Neapoli (Greek: Νεάπολη, before 1928: Λειψίστα – Leipsista),[2][3][4] is a town in the Kozaniregional unit of West Macedonia in northern Greece. A former municipality, it has been a municipal unit of Voio since the 2011 local government reform.[5] The municipal unit has an area of 238.277 km2, the community 22.001 km2.[6] The municipal unit has a population of 3,246 while the community has 2,063 inhabitants (2021).[1] The community consists of the town Neapoli and village Melidoni.
Name
An original name of modern Neapoli was Lapsista (Λαψίστα).[7] Linguist Max Vasmer states the toponym was Lěvšišče and cognate with the Serbo–CroatianLepšić, a personal name derived from the Slavic word lěp meaning "nice".[8] Linguist Yordan Zaimov associated the toponym Lapsista with the Bulgarian toponym Lapšišta, deriving both from Lubčište in reference to a personal name formed from Lubko, with bč in Slavic rendered as ps (ψ) in Greek.[8]
Linguist Konstantinos Oikonomou derives the toponym from the Albanian word lafsh/ë referring to the plumage or plume of a rooster.[8] The term when applied in a geographical context could refer to small mountainous heights.[8] The word lafsh/ë along with either the Slavic ending or Albanian suffix ishta resulted in the phonetic form l'afšišta/liafšišta through the Albanian l (l'i) and Leafšišta or Leausista (Λεαυσίστα) where i became e near the l.[9] In the last form of the toponym, the sound ea turned into a and fš became ps (ψ) resulting in Lapsista (Λαψίστα).[7] Other villages with the name are Ano (Upper) and Lower (Kato) Lapsista in Greek Epirus.[10]
Under Ottoman rule, the town was known as Nasliç (ناسليچ) in Turkish.[11][3] In Greek, the form Anaselitsa (Ανασελίτσα), derived from a nearby village Seltsa (modern Eratyra) was also used for the town and the wider area until the late 1920s.[12][13]
History
Michael Kalinderis lists Leipista as populated by Greek speaking MuslimVallahades.[14] The 1920 Greek census recorded 1401 people in the town, and 250 inhabitants (130 families) were Muslim in 1923.[15] Following the Greek–Turkish population exchange, Greek refugee families in Leipsista were from East Thrace (3), Asia Minor (142), Pontus (85) and the Caucasus (8) in 1926.[15] The 1928 Greek census recorded 1592 town inhabitants.[15] In 1928, the refugee families numbered 239 (978 people).[15] The town mosque was destroyed and some remnants of its masonry were incorporated in the foundations of the Financial Tax Office building.[16]
^Katsikas, Stefanos (2012). "Hostage minority: The Muslims of Greece (1923–45)". In Fortna, Benjamin C.; Katsikas, Stefanos; Kamouzis, Dimitris; Konortas, Paraskevas (eds.). State-Nationalisms in the Ottoman Empire, Greece and Turkey: Orthodox and Muslims, 1830-1945. Routledge. p. 50. ISBN9781136220524.
