Zervat (Albanian: Zervati, Greek: Ζερβάτι; romanized: Zerváti) is a village in Gjirokastër County, southern Albania.[1] At the 2015 local government reform it became part of the municipality of Dropull.[2] It is inhabited solely by Greeks.[3]

Zervat
Ζερβάτι
Zervat is located in Albania
Zervat
Zervat
Coordinates: 39°55′00″N 20°17′16″E / 39.91667°N 20.28778°E / 39.91667; 20.28778
Country Albania
CountyGjirokastër
MunicipalityDropull
Elevation
400 m (1,300 ft)
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)

Name

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The village received its name due to the conversion of a surname to a toponym. In the case of Zervati its name came from a certain Zervas.[4]

History

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The church of the Dormition of the Virgin in Zervat was erected before the Ottoman period, c. 14th century as cross-shaped Byzantine church. It was transformed and enlarged in the 16th century.[5] It is one of the most impressive churches of the period in the region.[6]

Demographics

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In the Ottoman register of 1520 for the Sanjak of Avlona, Zervat was attested a village in the timar under the authority of Ali from Damës. The village had a total of 199 households. The anthroponymy attested belonged almost entirely to the Albanian onomastic sphere, characterised by personal names such as Bardh, Deda, Gjin, Gjon, Kola, Leka, Progor and others. The names Gjin, Gjon and Deda as personal names or patronymics make up almost half of the names of Zervat. The village also had a small number Muslim households.[7][need quotation to verify]

The village had 603 inhabitants in 1993, all ethnically Greeks.[3] The village today[when?] has a permanent population of roughly 200-250 inhabitants, notably due to migration to Greece or other countries.

References

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  1. ^ "Location of Zervat".
  2. ^ "Law nr. 115/2014" (PDF) (in Albanian). p. 6371. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  3. ^ a b Kallivretakis, Leonidas (1995). Η Ελληνική Κοινότητα της Αλβανίας υπό το Πρίσμα της Ιστορικής Γεωγραφίας και Δημογραφίας [The Greek Community of Albania in Terms of Historical Geography and Demography] (in Greek). Εκδόσεις Σιδέρης. p. 58. hdl:10442/8696. ISBN 978-960-08-0054-8. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  4. ^ Giakoumis 2002, pp. 77, 117.
  5. ^ Giakoumis 2002, pp. 24, 194.
  6. ^ Giakoumis 2002, p. 199.
  7. ^ Duka, Ferit (1990). "La Realite Ethnique De Dropull Dans Les Sources Historiques Du XVI Siecle". Studia Albanica. XXVII (2): 9–12.

Bibliography

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