Cljisura

Aromanian

Alternative forms

• Vlahocljisura, Vlaho-Cljisura

Etymology

Related to or from Byzantine Greek Κλεισούρα (Kleisoúra), originally meaning "an enclosure, defile", itself either from Late Latin clausūra, from Latin clausus, or from κλείς (kleís, “narrow strait or gorge”). The aforementioned Greek term is also the Greek name for the town, as well as another in Larissa, and once referred to a fortified mountain pass and military district in medieval times. A surface analysis of the Aromanian word also indicates it seems to be composed of the elements cljis (as past participle of the verb cljid, variant of ncljid (“I close”), and corresponding to Latin clausus; cf. the more common ncljis) and the suffix -ura, from the corresponding Latin suffix. It is more likely that the Aromanian word came through the Greek intermediate rather than deriving straight from Latin clausūra. There is also a small town in southern Albania named Këlcyrë, likely from the same Greek word (cf. also këshyre). Several other locations in the Balkans, linked to narrow straits or passes, have similar names. The word appears in South Slavic languages as klisura. See also (Daco-) Romanian clisură (“narrow key-shaped valley near the straits of the Danube”) (which likely came through a South Slavic intermediate like Serbian; cf. also Ukrainian klisura).

Proper noun

Cljisura

1. a town in the Kastoria region of northern Greece, also known as Vlahocljisura