Besa (Albanian culture)

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Besa (pledge of honor)^[1] is an Albanian cultural precept, usually translated as "faith" or "oath", that means "to keep the promise" and "word of honor".^[2] The concept is synonymous, and, according to Hofmann, Treimer and Schmidt, etymologically related, to the Classical Latin word fides, which in Late Ancient and Medieval Latin took on the Christian meaning of "faith, (religious) belief" today extant in Romance languages (and then also loaned into Albanian, as feja), but which originally had an ethical/juridical scope. The Albanian adjective besnik, derived from besa, means "faithful", "trustworthy", i.e. one who keeps his word. Besnik for men and Besa for women continue to be really popular names among Albanians. Besa is of prime importance in the Albanian traditional customary law (Kanun) as a cornerstone of personal and social conduct.