Alexander Khristoforovich Vostokov (born Alexander Woldemar Osteneck; russian: link=no, Алекса́ндр Христофо́рович Восто́ков; – ) was one of the first

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

Background

He was born into a

Baltic German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...

family in Arensburg,

Governorate of Livonia The Governorate of Livonia, also known as the Livonia Governorate, was a Baltic governorate of the Russian Empire, now divided between Latvia and Estonia. Geography The shape of the province is a fairly rectangular in shape, with a maximum ...

, and studied at the

Imperial Academy of Arts The Russian Academy of Arts, informally known as the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, was an art academy in Saint Petersburg, founded in 1757 by the founder of the Imperial Moscow University Ivan Shuvalov under the name ''Academy of the T ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. As a natural son of Baron von Osten-Sacken, he received the name Osteneck, which he later chose to render into Russian as Vostokov (''Ost'', the German word for "east," translates to ''vostok'' in Russian). He liked to experiment with language and, in one of his poems, introduced the female name Svetlana, which would gain popularity through

Vasily Zhukovsky Vasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky (russian: Василий Андреевич Жуковский, Vasiliy Andreyevich Zhukovskiy; – ) was the foremost Russian poet of the 1810s and a leading figure in Russian literature in the first half of the 19 ...

's eponymous ballad. During his lifetime, Vostokov was known as a poet and translator, but it is his innovative studies of versification and comparative Slavonic grammars which proved most influential. In 1815, he joined the staff of the

Imperial Public Library The National Library of Russia (NLR, russian: Российская национальная библиотека}), located in Saint Petersburg, is the first, and one of three national public libraries in Russia. The NLR is currently ranked amo ...

, where he discovered the most ancient dated book written in Slavonic vernacular, the so-called

Ostromir Gospel The Ostromir Gospels (Ukrainian: Остромирове Євангеліє, Russian: Остромирово Евангелие) is the oldest dated East Slavic book. (Archeologists have dated the Novgorod Codex, a wax writing tablet with excerpt ...

. In 1841, Vostokov was elected to the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across ...

Works

Vostokov's works on the

Church Slavonic language Church Slavonic (, , literally "Church-Slavonic language"), also known as Church Slavic, New Church Slavonic or New Church Slavic, is the conservative Slavic liturgical language used by the Eastern Orthodox Church in Belarus, Bosnia and Herzeg ...

were considered a high-water mark of Slavic studies until the appearance of

Izmail Sreznevsky Izmail Ivanovich Sreznevsky (russian: Измаил Иванович Срезневский; 13 June 1812, Yaroslavl – 21 February 1880, St. Petersburg) was a Russian philologist, Slavist, historian, paleographer, folklorist and writer. Life His ...

's comprehensive lexicon in 1893–1903 and garnered him the doctorates honoris causa from the

Charles University ) , image_name = Carolinum_Logo.svg , image_size = 200px , established = , type = Public, Ancient , budget = 8.9 billion CZK , rector = Milena Králíčková , faculty = 4,057 , administrative_staff = 4,026 , students = 51,438 , undergr ...

and

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-W� ...

. Vostokov also laid foundations of modern Russian

toponymy Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''toponyms'' ( proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

. In 1812, he published an article with the title "An example to the amateurs of etymology" (russian: link=no, Задача любителям этимологии), where he argued that geographical names (

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

s) have repeating elements which he called ''formants'' and which help to restore the etymology of the name. For instance, the endings -va, -ga, and -ma in the end of such names as the Sylva, the Onega, and the Kama, may mean "water" in the languages these names originate from. Whereas this article did not get sufficient attention during Vostokov's life, it did subsequently receive recognition, and Vostokov is cited as one of the founders of toponymy in Russia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vostokov, Alexander 1781 births 1864 deaths People from Kuressaare People from the Governorate of Livonia Russian philologists Members of the Russian Academy Full members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Baltic-German people Slavists Demidov Prize laureates Toponymists Grammarians from Russia