Josip Hamm (3 December 1905 – 23 November 1986) was a Croatian

Slavist Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic peoples, Slavic areas, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Sla ...

best known for his research on

Old Church Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic () was the first Slavic languages, Slavic literary language. Historians credit the 9th-century Byzantine Empire, Byzantine missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius with Standard language, standardizing the lan ...

language and literature.

Biography

Hamm was born in the village of Gat near

Belišće Belišće () is a town in Croatia, located in the region of Slavonia, Osijek-Baranja County, at the altitude of 93 m. The population of the town is 6,518 (2011), with 10,825 in the municipality. In 2011 census, the majority were Croats. This indus ...

and

Valpovo Valpovo is a town in Slavonia, Croatia. It is close to the Drava river, northwest of Osijek. The population of Valpovo is 7,406, with a total of 11,563 in the municipality. Name In Hungarian the town is known as ''Valpó'' and in German as ''Wa ...

. In 1924 he finished the classical gymnasium in

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

, and in 1929 he graduated in Slavic and Germanic studies at the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb ( hr, Sveučilište u Zagrebu, ; la, Universitas Studiorum Zagrabiensis) is the largest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of ...

. He worked as a lecturer at the gymnasiums in

Pristina Pristina, ; sr, / (, ) is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. The city's municipal boundaries in Pristina District form the largest urban center in Kosovo. After Tirana, Pristina has the second largest population of ethnic Albanians and ...

Karlovac Karlovac () is a city in central Croatia. According to the 2011 census, its population was 55,705. Karlovac is the administrative centre of Karlovac County. The city is located on the Zagreb- Rijeka highway and railway line, south-west of Zagre ...

and

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

. In 1931 he became a part-time

lector Lector is Latin for one who reads, whether aloud or not. In modern languages it takes various forms, as either a development or a loan, such as french: lecteur, en, lector, pl, lektor and russian: лектор. It has various specialized uses. ...

for

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

at the

Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences or the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb ( Croatian: ''Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu'') is one of the faculties of the University of Zagreb. History The Faculty of Philosophy is the oldest fac ...

. In 1934 he received his Ph.D. with the thesis ''Matija Petar Katančić, njegova djela i njegov dijalekt'' ('

Matija Petar Katančić Matija Petar Katančić ( la, Mathias Petrus Katancsich; 1750–1825) was a Croatian writer, professor of aesthetics and archaeology, lexicographer, and numismatist. Biography As a bootmaker's son from Valpovo, he received his initial education ...

, his works and dialect'). In 1946 he became permanent lector for Polish. In 1948 he received a position of ''docent'' for Slavic philology, with special care for Old Church Slavonic. He became an associate professor in 1954, and a tenured professor in 1958. Josip Hamm Mirogoj srpanj 2008

In 1960, he accepted the position of a regular professor of Slavic philology at the Department for Slavic studies of the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

, as well as the position of the head of the Institute for Slavic philology in Vienna. He also served as the head of the Linguistic department of Balkan commission (founded by

Vatroslav Jagić Vatroslav Jagić (; July 6, 1838 – August 5, 1923) was a Croatian scholar of Slavic studies in the second half of the 19th century. Life Jagić was born in Varaždin (then known by its German name of ''Warasdin''), where he attended the elem ...

in 1897) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. He was a regular member of the Austrian as well as the

Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts ( la, Academia Scientiarum et Artium Croatica, hr, Hrvatska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti, abbrev. HAZU) is the national academy of Croatia. HAZU was founded under patronage of the Croatian bishop Jo ...

. In 1952, together with

Svetozar Rittig Svetozar Rittig (6 April 1873 – 21 July 1961) was a Croatian Catholic priest, historian and politician. Early life and education Svetozar Rittig was born on 6 April 1873 in Slavonski Brod in a family of German origin. He attended Catholic Gym ...

and

Vjekoslav Štefanić Vjekoslav or Vekoslav is a male Slavic given name, meaning "''glorious through the ages''" . People * Vjekoslav Banovic - Croatian Australian football player *Vjekoslav Bastl - Croatian architect *Vjekoslav Bevanda - Former prime minister of Bosn ...

, he founded the

Old Church Slavonic Institute The Old Church Slavonic Institute ( hr, Staroslavenski institut) is Croatian public institute founded in 1952 by the state for the purpose of scientific research on the language, literature and paleography of the mediaeval literary heritage of the ...

in Zagreb, under whose patronage the journal '' Slovo'' was published. Hamm died in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

at the age of 81, and was buried in Zagreb.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamm, Josip 1905 births 1985 deaths People from Belišće People from the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia Linguists from Croatia Slavists Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb alumni Members of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts Academic staff of the University of Zagreb Academic staff of the University of Vienna Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery 20th-century linguists

Biography

See also

References

Bibliography