Moldova marks 100th birthday anniversary of well-known departed linguist

Chisinau, 27 July /MOLDPRES/ - The 100th birthday anniversary of a departed Moldovan linguist of international stature, poet, prose writer, PhD in letters and philosophy, professor Eugen Coseriu is marked today.    

According to the National Calendar, Eugen Coseriu was called Linguist of the 20th Century, The Giant from Germany, the Linguist No 1, the Giant from Tübingen, King of Linguistics.   

Eugen Coseriu was born in the Mihaileni village, Balti county (presently Rascani district) in a family of teachers. In 1939, he was admitted to the Al. I. Cuza University of Iasi, the Faculty of Letters. He got a special scholarship to continue his education at the Rome University (1940-1944). Coseriu also studied at the Padua University (1944-45) and Milan University (1945-49).

In 1944, Coseriu took his doctor’s degree in letters in Rome. In 1949, he took his doctor’s degree in philosophy in Milan. As of 1951, Coseriu worked as teacher of general and Indo-European linguistics at the Montevideo University from Uruguay, director of the Linguistics Institute from Uruguay. Germany was the country which hosted him in the second part of his life, providing him proper conditions for scientific and pedagogic work. He lived in Germany starting from 1963 till his death.  Beginning with 1963, Coseriu became tenure teacher of Romanic philology and general linguistics at the Tübingen University, Germany.        

He taught Romanics at universities from Madrid, Barcelona, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago, Napoli, Bologna, Grenoble, Moscow, Tokyo, etc.

Coseriu knew about 30 languages, was speaking and writing in 11 languages, among which: Italian, Spanish, German, English, French, Portuguese, Latin, Russian. He published over 50 volumes, hundreds of articles in Italian, Spanish, French, German, English. Nine of his volumes were translated into Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, Greek, Russian, Georgian, Korean, Czech, Bulgarian languages. etc. Eugen Coseriu visited Moldova in 1992, 1998 and 2001. He got involved in elucidation of problems concerning the practical inefficiency of the linguistic legislation, combated the linguistic policy and gave speeches at diverse institutions.     

He was honorary member of the Romanian Academy (1991) and honorary member of the Moldovan Academy of Sciences (1991). He is Doctor Honoris Causa of more universities from Romania, Argentina, Chile, Germany, Italy, Spain, Peru, Bulgaria, Brazil, Moldova. Coseriu was awarded the Order of the Republic in 1997.

Eugen Coseriu died in Tübingen, Germany, on 7 September 2002.