Eduard Hercigonja (20 August 1929 – 22 May 2022) was a Croatian

philologist 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 th ...

, Croatist and literary historian. University professor and a member of the

Croatian 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 J ...

, he authored several fundamental works on medieval Croatian literature and culture.

Biography

Hercigonja was born in Croatia's capital

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...

in 1929. After finishing primary and secondary school in Sisak, he received a degree in Slavic studies at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences 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 received his Ph.D. in 1970 with the thesis ''Jezik glagoljaške neliturgijske književnosti 15. stoljeća i Petrisov zbornik '' ('Language of the Glagolitic non-liturgical literature and Petris' miscellany'). He was elected as a

docent The title of docent is conferred by some European universities to denote a specific academic appointment within a set structure of academic ranks at or below the full professor rank, similar to a British readership, a French " ''maître de con ...

in 1970, as an associate professor in 1974, becoming a full professor in 1977. Since 1968 he has served as a head of the chair for the Old Church Slavonic language at the Department for Croatian Studies. Since 1977 he has been an associate, and since 1986 a full member of the

Work

Hercoginja's research interest focuses on Croatian Middle Ages. His ''Srednjovjekovna književnost'' ('Medieval literature') in »Liber's« edition ''Povijest hrvatske književnosti'' ('The history of Croatian literature'; Volume II, Zagreb 1975), based on extensive textological, linguistic and historical research of Glagolitic heritage, has managed to paint a different picture of medieval Croatian texts as what used to be called a 'precursor of literature' (A. Cronia). In a series of analytical papers he warns of

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 ...

Kajkavian Kajkavian (Kajkavian noun: ''kajkavščina''; Shtokavian adjective: ''kajkavski'' , noun: ''kajkavica'' or ''kajkavština'' ) is a South Slavic regiolect or language spoken primarily by Croats in much of Central Croatia, Gorski Kotar and no ...

(and also Old Church Slavonic) interference in Glagolitic manuscripts as a result of conscious and deliberate effort of medieval writers to expand the area of influence of their works. Some of the papers, as well as discussions on stylemastics, orthography, language, education, socio-economic situation and the potentials of Croatian Glagolites and their treatment in the historical accounts of Croatian literature, have been compiled in a book ''Nad iskonom hrvatske knjige'' (1986). As a researcher he always advocated a theory of the unity of Croatian medieval literature, despite its polyscriptal nature and dialectal diversity. This way he helped to provide a different perspective at the relationship of the Croatian Latinate literature, and that written in Croatian idioms. In the catalog of the exhibition ''Pisana riječ u Hrvatskoj'' (Muzejski prostor, Zagreb 1986) he published a study of three-script and three-lingual culture of the Croatian Middle Ages, which served as a basis of the book by the same name. In 1994 Matica hrvatska published his ''Tropismena i trojezična kultura hrvatskoga srednjovjekovlja'' conceived as an account of the most relevant facts from the 9th century Trpimir's inscription up to the 15th century first printed Croatian book (

Missale Romanum Glagolitice ''Missale Romanum Glagolitice'' ( hr, Misal po zakonu rimskoga dvora) is a Croatian missal and incunabulum printed in 1483. It is written in Glagolitic script and is the first printed Croatian book. It is the first missal in Europe not publishe ...

). His 2004 book ''Na temeljima hrvatske književne kulture: filološko medievističke rasprave'', also published by Matica, represents a compilation of author's 50 years of scientific work and study of Croatian literature since the Middle Ages till the 18th century. For his work he received state awards (1975 and 1983), and the Zagreb City Award (1975). He was an honorary scientific adviser of the

University of Osijek The Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek ( hr, Sveučilište Josipa Jurja Strossmayera u Osijeku, la, Universitas studiorum Mursensis), commonly known as the University of Osijek (UNIOS), is a public university based in Osijek, Croatia. ...

References

Hercigonja's biography
at the Matica hrvatska's website {{DEFAULTSORT:Hercigonja, Eduard 1929 births 2022 deaths Linguists from Croatia Croatian philologists 20th-century Croatian historians Members of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts Scientists from Zagreb