Skopje, 18 November 2024 (MIA) – Krste Misirkov is not only a Macedonian linguist, he is also European linguist and our civilisation investment in the development of philological and linguistic thought in the 20th century. He left us a national program of how to love and respect the homeland and mother tongue. To affirm his body of work and academic profile is necessary today especially as the uniqueness of Macedonian identity and language is, unfortunately, disputed by some neighbors.

This was noted as Monday marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Krste Misirkov. On that occasion, a rountable was held in Skopje, organized by the Krste Misirkov Macedonian Language Institute, Institute for National History, the Marko Cepenkov Folklore Institute and the Macedonian Literature Institute. 

Misirkov had left an abundant legacy, said Liljana Gushevska, PhD, of the National History Institute.

“His legacy cannot be measured in the pages he had written because every single word is exceptionally important. Misirkov had simply left us a national program, both in his book ‘On Macedonian Matters’ and in his oeuvre in general, of how to love and respect the homeland and how to love and respect mother tongue and what kind of attitude we should have towards what makes us Macedonians different from others,” she stated. 

Speaking to reporters, Biljana Ristovska-Josifovska, PhD, of the National History Institute called for further research of Misirkov’s work.

“We believe we need to continue researching his work, because his own researches contain the answers of some of the burning questions we have today, unfortunately, that were also considered burning questions back then. We’s facing a problem to prove our right to the name, language, identity, folklore, tradition, ‘borrowings’ by the neighbors of parts of our history, etc. Unfortunately, the same problems can be found in his papers. Let’s hope it will change,” said the professor. 

Elena Jovanova – Grujovska, director of the Krste Misirkov Macedonian Language Institute, called Misirkov “one of the greatest Macedonians of the 20th century”, because he laid the foundations of standard Macedonian language.

“The existence of a Macedonian state is a fact, Macedonian as a literary language, accepted worldwide and recognized by the Slavic language circles, is a fact. Thus, today we only need to remind ourselves of what Krste Misirkov had left as a legacy and to resume his fight… It is our patriotic act to research and study the Macedonian language and promote Krste Misirkov’s work,” Jovanova – Grujovska said.

Macedonian Posts on the occasion of Misirkov’s 150th birth anniversary released a postage stamp. 

Photo: MIA