In the concentration camps that Hitler created died Norbert Jokl (1877-1942), an Austrian linguist, Indo-Europeanist and, Albanianologist. He was born in Bzenec, Moravia, in 1877. He graduated in law at the University of Vienna and then linguistics (1908). He began studying Albanian as a self-taught learner 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 Nazi Germany (1938), he was persecuted, sent to a concentration camp, where he died. Norbert Jokli dedicated his whole life to studying the Albanian language from many aspects. He worked primarily in the field of etymology and historical word formation, the relations of Albanian with other languages, and its phonetics and historical morphology. As separate volumes, he managed to publish only ” Studen zur albanesichen Etymologie und Wortbildung, “Vienna, 1911 (“Studies on the etymology and word formation of Albanian”) 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 Jokli dealt with important issues of the external and internal history of the Albanian language, particularly researching the problem of the source of the Albanian language. He examined Albanian’s relations with ancient non-Greek languages of the Balkans, such as Illyrian and Thracian. He developed his thesis on the origin of the Albanian language, attempting to synthesize Illyrian and Thracian theories. Norbert Jokli paid the most incredible attention to the indigenous element, primarily the element of Indo-European heritage. He reviewed numerous etymologies and shed light on the origin of many Albanian words, proving the indigenous source of many elements previously considered borrowings. He visited Albania in 1937 on the 25th anniversary 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://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norbert_Jokl
Graphic processing: AHCF
