During the
Ottoman period, from the 16th up to the 18th century, the original (proper) Montenegro was made up of the Montenegrin tribes (
Montenegrin: црногорска племена), traditionally divided into four territorial units, or nahije:
Katun,
Rijeka,
Lješanska nahija and
Crmnica. Their inhabitants were known under the regional
demonymMontenegrins (
Montenegrin: Црногорци), as opposed to the inhabitants of neighboring regions (Brđani, Hercegovci and Primorci). Since the end of the 18th century, Montenegro started to expand, incorporating the region of
Brda in the first half of the 19th century, the region of
Old Herzegovina and part of
Primorje in 1878, and finally upper and central
Polimlje and northern
Metohija in 1912.[9]
A number of toponyms and names of clans in Old Montenegro are originally derived from
Albanian onomastics, such as Gjin, Gjon, Progon, Lesh, Mal and others, with some of them being: Đinov Do village in Cuce, Đinovo Brdo in Cetinje, Đinova Glavica in Pješivci, the village of Đinovići in Kosijeri, the Đonovići brotherhood in Brčeli of Crmnica, Lješanska nahija, along with its villages Liješnje, Štitari, Goljemadi and Progonovići, the village of Lješev Stup and the toponym Malošin do in Bjelice, the village of Arbanas in Ceklin.[10][11]
L'examen des dialectes du Vieux Monténegro (Stara Crna Gora) en tenant compte des parles voisins, Bulletin international de l' Académie polonaise des sciences et des letters N 1—3 (janvier-mars), 1–13, Cracovie 1932.