Maximilian Lambertz (27 July 1882 – 26 August 1963) was anAustrianlinguist,folklorist, and a major personality ofAlbanology.
Maximilian Lambertz was born on 27 July 1882 inVienna. In the years 1900 to 1905, he studiedcomparative linguistics andclassical philology in Vienna, and subsequently received hisdoctorate with adissertation on the "Greek slave name" (Vienna 1907). A government scholarship enabled him to travel toItaly andGreece. While in Greece, he overheard the conversation of some fishermen fromAttica. He got curious when he was told that it was theArvanitika[citation needed] dialect of theAlbanian[citation needed].This would change his course of work from that moment on. After his return home, he became a school teacher at Bundesgymnasium in Vienna, but in 1907 he moved toMunich, where he participated in theThesaurus Linguae Latinae project. In 1911, he returned to Vienna and took his career as a school teacher again. His first publication in the field of Albanian studies (together withGeorg Pekmezi) was a teaching and reading book of Albanian (published in Vienna, 1913),Lehr und Lesebuch des Albanischen (Manual and Reader of Albanian). In the years 1913 and 1914, he traveled for several weeks depending southern Italy, to study the Albanian dialects spoken there. In particular, he devoted himself to the less known northern dialects ofArbëresh, in theAbruzzo andMolise regions, especially the dialect ofVilla Badessa (Alb: Badhesa). On this trip, his first collection of photographs came out.[1]
From May to July 1916, Max Lambertz visited as part of an expedition of the Balkan Commission of theAustrian Academy of Sciences for the first timeNorth andCentral Albania to scientifically deal with the Albanian language andfolklore. On this trip he visitedGruda,Shkodër,Lezhë,Krujë,Tirana,Durrës, theKir valley,Shoshi,Shala, the valleys of theDrin andValbonë and especiallyMirdita where he devoted himself to the local dialect and folklore material collected. On this trip some unique photographs were taken. In December 1916, he returned to Albania, this time with theAustro-Hungarian troops which in the events ofWorld War I had occupied northern and central Albania. He was entrusted with the management of the Albanian education system and was the first foreigner member of theAlbanian Literary Commission, which was used by theAustro-Hungarian authorities to create a normalized for the school system default language. In Shkodra, he collaborated withGjergj Fishta, editor of the newspaperPosta e Shypnisë (The Albanian Post) during 1916–1918, in which he published several posts. The collected folkloric material was published inSarajevo, 1917, asVolkspoesie der Albaner: eine einführende Studie (Folk poetry of the Albanians: an introductory study).[1]
After the war, Lambertz returned to Austria, where he taught until 1934. He also wrote books and articles on various aspects ofAlbanian culture[citation needed], especially for the folklore. After 1934 afterEngelbert Dollfuss took over, he retired as a longtime member of theAustrian Social Democratic Party, enrolled at the age of fifty-three years back at the university, and studied this timeProtestant theology, but his dissertation was rejected forracial reasons, since his mother came from aJewish family. In 1939, Lambertz moved to Munich, where he worked again until 1942 at theThesaurus Linguae Latinae. In 1943, he went toLeipzig, where he taughtFrench andItalian at the Leipzig School for Foreign Languages.[1]
In June 1945, after had joined theCommunist Party, he became director of the Leipzig "Fremdsprachenschule" (College of Foreign Languages), in 1946, Professor of Comparative Linguistics, and until 1949 the dean of the new Faculty of Education at theKarl Marx University. Until his retirement in 1957, he was also director of the "Indo-European Institute".[1]
Lambertz visited Albania in June 1954, and in 1957. Even after the breakdown of close political relations between Albania and theWarsaw Pact, he refused to completely abandon its links with the country. He participated furthermore at receptions of the Albanian Embassy inEast Berlin.[1]
As a professor of comparative linguistics at the University of Leipzig, Lambertz lived with his wife Josepha in a villa in nearbyMarkkleeberg. He died there on 26 August 1963 and was buried at theDöbling Cemetery in Vienna.[1]
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