Matija Murko
Encyclopedia
Matija Murko also known as Mathias Murko (10 February 1861 - 11 February 1952) was a Slovene scholar, known mostly for his work on oral epic traditions in the Serbo-Croatian
language (Serbian
, Bosnian
, Croatian
).
near Ptuj
, Lower Styria
, in what was then the Austrian Empire
and is now in Slovenia
. He attended high school in Ptuj and Maribor
. He studied Slavic and Germanic philology at the University of Vienna
, where he was a pupil of Franc Miklošič
. After obtaining his PhD
in Vienna
in 1886, he went to postdoctoral studies to Moscow
. From 1897 to 1902, he taught Slavic philology at the University of Vienna, from 1902 to 1917 at the University of Graz
, and from 1917 to 1920 at the University of Leipzig
. From 1920 to 1931, he taught at Charles University in Prague
, where he settled and lived until his death in 1952.
Murko had an intense social life and was a personal friend of figures as Ivan Hribar
, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and Karel Kramář
. During his lifetime, he became a member of numerous academies of sciences around Europe
, especially in Slavic countries: the Yugoslav, the Serbian
, the Czech
, the Soviet, the Bulgarian
, the Polish
and the Slovenian
. He conferred a doctorate honoris causa by Charles University in Prague in 1909 and by the University of Ljubljana
in 1951.
. He published several scientific works in the field of ethnology
, cultural
and literary history. Influenced by the historian Karl Lamprecht, Murko published the book Geschichte der aeltern slawischen Literaturen ("History of Ancient Slavic Literatures", Leipzig
, 1908), in which he presented the older Slavic literatures as a reflection of their collective cultural and social life of those people. He also wrote on the history of Slovenian literature
, especially on Prešeren
and Protestant authors from the 16th century, such as Primož Trubar
, Jurij Dalmatin
and Sebastijan Krelj.
Since Murko published mostly in German
and French
, his work was little known to scholars unfamiliar with these languages, but it had an important influence on Milman Parry
, who was studying for his doctorate at the Sorbonne
in Paris
under Antoine Meillet
, at the time when Murko's major work appeared in French.
His work was praised by the renowned Austria
n critic Hermann Bahr
, who regarded it as one of the finest examples of style in contemporary scientific prose. Murko also influenced the development of modern Slovenian literary history, especially Fran Ilešič, Ivan Prijatelj and France Kidrič.
Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat, less commonly Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian , is a South Slavic language with multiple standards and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro...
language (Serbian
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
, Bosnian
Bosnian language
Bosnian is a South Slavic language, spoken by Bosniaks. As a standardized form of the Shtokavian dialect, it is one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina....
, Croatian
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
).
Life
Murko was born in the small village of DrsteljaDestrnik
Destrnik is a settlement and a municipality in northeastern Slovenia. It lies in the Slovenske Gorice hills, to the north of Ptuj. The area was part of the traditional region of Lower Styria. It is now included in the Drava statistical region....
near Ptuj
Ptuj
Ptuj is a city and one of 11 urban municipalities in Slovenia. Traditionally the area was part of the Lower Styria region. The municipality is now included in the Podravje statistical region...
, Lower Styria
Lower Styria
Lower Styria or Slovenian Styria is a traditional region in northeastern Slovenia, comprising the southern third of the former Duchy of Styria. The population of Lower Styria in its historical boundaries amounts to around 705,000 inhabitants, or 34.5% of the population of Slovenia...
, in what was then the Austrian Empire
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
and is now in Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
. He attended high school in Ptuj and Maribor
Maribor
Maribor is the second largest city in Slovenia with 157,947 inhabitants . Maribor is also the largest and the capital city of Slovenian region Lower Styria and the seat of the Municipality of Maribor....
. He studied Slavic and Germanic philology at the University of Vienna
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
, where he was a pupil of Franc Miklošič
Franc Miklošic
Fran Miklošič , was a Slovene philologist.-Biography:Miklošič was born in the small village of Radomerščak near the Lower Styrian town of Ljutomer, then part of the Austrian Empire....
. After obtaining his PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
in 1886, he went to postdoctoral studies to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. From 1897 to 1902, he taught Slavic philology at the University of Vienna, from 1902 to 1917 at the University of Graz
University of Graz
The University of Graz , a university located in Graz, Austria, is the second-largest and second-oldest university in Austria....
, and from 1917 to 1920 at the University of Leipzig
University of Leipzig
The University of Leipzig , located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities in the world and the second-oldest university in Germany...
. From 1920 to 1931, he taught at Charles University in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, where he settled and lived until his death in 1952.
Murko had an intense social life and was a personal friend of figures as Ivan Hribar
Ivan Hribar
Ivan Hribar was a Slovene and Yugoslav banker, politician, diplomat and journalist. At the turn of the century, he was one of the leaders of the National Progressive Party, and one of the most important figures of Slovene liberal nationalism...
, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and Karel Kramář
Karel Kramár
Karel Kramář was a Czech politician.- Biography :Leader of the Young Czech Party in Austria-Hungary and later of the National Democratic Party in Czechoslovakia...
. During his lifetime, he became a member of numerous academies of sciences around Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, especially in Slavic countries: the Yugoslav, the Serbian
Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts is the most prominent academic institution in Serbia today...
, the Czech
Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic
The Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic was established in 1992 by the Czech National Council as the Czech successor of the former Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. The Academy is the leading non-university public research institution in the Czech Republic...
, the Soviet, the Bulgarian
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences is the National Academy of Bulgaria, established in 1869. The Academy is autonomous and has a Society of Academicians, Correspondent Members and Foreign Members...
, the Polish
Polish Academy of Sciences
The Polish Academy of Sciences, headquartered in Warsaw, is one of two Polish institutions having the nature of an academy of sciences.-History:...
and the Slovenian
Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts is the national academy of Slovenia, which encompasses science and the arts and brings together the top Slovene researchers and artists as members of the academy....
. He conferred a doctorate honoris causa by Charles University in Prague in 1909 and by the University of Ljubljana
University of Ljubljana
The University of Ljubljana is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. With 64,000 enrolled graduate and postgraduate students, it is among the largest universities in Europe.-Beginnings:...
in 1951.
Work and influence
Murko was trained in the positivistic style of philologyPhilology
Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...
. He published several scientific works in the field of ethnology
Ethnology
Ethnology is the branch of anthropology that compares and analyzes the origins, distribution, technology, religion, language, and social structure of the ethnic, racial, and/or national divisions of humanity.-Scientific discipline:Compared to ethnography, the study of single groups through direct...
, cultural
Cultural history
The term cultural history refers both to an academic discipline and to its subject matter.Cultural history, as a discipline, at least in its common definition since the 1970s, often combines the approaches of anthropology and history to look at popular cultural traditions and cultural...
and literary history. Influenced by the historian Karl Lamprecht, Murko published the book Geschichte der aeltern slawischen Literaturen ("History of Ancient Slavic Literatures", Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
, 1908), in which he presented the older Slavic literatures as a reflection of their collective cultural and social life of those people. He also wrote on the history of Slovenian literature
Slovenian literature
Slovene literature, meaning the literature in the Slovene language, starts with Freising manuscripts around 1000. From first printed Slovene religious books in 1550 it is followed by these literary periods and notable authors:-Middle Ages:-Folk poetry:...
, especially on Prešeren
France Prešeren
France Prešeren was a Slovene Romantic poet. He is considered the Slovene national poet. Although he was not a particularly prolific author, he inspired virtually all Slovene literature thereafter....
and Protestant authors from the 16th century, such as Primož Trubar
Primož Trubar
Primož Trubar or Primož Truber was a Slovene Protestant reformer, the founder and the first superintendent of the Protestant Church of the Slovene Lands, a consolidator of the Slovene language and the author of the first Slovene-language printed book...
, Jurij Dalmatin
Jurij Dalmatin
Jurij Dalmatin was a Slovene Lutheran minister, writer and translator.Born in Krško in around 1546, Dalmatin became a preacher in Ljubljana in 1572. He was the author of several religious books, such as Karšanske lepe molitve , Ta kratki würtemberški katekizmus , and Agenda...
and Sebastijan Krelj.
Since Murko published mostly in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
and French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, his work was little known to scholars unfamiliar with these languages, but it had an important influence on Milman Parry
Milman Parry
Milman Parry was a scholar of epic poetry and the founder of the discipline of oral tradition.-Biography:He was born in 1902 and studied at the University of California, Berkeley and at the Sorbonne . A student of the linguist Antoine Meillet at the Sorbonne, Parry revolutionized Homeric studies...
, who was studying for his doctorate at the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
under Antoine Meillet
Antoine Meillet
Paul Jules Antoine Meillet was one of the most important French linguists of the early 20th century. Meillet began his studies at the Sorbonne, where he was influenced by Michel Bréal, Ferdinand de Saussure, and the members of the Année Sociologique. In 1890 he was part of a research trip to the...
, at the time when Murko's major work appeared in French.
His work was praised by the renowned Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n critic Hermann Bahr
Hermann Bahr
Hermann Bahr was an Austrian writer, playwright, director, and critic.-Biography:Born and raised in Linz, Bahr studied Philosophy, Law, Economics and Philology in Vienna, Czernowitz and Berlin. During a prolonged stay in Paris he discovered his interest in literature and art...
, who regarded it as one of the finest examples of style in contemporary scientific prose. Murko also influenced the development of modern Slovenian literary history, especially Fran Ilešič, Ivan Prijatelj and France Kidrič.
Essential bibliography
- Jan KollárJán KollárJán Kollár was a Slovak writer , archaeologist, scientist, politician, and main ideologist of Pan-Slavism.- Life :...
(LjubljanaLjubljanaLjubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...
: Slovenska maticaSlovenska maticaSlovenska matica , also known as Matica slovenska, is the second-oldest publishing house in Slovenia, founded in the 19th century as an institution for the scholarly and cultural progress of Slovenes...
, 1894). - Deutsche Einfluesse auf die Anfaenge der Slavischen Romantik ("German Influences on Slavic RomanticismRomanticismRomanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
", GrazGrazThe more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...
, 1897). - Die suedslavischen Literaturen: die Kultur der Gegenwart ("The South SlavicSouth Slavic languagesThe South Slavic languages comprise 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 by a belt of German, Hungarian and Romanian speakers...
Literatures: the Culture of the Present", StuttgartStuttgartStuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
, 1908). - Geschichte der aeltern slawischen Literaturen ("History of Ancient Slavic Literatures", Leipzig, 1908).
- Die Bedeutung der Reformation und Gegenreformation fuer das geistlige Leben der Suedslaven ("The Importance of the Protestant ReformationProtestant ReformationThe Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
and Counter-reformationCounter-ReformationThe Counter-Reformation was the period of Catholic revival beginning with the Council of Trent and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War, 1648 as a response to the Protestant Reformation.The Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive effort, composed of four major elements:#Ecclesiastical or...
in the Spiritual History of South Slavs", Prague: Slavia, 1925; HeidelbergHeidelberg-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
, 1926). - La poésie populaire épique en Yougoslavie au début du XXe siècle ("The Folk Epic Poetry in YugoslaviaYugoslaviaYugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
at the Beginning of the 20th Century", ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
: Champion, 1929) - Tragom srpskohrvatske epike ("Tracing the Serbo-Croatian Epic Literature", ZagrebZagrebZagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
, 1951). - Izbrano delo ("Selected Works", edited by Anton Slodnjak, Ljubljana, 1962).
Sources
, pp. 11–12., pp. 186–187.- Janko KosJanko KosJanko Kos is a Slovenian literary historian, theoretician and critic.He was born in Ljubljana in what was then the Kingdom of Yugoslavia as the son of the painter and sculptor Tine Kos...
et al. (1982), written at Ljubljana, Slovenska književnost, Cankarjeva založba, pp. 239–240.