Joan Coromines i Vigneaux (; also frequently spelled ''Joan Corominas''; Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, by Joan Corominas icand José Antonio Pascual, Editorial Gredos, 1989, Madrid, .

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the nort ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

1905 –

Pineda de Mar Pineda de Mar is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Maresme in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated on the coast between Calella and Santa Susanna. The main N-II road and a RENFE railway line run through the town. The town centre has several ...

, 1997) was a linguist who made important contributions to the study of

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

, and other

Romance languages The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language ...

. His main works are the ''

Diccionario crítico etimológico de la lengua castellana The ''Diccionario crítico etimológico de la lengua castellana'' is a four-volume etymological dictionary of Spanish compiled by the Catalan philologist Joan Corominas (1905-1997), and first published by Francke Verlag in Bern, Switzerland, in ...

'' (1954-1957), in four volumes, first version of his etymological dictionary of Spanish (with an abridged version, ''Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana'', first published in 1961); the '' Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana'', which investigates the origin of most words in the Catalan language (9 volumes); the ''Onomasticon Cataloniae'', documenting place and person names, old and new, in all the Catalan-speaking territories (8 volumes); and, with José Antonio Pascual, the '' Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico'', the most thorough etymological dictionary of Spanish extant today. Following this research, he—along with

Koldo Mitxelena Koldo Mitxelena Elissalt () (also known as ''Luis Michelena''; 1915, Errenteria, Gipuzkoa – 11 October 1987, San Sebastián) was an eminent Basque linguist. He taught in the Department of Philology at the University of the Basque Country, ...

—made key contributions to the study of the Basque language's geographical extent across the Pyrenees during the early Middle Ages. Coromines studied at the University of Barcelona, and started working on linguistics from an early age. At the same time, he held strongly

Catalanist Catalan nationalism is the ideology asserting that the Catalans are a distinct nation. Intellectually, modern Catalan nationalism can be said to have commenced as a political philosophy in the unsuccessful attempts to establish a federal state i ...

convictions all his life. He was forced into exile after the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...

, eventually holding a professorship at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

, in 1948. He returned to Catalonia later, and spent his last years working on his main works: the etymological dictionaries and the ''Onomasticon''. He refused several prizes from the Spanish government, in protest at the treatment of the Catalan language and culture in Spain. In honor of Coromines, in April 2006 the University of Chicago inaugurated the ''Càtedra Joan Coromines d'Estudis Catalans'', a teaching chair for visiting professors of Catalan language and literature.

References

Bibliography

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External links

Webpage devoted to Joan Coromines (lletrA (UOC), Catalan Literature (Online)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coromines, Joan 1905 births 1997 deaths People from Barcelona Linguists from Catalonia University of Barcelona alumni Premi d'Honor de les Lletres Catalanes winners Members of the Institute for Catalan Studies