Eqrem Çabej was born in Eskişehir, Hüdavendigâr vilayet and completed his elementary education in Gjirokastër, southern Albania, in 1921.

[1] He then left Albania, at the age of 12, and moved to Austria to continue his studies: first in St. Pölten then in Klagenfurt (1923–26), where he obtained his bachelor's degree.

Before returning to Albania at the end of 1933, he submitted, in the University of Vienna, the Italoalbanische Studien (Italo-Albanian Studies in English) as his doctoral dissertation.

Home after a 13-year absence, the 25-year-old Çabej returned to Albania and spent five years as a secondary school teacher in: Shkodra, Elbasan, Gjirokastër and Tirana.

Among Eqrem Çabej's numerous works dealing with Albanian and its history include: His articles and monographs were collected into the 9-volume Studime gjuhësore (Linguistic Studies).