Graeco-Albanian orAlbano-Greek is a proposedIndo-European subfamily – in the broader linguistic family known as(Palaeo-)Balkanic Indo-European – of which the only surviving representatives areAlbanian andGreek.^[1][2] This Indo-European subfamily encompasses theAlbanoid (Illyric) subbranch, and theGraeco-Phrygian subbranch (Greek andPhrygian).^[1][2] Within the Palaeo-Balkan branch this IE subfamily is separated fromArmenian.^[1][2]

A remarkable PIE root that underwent in Albanian, Armenian, and Greek a common evolution and semantic shift in the post PIE period is PIE*mel-i(t)- 'honey', from which Albanianbletë andmjalcë, Armenianmełu, and Greek μέλισσα (mélissa) or μέλιττα (mélitta)'bee' derived.^[3] However, the Armenian term features-u- through the influence of the PIE*médʰu 'mead', which constitutes an Armenian innovation that isolates it from the Graeco-Albanian word.^[4]

Innovative creations ofagricultural terms shared only between Albanian and Greek, such as*h₂(e)lbʰ-it- 'barley' and*spor-eh₂- 'seed', were formed from non-agricultural Proto-Indo-European roots through semantic changes to adapt them for agriculture. Since they are limited only to Albanian and Greek, they could be traced back with certainty only to their last common Indo-European ancestor, and not projected back intoProto-Indo-European.^[5]

According to linguist Lucien van Beek – the author of the chapter "Greek" in the bookThe Indo-European Language Family by Thomas Olander (ed., 2022) – a number of potential Greek and Albanian common innovations adduced by Hyllested and Joseph in the chapter "Albanian" in the same book "can or must be dated later thanProto-Greek", concluding that he is "not convinced of a close genetic relation between Greek and Albanian".^[6]

• Holst, Jan Henrik (2009).Armenische Studien (in German). Otto Harrassowitz Verlag.ISBN 978-3-447-06117-9.
• Joseph, Brian D. (2013). Spiro, Aristotel (ed.)."On Old and New Connections between Greek and Albanian: Some Grammatical Evidence".Albanohellenica (5). Albanian-Greek Philological Association:9–22.
• Kroonen, Guus; Jakob, Anthony; Palmér, Axel I.; van Sluis, Paulus; Wigman, Andrew (12 October 2022)."Indo-European cereal terminology suggests a Northwest Pontic homeland for the core Indo-European languages".PLOS ONE.17 (10) e0275744.Bibcode:2022PLoSO..1775744K.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0275744.ISSN 1932-6203.PMC 9555676.PMID 36223379.
• Olander, Thomas, ed. (2022).The Indo-European Language Family: A Phylogenetic Perspective.Cambridge University Press.doi:10.1017/9781108758666.ISBN 978-1-108-49979-8.S2CID 161016819.
  • van Beek, Lucien. "Chapter 11: Greek". InOlander (2022).
  • Olsen, Birgit Anette; Thorsø, Rasmus. "Chapter 12: Armenian". InOlander (2022).
  • Hyllested, Adam; Joseph, Brian D. "Chapter 13: Albanian". InOlander (2022).
• van Sluis, P. S. (2022). "Beekeeping in Celtic and Indo-European".Studia Celtica.56 (1):1–28.doi:10.16922/SC.56.1.hdl:1887/3655383.

• Albanian language
• Greek language
• Paleo-Balkan languages
• Indo-European languages

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• Short description matches Wikidata
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• CS1 German-language sources (de)