Graziadio Isaia Ascoli
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Graziadio Isaia Ascoli (; 16 July 1829 – 21 January 1907) was an
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...
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 ...
.Graziadio Isaia Ascoli – ''Encyclopædia Britannica''
/ref>Archivio glottologico italiano : Ascoli, Graziadio Isaia, 1829–1907 ...
/ref>ASCOLI, Graziadio Isaia, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani
/ref>


Life and work

Ascoli was born in an Italian-speaking
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
family in the
multiethnic A multinational state or a multinational union is a sovereign entity that comprises two or more nations or states. This contrasts with a nation state, where a single nation accounts for the bulk of the population. Depending on the definition of ...
town of
Gorizia Gorizia (; sl, Gorica , colloquially 'old Gorizia' to distinguish it from Nova Gorica; fur, label= Standard Friulian, Gurize, fur, label= Southeastern Friulian, Guriza; vec, label= Bisiacco, Gorisia; german: Görz ; obsolete English ''Gorit ...
, then part of the
Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...
(now in Italy). Already as a boy, he learned some of the other languages traditionally spoken in the town, German, Friulian, Slovene and Venetian. An autodidact, he published his first important work on the languages of the Orient, ''Studii orientali e linguistici'', in 1854. In 1860, he was appointed professor of linguistics at the ''Accademia scientifico-letteraria'' in
Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
and introduced the study of
comparative philology Comparative linguistics, or comparative-historical linguistics (formerly comparative philology) is a branch of historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages to establish their historical relatedness. Genetic relatedness ...
,
Romance studies Romance studies or Romance philology ( an, filolochía romanica; ca, filologia romànica; french: romanistique; eo, latinida filologio; it, filologia romanza; pt, filologia românica; ro, romanistică; es, filología románica) is an acade ...
, and
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
. He made an important contribution to the study of the relationship between
Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...
and Semitic languages and was a pioneer in the fields of
Romani language Romani (; also Romany, Romanes , Roma; rom, rromani ćhib, links=no) is an Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani communities. According to '' Ethnologue'', seven varieties of Romani are divergent enough to be considered languages of their ...
and
Celtic languages The Celtic languages ( usually , but sometimes ) are a group of related languages descended from Proto-Celtic. They form a branch of the Indo-European language family. The term "Celtic" was first used to describe this language group by Edward ...
. In Italy, he is above all known for his studies of Italian dialects, which he was first to classify systematically. On the Italian language question (''questione della lingua''), he did not accept a standard language, based upon the Florentine dialect as proposed by
Alessandro Manzoni Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Antonio Manzoni (, , ; 7 March 1785 – 22 May 1873) was an Italian poet, novelist and philosopher. He is famous for the novel '' The Betrothed'' (orig. it, I promessi sposi) (1827), generally ranked among the maste ...
, but argued for a leveling of the dialects. In 1873 he founded the journal ', which became a source of original scholarship on the Italian language. He was the founder of the so-called
substratum In linguistics, a stratum (Latin for "layer") or strate is a language that influences or is influenced by another through contact. A substratum or substrate is a language that has lower power or prestige than another, while a superstratum or sup ...
theory, which explains instances of formation and development of languages as a result of interference with previous languages spoken by the populations in question. in 1889 Ascoli was appointed a member of the Senate of the
Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...
. He was awarded many honorary
orders Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...
, among which the Prussian/German "
Pour le Mérite The ' (; , ) is an order of merit (german: Verdienstorden) established in 1740 by Frederick the Great, King Frederick II of Prussia. The was awarded as both a military and civil honour and ranked, along with the Order of the Black Eagle, the Or ...
" and the Italian " Ordine civile di Savoia" and " Ordine dei SS. Maurizio e Lazzaro"; he was also a member of many scientific academies, such as the
Accademia dei Lincei The Accademia dei Lincei (; literally the "Academy of the Lynx-Eyed", but anglicised as the Lincean Academy) is one of the oldest and most prestigious European scientific institutions, located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in Rom ...
(since 1875) and the
Accademia della Crusca The Accademia della Crusca (; "Academy of the Bran"), generally abbreviated as La Crusca, is a Florence-based society of scholars of Italian linguistics and philology. It is one of the most important research institutions of the Italian language ...
(since 1895).


Political views

Ascoli considered himself foremost a Friulian and a
Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...
, but also an Italian patriot. One of his most lasting and politically most influential contributions was the coinage of the geographical term ''
Venezia Giulia Venezia Giulia, traditionally called Julian March ( Serbo-Croatian, Slovene: ''Julijska krajina'') or Julian Venetia ( it, Venezia Giulia; vec, Venesia Julia; fur, Vignesie Julie; german: Julisch Venetien) is an area of southeastern Europe w ...
'' to denote what was hitherto known as the Austrian Littoral. Ascoli suggested that
northeast Italy Northeast Italy ( it, Italia nord-orientale or just ) is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), a first level NUTS region and a European Parliament constituency. Northeast ...
was composed of three historically, geographically, and culturally interconnected regions, which he called the '' Three Venices''. According to his classification, these three historical-geographical regions were: *Euganean Venetia (''Venezia Euganea''), consisting of the Venetia region properly speaking (the current region of
Veneto Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...
and
Friuli Friuli ( fur, Friûl, sl, Furlanija, german: Friaul) is an area of Northeast Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity containing 1,000,000 Friulians. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli Venezia Giulia ...
); *Tridentine Venetia (''Venezia Tridentina''), that is that part of the
County of Tyrol The (Princely) County of Tyrol was an estate of the Holy Roman Empire established about 1140. After 1253, it was ruled by the House of Gorizia and from 1363 by the House of Habsburg. In 1804, the County of Tyrol, unified with the secularised pr ...
that lies south of the
Brenner Pass The Brenner Pass (german: link=no, Brennerpass , shortly ; it, Passo del Brennero ) is a mountain pass through the Alps which forms the border between Italy and Austria. It is one of the principal passes of the Eastern Alpine range and has ...
(corresponding to the current Italian region of Trentino-Alto Adige); *Julian Venetia (''Venezia Giulia''), which was the area of the Austrian Littoral, plus the Hungarian port of
Rijeka Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Primor ...
(Fiume). Ascoli coined these names following the internal divisions in the province of Italy during ancient Roman rule, and applied them to the 19th century. His geographical redefinition had a strong political implication: it was aimed at showing that the peripheral areas of the
Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...
were in fact gravitating towards Italy. His denomination was soon taken over by Italian irredentists who sought the annexation of the
Trentino Trentino ( lld, Trentin), officially the Autonomous Province of Trento, is an autonomous province of Italy, in the country's far north. The Trentino and South Tyrol constitute the region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, an autonomous region ...
, the Austrian Littoral,
Fiume Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Primor ...
and
Dalmatia Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...
to Italy. In
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the terms Venezia Giulia and Venezia Tridentina became the official names for the new territories acquired by Italy from
Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
with the treaties of Saint Germain and
Rapallo Rapallo ( , , ) is a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, located in the Liguria region of northern Italy. As of 2017 it had 29,778 inhabitants. It lies on the Ligurian Sea coast, on the Tigullio Gulf, between Portofino and Chiavar ...
. The
Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...
used Ascoli's terms to replace the previous traditional denominations, Tyrol and Austrian Littoral. The former term fell into disuse after the fall of the Fascist regime. The latter, however, still exists in the name of the Italian region
Friuli-Venezia Giulia (man), it, Friulana (woman), it, Giuliano (man), it, Giuliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_t ...
. The term "Venezia Euganea," on the other hand, never gained any significant support, although it was sporadically used during the Fascist period.


Bibliography

Works published in Italian: * G.I. Ascoli, ''La pasitelegrafia'', Trieste, Tipografia del Lloyd Austraco, 1851

', La pasitelegrafia by Graziadio Isaia Ascoli , LibraryThing
* G.I. Ascoli, "Del nesso ario-semitico. Lettera al professore Adalberto Kuhn di Berlino", ''Il Politecnico'', vol. 21 (1864), pp. 190–216 * G.I. Ascoli, "Del nesso ario-semitico. lettera seconda al professore Francesco Bopp", ''Il Politecnico'', vol. 22 (1864) pp. 121–151 * G.I. Ascoli, "Studi ario-semitici", ''Memorie del Reale Istituto Lombardo'', cl. II, vol. 10 (1867), pp. 1–36 * Pier Gabriele Goidànich: ''ASCOLI, Graziadio Isaia'', in: ''Enciclopedia Italiana'', Roma 1929
online
su ''treccani.it'') * S. Morgana – A. Bianchi Robbiati (curr.), ''Graziadio Isaia Ascoli "milanese". Giornate di Studio. 28 Febbraio – 1 Marzo 2007'', Milano, LED Edizioni Universitarie, 2009,


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ascoli, Graziadio 1829 births 1907 deaths People from Gorizia 19th-century Italian Jews Linguists from Italy Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Members of the Royal Society of Sciences and Letters in Gothenburg Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) Linguists of Indo-European languages Paleolinguists Linguists of Indo-Semitic languages