Sotir Kolea, lexicographer, folklorist, and social activist was born in Berat. From his youth he encountered prominent Renaissance activists and actively participated in the national movement. In the years 1912-1920, he developed political and journalistic activities for the protection of the rights of the Albanian people. In 1915-1919 he directed the newspaper “L’Albanie” in Lausanne, Switzerland. In 1928, he was called to Tirana to reorganize and direct the National Library and the National Museum. In 1937, retired, he settled in Elbasan and devoted himself to his academic work. He became interested in the Albanian language, folklore, ethnography and brought valuable help, especially in lexicography and in some genres of folklore. He worked throughout his life to collect the lexical guide of the language from the mouths of the people and from publications and to compile bilingual dictionaries of Albanian. He left a manuscript of a dictionary of Albanian orientalisms and a voluminous Greek-Albanian dictionary. He published part of the proverbs he collected among the people under the title “Një tufë proverbash” (“A bunch of proverbs”) (1944). He died in Elbasan, in 1945. (In the photo: Sotir Kolea)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 2, Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 1207-1208.
Photo: © https://elbasani.org/sotir-kolea/
Graphic processing: AHCF
