Nikica Kolumbić (6 October 1930 – 1 March 2009) was a

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

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

lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons and the art of compiling dictionaries. It is divided into two separate academic disciplines: * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionary, dictionaries. * The ...

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

. He graduated

Croatian studies Croatian studies or Croatistics (; ; ; ) is an academic discipline within Slavic studies which is concerned with the study of Croatian language, literature, history and culture. Within Slavic studies it belongs to the South Slavic subgroup. Besid ...

at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb in 1955, receiving a PhD in 1964 with a thesis ''On the origin and development of Croatian medieval passion poetry and drama'' (''Postanak i razvoj hrvatske srednjovjekovne pasionske poezije i drame'') at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zadar. There he continued to work as a professor of older

Croatian literature Croatian literature refers to literary works attributed to the medieval and modern culture of the Croats, Croatia, and Croatian language, Croatian. Besides the modern language whose shape and orthography were standardized in the late 19th centu ...

. He was the Editor-in-Chief of the first volume of the

Croatian Biographical Lexicon ''Croatian Biographical Lexicon'' () is a multi-volume biographical and bibliographical encyclopedia in Croatian, published by the Miroslav Krleža Institute of Lexicography. It contains biographies of prominent Croats, as well as foreigners w ...

(1983). Since 2002 he was a regular member of the

Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (; , HAZU) is the national academy of Croatia. HAZU was founded under the patronage of the Croatian bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer under the name Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts (, JAZU) since its ...

. His work on early Croatian literature is collected in books ''Hrvatska književnost od humanizma do manirizma'' (1980), ''Po običaju začinjavac'' (1994) and ''Poticaji i nadahnuća'' (2005). He edited and wrote commentaries on texts by

Marko Marulić Marko Marulić Splićanin (; ; 18 August 1450 – 5 January 1524), was a Croatian poet, lawyer, judge, and Renaissance humanist. He is the national poet of Croatia. According to George J. Gutsche, Marulić's epic poem '' Judita'' "is the first ...

(1994), and provided a modern poetic rendition of Marulić's ''

Judita ''Judith'' () is one of the most important Croatian literary works, an epic poem written by the "father of Croatian literature" Marko Marulić in 1501. Editions The work was finished on April 22, 1501, and was published three times during Mar ...

''. He also published a fictionalized biography of the Croatian humanist

Fran Trankvil Andreis Fran may refer to: People and fictional characters * Fran (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Fran (footballer, born 1969), Francisco Javier González Pérez, Spanish football manager and former midfielder * Fran (fo ...

(''Krvava rijeka'', 1979) and a number of papers and theater critiques. He died in

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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kolumbic, Nikica 20th-century Croatian historians Croatian lexicographers 1930 births 2009 deaths Scientists from Zagreb Members of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts 20th-century lexicographers