Under similar names, the Kriči have been periodically mentioned in historical sources, geographical and ethnological literature.
[2] Vladimir Ćorović (1885–1941) and Tatomir Vukanović (1907–1997) argued that the name derived from Thracian krisio, or Illyrian krüsi, which would according to the Albanian term kryeziu mean "dark, dark-haired or swarthy people".
[4] As such, Andrija Luburić and Mitar Pešikan presumed that the Kriči received their name from the Serbs because, supposedly, they "shouted" when they spoke.
[5] Aleksandar Loma considered possible derivation from the ethnonym of early Slavic tribe of Krivichs (via weakening of intervocalic in Zeta–Raška dialect).
[6] They lived in the region of the Tara river, with authors such as Bogumil Hrabak and Petrit Imami including them in a wave of other Albanian pastoral migrant groups, such as the Mataruge, the Žurovići and the Burmazi, who in the 12th and 13th centuries immigrated across the Zeta to the Neretva.
During the 14th centuries, the Albanian katuns had been largely assimilated by numerous Vlach communities, who were themselves in a process of Slavicisation.
[11] They several times violently fought with Drobnjaci tribe (including Kriči voivode Kalok[12]) and were moved over Tara river.
[17] Another belief recorded by P. Rudić, likely influenced by literature, was that the Kriči may have been descendants of Saxons (Sasi) that worked in the mines of Brskovo and around Pljevlja.