Vuk Vrčević ( sr-Cyrl, Вук Врчевић;

Risan Risan ( Montenegrin: Рисан, ) is a town in the Bay of Kotor, Montenegro. It traces its origins to the ancient settlement of Rhizon, the oldest settlement in the Bay of Kotor. Lying in the innermost portion of the bay, the settlement was prot ...

, 26 February 1811 –

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 ...

, 13 August 1882) was a collector of lyric poetry and companion of

Vuk Karadžić Vuk Stefanović Karadžić ( sr-Cyrl, Вук Стефановић Караџић, ; 6 November 1787 (26 October OS)7 February 1864) was a Serbian philologist, anthropologist and linguist. He was one of the most important reformers of the moder ...

, the famed linguist and reformer of the

Serbian language Serbian (, ) is the standard language, standardized Variety (linguistics)#Standard varieties, variety of the Serbo-Croatian language mainly used by Serbs. It is the official and national language of Serbia, one of the three official languages of ...

. He also translated into Serbian the poetical work of Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapessi, better known by his pseudonym Metastasio (1698–1782).

Biography

On 26 February, 1911, Vuk Vrčević was born in

of the

Bay of Kotor The Bay of Kotor ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Boka kotorska, Бока которска, separator=" / ", ), also known as the Boka ( sh-Cyrl, Бока), is a winding bay of the Adriatic Sea in southwestern Montenegro and the region of Montenegro concentrated a ...

, then under the rule of the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...

. His family was of

Serb The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history, and language. They primarily live in Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia ...

ian origin and settled in Boka Kotorska from time immemorial. His parents lived in poverty. Vrčević learnt languages early, becoming familiar with

Old Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic ( ) is the first Slavic literary language and the oldest extant written Slavonic language attested in literary sources. It belongs to the South Slavic subgroup of the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European ...

, Russian, Greek, Turkish, Latin, Italian, French, and German. When he was 20 years old, Vrčević's father, a well-respected clerk and schoolteacher who was battling

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

, died suddenly in 1831, leaving Vrčević's mother and 13 siblings in his care. That same year, they had all moved to

Budva Budva (Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Будва, or ) is a town in the Coastal Montenegro, Coastal region of Montenegro. It had 27,445 inhabitants as of 2023, and is the centre of Budva Municipality. The coastal area around Budva, called the Budv ...

, where Vrčević's first job was in a merchant's office as an agent of a trading company. In 1835,

Vuk Stefanović Karadžić VUK or Vuk may refer to: *Vuk (name), South Slavic given name ** Vuk, Ban of Bosnia (), a member of the Kotromanić dynasty ** Vuk Karadžić (1787–1864), Serbian language reformer and folklorist, often referred to simply as Vuk * ''Vuk'' (film) ...

was living in nearby Kotor at the time. It was there that Vrčević first made an acquaintance with Karadžić who had already started to reform and standardize the Serbian language and became his lifelong collaborator in collecting national folk songs and tales. Together with Priest Vuk Popović, he collected '' srbulje'' in Herzegovina and Montenegro. The ''Three Vuks'' (Karadžić, Popović and Vrčević), with support of Russian scholars, collected almost all remaining srbulje from Montenegro. He died at

on 13 August, 1882.

References

Sources

Jovan Skerlić Jovan Skerlić (, ; 20 August 1877 – 15 May 1914) was a Serbian writer and literary critic.''Jovan Skerlić u srpskoj književnosti 1877–1977: Zbornik radova''. Posebna izdanja, Institut za knjizevnost i umetnost, Belgrade. He is seen as o ...

, ''Istorije nove srpske kniževnosti'' (Belgrade, 1921), pages 239–275 * ''Hrvatska Lipa'' Magazine, Vol. I, No. 28, 1875, pages 228 and 233. * Милићевић, Милан Ђ. (1888). Поменик знаменитих људи у српског народа новијега доба. * Гавриловић, Андра (2008). Знаменити Срби XIX вијека. Београд: Научна КМД. {{DEFAULTSORT:Vrcevic, Vuk Serbian writers Bay of Kotor 1811 births 1882 deaths Linguists from Montenegro Montenegrin translators 19th-century Montenegrin people Montenegrin male writers Serbs of Montenegro