Mōtung:Albānland

Nama

I think we have the name wrong. 'Albania' would be perfectly acceptable - many lands in Europe are recorded in Englisc with -ia names. There is one alternative though.

The Orosius, Liber I, describes the Known World, and Alfred's translation paraphrases a passage:

"itaque a mari Caspio quod est ad orientem, per oram oceani septentrionalis usque ad Tanaim fluuium et Maeotidas paludes quae sunt ad occasum, per litus Cimmerici maris quod est ab Africo, usque ad caput et portas Caucasi quae sunt ad meridiem, gentes sunt XXXIIII. sed generaliter regio proxima Albania, ulterior sub mari et monte Caspio Amazonum nominatur."

- as:

"Þæt lond mon hætt þa ealdan Sciþþian ⁊ Ircaniam, þæs landes is xliii þeoda, wide tosetene for unwæstmbærnesse þæs londes. Þonne be westan þæm sæ Caspia oð Danais þa ea, ⁊ oþ þæt fenn þe mon hætt Meotedisc; ⁊ þonne sup oþ þone Wendelsæ, ⁊ oþ þone beorg Tauros; ⁊ norþ oþ þone garsecg is eall Sciþþia lond binnan, þeh hit mon tonemne on twa ⁊ on þritig þeoda. Ac þa lond on easthealfe Danais þe þær nihst sindon, Albani hi sint genemde in Latina, ⁊ we hie hatap nu Liubene."

It is unlikely that the 9th century West Saxons had their own name for a possibly extinct people east of the Caspian, but seeing 'Albani' (and earlier the Latin has 'Albania', the scribe thought "Oh; the Liubene".

That suggests Liubenaland. Hogweard (motung) 07:43, 11 Winterfylleð 2025 (UTC)