Franc Miklošič

Franc Miklošič

Fran Miklošič (also known in German as Franz Xaver Ritter von Miklosich) (20 November 1813 – 7 March 1891) was a Slovene philologist.

Early life

Miklošič was born in the small village of Radomerščak near the Lower Styrian town of Ljutomer, then part of the Austrian Empire. He graduated from the University of Graz with a doctor of philosophy degree.

Career

He was professor of philosophy at the University of Graz. In 1838, he went to the University of Vienna, where he received the degree of doctor of law. During his studies, he became influenced by the works of the Slovenian philologist and linguist Jernej Kopitar. He abandoned law, devoting most of his later life to the study of Slavic languages.

In 1844, he obtained a post at the Imperial Library of Vienna, where he remained to 1862. In 1844, he published a review of Franz Bopp's book Comparative Grammar, which attracted attention from the Viennese academic circles. This publication then launched a long series of works, in which Miklošič showed an immense erudition. His works led to a revolutionary change in the study of Slavic languages.

In 1849 Miklošič was appointed to the newly created chair of Slavic philology at the University of Vienna, and he occupied it until 1886. He became a member of the Academy of Vienna, which appointed him secretary of its historical and philosophical section, a member of the council of public instruction and of the upper house, and correspondent of the French Academy of Inscription. His numerous writings deal not only with the Slavic languages, but also with Romanian, Aromanian, Albanian, Greek, and Romani.

From 1872-1880, Miklošič published his original survey of Romani dialects, Über die Mundarten und Wanderungen der Zigeuner Europas. This work included a discussion of their origins, migration routes, an historical-comparative grammar, and a lexicon. He identified a substantial Greek element that was shared by the Romani dialects, and thus named a "Greek-speaking area" as the "European homeland of the Gypsies".

Political engagement

In the Spring of Nations of 1848, Miklošič, who was 35 at the time, actively engaged in the Slovene national movement. He was the chairman of the political association, called Slovenija (Slovenia) organized by Slovene students that studied in Graz and Vienna. Together with Matija Majar and Lovro Toman, he was among the authors who elaborated the political demand for a United Slovenia. After the failure of the revolutionary requests, he again turned to an exclusively academic activity.

Selected bibliography

• Lexicon linguae slovenicae veteris dialecti, 1850 (1862-65 als Lexicon Palaeoslovenico-graeco-latinum)
• Vergleichende Grammatik der slaw. Sprachen, 4 Bde., 1852–75
• Vergleichende Formenlehre der slavischen Sprachen, 582 pages, 1856, mainly consisting of the 3rd book of Vergleichende Grammatik, and for which he was awarded the Volney prize
• Monumenta Serbica Spectantia Historiam Serbiae, Bosniae, Ragusii, 1858 (Hg.)
• "Die Bildung der slavischen Personennamen", 1860
• Etymolog. Wörterbuch der slaw. Sprachen, 1886
• Über die Mundarten und Wanderungen der Zigeuner Europas, 12 Tle., 1872-80.

See also

• Austroslavism
• Culture of Slovenia

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: 

Further reading

• Franz Miklosich (Lemma by Katja Sturm-Schnabl, p. 186-193) in: Marija Mitrović, Die Geschichte der slowenischen Literatur von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart. Aus dem Serbokroatischen übersetzt, redaktionell bearbeitet und mit ausgewählten Lemmata und Anmerkungen ergänzt von Katja Sturm-Schnabl. Klagenfurt/Celovec – Ljubljana/Laibach – Wien/Dunaj 2001. 617 p. (Mohorjeva-Hermagoras), ISBN 978-3-85013-834-5 <http://www.hermagoras.at>.
• Walter Lukan (Hg.): Franz Miklosich (Miklošič): neue Studien und Materialien anläßlich seines 100. Todestages. Wien 1991 (= Österreichische Osthefte: Sonderheft 33).
• Katja Sturm-Schnabl, Der Briefwechsel Franz Miklosich's mit den Südslaven = Korespondenca Frana Miklošiča z Južnimi Slovani, Obzorja, Maribor 1991, XXIV, 855 S., ISBN 86-377-0565-0.
• Katja Sturm-Schnabl, Franz Miklosich als Wegbegleiter bei der Entstehung der ukrainischen Schriftsprache. In: Juliane Besters-Dilger, Michael Moser, Stefan Simonek (Hg.), Sprache und Literatur der Ukraine zwischen Ost und West – Мова та література України між сходом і заходом. Bern; Berlin; Bruxelles; Frankfurt am Main; New York; Oxford; Wien: Lang 2000,195 – 209.
• Katja Sturm-Schnabl, Franz Miklosich – ein „Europäer“ im 19. Jahrhundert. Short version http://www.inst.at/studies/s_0104_d.htm
• Katja Sturm-Schnabl, Fran Miklošič, An Early Visionary of European Integration in Philological Studies. The Difficult Path Towards the Acceptance of the Concept of Diversity and Plurality. http://cf.hum.uva.nl/natlearn/
• Katja Sturm-Schnabl, Aktualnost Miklošičevega znanstvenega dela in misli. In: Jezikovni zapiski . Glasilo inštituta zs slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU 10/2(2004)19 – 46.
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