Aleksandras Vanagas (August 12, 1934 – April 13, 1995) was a Lithuanian linguist, one of the leading Lithuanian etymologists.
Biography Aleksandras Vanagas graduated Vilnius University (Lithuanian language and literature studies) in 1959. Since then till the death he worked in the Institute of the Lithuanian Language, was its director between 1990 and 1995. Also, since 1990 he taught in Vytautas Magnus University (was the head of the Lithuanian language department) and Vilnius Pedagogical University. Between 1990 and 1992 he was the head of the Commission of the Lithuanian Language.
PhD since 1984, a member of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences since 1990, a member of the Latvian Academy of Sciences since 1992.
Works The main research area of Aleksandras Vanagas was Baltic onomastics (hydronyms, toponyms, anthroponyms) and Baltic ethnogenesis. He guided many linguistic expeditions and collected onomastic data. Aleksandras Vanagas with his colleagues published the etymological dictionaries of the Lithuanian hydronyms and the Lithuanian surnames.
Bibliography Lietuviški elementai baltarusių onomastikoje, , 1968 (with Mikalaj Biryla) Lietuvos TSR hidronimų daryba, 1970 Lietuvių hidronimų etimologinis žodynas, 1981 Lietuvių hidronimų semantika, 1981 Lietuvos TSR upių ir ežerų vardynas, 1963 (co-author Lietuvių pavardžių žodynas, 2 vol. 1985–1989 (with V. Maciejauskienė and M. Razmukaitė) Mūsų vardai ir pavardės, 1982 Lietuvių vandenvardžiai, 1988 Lietuvos miestų vardai, published in 1996 and 2004
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