Marko Snoj was born in Ljubljana. He attended Šentvid High School and studied comparative linguistics at the Department of Comparative Linguistics and Oriental Studies at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ljubljana, completing his bachelor's degree in 1982 with a specialization in comparative linguistics and Hittitology.[4] His 1984 master's thesis treated the problem of i- and u-coloration in the reflexes of Indo-European syllabic sonorants in Balto-Slavic.[6]
Following his military service in 1985–86 (which he used for learning Albanian from his fellow conscripts), he worked on his doctoral dissertation on Proto-Slavic z from Indo-European s in Light of the Most Recent Accentological Discoveries, which he defended in 1989.[4] His advisor was the Indo-Europeanist and academy member Bojan Čop; his doctoral committee also included the etymologist and academy member France Bezlaj and Indo-Iranian specialist Varja Cvetko Orešnik.[citation needed]
Work on Slovene etymology
In 1981, he was invited by France Bezlaj to work on the project Etimološki slovar slovenskega jezika (Slovenian Etymological Dictionary). He contributed a considerable number of the entries, especially in the third (1995) and fourth volumes (2005), as well as most of the work for the final, fifth volume Kazala (Indices) (2007).[4]
His work for the third volume was awarded the Gold Medal of the Scientific Research Institute of the Academy of Sciences.[7]
In 1997, he published a popular etymological desk reference of Slovene, Slovenski etimološki slovar, which was later revised and expanded in 2003.[8][9]
In appearances on radio and television, he has popularized etymology in Slovene. Especially noteworthy is his series of twenty-two one-hour programs on the national television station, TV Slovenija, Besede (Words), which has been rebroadcast several times since its first showing during the February–June 1998 season.[citation needed]
Albanian studies
In the late 1980s, he continued his training in Albanian by attending summer courses at the University of Pristina. Later, he published Kratka albanska slovnica (A Short Grammar of Albanian) (Ljubljana 1991), Rückläufiges Wörterbuch der albanischen Sprache (Reverse Dictionary of Albanian) (Hamburg 1994), and an article on the history of Albanian studies research in Slovenia in the volume Studime II (Prishtina 1996).[4]
Together with academy member Rexhep Ismajli [sq], he prepared an annotated translation into Albanian of studies on Albanian by the renowned Slovene Slavic specialist Franz Miklosich entitled Gjurmime shqiptare/Albanische Forschungen (Albanian Studies; Prishtina 2007).[4]
Contributions to Slavic accentology
From 1991 to 1992, under the auspices of a Humboldt Fellowship Snoj studied with the Indo-Europeanist Gert Klingenschmitt at the University of Regensburg, Germany, where he concentrated on problems of Balto-Slavic accentology. His articles on Slavic accentology take into account contemporary work on Indo-European laryngeal theory and the nature of Indo-European paradigms with regard to ablaut and the morphological distribution of word-level prosodic features.
International activity
The first issue of Slovenski jezik/Slovene Linguistic Studies, 1997
1991. Kratka albanska slovnica. Ljubljana: Filozofska fakulteta. 128 pp. COBISS24439296
1994. Rückläufiges Wörterbuch der albanischen Sprache (Lexicographia Orientalis, Bd. 3). Hamburg: Buske. XI, 482 pp. ISBN3-87548-081-3. COBISS1966381
2002a. “Etimologija imen”, in Słowiańska onomastika, Encyklopedia, vol. 1. Edited by Ewa Rzetelska-Feleszko & Aleksandra Cieślikowa. Warsaw–Krakow: Towarzystwo Naukowe Warszawskie, pp. 152–4. COBISS21003053
2002b. “Tuji vplivi: substrati, adstrati, superstrati”, in Słowiańska onomastika, Encyklopedia, vol. 1. Edited by Ewa Rzetelska-Feleszko & Aleksandra Cieślikowa. Warsaw–Krakow: Towarzystwo Naukowe Warszawskie, pp. 210–3. COBISS21918765
2003. Slovenski etimološki slovar. 2., pregledana in dopolnjena izd. Ljubljana: Modrijan. XXVII, 1022 pp. ISBN961-6465-37-6. COBISS124973312
2004. “Zur Akzentuierung der urslawischen ter-Stämme”, in Per aspera ad asteriscos: studia indogermanica in honorem Jens Elmegård Rasmussen sexagenarii idibus Martiis anno MMIV. Edited by Adam Hyllested. (Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft, vol. 112). Innsbruck: Institut für Sprachen und Literaturen der Universität, pp. 537–43. COBISS23147821
2005a. “Etymology”, in Encyclopedia of Linguistics, vol. 1: A–L. Edited by Philipp Strazny. New York: Fitzroy Dearborn, pp. 304–6. COBISS24665133
2005b. “Zur Bewahrung und weiteren Entwicklung einiger Fälle der urindogermanischen Akzentmobilität im Urslawischen”, in Indogermanica: Festschrift Gert Klingenschmitt: indische, iranische und indogermanische Studien dem verehrten Jubilar dargebracht zu seinem fünfundsechzigsten Geburtstag. Edited by Günter Schweiger. (Studien zur Iranistik und Indogermanistik, vol. 3). Taimering: Schweiger VWT, pp. 605–9. COBISS26107181
2006. Slovar jezika Janeza Svetokriškega (Dela, 49/7; 49/8). Ljubljana: Založba ZRC. 2 vols., XVIII + 711; 710 pp. ISBN961-6568-45-0. COBISS227080704
2009. Etimološki slovar slovenskih zemljepisnih imen. Ljubljana : Modrijan : Založba ZRC. 603 pp. COBISS247065344
2020. Slovar Pohlinovega jezika : na osnovi njegovih jezikoslovnih del. Ljubljana : Založba ZRC. 986 pp. COBISS31361283
2023. Imena slovenskih psov Ljubljana : Založba ZRC. 336 pp.
^Cvetko-Orešnik, Varja (1998). Marko Snoj. Enciklopedija Slovenije, Zv. 12: Slovenska n-Sz, page 99. Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga.
^Novak-Kajzer, Marjeta (1997). Kako, kdaj in kje so nastale naše najpogostejše besede: Marko Snoj je avtor prvega poljudnoznanstvenega Slovenskega etimološkega slovarja. Delo, 39/138 (17 June), page 8.
^Šumi, Jadranka, ed. (2000). Dr. Marko Snoj (Ljubljana, 19.4.1959). Zbornik. Ljubljana: Filozofska fakulteta, pages 414–415.
^Zorman, Marina (2004). Marko Snoj: Slovenski etimološki slovar. 2., pregledana in dopolnjena izdaja. Ljubljana: Modrijan, 2003. XXVII + 1022 str. Slavistična revija 52-3, pp. 357-59.
