Theodore Anastasios Kavalliotis (Greek: Θεόδωρος Αναστασίου Καβαλλιώτης; Aromanian: Teodor Anastasie Cavalioti;[1]Albanian: Theodor Kavalioti,[2] 1718 – 11 August 1789[3]) was a Greek Orthodox priest, teacher and a figure of the Greek Enlightenment.[4] He is also known for having drafted an Aromanian–Greek–Albanian dictionary.[5]
Theodoros Anastasiou Kavalliotis was born in KavalaorMoscopole, where he spent most of his life. He has been described variously as either AromanianorAlbanian[6]orGreek.[7] Regardless, Kavalliotis had a Greek identity.[8] He studied in Moscopole and later pursued higher studies in mathematical and philosophical sciences at the Maroutseios college in Ioannina (in 1732-1734), directed by Eugenios Voulgaris.[9]
A scene from a class in the New AcademyofMoscopole, published in 1750 on the cover of Theodore Kavalliotis' book. The teacher on the left could be Kavalliotis himself. Engraving by Theodor GruntovicorGregory of Durrës.
He returned to Moscopole and was appointed teacher at the New Academy (Greek: Νέα Ακαδημία, romanized: Nea Akadimia) in 1743.[10] In 1750 he succeeded his former teacher Sevastos Leontiadis and became director of the New Academy for more than 20 years (1748–1769).[11] His works, written in Greek, are Logic (1749, unpublished), Physics (1752, unpublished), Grammar of modern Greek (1760), Metaphysics (1767), Protopeiria (1770). They were used extensively and hand-made copies were found even as far as Iaşi, Romania. After the destruction of Moscopole at 1769, he probably went to Tokaj, Hungary, but returned at 1773.[11]
In 1770, he published in Venice, at Antonio Bortoli's printing press, a school textbook, called Protopeiria.[12]Protopeiria is a 104 pages textbook which in pages 15–59 included a trilingual lexicon of 1,170 Greek, Aromanian, and Albanian words.[13] This work aimed at the Hellenization of the non-Greek-speaking Christian communities in the Balkans.[14][15] The lexicon was re-published in 1774 by the Swedish[16] professor Johann Thunmann, who taught at the University of Halle-Wittenberg. Thunmann added a Latin translation to the words in Greek, Aromanian, and Albanian.[17]
Kavalliotis couldn't manage to reestablish the destroyed New Academy.[18] During his last months he witnessed another wave of destruction of his home place, in June 1789 by local Muslim lords. Kavalliotis died at August 11, 1789, aged 71.[19]
^Piceava, Dumitru, ed. (2005). "Mass-media armâneascâ". Bana Armâneascâ (in Aromanian). Vol. 39–40, no. 1–2. p. 2. Va s-aducù aminti aoatsi, tu psânizboarâ, ânyrâpserli alù Teodor Anastasie Cavalioti, cari tu anlu 1770...
^Kapović, Mate (2017). The Indo-European Languages (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. p. 554. ISBN978-0-415-73062-4.
^The Codex of Saint John Prodromos' monastery, Moschopolis: 1789, Αὐγούστου 11 ἡμέρα β ἐπλέρωσεν τὸ κοινὸν ὁ ἱεροδιδάσκαλος Πρωτοπαπᾶς Θεόδωρος Ἀναστασίου Καβαλλιώτης - Αἰωνία τοῦ ἡ μνήμη. (p. 29.)
^Thede Kahl, Γλώσσα και στόχοι του πρώιμου αρμανικού, γραπτού λόγου (1731-1813), p. 71 (German original: Sprache und Intention der ersten aromunischen Textdokumente, 1731-1809) in Για την ταυτότητα των Βλάχων: εθνοπολιτισμικές προσεγγίσεις μιας βαλκανικής πραγματικότητας, Βιβλιόραμα (2009)
^Dieter Kremer: Actes du XVIIIe Congrès International de Linguistique et de Philologie Romanes; 1989. p. 122 [1]
