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TheSopa orSopi tribe is a historicalAlbanian tribe (fis) originating from theSharr Mountains of today'sKosovo,Albania andNorth Macedonia. Members of the tribe can be found in many Albanian-inhabited regions of Kosovo and North Macedonia, specifically in and aroundPrizren.
The Sopa tribe is of Albanian ancestry and are considered to have their origins in the Sharr mountains;[1] theKokaj are one of the branches of the tribe.[2] There is also a claim that the Sopa descend from theThaçi tribe ofPukë.[3]
The root of the tribe's name can possibly be derived from ‘sop,-i’, which translates to ‘hummock’ in English, but can also mean ‘wedge/spearhead’ or the end of a mill race where the water comes out with force and into the mill wheel.[4] German Albanologist Johann Georg von Hahn translates their name as 'hay'.[5]
Many of the tribe's members can be found in the territories around theSharr Mountains, inAlbania,Kosovo andNorth Macedonia. Branches of the Sopa tribe were present inLeskovac, and they predominated in the Moravica Valley.[6]