Milan Rešetar (February 1, 1860 – January 14, 1942) was a

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

and

literary critic A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature' ...

from

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik, historically known as Ragusa, is a city in southern Dalmatia, Croatia, by the Adriatic Sea. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, a Port, seaport and the centre of the Dubrovni ...

Biography

Rešetar was born in

. After the gymnasium in Dubrovnik, he studied classical

philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...

and Slavic languages in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

and

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

. He worked as a high-school professor in

Koper Koper (; ) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, fifth-largest city in Slovenia. Located in the Slovenian Istria, Istrian region in the southwestern part of the country, Koper is the main urban center of the Slovene coast. Port of Koper i ...

Zadar Zadar ( , ), historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian, ; see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Croatia. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar ...

and

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enter ...

, and later a professor of Slavic studies on the universities of

and

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, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

). He also edited the Croatian edition of "''List drevnih zakona''" magazine. Rešetar was a student of Vatroslav Jagić. He was a notable member of the Serb-Catholic movement in Dubrovnik. After retirement, he moved to

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

where he died 1942. The main areas of his works included

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 ...

and accentology of

South Slavic languages The South Slavic languages are one of three branches of the Slavic languages. There are approximately 30 million speakers, mainly in the Balkans. These are separated geographically from speakers of the other two Slavic branches (West Slavic la ...

, as well as philologically impeccable editions of 15th to 18th century writers for the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts. He was one of founders of South Slavic dialectology, investigating features of Štokavian dialects (''Der Štokawische Dialect'', Vienna, 1907) and

Čakavian Chakavian or Čakavian (, , , proper name: or own name: ''čokovski, čakavski, čekavski'') is a South Slavic languages, South Slavic supradialect or language spoken by Croats along the Adriatic coast, in the historical regions of Dalmati ...

dialects, and also wrote a monography about Molise Croatian dialect. Milan Rešetar was the most conscientious and diligent commentator on The Mountain Wreath. He was also engaged in the field of

numismatics Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals, and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also inclu ...

(''Dubrovačka numizmatika'', 1924-1925), inheriting the interest and coin collection from his father Pavle, the last commander in

Kotor Kotor (Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Котор, ), historically known as Cattaro (from Italian language, Italian: ), is a town in Coastal Montenegro, Coastal region of Montenegro. It is located in a secluded part of the Bay of Kotor. The city has ...

during

Petar II Petrović-Njegoš Petar II Petrović-Njegoš ( sr-cyrl, Петар II Петровић-Његош, ; – ), commonly referred to simply as Njegoš (), was a List of rulers of Montenegro, Prince-Bishop (''vladika'') of Montenegro, poet and philosopher whose ...

's lifetime. The collection is kept at The National Museum in Prague.

Works

He wrote in Serbo-Croatian, German and Italian. His most important works include: *"''Čakavština i njene nekadašnje i sadašnje granice''" (''Čakavian Dialect, its Past and Present Boundaries'') * "''Štokavski dijalekat''" (''Štokavian Dialect'') * "''Nikša Zvijezdić''" of

Serbian Chancellery in Dubrovnik The Serbian Chancellery (), sometimes known as the Slavic Chancellery (словенска канцеларија), was a diplomatical and economical office of several states of Serbia in the Middle Ages (such as Kingdom of Serbia, Kingdom of Bosn ...

fame (1431-1455) * "''Najstariji dubrovački govor''" (''The Oldest Dialect of Dubrovnik'') * "''Najstarija dubrovačka proza''" (''The Oldest Literature of Dubrovnik''). His works in this area are, with a few exceptions, superseded by later areal linguistics and historical dialectology research. On the other hand, Rešetar's editions of the Renaissance and Baroque poets and playwrights are still the standard printed issues; only modern computerized textology analyses, done in the Institute for Croatian language and linguistics, have begun to question some aspects of his transliteration choices on the graphemics level. The big part of his work in this area remains highly regarded and confirmed by contemporary textology. His scientific attitudes towards the Ijekavian Štokavian dialect of Dubrovnik were driven by his own ethnic affiliation—like many other prominent members of the intelligentsia in Dubrovnik of his time. Convinced that the

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of Serbia, history, and Serbian lan ...

and the

Croats The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...

are one nation in two names, Rešetar held that Serbian and Croatian are one and the same language, and in that conviction he published two versions of its grammar - one with examples in Latin script and examples in Cyrillic script: ''Elementar-Grammatik der serbischen (kroatischen) Sprache'' (1916). He also wrote in German a lengthy book entitled ''Die serbokroatischen Kolonien süditaliens'' which was published in Vienna in 1911.

Other works

* ''Nikša Zvijezdić, dubrovački srpski kancelar XV. vijeka'' ikša Zvijezdić, A Serbian Chancellor in Dubrovnik in the 15th Century In: Glas - Srpska kraljevska akademija, 169 (1936) * ''Die serbokroatischen Kolonien Süditaliens'', Wien 1911 (Südslawische Dialektstudien; 5; Schriften der Balkankommission, Linguistische Abteilung; 9) (in Italian translatian with bibliography
''Le colonie serbocroate nell’Italia meridionale'', Campobasso 1997
* ''Elementargrammatik der serbokroatischen Sprache'', Berlin 1957 (Originally appeared as: ''Elementargrammatik der kroatischen Sprache''/''Elementargrammatik der serbischen Sprache'', Zagreb 1916) * ''Popis dubrovačkih vlasteoskijeh porodica'', Godišnjak Dubrovačkog učenog društva "Sveti Vlaho", knj. 1, Dubrovnik, 1929 * ''Dubrovačka numizmatika'', Belgrade 1924/25 * ''Der Štokavische Dialekt'', Wien 1907 (Schriften der Balkankommission, Linguistische Abteilung; 4) * ''Antologija dubrovačke lirike'' nthology of Dubrovnik Lyrics Belgrade 1894 * 'Najstarija dubrovačka proza'' he Oldest Dubrovnik Literature Belgrade 1952 (Posebna izdanja : Odeljenje Literature i Jezika / Srpska Akademija Nauka; 192)

References

External links

*
"Vjesnik" newspaper article
*
Tragom akribije
Article in "Vijenac" about International scientific meeting about Milan Rešetar in Vienna and Dubrovnik *Josip Lisac: "Milan Rešetar i njegovo doba", Kolo, 9, 1999, 3, 37–42. *Slavonic Library Prague, Czech Republic - Book collection "Ragusiana" from library of Milan Rešeta

{{DEFAULTSORT:Resetar, Milan Writers from Dubrovnik Serb-Catholic movement in Dubrovnik Dialectologists Linguists from Croatia 20th-century Croatian historians People from the Kingdom of Dalmatia 1860 births 1942 deaths Members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts Members of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts Linguists of Slavic languages Historians from Austria-Hungary