PARES | Spanish Archives

Identification

Type:

Person

Preferred form:

Alonso, Martín (1903-1986)Other forms

Fechas de existencia:

Valdunciel (Salamanca, España) 1903-04-10 - Madrid (España) 1986-09-16

History:

Spanish philologist, writer, journalist and poet.

Born in Valdunciel (Salamanca) in 1903. He studied Humanities in the Sagrado Corazón de Jesús School that the Jesuits had in Carión de los Condes (Palencia) and in Ciudad Real. Between 1927 and 1929, he was a teacher of secondary teaching in Latin-america. Licensed in Philosophy and Letters in by Salamanca's University (1935), where he was student of Miguel de Unamuno, and then doctor, he became a member of the Doctors and Licensed in Philosophy and Letters School in Madrid. Cursillista of '36, he was purged and confirmed in his charge in September 1939. Between 1943 and 1948, he was a Latin and literature teacher in the Orphans School of the Navy in Madrid.

He was secretary of the National Institute of the Book and of his magazine Bibliografía hispánica. He also directed the weekly Castilla Joven and collaborated in La Nación of Buenos Ares, and in the newspapers ABC and Ya de Madrid.

In the philology field, he is author of important works like Ciencia del lenguaje y arte del estilo (1947), the three volumes of Enciclopedia del idioma (1958), Evolución sintáctica del español moderno (1962), Diccionario ortográfico. Explicación de 13.000 palabras: frases, modismos extranjeros, nombres personales y geográficos de difícil ortografía (1963), Gramática del español contemporáneo (1968) or el Diccionario medieval español (1986). His extraordinary labour in this field was worth the gold Medal to the merit by the Spanish Royal Academy.

With regard to his literary work, highlight his volumes of poetry Piedras de Romancero and Poemas de Castilla, composed during Madrid's siege in the midst of Civil War, and Raíces y alas, that won the National Prize of Poetry in 1941.

He was awarded in 1976 with the Medal to the Merit in the Work. In honour to his legacy, in Salamanca a foundation was created with his name and his wife's, Blanc Jiménez Tur.

He passed away in Madrid in 1986.