Norbert Jokl (1877–1942), Austrian linguist, indo-Europeanist, Albanianologist, was born in Bzenec, Moravia. He graduated in law at the University of Vienna and then in linguistics (1908). He began to study Albanian as a self-taught student in 1907. He worked as the head librarian at the University of Vienna, simultaneously teaching as an external lecturer for Albanian, baltic, etc. With the annexation of Austria by the Nazi Germany (1938), he was persecuted, sent to a concentration camp, where he died. Norbert Jokl dedicated his whole life to the study of the Albanian language from many aspects. He worked especially in the field of etymology and historical word formation, the relations of Albanian with other languages, for its phonetics and historical morphology. As separate volumes, he managed to publish only “Studien zur albanesichen Etymologie und Wortbildung” , Vienna, 1911 (“Studies on Albanian etymology and word formation”) and ” Linguistischkulturhistorische Untersuchungen aus dem Bereiche des Albanischen” , Berlin – Lajpcig, 1923 (” Linguistic and historical-cultural traces from the field of Albanian”). In his works, Norbert Jokl dealt with important issues of the external and internal history of the Albanian language, in particular he researched the problem of the source of the Albanian language. He examined the relations of Albanian with languages the ancient non-Greek of the Balkans, with Illyrian and thracian and elaborated his thesis on the origin of the Albanian language, trying to make a synthesis of the Illyrian and Thracian theses. Norbert Jokl paid the greatest attention to the local element, primarily the indo-European heritage element. He revised many etymologies and shed light on the origin of many Albanian words, proving the local source of many elements retained as loanwords. He visited Albania in 1937, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. (In the photo: Norbert Jokl)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 2, Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 1068-1069.
Photo: © https://peizazhe.com/2022/05/05/i-dashur-mik/
Graphic processing: AHCF
