Antonio Tovar facts for kids

Antonio Tovar Llorente (born May 17, 1911 – died December 13, 1985) was a very smart Spanish person who studied languages, history, and how words work. He was known as a philologist (someone who studies language in old texts), a linguist (someone who studies languages), and a historian (someone who studies the past). He could speak many languages and knew a lot about even more!

Life and Studies

Antonio Tovar was born in Valladolid, Spain. His father was a notary, which is like a public official who deals with legal documents. As a child, he lived in different towns like Elorrio, Morella, and Villena. This helped him learn to speak Basque and Valencian from a young age.

University Education

He studied many subjects at university. He went to the Universidad María Cristina de El Escorial for law. Then he studied history at the University of Valladolid. He also studied classical languages (like Latin and Greek) in Madrid, Paris, and Berlin. He learned from famous teachers like Ramón Menéndez Pidal.

Early Career and Politics

Antonio Tovar was involved in student groups when he was younger. During a difficult time in Spain, the Spanish Civil War, he worked in propaganda for a while. However, he soon became unhappy with politics and decided to focus on teaching and research instead.

In 1942, he became a professor of Latin at the University of Salamanca. This was a big step in his academic career. He also got married to Consuelo Larrucea that same year.

Teaching and Research

In 1947, Antonio Tovar started a class on the Basque language at the University of Salamanca. This led to the creation of the first official university department for "Basque language and literature" in Spain in 1953. This was a very important step for studying the Basque language.

He became the head (rector) of the University of Salamanca from 1951 to 1963. During his time as rector, he organized a huge celebration for the university's 700th birthday. Many university leaders from all over the world came to Salamanca, wearing their traditional academic robes.

Returning Doctoral Degrees

Thanks to this celebration, the University of Salamanca was allowed to start giving out doctoral degrees again in 1954. Before this, only the Central University of Madrid could do so. Also, many old books that had been taken from the university library a long time ago were returned.

International Work

Antonio Tovar also taught in other countries. He was a professor at the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina (1948–1949) and the National University of Tucumán (1958–1959). In Argentina, he studied the languages spoken by the native people there.

Later, he taught in the United States at the University of Illinois from 1960 to 1967. He then returned to Spain to teach at the Complutense University of Madrid. However, after some student protests, he resigned in support of his colleagues and went back to the U.S.

In 1967, he moved to Germany to teach comparative linguistics at the University of Tübingen. He taught there until he retired in 1979. He passed away in Madrid in 1985.

Language Studies

Antonio Tovar spent his life studying many languages. He focused on classical languages like Latin and Greek, but also on languages like Basque. He even worked on a dictionary for the Basque language. He also studied ancient languages of Spain, like the Iberian language, and languages spoken by native peoples in America. He was amazing with languages, speaking about a dozen and knowing about 150 others!

He also helped edit several important academic magazines, like Emerita and Minos.

Awards and Recognition

Antonio Tovar received many honors for his important work:

• He was a member of the Real Academia Española, which is the official group that watches over the Spanish language. He was also a member of the Euskaltzaindia, the official group for the Basque language.
• He received honorary doctorates (special degrees) from universities in Munich, Buenos Aires, Dublin, and Seville.
• In 1981, he won the Goethe Prize for supporting freedom in research and teaching.
• In 1982, he received the Cross of San Jorge from Catalonia.
• In 1984, he won the Castilla y León Prize for Social Sciences and Communication.
• A street in Salamanca is named "Rector Tovar" in his honor.

Selected Publications

Antonio Tovar wrote many books and articles. Here are a few examples of his work:

• Vida de Sócrates (Life of Socrates)
• La lengua vasca (The Basque Language)
• The ancient languages of Spain and Portugal
• Historia de Grecia (History of Greece, with Martín Sánchez Ruipérez)
• Historia del antiguo Oriente (History of the Ancient East)
• Mitología e ideología sobre la lengua vasca (Mythology and Ideology about the Basque Language)
• Catálogo de las lenguas de América del Sur (Catalog of South American Languages, with his wife, Consuelo Larrucea de Tovar)

See also

In Spanish: Antonio Tovar para niños