About Ahil
taken from the book Lerin in Mourning by Atanas Tane Naumovski available courtesy of
Pollitecon Publications
Ail had its name forcibly changed by the Greek Government to Agios Ahilios. It is a part of the Lerin region and it is 32 kilometres to the west of the town. The village is surrounded by water. It is spread on the banks of the little island of the same name which is on the lake Mala Prespa and is a part of the Prespa Lake.
Ail is at 21 degrees 05 minutes longitude and 40 degrees 47 minutes latitude; 640 metres above sea level and has an area of 36 square kilometres.
To the southwest is Vineni, to the south Drobitishta, and to the east are the villages P'pli and Rudari.
Before the Civil War in 1945 there were about 100 residents. All of the residents were of Macedonian background. The residents were employed in fishing and pechalba (temporarily leaving to work as a migrant).
During the Greek Civil War the residents actively took part in the organization of NOF and the armed forces of DAG with more than 10 active fighters and during the battles 6 gave their lives.
They were:
- Grigorov, G Spase
- Grigorov, G Sotir
- Grujanovski, S Metodija
- Grujanovski, S Eftim
- Maekovski, K Pane
- Markovski, T Stevo
The details of fallen fighters were given by Mitre Markovski from the same village and who was in DAG.
After the Greek Civil War and the forced emigration from the village, the number of residents fell. In the census in Greece in 1991 it was recorded that there are 31 residents.
Family Names of Ahil Inhabitants
Here is a list of family names which at one point lived in Ahil (although it is NEVER complete).
In the first column is the original Macedonian version of the name. In many cases individuals and families that have emigrated to other countries have had their
names 'localized' to the local language (in Australia/Canada/USA they have been shorted - Ivanov to Evans, Branov to Brown). In the European countries they have
adjusted to include "-ski" or "-sky" (examples are Popovski from Popov, Mangovsky from Mangos).
In the second column is how it would be written in Macedonian (NOTE: you will need to have the "MAC C Times" Truetype font installed on your system to properly read it. For
more information on how to get this done please visit Biser Balkanski - How To Install Macedonian fonts on your computer .
The third column is the Hellenized (ie. "Greek") version assigned by the Greek government in the years which followed the Treaty of Bucharest in 1913. In a majority of the cases
the changes did not appear until after 1920. In many cases as with the village names, an attempt was made to spell the last names in the Greek alphabet sound-for-sound but it
was later decided to make them sound more "Greek" (examples were "Dimov" to "Dimopoulos", "Iliev" to "Iliadis").
For those unaware, the Treaty of Bucharest "divided the spoils" of Macedonia amongst the three neighbouring countries - Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia.
Amongst the worst of what was to follow happened in Greece - family names were given "Greek" versions, village names were renamed, churches were re-Christened
under Greek saints, tombstones and epitaphs along with any visible signs of the Macedonian language were erased and re-written in Greek.
| Original Macedonian Name | Po Makedonski | Hellenized Version |
|---|
| Grigorov |
|
|
| Grujanovski |
|
|
| Maekovski |
|
|
| Markovski |
|
|
Thank you to everybody who has contributed to the various lists. If you would like to add your family
please email me at tedn@macedonianvillages.com and specify the village and a list of family names.