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Germà Colón i Doménech (30 November 1928 – 22 March 2020) was a Spanish
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 strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...
of Romance philology and Catalan lexicology. He was appointed a professor at the
University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis''; German: ''Universität Basel'') is a public research university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest univ ...
, in
Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
.


Biography

Born on 30 November 1928 in
Castellón de la Plana Castellón de la Plana (in ), or simply Castellón (), is the capital city of the province of Castellón, in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is located in the east of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Costa del Azahar by the Mediterranean Sea. Th ...
, Colón studied romance philology in the University of Barcelona with noted philologists such as Antoni Maria Badia i Margarit and Martí de Riquer, before graduating in 1951. He got his PhD the next year in the University of Madrid, with a thesis about
dialectology Dialectology (from Ancient Greek, Greek , ''dialektos'', "talk, dialect"; and , ''-logy, -logia'') is the scientific study of dialects: subsets of languages. Though in the 19th century a branch of historical linguistics, dialectology is often now c ...
(about the Castelló dialect). Afterwards he got a grant and went to
Leuven Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...
and
Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
, where he met some of the most prestigious European romanists, such as dialectologist Sever Pop (1901–1961), author of ''La dialectologie''. The
Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...
philologist Walther von Wartburg proposed him as a lecturer of Spanish in the
University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis''; German: ''Universität Basel'') is a public research university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest univ ...
, where he remained. Since then, he was promoted gradually: '' Privat-Dozent'' since 1959, university teacher in 1963, and professor since 1967. After 1997, he became professor
emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...
. He was at the same time a teacher at the
University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. Founded in the 16th century by Johannes Sturm, it was a center of intellectual life during ...
(from 1968 to 1972) and the
Autonomous University of Barcelona The Autonomous University of Barcelona (; Spanish: ; ; UAB) is a public university mostly located in Cerdanyola del Vallès, near the city of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. , the university consists of 57 departments in the experimental, lif ...
(1973–74). He became a member of the ''Real Academia de las Buenas Letras de Barcelona'' and the Commission for the publication of Ramon Llull's works. He joined as a member of the consultant board of the ''Els Nostres Clàssics'' collection and the editorial staff of the magazine ''Estudis de Llengua i Literatura Catalanes''. He had been an honorary consultant of the International Association of Catalan Language and Literature (he was president from 1976 to 1982) and member of the Institute of Catalan Studies. He received the Sanchis Guarner prize, that was given by the Jaume I Foundation (1987), the Honorary Prize of the Valencian Letters (1988), the Prat de la Riba prize (given by the) IEC (1979), the Serra d'Or prize (1981), the Creu de Sant Jordi (1985) and the Literature Prize of the
Generalitat de Catalunya The Generalitat de Catalunya (; ; ), or the Government of Catalonia, is the institutional system by which Catalonia is self-governed as an autonomous community of Spain. It is made up of the Parliament of Catalonia, the President of the Govern ...
(1987). In 1999, he received also the ''Gran Cruz de Alfonso X el Sabio''. He received an honorary degree from the University of Valencia in 1984, from the University of Alicante in October 1990, from the University Jaume I of Castellón and the
Autonomous University of Barcelona The Autonomous University of Barcelona (; Spanish: ; ; UAB) is a public university mostly located in Cerdanyola del Vallès, near the city of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. , the university consists of 57 departments in the experimental, lif ...
in January 2003. He donated his personal library (more than 20,000 volumes) to the University Jaume I of Castellón.


Death

Colón died in his home in Barcelona on 22 March 2020, at the age of 91. The cause of death was reported as
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
, and had been suffering from respiratory problems for several years before.


Selected works

* ''El léxico catalán en la Romania'' (1976). * ''La llengua catalana en els seus textos'' (1978). * ''El panorama de la lexicografia catalana'' (1986). * ''Problemes de la llengua a València i als seus voltants'' (1987). * ''El español y el catalán, juntos y en contraste'' (1989). * ''Estudis de filologia catalana i romànica'' (1997). * ''Para la historia del léxico español'' (2002). * ''De Ramon Llull al'' Diccionari ''de Fabra. Acostament lingüístic als monuments de les lletres catalanes'' (2003).


References


External links



Biography of Germà Colon in the UAB website (in Catalan).

Foundation Germà Colon i Domènech website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Colon, Germa 1928 births 2020 deaths Linguists from Catalonia University of Barcelona alumni Academic staff of the University of Basel People from Castellón de la Plana Complutense University of Madrid alumni Academic staff of the University of Strasbourg Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain