of Illyrian origin and originally meant "river bank, shore". It evolved within Albanian as an inherited term from its ancestral language. It indicates that it was spoken in the Mat river valley. A similar hydronym, Matlumë, is found in Kaçanik. Nish (Niš) is a city in southeastern Serbia. It evolved from a toponym attested in Ancient Greek as ΝΑΙΣΣΟΣ (Naissos), which achieved its present form via phonetic changes in Proto-Albanian and thereafter entered Slavic. Nish might indicate that Proto-Albanians lived in the region in pre-Slavic times. When this settlement happened is a matter of debate, as Proto-Albanians might have moved relatively late in antiquity in the area which might have been an eastern expansion of Proto-Albanian settlement as no other toponyms known in antiquity in the area presuppose an Albanian development. The development of Nish < Naiss- may also represent a regional development in late antiquity Balkans which while related may not be identical with Albanian. Vjosë is a river in southern Albania and northern Greece. In antiquity, it formed part of the boundary between Illyrian and Epirotic Greek languages. In the early Middle Ages, the Vjosa (in Greek, Aoos or Vovousa) river valley was settled by Slavic peoples. A gradual evolution within Albanian and a borrowing by Slavic-speakers or a borrowing from Slavic *Vojusha into Albanian have been proposed for Albanian Vjosë. Both propositions are disputed. Regardless of the etymology, the Vjosë valley is an area of Albanian-Slavic linguistic contact from the 6th-7th century onwards. Vlorë is a city in southwestern Albania. It was founded as ancient Greek colony Aulona (/Avlon/) in the pre-Roman era. Albanian Vlorë is a direct derivation from ancient Greek Aulon. A proposed Slavic intermediation from *Vavlona has been rejected as it doesn't conform to Albanian phonological development. The toponym has two forms, Vlorë (Tosk) and Vlonë (Gheg), which indicates that it was already in use among the population of Northern Albania before the appearance of rhotacism in Tosk. Shkodër is a city in northwestern Albania. It is one of the most significant settlements in Albania and in the pre-Roman era it was the capital of the Illyrian kingdom of Genthius. Late antiquity Scodra was a Romanized city, which even relatively late in the Middle Ages had a native Dalmatian-speaking population which called it Skudra. Slavic Skadar is a borrowing from the Romance name. The origin of Albanian Shkodër/Shkodra as a direct development of Illyrian