Nuorese Cultural DistrictMassimo Pittau (Nuoro, 6 February 1921 – Sassari, 20 November 2019) was one of the most important Sardinian linguists of the twentieth century.
Massimo Pittau
Description
After spending his childhood and early youth in Nuoro, he took a degree in literature in Turin, with a thesis on the Nuoro dialect, and then studied philosophy in Cagliari, researching the educational value of the classical languages.
Passionate about linguistics from a young age, Pittau, who was in correspondence with Max Leopold Wagner, wrote fundamental texts on the philosophy, grammar and etymology of Sardinian and, appointed professor of Sardinian Linguistics at the University of Sassari in 1971, trained generations of scholars.
He was also passionate about the Nuraghic language and culture, advancing theories about the language, religion and lifestyle of the ancient Sardinians.
Possessed of a lively intelligence and always up for debate or a good joke, Pittau was a combative intellectual (his argument with the great archaeologist Giovanni Lilliu over the function of the Nuraghs is well known).
His most important works include Questioni di linguistica sarda, 1956; Lingua e civiltà di Sardegna, 1970; Problemi di lingua sarda, 1975; I cognomi della Sardegna, significato e origine, 1990; Dizionario della lingua sarda - fraseologico ed etimologico, 2 vols., 2000–2003; La lingua sardiana o dei Protosardi, 2001.
Pittau died in Sassari when he was 98, falling from the balcony of his home after a collapse.