Shqipetarn.

1827 tr. C. Malte-Brun Universal Geogr. VI. xcix. 198 A native of the country [sc. Albania] calls himself an Arvenesce, according to Ibarth, and a Skipitar, according to Thunmann. The last name, it has been said, is derived from skip, which denotes the language; hence Skipitar, he who speaks Skip, and Skiperi, the country in which Skip is spoken.

1833 Penny Cycl. I. 256/2 The Albanian..calls himself Skipitar, and his native land Skiperi.

1858 Atlantis 1 100 The Albanians..speak a peculiar language—the Skipier or Skipetar.

1860 Chambers's Encycl. I. 104/2 The inhabitants, estimated at 1,900,000, form a peculiar people, the Albanians or Arnauts; they call themselves Skypetars.

1876 R. Brown Races Mankind IV. xvii. 292 The Aryans of Europe are the Skipitar, Celts, Greeks, Latins, Germans of all branches, Lithuanians, or Letts and Slavs.

1902 Encycl. Brit. XXV. 246/2 The Albanians, both Ghegs and Tosks, call themselves Shkyipetar, and their land Shkyipenia or Shkyiperia, the former being the Gheg, the latter the Tosk form of the word.

1923 19th Cent. Jan. 17 The Skiptars greet all these innovations with a kindly tolerance.

1935 Chambers's Encycl. I. 122/2 The name Shkypetar is derived by some from shkip, a rock, and thus signifies Hillmen; while others derive it from shkyup, an eagle, signifying Sons of the Eagle.

1971 Guardian 10 Aug. 4/5 Shquiptars prefer folk songs..rather than the Internationale.

1984 A. N. Dragnich & S. Todorovich Saga of Kosovo x. 118 In early 1920, some 450,000 Schipetars, living mostly in the Kosovo-Metohija region, looked to Belgrade for help and guidance in adjusting to their new status in the family of Slavs.

2001 Times Lit. Suppl. 29 June 16/1 ‘I hate Shiptars, I'd get rid of them all’, one man told me [in Macedonia].