Sir Gerard Leslie Makins Clauson (28 April 1891 – 1 May 1974) was an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
civil servant, businessman, and
Orientalist best known for his studies of the
Turkic languages
The Turkic languages are a language family of over 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia (Siberia), and Western Asia. The Turkic languag ...
.
The eldest son of Major
Sir John Eugene Clauson, Gerard Clauson attended
Eton College
Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...
, where he was Captain of School, and where, at age 15 or 16, he published a critical edition of a short
Pali
Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or ''Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravāda'' Buddhism ...
text, "A New Kammavācā" in the ''Journal of the Pali Text Society''. In 1906, when his father was named Chief Secretary for
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
, he taught himself Turkish to complement his school Greek. He studied at
Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517, it is the 12th ...
, in classics, receiving his degree in
Greats, then became
Boden Scholar in
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
, 1911; Hall-Houghtman
Syriac Syriac may refer to:
*Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic
*Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region
* Syriac alphabet
** Syriac (Unicode block)
** Syriac Supplement
* Neo-Aramaic languages a ...
Prizeman, 1913; and James Mew
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
Scholar, 1920. During
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, he fought in the
battle of Gallipoli but spent the majority of his effort in
signals intelligence
Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is intelligence-gathering by interception of ''signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly used in communication ( ...
, concerned with
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
and
Ottoman army codes.
These were the years in which the great
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
n expeditions of
Sven Hedin, Sir
Aurel Stein
Sir Marc Aurel Stein,
( hu, Stein Márk Aurél; 26 November 1862 – 26 October 1943) was a Hungarian-born British archaeologist, primarily known for his explorations and archaeological discoveries in Central Asia. He was also a professor at ...
, etc. were unearthing new texts in a variety of languages including
Tocharian and
Saka
The Saka ( Old Persian: ; Kharoṣṭhī: ; Ancient Egyptian: , ; , old , mod. , ), Shaka (Sanskrit ( Brāhmī): , , ; Sanskrit (Devanāgarī): , ), or Sacae (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples who hist ...
(both
Khotanese, and
Tumshuqese
Saka, or Sakan, was a variety of Eastern Iranian languages, attested from the ancient Buddhist kingdoms of Khotan, Kashgar and Tumshuq in the Tarim Basin, in what is now southern Xinjiang, China. It is a Middle Iranian language. The two ...
). Clauson actively engaged in unraveling their philologies, as well as
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
texts in the
Tibetan script
The Tibetan script is a segmental writing system (''abugida'') of Indic origin used to write certain Tibetic languages, including Tibetan, Dzongkha, Sikkimese, Ladakhi, Jirel and Balti. It has also been used for some non-Tibetic langua ...
.
Clauson also worked on the
Tangut language
Tangut (Tangut: ; ) is an extinct language in the Sino-Tibetan language family.
Tangut was one of the official languages of the Western Xia dynasty, founded by the Tangut people in northwestern China. The Western Xia was annihilated by the Mongo ...
, and in 1938–1939 wrote a ''Skeleton dictionary of the Hsi-hsia language''. The manuscript copy is held at the
School of Oriental and African Studies
SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ar ...
in London, and was published as a facsimile edition in 2016.
In 1919 he began work in the
British Civil Service
His Majesty's Home Civil Service, also known as His Majesty's Civil Service, the Home Civil Service, or colloquially as the Civil Service is the permanent bureaucracy or secretariat of Crown employees that supports His Majesty's Government, which ...
, which was to culminate in serving as the Assistant Under-Secretary of State in the
Colonial Office
The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created to deal with the colonial affairs of British North America but required also to oversee the increasing number of col ...
, 1940–1951, in which capacity he chaired the International Wheat Conference, 1947, and International Rubber Conference, 1951. After his mandatory retirement at age 60, he switched to a business career and in time served as chairman of
Pirelli
Pirelli & C. S.p.A. is a multinational tyre manufacturer based in Milan, Italy. The company, which has been listed on the Milan Stock Exchange since 1922, is the 6th-largest tyre manufacturer and is focused on the consumer production of tyre ...
, 1960–1969.
Archives
A partially filled notebook containing Sir Gerard Clauson's ''Notes on Kashgari's Divan lugat at-Turk and other cognate subjects'' is held at the Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham.
Selected works
*1962, 2002
''Turkish and Mongolian Studies'' Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Rpt. as ''Studies in Turkic and Mongolic Linguistics'', RoutledgeCurzon. .
*1964
"The Future of Tangut (Hsi Hsia) Studies"''Asia Major'' (New Series) volume 11, part 1: 54–77.
*1972. ''An Etymological Dictionary of Pre-Thirteenth-Century Turkish''. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
*2016
With an introduction by
Imre Galambos
Imre Galambos (Chinese name 高奕睿, pinyin Gāo Yìruì; born 1967) is a Hungarian Sinologist and Tangutologist who specialises in the study of medieval Chinese and Tangut manuscripts from Dunhuang. He is a professor of Chinese Studies at the ...
. With Editorial notes and an Index by
Andrew West Andrew or Andy West may refer to:
* Andrew West (linguist) (born 1960), English linguist
* Andrew West (pianist) (born 1979), English pianist
* Andrew Fleming West (1853–1943), American classicist and academic administrator
* Andrew J. West ( ...
. Prepared for publication by
Michael Everson
Michael Everson (born January 9, 1963) is an American and Irish linguist, script encoder, typesetter, type designer and publisher. He runs a publishing company called Evertype, through which he has published over a hundred books since 2006.
His ...
. Portlaoise: Evertype. .
References
*C. Edmund Bosworth, "Introduction" to Clauson's ''Studies in Turkic and Mongolic Linguistics''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clauson, Gerard Leslie Makins
1891 births
1974 deaths
English orientalists
People educated at Eton College
People educated at Summer Fields School
Tangutologists
Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Linguists of Turkic languages
Presidents of the Royal Asiatic Society