Jump to content

Václav Machek (linguist)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Václav Machek
Born(1894-11-08)8 November 1894
Died26 May 1965(1965-05-26) (aged 70)
NationalityCzech
Occupation(s)Scholar of Slavic languages (Slavistics), philologist, etymologist

Václav Machek (8 November 1894, Úhlejov – 26 May 1965, Brno) was a Czech linguist.[1]

Life

[edit]

In years 1914–1921 (studies were interrupted by World War I) Machek studied Czech and Latin language at Charles University in Prague (his main interest[citation needed] during studies were Baltic languages and etymology). In years 1921-1924 he studied linguistics in Paris. Several years he taught at high schools in Czechoslovakia. From 1936 he was a professor of Slavic studies and comparative linguistics at then Jan Evangelista Purkyně University (now Masaryk University).[1]

Work

[edit]

His scientific work is dedicated to etymology, especially in the Czech and Slovak languages; his etymological studies are always joined with studies of cultural backgrounds. His most important work is still reprinted, the Etymological Dictionary of Czech and Slovak language (Etymologický slovník jazyka českého a slovenského, 1957, 1968, in later edition, articles about Slovak words were omitted), Czech and Slovak names of plants (Česká a slovenská jména rostlin, 1954); he also collaborated on a project of an unfinished Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages (Etymologický slovník slovanských jazyků, 1973-1980).[1]

Machek's non-monographic works were collected in Sebrané spisy Václava Machka (Prague, 2011). Some of his minor works were written in French.[citation needed]

References

[edit]