View source for Mali Vlaj

{{Infobox settlement
<!--See Template:Infobox Settlement for additional fields that may be available-->
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|name                   = Mali Vlaj
|official_name          = Мали Влај
|native_name            =
|nickname               =
|settlement_type        = Village
|total_type             = <!-- to set a non-standard label for total area and population rows -->
|motto                  =
<!-- images and maps  ----------->
|image_skyline          = Sv.Nikola-Mali Vlaj, Struga.jpg
|imagesize              =
|image_caption          = St. Nicholas Church of Mali Vlaj
|image_flag             =
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|mapsize                =
|map_caption            =
|pushpin_map            = North Macedonia
|pushpin_label_position = <!-- the position of the pushpin label: left, right, top, bottom, none -->
|pushpin_map_caption    =Location within North Macedonia
|pushpin_mapsize        =
<!-- Location ------------------>
|subdivision_type       = [[List of sovereign states|Country]]
|subdivision_name       = {{NMK}}
|subdivision_type1      = [[Statistical Regions of North Macedonia|Region]]
|subdivision_name1      = [[File:Logo of Southwestern Region, North Macedonia.svg|13px]] [[Southwestern Statistical Region|Southwestern]]
|subdivision_type2      = [[Municipalities of North Macedonia|Municipality]]
|subdivision_name2      = [[File:Coat of arms of Struga Municipality.svg|13px]] [[Struga Municipality|Struga]]
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|seat_type              =
|seat                   =
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|parts_style            = <!-- =list (for list), coll (for collapsed list), para (for paragraph format)
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|parts                  = <!-- parts text, or header for parts list -->
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|p2                     = <!-- etc. up to p50: for separate parts to be listed-->
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|leader_title1          =  <!-- for places with, say, both a mayor and a city manager -->
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|established_title      =  <!-- Settled -->
|established_date       =
<!-- Area    --------------------->
|area_magnitude         =
|unit_pref                = <!--Enter: Imperial, to display imperial  before metric-->
|area_footnotes           =
|area_total_km2           = <!-- ALL fields with measurements are subject to automatic unit conversion-->
|area_land_km2            = <!--See table @ Template:Infobox Settlement for details on unit conversion-->
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|elevation_footnotes    =  <!--for references: use <ref> tags-->
|elevation_m            = 857
|elevation_ft           =
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<!-- Population   ----------------------->
|population_as_of               = 2002
|population_footnotes           =
|population_note                =
|population_total               = 71
|population_density_km2         = <!--For automatic calculation, any density field may contain: auto -->
|population_density_sq_mi       =
<!-- Government   ----------------------->
|municipality president =
<!-- General information  --------------->
|timezone               = [[Central European Time|CET]]
|utc_offset             = +1
|timezone_DST           = [[Central European Summer Time|CEST]]
|utc_offset_DST         = +2
|coor_type              = <!-- can be used to specify what the coordinates refer to -->
|coordinates            = {{Coord|41|07|09|N|20|36|56|E|region:MK|display=inline,title}}
<!-- Area/postal codes & others -------->
|postal_code_type       =  Postal code
|postal_code            =
|area_code              = +38946
|website                =                  .
|blank_name             =[[Vehicle registration plates of North Macedonia|Car plates]]
|blank_info             = SU
|blank1_name            =
|blank1_info            =
|footnotes              =
}}
'''Mali Vlaj''' ({{langx|mk|Мали Влај}} or simply Влај) is a [[village]] on the [[Jabllanica|Jablanica Mountain]] in the [[Municipalities of North Macedonia|municipality]] of [[Struga Municipality|Struga]], [[North Macedonia]].
== Name ==
The toponym is first recorded as a plural in the name ''Frougovi Vlasi''.<ref name="Wlodzimierz70"/> The form ''Vlaj'' is an old [[Accusative case|accusative]] occurring as a plural in ''Vlahy''> ''Vlahi''> ''Vlai''> ''Vlaj'' and these forms stemmed from ''Vla(s)hci'' meaning residents from the village ''Vlas(c)i''.<ref name="Wlodzimierz70"/> The ''c'' sound in Vlahci was assimilated over time becoming ''Vlaj'' and the toponym is related to [[Vlachs]].<ref name="Wlodzimierz70"/> With the loss of the [[grammatical case]] in [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]], the toponym ''Vlaj'' was no longer understood in the plural, instead in the singular.<ref name="Wlodzimierz70"/> The adjective ''Мали/Mali'' meaning "small" contained in the names of some villages is usually used if there is an opposition to a larger settlement with the word ''Голем/Golem'' meaning "big" or in toponyms without an additive.<ref name="Wlodzimierz70"/> Nearby there is no appropriate toponym with the adjective "large" in modern times, yet it is possible that this settlement is in opposition to the village ''[[Rëmenj]]'' on the Albanian side of [[Lake Ohrid]] meaning Vlachs ([[Aromanians]]).<ref name="Wlodzimierz70"/> In the [[Albanian language]], Mali Vlaj is known by the forms ''Ërmas'' and ''Ermëz'', meaning Vlachs.<ref name="Wlodzimierz70">{{cite book|last=Włodzimierz|first=Pianka|title=Toponomastikata na Ohridsko-Prespanskiot bazen|year=1970|publisher=Institut za makedonski jazik "Krste Misirkov"|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ELRAAAAMAAJ&q=%D0%AA%D1%80%D0%BC%D0%B0%D1%81+|pages=70}} "На албански селото се вика Ърмас (Ërmas) -'Власи'.... Топонимов е примарен, рамен на етноним во множина, (Фроугови Власи). Формата Влај е стар акузатив во множина, (*Vlaxy > Vlaxi > Vlai > Vlaj). Влашци означувало 'жители на с. Власи' (*Vlaxьci), додекаодликот Власци има с или по пат на асимилација до ц, или пак по аналогија до Власи. Обликот Влај асимилација до ц, прави, или пак по аналогија до Власи. Обликот Влај по губењето на падежната система во мак. јазик не бил веќе сфаќан како плурален, затоа почнал да се чувствува како еднина. Придавката Мали при имињата на селата се употребува обично ако има опозиција со Голем или со 0 (топоним без додаток). Во близината нема никаде соодветен топоним со придавката голем, но возможно е спротивставување на името на с. Р'м'н (спор. с. 112).", p. 112. "'Р'м'н било христ. мусл. село. Jaranov го белези како Ръмънъ, а К'нчов како ифля. Првото на аром., а второто на тур. значи 'Власи'. Така овај назив е во врска со името на. с. Мали Влај во Охридски Дримкол на западниот брег на Охридското Езеро и ја објаснува придавката Мали кај последниов."</ref><ref name="Murtishi47">{{cite book|last=Murtishi|first=Kaim|title=Ladorishti: Histori dhe Tradita|year=2001|publisher=Asdreni|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ee85HQAACAAJ&q=Ladorishti|pages=47}} "Ermëz"</ref>
== History ==
During the mid-fourteenth century, a document of Serbian Tsar [[Stefan Dušan]] refers to property of [[Church of Saints Clement and Panteleimon|St Clement church]] in [[Ohrid]] with the settlement recorded under the name ''Frugovi Vlasi'', which later possibly broke up into two villages identified as being modern Mali Vlaj and nearby [[Frangovo]].<ref name="Koukoudis423424"/> Local traditions in the Struga area refer to the residents of Mali Vlaj as originating from Rëmenj, [[Albania]] arriving in the late eighteenth century.<ref name="Koukoudis423424"/> Modern Mali Vlaj is without an Aromanian population though the Aromanian inhabitants of nearby [[Gorna Belica]] and [[Dolna Belica]] remember that once the village was populated by Aromanians.<ref name="Koukoudis423424">{{cite book|last=Koukoudis|first=Asterios|title=The Vlachs: Metropolis and Diaspora|year=2003|location=Thessaloniki|publisher=Zitros Publications|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=01JoAAAAMAAJ&q=Golema+Vlaj|isbn=9789607760869}} p. 423. "Some two centuries later, in the mid-fourteenth century, a resolution of the Serbian Tsar Stefan Dušan regarding the property of the Church of St Clement in Ohrid mention the existence of what was probably a Vlach settlement by the name of Frugovi Vlasi. It probably broke up later on, but may be identified with the modern villages of Frangovo and Mali Vlaj south-west of Struga."; p. 424. "According to local traditions, the ancestors of the inhabitants of Mali Vlaj came from the village of Rrëmenj near Podgradec, possibly at the end of the eighteenth century. However, other traditions relate that, when Moschopolis was in a state of collapse (1769/88), Rrëmenj was a temporary stopping place for Vlach refugees on their way to Gorna and Dolna Belica a little further north. In fact, the name Rrëmenj may itself denote that the village was established by Vlachs or at least that Vlachs stayed there for a time. There are no Vlachs in Frangovo and Mali Vlaj today, though until recently the Vlach residents of Gorna and Dolna Belica still recalled that Mali Vlaj was once inhabited by Vlachs."</ref>
==Demographics==
Mali Vlaj was inhabited by Aromanians, belonging to the Frashëriot subgroup that originated from Albania and became assimilated during the course of the 19th century.<ref name="Kahl147">{{cite book|last=Kahl|first=Thede|author-link=Thede Kahl|title=Ethnizität und räumliche Verbreitung der Aromunen in Südosteuropa|year=1999|publisher=Universität Münster: Institut für Geographie der Westfälischen Wilhelms|isbn=3-9803935-7-7}} p. 133. R. Rrămăn (Aromunen mit der Eigenbezeichnung Rrămăn = Farscheroten, Arvanitovlachen)"; p. 147. "Mali Vlaj.... R aus Albanien, bereits im 19. Jh. assimiliert."</ref> The [[Vevčani-Radožda dialect]] of Macedonian is spoken in Mali Vlaj, that also contains some lexical differences distinguishing it from the speech of neighbouring [[Vevčani]] and [[Radožda]].<ref name="Hendriks17">{{cite book|last=Hendriks|first=P.|title=The Radožda-Vevčani Dialect of Macedonian: Structure, Texts, Lexicon|year=1976|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing|isbn=9789031600892|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LLKqzok7SKAC&dq=Mali+Vlaj&pg=PA11|pages=17}}</ref>
According to the 2002 census, the village had a total of 71 inhabitants.<ref name = Statisticaloffice/> Ethnic groups in the village include:<ref name = Statisticaloffice>Macedonian Census (2002), [http://www.stat.gov.mk/publikacii/knigaX.pdf  ''Book 5 - Total population according to the Ethnic Affiliation, Mother Tongue and Religion''], The State Statistical Office, Skopje, 2002, p. 181.</ref>
*[[Macedonians (ethnic group)|Macedonians]] 71
== See also ==
*[[Tašmaruništa]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
{{Struga Municipality}}
{{Authority control}}
{{commons category|Mali Vlaj}}
[[Category:Villages in Struga Municipality]]