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Germà Colón | |
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| Born | Germà Colón i Doménech (1928-11-30)November 30, 1928 |
| Died | March 22, 2020(2020-03-22) (aged 91) |
| Nationality | Spanish |
| Occupation | Professor |
| Awards | Creu de Sant Jordi |
| Academic background | |
| Education | University of Barcelona |
| Alma mater | University of Madrid |
| Thesis | (1952) |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Philology |
| Sub-discipline | Romance philology andCatalan lexicology |
| Institutions | University of Basel |
| Notable works | El léxico catalán en la Romania |
Germà Colón i Doménech (30 November 1928 – 22 March 2020)[1] was a Spanishphilologist ofRomance philology andCatalanlexicology. He was appointed a professor at theUniversity of Basel, inSwitzerland.
Born on 30 November 1928 inCastellón de la Plana, Colón studied romance philology in theUniversity of Barcelona with noted philologists such asAntoni Maria Badia i Margarit andMartí de Riquer, before graduating in 1951. He got his PhD the next year in theUniversity of Madrid, with a thesis aboutdialectology (about the Castelló dialect).
Afterwards he got a grant and went toLeuven andZurich, where he met some of the most prestigious European romanists, such as dialectologistSever Pop (1901–1961), author ofLa dialectologie.[2] TheSwiss philologistWalther von Wartburg proposed him as a lecturer of Spanish in theUniversity of Basel, where he remained. Since then, he was promoted gradually:Privat-Dozent since 1959, university teacher in 1963, and professor since 1967. After 1997, he became professoremeritus. He was at the same time a teacher at theUniversity of Strasbourg (from 1968 to 1972) and theAutonomous University of Barcelona (1973–74).[citation needed]
He became a member of theReal Academia de las Buenas Letras de Barcelona and the Commission for the publication of Ramon Llull's works. He joined as a member of the consultant board of theEls Nostres Clàssics collection and the editorial staff of the magazineEstudis de Llengua i Literatura Catalanes.[citation needed]
He had been an honorary consultant of the International Association of Catalan Language and Literature (he was president from 1976 to 1982) and member of theInstitute of Catalan Studies. He received the Sanchis Guarner prize, that was given by the Jaume I Foundation (1987), the Honorary Prize of the Valencian Letters (1988), the Prat de la Riba prize (given by the)IEC (1979), the Serra d'Or prize (1981), theCreu de Sant Jordi (1985) and the Literature Prize of theGeneralitat de Catalunya (1987). In 1999, he received also theGran Cruz de Alfonso X el Sabio.[citation needed]
He received an honorary degree from theUniversity of Valencia in 1984, from theUniversity of Alicante in October 1990, from theUniversity Jaume I of Castellón and theAutonomous University of Barcelona in January 2003. He donated his personal library (more than 20,000 volumes) to theUniversity Jaume I of Castellón.[3]
Colón died in his home in Barcelona on 22 March 2020, at the age of 91. The cause of death was reported asCOVID-19, and had been suffering from respiratory problems for several years before.[4][5][6]
