Modern historians on the origins of the Slavs of the Macedonia and Vardar

[akritas]

Most of the Slavophone inhabitants in all parts of divided Macedonia perhaps a million and a half in all - felt themselves to be Bulgarians at the beginning of the Occupation; and most Bulgarians, whether they supported the Communists, IMRO, or the collaborating government, assumed that all Macedonia would fall to Bulgaria after the war. Tito was I determined that this should not happen.

[C.M. Woodhouse,The Struggle for Greece 1941-1949,page 67]

Modern Slavs, both Bulgarians and Macedonians, cannot establish a link with antiquity, as the Slavs entered the Balkans centuries after the demise of the ancient Macedonian kingdom

[Eugene Borza,The Macedonian Rendux]

On the other hand, the Macedonians are a newly emergent people in search of a past to help legitimize their precarious present as they attempt to establish their singular identity in a Slavic world dominated historically by Serbs and Bulgarians.

[Eugene Borza,The Macedonian Rendux]

The history of the construction of a macedonian national identity does not begin with alexander the great in the fourth century b.c. or with saints cyril and methodius in the ninth century a.d., as Macedonian nationalist historians often claim. nor does it begin with tito and the establishment of the people's republic of macedonia in 1944 as greek nationalist historians would have us believe.
It begins in the nineteenth century with the first expressions of macedonian ethnic nationalism on the part of a small number of intellectuals in places like thessaloniki, belgrade, sophia, and st.petersburg. this period marks the beginning of the process of "imagining" a macedonian national community, the beginning of the construction of a macedonian national identity and culture.

[Loring Danforth,The Macedonian Conflict. Ethnic Nationalism in a Transnational World,page 56]

[Ptolemy]

Basil II of Constantinople in 1014 decided to end once and for all a war that had already lasted forty years. To break the spirit of the hated Bulgarians, he blinded all but 150 of 15,000 prisoners. The “lucky” 150 were blinded in one eye only. Every 100 blind men were guided by a one-eyed leader back to the Bulgarian capital of Ohdrid, whose ruler, Samuel , had received word that his army was returning to him. Samuel hastened to meet his men and found himself staring at thousand of helpless blind men. The sight was fatal. Samuel suffered a stroke on the spot and died two days later. (Basil II received the surname Bulgaroktonos, meaning “slayer of Bulgarians”, )

Isaac Asimov's Book of Facts By Isaac Asimov, page 225

They population of Uskioub, consisting of Arnouts, Jews, Armenians, Zinzars, Greeks, Bulgarians and Servians, amounts to upwards of twelve thousand

"Travels in European Turkey, in 1850: Through Bosnia, Servia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Thrace,..." By Edmund Spencer, page 28, Published 1851

As the day was drawing to a close, we descended into the vast plain of Bittoglia, where we had to ford several unimportant streams rushing onward to the sluggish waters of the karasu,..With the exception of a few Greeks and Zinzars, the congregation consisted of Bulgarians, EASILY DISTINGUISHED by their short, thick-set figures, honest open countenances, and the unvarying costume, we before described

"Travels in European Turkey, in 1850: Through Bosnia, Servia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Thrace,..." By Edmund Spencer, page 46, Published 1851

Those of the vilayets of Adrianople and Macedonia , where, at the recent census, two-thirds of the inhabitants were found to be Bulgarians

"The Balkan Peninsula" by E. Laveleye, 1887, Page 251

The unfortunate Armenians are at the present time most piteously oppressed and pillaged by the Kurds, the Circassians, and more especially by Turkish functionaries. 'Their condition is very similar to that of the Bulgarians in Macedonia

"The Balkan Peninsula" by E. Laveleye, 1887, Page 305

But having lived now with the Montenegrins, the Serbs, and the Bulgarian 'Macedonians,' I clung to the idea that somehow or other I must get right into Albanian territories

"The Burden of the Balkans" By M. Edith Durham 1863-1944, page 207

[Ptolemy]

Vatatzes was now quick to perceive the high tide in his efforts and decided to sail with the current. He ventured north to take Melnik, and continued northeastward to capture Stenimachus, Tzapaena and other places in the upper valley of the Maritsa, which became the boundary between Bulgaria and the Nicene empire, all without a struggle, "as though he was taking over an inheritance from his father". He pushed on into the far northwest, taking Velbuzd (Kustendil) on the upper strymon; moved south taking skopje and trip in teh vardar region; then through Veles, Prilep and Pelagonia in the plains of Monastir; and eastward again to the Vardar where he took Prosek. It was a triumphant progress from beginning to end, but the end was not yet. In less than three months Vatatzes had overrun all Sourthwestern Bulgaria.

The Papacy and the Levant, 1204-1571 By Kenneth Meyer Setton, page 62

[Ptolemy]

Theodore Ducas began his spectacular reign over Epirus by an attack upon the Bulgarians (1216) from whom he seized the important towns of Ochrida and Prilep, extending his northeastern border to the plains of Monastir

The Papacy and the Levant, 1204-1571 By Kenneth Meyer Setton, page 43

[Tsontos]

ptolemy, an den se pirazei prepei orismena apo'dw na valw sto arthro mou. para polu kalh douleia!!

[Christov]

Originally Posted by Voulgaroktonos

ptolemy, an den se pirazei prepei orismena apo'dw na valw sto arthro mou. para polu kalh douleia!!

Is there anyone who knows inexpensive summer Greek language course?

[preston]

Originally Posted by christov

Is there anyone who knows inexpensive summer Greek language course?

lol...be fair to christov...translate please.

[Christov]

Originally Posted by preston

lol...be fair to christov...translate please.

I’m fully aware that I’m on a Greek forum, and it’s OK with me. I mean it really; I want to learn at least some basic level of Greek. Sometimes the language gives a key for the way of thinking, and it’s always one more treasure.

[Tsontos]

not much in translating a sentence without knowing what word means what so:

an: if
den: not (does not)
se: you
pirazei: bother
prepei: have to/ must
orismena: some
ap'dw: from here (w = omega in greeklish)
na: to
valw: put
sto: in
arthro: article
mou: my
para polu: very
kalh: good
douleia: work

[Christov]

Originally Posted by Voulgaroktonos

not much in translating a sentence without knowing what word means what so:

an: if
den: not (does not)
se: you
pirazei: bother
prepei: have to/ must
orismena: some
ap'dw: from here (w = omega in greeklish)
na: to
valw: put
sto: in
arthro: article
mou: my
para polu: very
kalh: good
douleia: work

Good start. Thank you!