Milan Rešetar (February 1, 1860 – January 14, 1942) was a

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

and

literary critic Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...

from

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterran ...

Biography

Rešetar was born in

. After the gymnasium in Dubrovnik, he studied classical

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...

and Slavic languages 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 ...

and

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

. He worked as a high-school professor in

Koper Koper (; it, Capodistria, hr, Kopar) is the fifth largest city in Slovenia. Located in the Istrian region in the southwestern part of the country, approximately five kilometres () south of the border with Italy and 20 kilometres () from Triest ...

Zadar Zadar ( , ; historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian: ); see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited Croatian city. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar serv ...

and

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, entertai ...

, and later a professor of Slavic studies on the universities of

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

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 ...

). He also edited the Croatian edition of "''List drevnih zakona''" magazine. Rešetar was a student of

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 el ...

. He was a notable member of the

Serb-Catholic movement in Dubrovnik The Serb-Catholic movement in Dubrovnik ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / ", Дубровачки србокатолички покрет, Dubrovački srbokatolički pokret) was a cultural and political movement of people from Dubrovnik who, while Catho ...

. After retirement, he moved to

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

where he died 1942. The main areas of his works included

dialectology Dialectology (from Greek , ''dialektos'', "talk, dialect"; and , '' -logia'') is the scientific study of linguistic dialect, a sub-field of sociolinguistics. It studies variations in language based primarily on geographic distribution and their ass ...

and

accentology Accentology involves a systematic analysis of word or phrase stress. Sub-areas of accentology include Germanic accentology, Balto-Slavic accentology, Indo-European accentology, and Japanese accentology. See also *Proto-Slavic accent Proto-Slavic ...

South Slavic languages The South Slavic languages are one of three branches of the Slavic languages. There are approximately 30 million speakers, mainly in the Balkans. These are separated geographically from speakers of the other two Slavic branches (West and East) ...

, as well as philologically impeccable editions of 15th to 18th century writers for 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 ...

. He was one of founders of South Slavic dialectology, investigating features of Štokavian dialects (''Der Štokawische Dialect'', Vienna, 1907) and

Čakavian Chakavian or Čakavian (, , , sh-Latn, čakavski proper name: or own name: ''čokovski, čakavski, čekavski'') is a South Slavic regiolect or language spoken primarily by Croats along the Adriatic coast, in the historical regions of Dalmat ...

dialects, and also wrote a monography about

Molise Croatian dialect ''Slavomolisano'', also known as Molise Slavic or Molise Croatian, is a variety of Shtokavian Serbo-Croatian spoken by Italian Croats in the province of Campobasso, in the Molise Region of southern Italy, in the villages of Montemitro (), Acq ...

. Milan Rešetar was the most conscientious and diligent commentator on

The Mountain Wreath ''The Mountain Wreath'' ( sr, Горски вијенац / Gorski vijenac) is a poem and a play written by Prince-Bishop and poet Petar II Petrović-Njegoš. Njegoš wrote ''The Mountain Wreath'' during 1846 in Cetinje and published it the fol ...

. He was also engaged in the field of

numismatics Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also includ ...

(''Dubrovačka numizmatika'', 1924-1925), inheriting the interest and coin collection from his father Pavle, the last commander in

Kotor Kotor (Montenegrin Cyrillic: Котор, ), historically known as Cattaro (from Italian: ), is a coastal town in Montenegro. It is located in a secluded part of the Bay of Kotor. The city has a population of 13,510 and is the administrative c ...

during

Petar II Petrović-Njegoš Petar II Petrović-Njegoš ( sr-cyrl, Петар II Петровић-Његош, ; – ), commonly referred to simply as Njegoš (), was a Prince-Bishop (''vladika'') of Montenegro, poet and philosopher whose works are widely considered ...

's lifetime. The collection is kept at The National Museum in Prague.

Works

He wrote in Croatian, German and Italian. His most important works include: *"''Čakavština i njene nekadašnje i sadašnje granice''" (''Čakavian Dialect, its Past and Present Boundaries'') * "''Štokavski dijalekat''" (''Štokavian Dialect'') * "''Nikša Zvijezdić''" of

Serbian Chancellery in Dubrovnik The Serbian Chancellery ( sr, Српска канцеларија), sometimes known as the Slavic Chancellery (словенска канцеларија), was a diplomatical and economical office of several states of Serbia in the Middle Ages (suc ...

fame (1431-1455) * "''Najstariji dubrovački govor''" (''The Oldest Dialect of Dubrovnik'') * "''Najstarija dubrovačka proza''" (''The Oldest Literature of Dubrovnik''). His works in this area are, with a few exceptions, superseded by later areal linguistics and historical dialectology research. On the other hand, Rešetar's editions of the Renaissance and Baroque poets and playwrights are still the standard printed issues; only modern computerized textology analyses, done in the Institute for Croatian language and linguistics, have begun to question some aspects of his transliteration choices on the graphemics level. The big part of his work in this area remains highly regarded and confirmed by contemporary textology. His scientific attitudes towards the Ijekavian Štokavian dialect of Dubrovnik were driven by his own ethnic affiliation—like many other prominent members of the intelligentsia in Dubrovnik of his time. Convinced that the

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...

and the

Croats The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic, G ...

are one nation in two names, Rešetar held that Serbian and Croatian are one and the same language, and in that conviction he published two versions of its grammar - one with examples in Latin script and examples in Cyrillic script: ''Elementar-Grammatik der serbischen (kroatischen) Sprache'' (1916). He also wrote in German a lengthy book entitled ''Die serbokroatischen Kolonien süditaliens'' which was published in Vienna in 1911.

Other works

* ''Nikša Zvijezdić, dubrovački srpski kancelar XV. vijeka'' ikša Zvijezdić, A Serbian Chancellor in Dubrovnik in the 15th Century In: Glas - Srpska kraljevska akademija, 169 (1936) * ''Die serbokroatischen Kolonien Süditaliens'', Wien 1911 (Südslawische Dialektstudien; 5; Schriften der Balkankommission, Linguistische Abteilung; 9) (in Italian translatian with bibliography
''Le colonie serbocroate nell’Italia meridionale'', Campobasso 1997
* ''Elementargrammatik der serbokroatischen Sprache'', Berlin 1957 (Originally appeared as: ''Elementargrammatik der kroatischen Sprache''/''Elementargrammatik der serbischen Sprache'', Zagreb 1916) * ''Popis dubrovačkih vlasteoskijeh porodica'', Godišnjak Dubrovačkog učenog društva "Sveti Vlaho", knj. 1, Dubrovnik, 1929 * ''Dubrovačka numizmatika'', Belgrade 1924/25 * ''Der Štokavische Dialekt'', Wien 1907 (Schriften der Balkankommission, Linguistische Abteilung; 4) * ''Antologija dubrovačke lirike'' nthology of Dubrovnik Lyrics Belgrade 1894 * 'Najstarija dubrovačka proza'' he Oldest Dubrovnik Literature Belgrade 1952 (Posebna izdanja : Odeljenje Literature i Jezika / Srpska Akademija Nauka; 192)

References

External links

*
"Vjesnik" newspaper article
*
Tragom akribije
Article in "Vijenac" about International scientific meeting about Milan Rešetar in Vienna and Dubrovnik *Josip Lisac: "Milan Rešetar i njegovo doba", Kolo, 9, 1999, 3, 37–42. *Slavonic Library Prague, Czech Republic - Book collection "Ragusiana" from library of Milan Rešeta

{{DEFAULTSORT:Resetar, Milan Writers from Dubrovnik Serb-Catholic movement in Dubrovnik Dialectologists Linguists from Croatia 20th-century Croatian historians People from the Kingdom of Dalmatia 1860 births 1942 deaths Members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts Members of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts Slavists