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Nayden Gerov ( bg, Найден Геров), born Nayden Gerov Hadzhidobrevich ( bg, Найден Геров Хаджидобревич) February 23, 1823,
Koprivshtitsa Koprivshtitsa ( bg, Копривщица, pronounced , from the Bulgarian word , ''kopriva'', meaning "nettle") is a historic town in the Koprivshtitsa Municipality in Sofia Province, central Bulgaria, lying on the Topolnitsa River among the ...
– October 9, 1900,
Plovdiv Plovdiv ( bg, Пловдив, ), is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, standing on the banks of the Maritsa river in the historical region of Thrace. It has a population of 346,893 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is the ...
) was a Bulgarian
linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Lingu ...
,
folklorist Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currenc ...
, writer and public figure during the Bulgarian National Revival. Gerov was the son of Gero Dobrevich, a teacher. He studied at his father's school, then at a
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
school in Plovdiv from 1834 to 1836, again in his hometown until 1839, and finally in
Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...
, in the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...
, where he graduated from the Richelieu Lyceum in 1845. Gerov became a Russian subject and came back to Koprivshtitsa, where he established his own school, named after
Saints Cyril and Methodius Cyril (born Constantine, 826–869) and Methodius (815–885) were two brothers and Byzantine Christian theologians and missionaries. For their work evangelizing the Slavs, they are known as the "Apostles to the Slavs". They are credited wi ...
. He became famous for his erudition and was invited to open a gymnasium in Plovdiv as well, an invitation which he accepted. As a publicist, he fought the "Graecisation" (assimilation to Greek culture) among the Bulgarians of the time, especially in Plovidiv. At the same time, he managed to compete successfully with the Greek gymnasium in Plovdiv. During the
Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...
(1854–56), he was forced to temporarily leave the country as a Russian subject. In 1857, Gerov became "First Vice-
Consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...
" of Russia in Plovdiv. As such, he strove to further the Bulgarian national cause, help young Bulgarians to receive scholarships abroad, etc.. He also tried to further the Liberation of Bulgaria from the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...
, but he relied on help from Russia and was opposed to the more radical revolutionary emigres who wanted an independent uprising, such as Lyuben Karavelov, Vasil Levski, and Hristo Botev. During the April uprising (1876), he was suspected of having been one of the organisers and was forced to go into hiding, seeking refuge in the Russian legation in Constantinople. After the liberation, he held some administrative offices for a short time, but soon devoted all of his time to
philology 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 ...
. Gerov's principal work was his unique ''Dictionary of the Bulgarian Language'' (Рѣчникъ на блъгарскъıй язъıкъ). For about fifty years, he collected, from ordinary people, a great number of words, expressions,
proverb A proverb (from la, proverbium) is a simple and insightful, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and use formulaic language. A proverbial phrase or a proverbia ...
s,
folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...
s, and
proper noun A proper noun is a noun that identifies a single entity and is used to refer to that entity (''Africa'', ''Jupiter'', '' Sarah'', ''Microsoft)'' as distinguished from a common noun, which is a noun that refers to a class of entities (''continent, ...
s. The first three letters were already published in 1855–1856 in Russia, but the dictionary as a whole was published in five volumes, from 1895 to 1904, with an appendix added in 1908 by Gerov's collaborator T.Panchev. The dictionary contains about 100,000 entries (if the appendix is included). It is considered an extremely valuable source for the study of the Bulgarian language of the 19th century. Gerov was also an advocate of an
orthography An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation. Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and ...
for the Bulgarian literary language based on the
etymological Etymology () The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the form of words a ...
principle. His orthography was, however, eventually rejected in favour of the one proposed by Marin Drinov.
Gerov Pass Gerov Pass ( bg, Геров проход, ‘Gerov Prohod’ \'ge-rov 'pro-hod\) is a pass of elevation 400 m in Friesland Ridge, Tangra Mountains on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Situated on Rozhen Peninsula, 1.6& ...
in
Tangra Mountains Tangra Mountains (in Bulgarian ''Тангра планина'', 'Tangra planina' \'tan-gra pla-ni-'na\) () form the principal mountain range of Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. The range had been nameless until 2 ...
on
Livingston Island Livingston Island (Russian name ''Smolensk'', ) is an Antarctic island in the Southern Ocean, part of the South Shetlands Archipelago, a group of Antarctic islands north of the Antarctic Peninsula. It was the first land discovered south of 60 ...
in the
South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 1 ...
,
Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...
is named after Nayden Gerov.


Works

Рѣчникъ на блъгарскъıй язъıкъ съ тлъкувание рѣчъı-тъı на блъгарскъı и на русскъı. Чясть прьва
(''Dictionary of the Bulgarian Language with interpretation of speeches in Bulgarian and Russian. Part one.'')


References

* Куманов, Михаил и Колинка Исова. 2006. Историческа енциклопедия България * A biography of Nayden Gerov by Georgi Konstantino

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerov, Nayden Linguists from Bulgaria Bulgarian writers Lexicographers 1823 births 1900 deaths People from Koprivshtitsa Bulgarian folklorists 19th-century linguists 19th-century Bulgarian people 19th-century lexicographers