From Ancient Greek Ταυλάντιοι (Taulántioi), possibly a misspelling of Illyrian *dauland- word meaning "swallow," from Proto-Indo-European *delh₁- (“to cut”), cognate to Albanian dallëndyshe (“swallow”), as another ethnonym used was Χελιδόνιοι (swollow). The name Taulantii appears to be connected with the word dallëndyshe, from Proto-Albanian *daulna meaning "swallow".[1] According to Demiraj, the latin cluster -nt- has evolved into Albanian -nd-, as in the latin loans prind < parentem, argjend < argentum, Konstandin < Constantinus. Later on, the initial t- has evolved into d- probably under the influence of the following -d-, and finally the intervocalic Latin -l- has regularly evolved to Albanian -ll-. Thus, the historically phonemic correspondence between Taulant and Proto-Albanian *daulnānja (modern dallëndyshë) seems quite normal[2]
This connection is also supported by Matzinger, who is sceptic about considering Albanian as a direct descendant of Illyrian, but rather as a closely related language to it and Messapic.[3]
Taulantiī m pl (genitive Taulantiōrum); second declension
Second-declension noun, with locative, plural only.
| plural | |
|---|---|
| nominative | Taulantiī |
| genitive | Taulantiōrum |
| dative | Taulantiīs |
| accusative | Taulantiōs |
| ablative | Taulantiīs |
| vocative | Taulantiī |
| locative | Taulantiīs |