Sipas studiuesit Katičić emri i lashtë i qytetit në gjuhën greke ''Ναισσός/Naissós'' u bë '''''Nish''''' nëpërmjet rregullave strikte fonetik të gjuhës shqipe dhe më pas emri i qytetit në atë formë është huazuarpushtuar nga kolonët të reja sllave në shekullin e shtatë.<ref>Geniş, Şerife, & Kelly Lynne Maynard (2009). "[http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00263200903009619 Formation of a Diasporic Community: The History of Migration and Resettlement of Muslim Albanians in the Black Sea Region of Turkey]." ''Middle Eastern Studies''. '''45'''. (4): 557. “There is also philological evidence that Albanians had inhabited the region for centuries if not millennia. According to Katičić (1976), Nish is an Albanian and Slavic toponym that developed from Ancient Greek, which presupposes Albanian language mediation. In other words, based on the strict rules of sound change the only way the Greek City Ναισσός (Naeisu) could have the phonetic outcome Nish (niš) is via the sound changes which Albanian underwent. It was then borrowed from Albanian into Slavic. This means that when the Slavs arrived in Nish (seventh century) there would have already been a historic (proto)-Albanian presence.”; p. 568. “R. Katičić, ‘Ancient Languages of the Balkans’, State of the Art Reports 4, in W. Winter (ed.), ''Trends in Linguistics'' (The Hague: Mouton, 1976), p.186."</ref>
