kruja was framed as a group which descended from the local Illyrians who "re-asserted their independence" from the Roman Empire after many centuries and formed the core of the later historical region of Arbanon. As research focused almost entirely on grave contexts and burial sites, settlements and living spaces were often ignored. Yugoslav archaeology proposed an opposite narrative and tried to frame the population as Slavic, especially in the region of western Macedonia. Archaeological research has shown that these sites were not related to regions then inhabited by Slavs and even in regions like Macedonia, no Slavic settlements had been founded in the 7th century.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: What was established in this early phase of research was that Komani-Kruja settlements represented a local, non-Slavic population which has been described as Romanized Illyrian, Latin-speaking or Latin-literate. This is corroborated by the absence of Slavic toponyms and survival of Latin ones in the Komani-Kruja area. In terms of historiography, the thesis of older Albanian archaeology was an untestable hypothesis as no historical sources exist which can link Komani-Kruja to the first definite attestation of medieval Albanians in the 11th century. Archaeologically, while it was considered possible and even likely that Komani-Kruja sites were used continuously from the 7th century onwards, it remained an untested hypothesis as research was still limited. Whether this population represented local continuity or arrived at an earlier period from a more northern location as the Slavs entered the Balkans remained unclear at the time but regardless of their ultimate geographical origins, these groups maintained Justinianic era cultural traditions of the 6th century possibly as a statement of their collective identity and derived their material cultural references to the Justinianic military system. In this context, they may have used burial customs as a means of reference to an "idealized image of the past Roman power".


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: Research greatly expanded after 2009 and the first survey of Komani's topography was produced in 2014. Until then, except for the area of the cemetery the size of the settlement and its extension remained unknown. In 2014, it was revealed that Komani occupied an area of more than 40 ha, a much larger territory than originally thought. Its oldest settlement phase dates to the Hellenistic era. Proper development began in the late antiquity and continued well into the Middle Ages (13th-14th centuries). It indicates that Komani was a late Roman fort and an important trading node in the networks of Praevalitana and Dardania. In the Avar-Slavic raids, communities from present-day northern Albania and nearby areas clustered around hill sites for better protection as is the case of other areas like Lezha and Sarda. During the 7th century as Byzantine authority was reestablished after the Avar-Slavic raids and the prosperity of the settlements increased, Komani saw increase in population and a new elite began to take shape. Increase in population and wealth was marked by the establishment of new settlements and new churches in their vicinity. Komani formed a local network with Lezha and Kruja and in turn this network was integrated in the wider Byzantine Mediterranean world, maintained contacts with the northern Balkans and engaged in long-distance trade. Tom Winnifrith (2020) says that the Komani-Kruja culture shows that in that area a Latin-Illyrian civilization survived, to emerge later as Albanians and Vlachs. The lack of interest among Slavs for the barren mountains of Northern Albania would explain the survival of Albanian as a language.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: The general consensus is that Albanians originate from one or possibly a mixture of Paleo-Balkan peoples but which specific peoples is a matter of continuing debate.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: Messapic is the only sufficiently attested language via which commonly accepted Illyrian-Albanian connections have been produced. It is unclear whether Messapic was an Illyrian dialect or if it diverged enough to be a separate language, although in general it is treated as a distinct language. Dardanian in the context of a distinct language has gained prominence in the possible genealogy of the Albanian language in recent decades. In the genealogy of Thracian, V. Georgiev who proposed "Daco-Mysian" as the ancestral language of Albanian, considered it to be a separate language from Thracian. From a "genealogical standpoint", Messapic is the closest at least partially attested language to Albanian.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: The two main linguistic groupings which have been proposed as ancestral variants of Albanian are Illyrian and Thracian. The Illyrian linguistic theory has some consensus, but Illyrian language is too little attested for definite comparisons to be made. Further issues are linked to the definitions of "Illyrian" and "Thracian" which are vague and aren't applied to the same areas which were considered to be part of Illyria and Thrace in antiquity. In contemporary research, two main onomastic provinces have been defined in which Illyrian personal names occur; the southern Illyrian or south-eastern Dalmatian province (Albania, Montenegro and their hinterland) and the central Illyrian or middle Dalmatian-Pannonian province (parts of Croatia, Bosnia and western Serbia). The region of the Dardani (modern Kosovo, parts of northern North Macedonia, parts of eastern Serbia) saw the overlap of the southern/south-eastern, Dalmatian and local anthroponymy. A third area around modern Slovenia sometimes considered part of Illyria in antiquity is considered to have been closer to Venetic.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: Eric Hamp distanced categorization of Albanian from particular historical groupings and their unresolved issues and treated it as a separate undocumented Paleo-Balkan language for the purpose of research clarity. As such, in recent decades it has become preferable to treat historical languages like Illyrian and Thracian and existing ones like Albanian as separate branches within the Indo-European family.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: There is a debate on whether the Illyrian language was a centum or a satem language. It is also uncertain whether Illyrians spoke a homogeneous language or rather a collection of different but related languages that were wrongly considered the same language by ancient writers. The Venetic tribes, formerly considered Illyrian, are no longer considered categorised with Illyrians.> The same is sometimes said of the Thracian language. For example, based on the toponyms and other lexical items, Thracian and Dacian were probably different but related languages.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: Albanian shows traces of satemization within the Indo-European language tree, however the majority of Albanologists hold that unlike most satem languages it has preserved the distinction of /kʷ/ and /gʷ/ from /k/ and /g/ before front vowels (merged in satem languages), and there is a debate whether Illyrian was centum or satem. On the other hand, Dacian and Thracian seem to belong to satem.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: The debate is often politically charged, and to be conclusive, more evidence is needed. Such evidence unfortunately may not be easily forthcoming because of a lack of sources.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: The theory that Albanians were related to the Illyrians was proposed for the first time by the Swedish historian Johann Erich Thunmann in 1774. The scholars who advocate an Illyrian origin are numerous. Those who argue in favour of an Illyrian origin maintain that the indigenous Illyrian tribes dwelling in South Illyria (including today's Albania) went up into the mountains when Slavs occupied the lowlands, while another version of this hypothesis states that the Albanians are the descendants of Illyrian tribes located between Dalmatia and the Danube who spilled south.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: Messapic is an Iron Age language spoken in Apulia by the Iapygians (Messapians, Peucetians, Daunians), which settled in Italy as part of an Illyrian migration from the Balkans in the transitional period between the Bronze and Iron Ages. As Messapic was attested after 500+ years of development in the Italian peninsula, it's generally treated as distinct linguistically from Illyrian. Both languages are placed in the same branch of Indo-European. Eric Hamp has grouped them under "Messapo-Illyrian" which is further grouped with Albanian under "Adriatic Indo-European". Other schemes group the three languages under "General Illyrian" and "Western Paleo-Balkan". Messapian shares several exclusive lexical correspondences and general features with Albanian. Whether Messapian and Albanian share common features because of a common ancestral Illyrian idiom or whether these are features which developed in convergence among the languages of their grouping in the territory of Illyria. Shared cognates and features indicate a closer link between the two languages. The cognates include Messapic "aran" and Albanian "arë" ("field"), "biliā" and "bijë" ("daughter"), "menza-" (in the name Manzanas) and "mëz" ("foal"), "brendion" (in Brundisium) and "bri" (horn) . Some Messapian toponyms like Manduria in Apulia have no etymological forms outside Albanian linguistic sources. Other linguistic elements such as particles, prepositions, suffixes and phonological features of the Messapic language find singular affinities with Albanian.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: Aside from an Illyrian origin, a Dacian or Thracian origin is also hypothesized. There are a number of factors taken as evidence for a Dacian or Thracian origin of Albanians. Scholars who support a Dacian origin maintain on their side that Albanians moved southwards between the 3rd and 6th centuries AD from the Moesian area, in present-day Romania. Others argue instead for a Thracian origin and maintain that the proto-Albanians are to be located in the area between Niš, Skopje, Sofia and Albania or between the Rhodope and Balkan Mountains, from which they moved to present-day Albania before the arrival of the Slavs. According to Vladimir Orel, for example, the territory associated with proto-Albanian almost certainly does not correspond with that of modern Albania, i.e. the Illyrian coast, but rather that of Dacia Ripensis and farther north.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: The Romanian historian I. I. Russu has originated the theory that Albanians represent a massive migration of the Carpi population pressed by the Slavic migrations. Due to political reasons the book was first published in 1995 and translated in German by Konrad Gündisch.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: German historian Gottfried Schramm derived the Albanians from the Christianized Bessi, after their remnants were pushed by Slavs and Bulgars during the 9th century westwards into today Albania, From a linguistic point of view it emerges that the Thracian-Bessian hypothesis of the origin of Albanian should be rejected, since only very little comparative linguistic material is available (the Thracian is attested only marginally, while the Bessian is completely unknown), but at the same time the individual phonetic history of Albanian and Thracian clearly indicates a very different sound development that cannot be considered as the result of one language. Furthermore, the Christian vocabulary of Albanian is mainly Latin, which speaks against the construct of a "Bessian church language". The elite of the Bessi tribe was gradually Hellenized. Low level of borrowings from Greek in the Albanian language is a further argument against the identification of Albanian with the Bessi.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: Cities whose names follow Albanian phonetic laws – such as "Shtip" (Štip), "Shkupi" (Skopje) and "Nish" (Niš) – lie in the areas, believed to historically been inhabited by Thracians, Paionians and Dardani; the latter is most often considered an Illyrian tribe by ancient historians. While there still is no clear picture of where the Illyrian-Thracian border was, Niš is mostly considered Illyrian territory.


title: Origin of the Albanians

text: There are some close correspondences between Thracian and Albanian words. However, as with Illyrian, most Dacian and Thracian words and names have not been closely linked with Albanian (v. Hamp). Also, many Dacian and Thracian placenames were made out of joined names (such as Dacian "Sucidava" or Thracian "Bessapara"; see List of Dacian cities and List of ancient Thracian cities), while modern Albanian does not allow this. Many city names were composed of an initial lexical element affixed to -dava, -daua, -deva, -deba, -daba, or -dova, which meant "city" or "town" Endings on more southern regions are exclusively -bria ("town, city"), -disza, -diza, -dizos ("fortress, walled settlement"), -para, -paron, -pera, -phara ("town, village"). Most Illyrian names are composed of a single unit; many Thracian ones are made of two units joined together. Several Thracian place-names end in -para, for example, which is thought to mean 'ford', or -diza, which is thought to mean 'fortress'. Thus in the territory of the Bessi, a well-known Thracian tribe, we have the town of Bessapara, 'ford of the Bessi'. The structure here is the same as in many European languages: thus the 'town of Peter' can be called Peterborough, Petrograd, Petersburg, Pierreville, and so on. But the crucial fact is that this structure is impossible in Albanian, which can only say 'Qytet i Pjetrit', not 'Pjeterqytet'. If para were the Albanian for 'ford', then the place-name would have to be 'Para e Besseve'; this might be reduced in time to something like 'Parabessa', but it could never become 'Bessapara'. And what is at stake here is not some superficial feature of the language, which might easily change over time, but a profound structural principle. This is one of the strongest available arguments to show that Albanian cannot have developed out of Thracian or Dacian.