Petar Skok
Encyclopedia
Petar Skok is a Croatian linguist, and one of the world's foremost onomastics
experts.
Skok was born in the village of Jurkovo Selo, Žumberak. From 1892 to 1900 he attended the Higher Real Gymnasium
in Rakovac near Karlovac
. At the University of Vienna
(1900 - 1904) he studied Romance
and Germanic
philology and Indo-European studies
, passing his professorship exam in 1906. He received Ph.D. with a thesis on South French toponomastics.
As a high-school professor he taught in Banja Luka
and served as a librarian of the Royal museum in Sarajevo
. In the period from 1919 to his retirement, he worked at the Romance seminar department of the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Zagreb
, and taught French language and literature at Viša pedagoška škola in Zagreb.
He started writing as a gymnasium student, having published literary reviews under the pseudonym of P. S. Mikov. Later he devoted himself completely to Balkans linguistic studies, chiefly of Romance languages: Vulgar Latin
, Dalmatian
, with special interest to Romance influence on Croatian dialects and other languages in the Balkans. He studied history of Slavs, languages and interactions of languages from eastern coast of Adriatic into hinterland with special care to onomastics. Thanks to Skok's effort, the centre of Croatian onomastics studies has been since 1948 in the institution which is today Institute of Croatian Language and Linguistics
.
Skok died in Zagreb
.
He left in manuscript unfinished etymological dictionary that was published post mortem in 4 volumes under the title of Etimologijski rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika ("An etymological dictionary of Croatian or Serbian language"), 1971-1974, and which represents up until today the most voluminous Croatian etymological dictionary with more than 10 000 headwords. In the words of academic August Kovačec, Skok's etymological dictionary is a synthesis of "his scientific efforts as a whole in the fields of etymology and linguistics generally" and represents the most notable "contribution of a scientific individual to Croatian language and the study of Croatian language in the 20th century". Skok left his dictionary unfinished in manuscript - his notes were processed by his disciple and co-worker Valentin Putanec.
Later development of Skok's dictionary is directed twofoldly. The first one is by supplement, with the most valuable contribution being a work of Vojmir Vinja Jadranske etimologije: Jadranske dopune Skokovu etimologijskom rječniku ("Adriatic etymologies: Adriatic addenda to Skok's etymological dictionary") in three volumes. The last volume - the very much necessary index - is being prepared for publication.
The other direction is reducing massive Skok's dictionary into handbook work, more accessible to wider readership. Alemko Gluhak has thus published Hrvatski etimologijski rječnik (Zagreb, 1993, 832 pp.) with about 1800 headwords, about 7800 Croatian lexemes and more than 1000 personal names, native Croatian and of foreign origin, accompanied with a brief account of basic terms on genetic relationship among languages of the world.
(1987), Zadar
, Pula
, Krk
, Vukovar
and in Korčula
(2006).
Onomastics
Onomastics or onomatology is the study of proper names of all kinds and the origins of names. The words are from the Greek: "ὀνομαστικός" , "of or belonging to naming" and "ὀνοματολογία" , from "ὄνομα" "name". Toponymy or toponomastics, the study of place names, is one of the principal branches of...
experts.
Skok was born in the village of Jurkovo Selo, Žumberak. From 1892 to 1900 he attended the Higher Real Gymnasium
Gymnasium Karlovac
Gymnasium Karlovac , sometimes historically referred to as Higher Real Gymnasium, is a gymnasium in the city of Karlovac in Croatia. Housed in a dedicated building constructed in 1863, the school considers itself to have been founded as early as 1766. At that time, Karlovac was part of the Croatian...
in Rakovac near Karlovac
Karlovac
Karlovac is a city and municipality in central Croatia. The city proper has a population of 49,082, while the municipality has a population of 59,395 inhabitants .Karlovac is the administrative centre of Karlovac County...
. At the University of Vienna
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
(1900 - 1904) he studied Romance
Romance languages
The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...
and Germanic
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
philology and Indo-European studies
Indo-European studies
Indo-European studies is a field of linguistics dealing with Indo-European languages, both current and extinct. Its goal is to amass information about the hypothetical proto-language from which all of these languages are descended, a language dubbed Proto-Indo-European , and its speakers, the...
, passing his professorship exam in 1906. He received Ph.D. with a thesis on South French toponomastics.
As a high-school professor he taught in Banja Luka
Banja Luka
-History:The name "Banja Luka" was first mentioned in a document dated February 6, 1494, but Banja Luka's history dates back to ancient times. There is a substantial evidence of the Roman presence in the region during the first few centuries A.D., including an old fort "Kastel" in the centre of...
and served as a librarian of the Royal museum in Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
. In the period from 1919 to his retirement, he worked at the Romance seminar department of the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Zagreb
University of Zagreb
The University of Zagreb is the biggest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of Southeastern Europe...
, and taught French language and literature at Viša pedagoška škola in Zagreb.
He started writing as a gymnasium student, having published literary reviews under the pseudonym of P. S. Mikov. Later he devoted himself completely to Balkans linguistic studies, chiefly of Romance languages: Vulgar Latin
Vulgar Latin
Vulgar Latin is any of the nonstandard forms of Latin from which the Romance languages developed. Because of its nonstandard nature, it had no official orthography. All written works used Classical Latin, with very few exceptions...
, Dalmatian
Dalmatian language
Dalmatian was a Romance language spoken in the Dalmatia region of Croatia, and as far south as Kotor in Montenegro. The name refers to a pre-Roman tribe of the Illyrian linguistic group, Dalmatae...
, with special interest to Romance influence on Croatian dialects and other languages in the Balkans. He studied history of Slavs, languages and interactions of languages from eastern coast of Adriatic into hinterland with special care to onomastics. Thanks to Skok's effort, the centre of Croatian onomastics studies has been since 1948 in the institution which is today Institute of Croatian Language and Linguistics
Institute of Croatian Language and Linguistics
The Institute of Croatian Language and Linguistics is an official institute in Croatia whose purpose is to preserve and foster the Croatian language. It traces its history back to 1948, when it was part of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts...
.
Skok died in Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
.
Works
As an extremely prolific writer, Skok published dozens of books and hundreds of research papers in journals; his "revised" bibliography by Žarko Muljačić extends it to more than 650 works. Some of his notable books are:- Naša pomorska i ribarska terminologija na Jadranu (Split, 1933)
- Dolazak Slavena na Mediteran (Split, 1934)
- Pregled francuske gramatike I-II (Zagreb, 1938-1939)
- Osnove romanske lingvistike, I-III (Zagreb, 1940)
- Slavenstvo i romanstvo na jadranskim otocima I-II (Zagreb, 1950)
He left in manuscript unfinished etymological dictionary that was published post mortem in 4 volumes under the title of Etimologijski rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika ("An etymological dictionary of Croatian or Serbian language"), 1971-1974, and which represents up until today the most voluminous Croatian etymological dictionary with more than 10 000 headwords. In the words of academic August Kovačec, Skok's etymological dictionary is a synthesis of "his scientific efforts as a whole in the fields of etymology and linguistics generally" and represents the most notable "contribution of a scientific individual to Croatian language and the study of Croatian language in the 20th century". Skok left his dictionary unfinished in manuscript - his notes were processed by his disciple and co-worker Valentin Putanec.
Later development of Skok's dictionary is directed twofoldly. The first one is by supplement, with the most valuable contribution being a work of Vojmir Vinja Jadranske etimologije: Jadranske dopune Skokovu etimologijskom rječniku ("Adriatic etymologies: Adriatic addenda to Skok's etymological dictionary") in three volumes. The last volume - the very much necessary index - is being prepared for publication.
The other direction is reducing massive Skok's dictionary into handbook work, more accessible to wider readership. Alemko Gluhak has thus published Hrvatski etimologijski rječnik (Zagreb, 1993, 832 pp.) with about 1800 headwords, about 7800 Croatian lexemes and more than 1000 personal names, native Croatian and of foreign origin, accompanied with a brief account of basic terms on genetic relationship among languages of the world.
Legacy
In the honour of Petar Skok etymological-onomastics conferences are held with contributions of Croatian and foreign experts. So far 6 of them were held, chronologically in ZagrebZagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
(1987), Zadar
Zadar
Zadar is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Population of the city is 75,082 citizens...
, Pula
Pula
Pula is the largest city in Istria County, Croatia, situated at the southern tip of the Istria peninsula, with a population of 62,080 .Like the rest of the region, it is known for its mild climate, smooth sea, and unspoiled nature. The city has a long tradition of winemaking, fishing,...
, Krk
Krk
Krk is a Croatian island in the northern Adriatic Sea, located near Rijeka in the Bay of Kvarner and part of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar county....
, Vukovar
Vukovar
Vukovar is a city in eastern Croatia, and the biggest river port in Croatia located at the confluence of the Vuka river and the Danube. Vukovar is the center of the Vukovar-Syrmia County...
and in Korčula
Korcula
Korčula is an island in the Adriatic Sea, in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County of Croatia. The island has an area of ; long and on average wide — and lies just off the Dalmatian coast. Its 16,182 inhabitants make it the second most populous Adriatic island after Krk...
(2006).