Emmanuel Kriaras

Emmanuel G. Kriaras (Greek Εμμανουήλ Γ. Κριαράς, born November 28, 1906 in Piraeus) is a Greek philologist and lexicographer. He is one of the most important experts in the Greek vernacular ( Dimotiki ).

Life

Emmanuel Kriaras, the second son of Captain Georgios Kriaras was born in 1906 in what was then Athens suburb of Piraeus and grew up on the Cycladic island of Milos. In 1914 his family moved to Chania in Crete, where he completed his schooling. In 1924 he began his studies of philology at the University of Athens Ioannis Psycharis, which he completed in 1929. Then Kriaras works from 1930 in the archives of the Academy of Athens, where he rose to director in 1939. During this time he also undertook study trips to Munich ( 1930) and Paris (1939, 1945-1948 ). Part of his studies covered the early modern novel Erotokritos of Vitsentzos Kornaros to which in 1938 presented a series of studies of the sources in an anthology under the title Studies on the sources of Erotokritos (Greek Μελετήματα περί τας πηγάς του Ερωτοκρίτου ). With this work, he was at the University of Athens to the Dr. phil. doctorate.

In 1950 Kriaras was appointed to the chair of Greek Philology of the Middle Ages at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. In addition to Greek medieval studies he also taught Greek history of the Middle Ages and Modern Greek Philology. He was dismissed for political reasons by the junta in 1968. During this time he wrote his major work, the lexicon of the Central Greek Folk Literature 1100-1669, which was published in twelve volumes from 1968. His documents and materials for this work in 1997 he handed the center of the Greek Language in Thessaloniki. Another well-known work of Kriaras is the monolingual New Greek Lexicon of the modern vernacular, which was published in 1995 and widely distributed.

Kriaras deals today with the medium and modern Greek philology, lexicography and comparative grammar. On the occasion of his 100th birthday, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Athens (24 January 2006) and the Golden Aristotle of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (4 April 2006 ). On the occasion of his 105th birthday hosted the International Hellenic University in Thessaloniki on December 16, 2011 in his honor a Λεξικογραφικό Χαρμόσυνο. On this occasion, the linguist and philosopher Spiros A. Moschonas, legal scholar Athanasios Kaisis and the philologist Ioannis Kazazis acknowledged ( editor of the encyclopedia of the Central Greek folk literature ) his life's work.

Kriaras was married since 1936 with Aikaterini Striphtou ( 1909-2000 ). Today he lives in Thessaloniki.

Writings (selection )

• Psellos. In: Pauly Realencyclopädie of classical archeology (RE). Supplement Volume XI, Stuttgart 1968, Sp 1124 to 1182.
• Λεξικό της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100-1669 ( Encyclopedia of Central Greek folk literature from 1100 to 1669 ), 12 vols, 1968ff.
• Νέο ελληνικό λεξικό της σύγχρονης ελληνικής δημοτικής γλώσσας (New Greek Lexicon of the modern vernacular ). 1995