Vatroslav Jagić (; July 6, 1838 – August 5, 1923) was a

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

n scholar of

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

in the second half of the 19th century.

Life

Jagić was born in

Varaždin ) , image_photo = , image_skyline = , image_flag = Flag of Varaždin.svg , flag_size = , image_seal = , seal_size = , image_shield = Grb_Grad ...

(then known by its

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

name of ''Warasdin''), where he attended the elementary school and is the place where he started his secondary-school education. He finished that level of education at the Gymnasium in

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 ...

. Having a particular interest in

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 ...

, he moved to

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

, where he was lectured in Slavic studies under the guidance of

Franz Miklosich Franz Miklosich (german: Franz Ritter von Miklosich, also known in Slovene as ; 20 November 1813 – 7 March 1891) was a Slovene philologist. Early life Miklosich was born in the small village of Radomerščak near the Lower Styrian town of Lju ...

. He continued his studies and defended his

doctoral dissertation A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...

''Das Leben der Wurzel 'dê in Croatischen Sprachen'' in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

(

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

) in 1871. Upon finishing his studies, Jagić returned to Zagreb, where from 1860 to 1870 he held the position of

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

at a Croatian high school. In 1869, Jagić was elected a full member of 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 ...

(now named the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts), and a correspondent member of the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. Next year, 1871, he became a professor of Slavic studies at

Odessa University Odesa I. I. Mechnykov National University ( uk, Одеський національний університет Iмені І. І. Мечникова, translit=Odeskyi natsionalnyi universytet imeni I. I. Mechnykova), located in Odesa, Ukraine, i ...

(Novorossiysk University) and worked also in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, where he moved in 1874 to become the very first professor of Slavic studies at the prestigious Friedrich Wilhelm University of Berlin. Jagić held this post until 1880, when he moved again and became teacher at the

University of St Petersburg Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the G ...

. In 1886, he returned to Vienna, where his studies started to be a replacement for retiring former lecturer Miklosich at 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 ...

. Here he taught, did research, and published until his own retirement in 1908. Jagić died in Vienna but was laid to rest in his native Varaždin.

Works

Works on

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

and language written by Jagić started to be published for the first time in the reports of the high school where he worked. In 1863, with his fellow researchers Josip Torbar and

Franjo Rački Franjo Rački (25 November 1828 – 13 February 1894) was a Croatian historian, politician and writer. He compiled important collections of old Croatian diplomatic and historical documents, wrote some pioneering historical works, and was a key f ...

he launched the journal ''Književnik''. In this journal, he published several articles regarding the problematic of the grammar, syntax, as well that one of history of the language used by

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 ...

. His works were noticed within the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts (JAZU), founded in Croatia in 1866. His works and polemics were mainly related to verbs,

paleography Palaeography ( UK) or paleography ( US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") is the study of historic writing systems and the deciphering and dating of historical manuscripts, including the analysi ...

, vocalization of the language, folk poetry, and its sources. At that time he also started publishing a collection of the works written by old Croatian writers. In Berlin, he started publishing the ''

Archiv für slavische Philologie ''Archiv für slavische Philologie'' is the oldest Slavic philological journal, generally considered as the best in the field at the time it was published. It was founded in 1875 by Vatroslav Jagić and published by Weidmannsche Buchhandlung in B ...

'' (Archive for Slavic Philology), and kept editing it for 45 years. The periodical focused the attention of scholars and the general public on the

Slavs Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...

, increasing their interest in Slavic languages and their culture. It also confirmed the importance of Slavic studies, its methodology, and its validity as a scholarly discipline. While in Vienna, his intention was to write an encyclopedia related to the philology of the Slavs. This idea caused him to write ''Istorija slavjanskoj filologii'' ("History of Slavic philology"). This book was published in St. Petersburg in 1910 and contains the retrospective on the development of Slavic studies from the beginning to the end of the 19th century. Jagić's work is impressive in scope and quality: Croatian linguist

Josip Hamm Josip Hamm (3 December 1905 – 23 November 1986) was a Croatian Slavist best known for his research on Old Church Slavonic language and literature. Biography Hamm was born in the village of Gat near Belišće and Valpovo. In 1924 he finished t ...

has remarked that Jagić's collected works would, put together, number more than 100 volumes of large format. Among his most famous students were the Polish Slavic specialist

Aleksander Brückner Aleksander Brückner (; 29 January 1856 – 24 May 1939) was a Polish scholar of Slavic languages and literatures (Slavistics), philologist, lexicographer and historian of literature. He is among the most notable Slavicists of the late 19th ...

and the Ukrainian poet and scholar

Ivan Franko Ivan Yakovych Franko (Ukrainian: Іван Якович Франко, pronounced ˈwɑn ˈjɑkowɪtʃ frɐnˈkɔ 27 August 1856 – 28 May 1916) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, social and literary critic, journalist, interpreter, economist, ...

Selected works

Interests

He was very interested in

Old Church Slavic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic () was the first Slavic literary language. Historians credit the 9th-century Byzantine missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius with standardizing the language and using it in translating the Bible and other ...

, and he concluded and proved that it did not originate in the central plains of

Pannonia Pannonia (, ) was a province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Pannonia was located in the territory that is now wes ...

, as most experts claimed, but in southern Macedonia. Jagić was interested in the life and work of

Juraj Križanić Juraj Križanić (c. 1618 – 12 September 1683), also known as Jurij Križanič or Yuriy Krizhanich (russian: Юрий Крижанич), was a Croatian Catholic missionary who is often regarded as the earliest recorded pan-Slavist. His ideal, of ...

(1618–1683), a Dominican priest that had shown considerable interest in

Pan-Slavism Pan-Slavism, a movement which crystallized in the mid-19th century, is the political ideology concerned with the advancement of integrity and unity for the Slavic people. Its main impact occurred in the Balkans, where non-Slavic empires had ruled ...

and cooperation between Catholicism and Orthodoxy.

External links

Jagić's biography
in Croatian
The grave of Vatroslav Jagic in Varazdin cemetery.
on Flickr - Photo Sharing! at www.flickr.com
A Portrait of Vatroslav Jagic (1838-1923) by Ivan Mestrovic in Varazdin town museum. on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
at www.flickr.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Jagic, Vatroslav 1838 births 1923 deaths People from Varaždin Croatian linguists Members of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts Full members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Full Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1917–1925) Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) Slavists Humboldt University of Berlin faculty Saint Petersburg State University faculty Academics of the University of Vienna Croatian philologists History of Varaždin