Gjergj Pekmezi

Gjergj Pekmezi (3 April 1872 - 4 February 1938), also known as Georg Pekmezi, was an Albanian linguist and folklorist. In 1916 he became a member of the Literary Commission of Shkodër, which established the first standard form of the Albanian language.

Pekmezi was born in Tushemisht, Pogradec (today's Albania, back then Ottoman Empire) on 24 April 1872. He took his initial studies in Ohrid and Monastir (1884), following with higher ones in Belgrade (1890-1894), and later graduated from the University of Vienna (1894-1898) in philosophy and philology and started to teach Albanian. In 1903 he was elected to Direct the Albanian language cathedra in the Oriental University of Vienna. In 1904 he founded the cultural-patriotic society Dija (Knowledge) together with Hile Mosi(1885-1933), Kolë Rrota (1880-1965), and other Albanian intellectuals there. During the autumn of 1913, he worked for the border commission in southern Albania and in March 1914 was appointed dragoman (interpreter/secretary) at the new Austro–Hungarian mission in Durrës. In 1916, he was a leading member of the Albanian Literary Commission in Shkodër under the auspices of Austro–Hungary. In April 1917 he accompanied and facilitated the delegation of Albanian chieftains and leaders who visited Vienna and met with the Imperial authorities with an invitation by Ignaz Freiherr Trollmann. From 1920 to 1924 and 1926 to 1928, he served as Albanian consul in Austria. In 1924 he published a new edition of Thimi Mitko's Bleta Shqipëtare using the modern Albanian alphabet. Pekmezi's work became at that time the best known edition of Bleta Shqipëtare. From 1928 until his death, he taught Albanian at the University of Vienna. The Albanology branch of University of Vienna bears his name.

Gjergj Pekmezi was the author of:

• Vorläufiger Bericht über das Studium des albanesischen Dialekts von Elbasan (Preliminary Report on the Study of the Albanian Dialect of Elbasan), Vienna, 1901
• Grammatik der albanesischen Sprache (Grammar of the Albanian Language), Vienna, 1908
• Bleta shqypëtare e Thimi Mitkos (The Albanian Bee of Thimi Mitko), Vienna, 1924
• Bibliographija shqype/Albanesische Bibliographie (Albanian Bibliography), as coauthor, Vienna, 1909
• Sprachführer zur schnellen Erlernung der albanischen Sprache (Manual for Learning the Albanian Language Quickly), Vienna, 1913
• Lehr und Lesebuch des Albanischen (Manual and Reader of Albanian), as coauthor with Maximilian Lambertz, Vienna, 1913

• Elsie 2010, p. 351.