Krste Petkov Misirkov (Bulgarian: Кръстьо Петков Мисирков; Macedonian: Крсте Петков Мисирков; 18 November 1874 – 26 July 1926) was a philologist, journalist, historian and ethnographer. In the period between 1903 and 1905, he published a book and a scientific magazine in which he affirmed the existence of a Macedonian national identity separate from other Balkan nations, and attempted to codify a Standard Macedonian language based on the central Western Macedonian dialects. A survey conducted in the Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia) found Misirkov to be "the most significant Macedonian of the 20th century". For his efforts to codify a standard Macedonian language, he is often considered "the founder of the modern Macedonian literary language". Though, the 2007 discovery of his di