Pompeu Fabra
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Pompeu Fabra i Poch (;
Gràcia Gràcia () is a district of the city of Barcelona, Spain. It comprises the neighborhoods of Vila de Gràcia, Vallcarca i els Penitents, El Coll, La Salut and Camp d'en Grassot i Gràcia Nova. Gràcia is bordered by the districts of Eixample to th ...
,
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 c ...
, 20 February 1868 – Prada de Conflent, 25 December 1948) was a Spanish engineer and
grammarian Grammarian may refer to: * Alexandrine grammarians, philologists and textual scholars in Hellenistic Alexandria in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE * Biblical grammarians, scholars who study the Bible and the Hebrew language * Grammarian (Greco-Roman ...
. He was the main author of the normative reform of contemporary
Catalan language Catalan (; autonym: , ), known in the Valencian Community and Carche as '' Valencian'' (autonym: ), is a Western Romance language. It is the official language of Andorra, and an official language of three autonomous communities in eastern ...
.


Life

Pompeu Fabra was born in Gràcia, which at that time was still separate from Barcelona, in 1868. He was the last of twelve children born to Josep Fabra i Roca and his wife Carolina Poch i Martí. When Pompeu was six, the family moved to Barcelona. From a fairly young age Fabra dedicated himself to the study of the Catalan language. Through the journal and publishing house , he participated in a campaign to reform
Catalan orthography The Catalan and Valencian orthographies encompass the spelling and punctuation of standard Catalan (set by the IEC) and Valencian (set by the AVL). There are also several adapted variants to the peculiarities of local dialects of Insular Catala ...
between 1890–92. He published ''Tractat d'ortografia catalana'' with the writer and publisher and , a notable lawyer and writer, in 1904. Despite his personal interest in linguistics, Fabra studied industrial engineering in
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 c ...
and in 1902 accepted a chair of chemistry position at the School of Engineering in
Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...
. During his tenure in Bilbao, Fabra participated actively in the First International Congress of the Catalan Language held in 1906. This event gave him a certain prestige in the field of Catalan linguistics. In 1911, he returned to Barcelona to become a professor ('' catedràtic'') of Catalan — a position created by the ''diputació'' (local government) of Barcelona — and a member of the department of
philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as ...
at the newly created
Institut d'Estudis Catalans The Institute for Catalan Studies ( ca, Institut d'Estudis Catalans, ), also known by the acronym IEC, is an academic institution which seeks to undertake research and study into "all elements of Catalan culture". It is based in Barcelona, Catal ...
, of which he would later become president. In 1912 he published his ''Gramática de la lengua catalana'' (in Spanish). The Institute published the ''Normes ortogràfiques'' in 1913, the ''Diccionari ortogràfic'' in 1917, and its official ''Gramàtica catalana'' in 1918. That same year, Fabra also edited the textbook ''Curs mitjà de gramàtica catalana,'' published by l'Associació Protectora de l'Ensenyança Catalana. His "Converses filològiques," first published in the newspaper " La Publicitat," were later collected as "Popular Barcino." Probably his most famous work was the ''
Diccionari General de la Llengua Catalana The ''Diccionari General de la Llengua Catalana'' by Pompeu Fabra is a Catalan dictionary, first published in fascicles in 1931. It was the Standard Catalan dictionary until 1995, when the Institut d'Estudis Catalans The Institute for Catalan S ...
'' (1932), the first edition of which later became the Institute's official dictionary. Pompeu Fabra is located in the center In 1932, owing to his scientific prestige, he was unanimously named a professor (''catedràtic'') of the Republican ''Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona'' (not to be confused with the later Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona created in the 1960s during the Francoist régime). The following year he was named President of the University's governing council, which resulted in his imprisonment in 1934 following the "events of 6 October" when troops of the
Second Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of Alfonso XIII, King Alfonso XIII, and was di ...
put down a Catalan government uprising led by
Lluis Companys Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archai ...
. Fabra was reinstated to his faculty position after the elections of February 1936, but 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, lin ...
began in July of that year, and he had to flee his country when Barcelona was being invaded by the Francoist army. By 1939 he was in exile in
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
where he endured many hardships. He lived in
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
and
Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...
, where he presided over the ''
Jocs Florals Floral Games were any of a series of historically related poetry contests with floral prizes. In Occitan, their original language, and Catalan they are known as '' Jocs florals'' (; modern Occitan: ''Jòcs florals'' , or ''floraus'' ). In French ...
'' literary competition in 1946. He eventually moved to Prada de Conflent in the
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 ...
-speaking area of France, where he died on 25 December 1948. At some point during the exile he made his will in
Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...
, so that it would be done in a country where Catalan was the official language.


Legacy

Every year, his tomb in the Cuixà monastery near Prada is visited by thousands of Catalans. The
Universitat Pompeu Fabra Pompeu Fabra University ( ca, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, UPF, ; es, link=no, Universidad Pompeu Fabra) is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia in Spain. The university was created by the Autonomous Government of Catalo ...
in Barcelona bears his name.


Books

* ''Tractat de ortografia catalana'' (1904) * ''Qüestions de gramàtica catalana'' (1911) * ''La coordinació i la subordinació en els documents de la cancilleria catalana durant el segle XIV'' (1926) * ''Diccionari ortogràfic abreujat'' (1926) * ''La conjugació dels verbs en català'' (1927) * ''Diccionari ortogràfic: precedit d'una exposició de l'ortografia catalana'' (1931) * ''El català literari'' (1932)


References


Bibliography

* ''The Architect of Modern Catalan: selected writings /Pompeu Fabra (1868-1948)''; translation by Alan Yates. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Co.


External links

*
Biographical notice by Josep Pla (in Catalan)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fabra, Pompeu 1868 births 1948 deaths People from Barcelona Linguists from Catalonia Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in France Renaixença Pompeu Fabra University Linguists of Catalan Members of the Institute for Catalan Studies Language reformers Lexicographers of Catalan 20th-century lexicographers