Pyotr Danilovich Draganov (russian: Пётр Данилович Драганов; bg, Петър Драганов; mk, Петар Драганов; – February 7, 1928) was a Russian
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 ...
and
slavist
Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic peoples, Slavic areas, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Sla ...
.
Biography
Draganov was born in
Komrat,
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. ...
in 1857. He was a
Bessarabian Bulgarian. Draganov studied history and philology at the University of Saint Petersburg. From 1885 to 1887 he was working as a teacher in
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...
after he was invited by the
Bulgarian Exarchate
The Bulgarian Exarchate ( bg, Българска екзархия, Balgarska ekzarhiya; tr, Bulgar Eksarhlığı) was the official name of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church before its autocephaly was recognized by the Ecumenical See in 1945 and th ...
.
He came to Thessaloniki with the claim that the
Slavic speakers in Ottoman Macedonia
Slavic-speakers inhabiting the Ottoman-ruled region of Macedonia had settled in the area since the Slavic migrations during the Middle Ages and formed a distinct ethnolinguistic group. While Greek was spoken in the urban centers and in a coastal ...
are Bulgarians. However, after the huge research that he has done in
Macedonia he came up with his own scientific opinion about them. In other words, Draganov claimed that Macedonia is a separate ethno-geographic unit of the
Balkans
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
and the
Macedonian dialects
The dialects of Macedonian comprise the Slavic languages, Slavic dialects spoken in the Republic of North Macedonia as well as some variety (linguistics), varieties spoken in the wider geographic region of Macedonia (region), Macedonia. They are pa ...
form a separate language.
In St. Petersburg, the prominent Slavist Pyotr A. Lavrov criticized the Draganov concept.
As a result of this claim and his personal beliefs, he was sent back to Russia, where he set the foundations of
Macedonian studies
Macedonian studies ( mk, Македонистика ''Makedonistika'') is a science that studies the Macedonian language. A person who studies Macedonian is called a Macedonian specialist (Macedonian: ''Македонист / Makedonist'').
Prom ...
.
References
External links
Petar Draganov for the ethnography of the Macedonian Slavs(English)
The nasal vowels in the Macedonian and Bulgarian dialectsStudying contemporary Macedonia in ethnographic, statistic and dialectal sense
{{DEFAULTSORT:Draganov, Petar
Linguists from Russia
Bessarabian Bulgarians
People from Comrat
Early Macedonists
1857 births
1928 deaths