Name Rafael Lapesa Role Philologist | Died 2001, Madrid, Spain | |
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Awards Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts, Prince of Asturias Award for Literature | ||
Alfonso x el sabio rafael lapesa 1987
Rafael Lapesa Melgar (1908–2001) was a Spanish philologist, a historian of language and of Spanish literature.
Contents
- Alfonso x el sabio rafael lapesa 1987
- La celestina rafael lapesa 1987
- Biography
- Selected works
- References
La celestina rafael lapesa 1987
Biography
Born in Valencia, Spain, February 8, 1908, his family moved to Madrid when he was eight. By 1930 he had earned his professorship (catedra) for his work on the medieval dialect of western Asturias. At the Centro de Estudios Históricos he was under the guidance of Ramón Menéndez Pidal, Tomás Navarro Tomás, and Américo Castro. He had met Pilar Lago de Couceiro while both were students, she also working at the Tribunal de Cuentas and he for an insurance company; they were married in 1932.
In Madrid from 1932 to 1941 he was professor of Spanish Language and Literature. In addition, during the Civil War he taught classes of republican soldiers how to read and write. By 1942 he had moved to the university at Oveido, and from 1942 to 1947 he was at Salamanca. Back in Madrid at the Complutense University of Madrid, he was Professor of the History of the Spanish Language from 1947 to 1978.
He became associated with the Seminario de Lexicografía de la Real Academia Española in 1947, serving as the Director from 1969 to 1981. There he participated on the Diccionario histórico de la lengua espanola. Traveling widely, he was visiting professor at many universities in Europe, North America, and South America. He also received numerous academic honors and other awards, e.g., the French Légion d'honneur and the Prince of Asturias Award.