Wilfried Fiedler

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Wilfried Fiedler Wilfried Fiedler.jpg
Wilfried Fiedler

Wilfried Fiedler (7 May 1933 - 11 September 2019) was a German albanologist, balkanologist, and linguist, known for his significant contributions to the studies of the Albanian language and Balkanology. [1]

Contents

Biography

Born in Oberfrohna, Saxony, he studied Slavic studies and other philologies at Humboldt University in Berlin (1951–1955). After completing his studies, he worked as a scientific assistant at the Institute of Folk Culture of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR (1955–1963).

Fiedler first visited Albania in 1957, where he stayed for four months as part of a joint Albanian-German expedition to collect folk songs, resulting in the publication of the volume "Këngë çame" (1965). In 1959, he returned to Albania to gather materials for his dissertation "Research on the Formation of the Plural in the Albanian Language" (1961), and from that year, he began teaching Albanian language, literature, and folklore at Humboldt University in Berlin.

From 1963 to 1968, Fiedler worked at the Linguistics Commission and the Institute for Romance Languages and Culture at the Academy of Sciences of Germany in Berlin. From 1968 to 1988, he led the research group for Balkan studies at the Central Institute of Linguistics of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR. In 1988, he defended his habilitation thesis in Albanology at Humboldt University. [2]

After 1989, Fiedler worked as a professor of Albanology at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich until 1998, and also lectured at the University of Vienna. From 1999 to 2018, he continued to deliver lectures on Albanology at the University of Jena. In 1991, he was elected as an external member of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo, and in 2006, as an external member of the Academy of Sciences of Albania.

Fiedler's major works include "Albanische Grammatik" (1988), co-authored with Oda Buchholz, "Das albanische Verbalsystem in der Sprache des Gjon Buzuku" (2004), a detailed study of the verb system of 16th-century Albanian, and "Formimi i shumësit të gjuhës shqipe" (2010). He also translated several important works of Albanian literature into German, including "The General of the Dead Army" and poems by Martin Camaj and Ali Podrimja.

Wilfried Fiedler is recognized as one of the most important albanologists in the German-speaking world, with an extraordinary contribution to the study and promotion of the Albanian language and culture. [3]

Publications

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References

  1. Kraja, Mehmet, ed. (2018). "Fjalori Enciklopedik i Kosovës". (Encyclopedic Dictionary of Kosova) (in Albanian). Vol. 1. Prishtinë: Akademia e Shkencave dhe e Arteve e Kosovës. pp. 669–670. ISBN   9789951615846. OCLC   1080379844.
  2. Lafe, Emil, ed. (2008). "Fjalor Enciklopedik Shqiptar". (Encyclopedic Dictionary of Albania) (in Albanian). Vol. 1. Tiranë: Akademia e Shkencave e Shqipërisë. pp. 447–448. ISBN   9789995610272. OCLC   426069353.
  3. Demiraj, Bardhyl. "Shuhet albanologu Wilfried Fiedler" [Albanologist Bardhyl Demiraj dies]. Shqiptarja.com (in Albanian). Retrieved 2024-07-05.