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Greek lexicographer Emmanouil Kriaras dies aged 107

Lexicographer Emmanouil Kriaras died at the age of 107 at his home in Thessaloniki late on Friday night.

Kriaras was an emeritus professor at Thessaloniki’s Aristotle University and is best-known for the 16-volume “Lexicon of Medieval Greek Demotic Literature, 1100-1669.”

Its first volume was published in 1968.

He also received widespread praise for the “Greek Dictionary of the Modern Demotic Language: Written and Oral,” which was published in 1995.

“If the limits of language are truly the boundaries of the world, Emmanouil Kriaras taught us how to recognize and broaden them,” said President Karolos Papoulias in his message of condolence.

“He was a great teacher and intellectual who leaves behind his priceless dictionary with lessons on thought and life.”

Kriaras is due to be buried on Tuesday in Crete, where he was born in November 1906.

Kriaras admitted last year that following the death of his wife, academic Aikaterini Striftou-Kriara, in 2000, he began to lose his love for life.

“I never wanted to live so long… It just happened. I don’t want to live any longer. My joy has gone. The love that inspired me – the love for life and creation – is no longer there,” he told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency.

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