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Perëndi (Perëndia) is an Albanian noun for God, deity, sky and heaven. It is used Capitalization to refer to the Supreme Being, and uncapitalized for "deity", "sky" and "heaven".
The word perëndi(a) is attested in Old Albanian literature, firstly mentioned by Luca Matranga in the late 16th century and Bishop Pjetër Budi in the early 17th century, included into the text of the Albanian translation of the Pater Noster. However, it never appears in the works of the earliest Albanian author, Gjon Buzuku, who translate Deus always using the noun Zot with the compound Zotynë or Ynëzot ( Zot-ynë, ynë-Zot "our Lord/God"), even translating the Latin Dominus Deus with the word Zotynë only. The noun Zotynë / Ynëzot, along with its inflections in the different grammatical cases, was commonly used in the Old Albanian language of the literature in northern Albania as well as in the Albanian colonies in Greece and Italy. Another old noun to refer to the Deity was Hyj, a nonderivative equivalent of Deus that has been characterized as "a half-pagan word" and "a rare stylistic variant" used "poetically" instead of the noun Perëndi(a). However the noun Hyj appears in Old Albanian literature only in the works of Bishop Pjetër Bogdani.
The early meaning of the word perëndi(a) was usually different from the present one, as it does not generally occur in Old Albanian literature used as a name of the Deity. Although Budi reports atinë Perëndi ("father God"), he translates the Latin phrase Regnum tuum as perëndia jote in Albanian. Bishop Frang Bardhi translates Caesar as Perëndi. Bishop Pjetër Bogdani translates from Italian to Albanian l' imperatore di Turchia ("the emperor of Turkey") as Perëndia i Turqisë and quattro Monarchie ("four kingdoms/monarchies") as katër Perëndija. The common usage of perëndi(a) for "Deity" is almost certainly a later phenomenon.
It is a pan-Albanian word. In Myzeqe in central Albania a village is named Perondi, and in Bosnia and Herzegovina it is used in the family name Perèndija. The Albanians of Ukraine use Parandí for "God" and parandítë for "gods". The word perëndi means "heaven, sky" in some Albanian dialects, with both direct and figurative meanings. A typical example is an Albanian popular phrase gruri gjer mbë perëndi ("a pile of grain up to the skies"). As a name of God Perëndi(a) has been recognised by all Albanians already since the 19th century. However it has been mainly used as a feminine noun. It contains the stressed -i, which is the typical suffix of in the Albanian language. Other examples are dijeni(a) ("knowledge"), trimëri(a) ("bravery"), madhëri(a) ("majesty"). Since they belong to the declension type which is characteristic to feminine nouns in Albanian, they are normally of feminine gender. It is difficult to infer whether Albanian speakers and writers relate the noun Perëndi(a) with the concept of a personal God or a half-abstract and impersonal "deity", but in general usage in the Albanian language outside the Bible translations the noun Perëndi tends to be less personal than the noun Zot.
In Albanian culture, the heaviest type of Oath (Alb. beja më e rëndë) is taken by a thunder-stone "which comes from the sky" ( beja me gur/kokërr reje/rrufeje që vjen nga perëndia). It was a very serious oath and people were afraid of it even though they were telling the truth. The act of absolving himself of any allegation of theft was performed in the following way: the thunder-stone was taken in the left hand and was touched by the right hand saying:
In Nowruz or in the Albanian Spring Day ( Dita e Verës), in particular, in some villages of the region of Kurvelesh in southern Albania people addressed the following prayer to the deity for plants and cattle:
In rainmaking ritual songs from southwestern Albania, people used to pray to the Sun, invoking the names Dielli, Shën Dëlliu, Ilia or Perëndia. After repeating three times the invocation song, they used to say: Do kemi shi se u nxi Shëndëlliu ("We will have rain because the Holy Sun went dark").
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