Perëndi () is an Albanian noun for God, deity, sky and heaven. It is used capitalized to refer to the Supreme Being, and uncapitalized for "deity", "sky" and "heaven". Name Description In Albanian, Perëndí (definite: Perëndía) is the name of God, the sky and heaven, and is used capitalized to refer to the Supreme Being. The plural indefinite form is perëndí while the plural definite form is perëndítë, used uncapitalized to refer to the deities. Some dialectal alternative forms include: Perendí, Perenní, Perondí, Perundí, Perudí, Perndí and Parandí. The word perëndi(a) is attested in Old Albanian literature, firstly mentioned by Luca Matranga in the late 16th century and Bishop Pjetër Budi in the early 17th century, included into the text of the Albanian translation of the Pater Noster. However it never appears in the works of the earliest Albanian author, Gjon Buzuku, who translate Deus always using the noun Zot with the compound Zotynë or Ynëzot (Zot-ynë, ynë-Zot "our Lord/God"), even translating the Latin Dominus Deus with the word Zotynë only. The noun Zotynë / Ynëzot, along with its inflections in the different grammatical cases , was commonly used in the Old Albanian language of the literature in northern Albania as well as in the Albanian colonies in Greece and Italy. Another old noun to refer to the Deity was Hyj, a nonderivative equivalent of Deus that has been characterized as "a half-pagan word" and "a rare stylistic variant" used "poetically" instead of the noun Perëndi(a). However the noun Hyj appears in Old Albanian literature only in the works of Bishop Pjetër Bogdani. The early meaning of the word perëndi(a) was usually different from the present one, as it does not generally occur in Old Albanian literature used as a name of the Deity. Although Budi reports atinë Perëndi ("father God"), he translates the Latin phrase Regnum tuum as perëndia jote in Albanian. Bishop Frang Bardhi translates Caesar as Perëndi. Bishop Pjetër Bogdani translates from Italian to Albanian l' imperatore di Turchia ("the emperor of Turkey") as Perëndia i Turqisë and quattro Monarchie ("four kingdoms/monarchies") as katër Perëndija. The common usage of perëndi(a) for "Deity" is almost certainly a later phenomenon. It is a pan-Albanian word. In Myzeqe in central Albania a village is named Perondí, and in Bosnia and Herzegovina it is used in the family name Perèndija. The Albanians of Ukraine use Parandí for "God" and parandítë for