Sergey Ivanovich Ozhegov (russian: Серге́й Ива́нович О́жегов; 22 September 1900 – 15 December 1964) was a Russian
lexicographer
Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries.
* Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries.
* Theoreti ...
who in 1926 graduated from the
Leningrad University
Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the G ...
where his teachers included
Lev Shcherba Lev Shcherba (commonly Scherba) ( Russian: Лев Влади́мирович Ще́рба, Belarusian: Леў Уладзіміравіч Шчэрба) ( – December 26, 1944) was a Russian Empire and Soviet linguist and lexicographer specializing ...
and
Viktor Vinogradov
Viktor Vladimirovich Vinogradov (russian: Ви́ктор Влади́мирович Виногра́дов; – 4 October 1969) was a Soviet linguist and philologist who presided over Soviet linguistics after World War II.
Life and career
Vin ...
.
Biography
In 1935–1940, Ozhegov contributed to
Dmitry Ushakov
Dmitry Nikolayevich Ushakov (russian: Дми́трий Никола́евич Ушако́в; January 24, 1873 – April 17, 1942) was a Russian philologist and lexicographer.Dictionary of the Russian Language'' (""), as updated and corrected by
Natalia Shvedova
Natalia Yulievna Shvedova (russian: link=no, Ната́лия Ю́льевна Шве́дова, 25 December 1916 – 18 September 2009) was a Soviet lexicographer who authored several standard outlines of Russian grammar, for which she was awar ...
, is the most widely used
reference
Reference is a relationship between objects in which one object designates, or acts as a means by which to connect to or link to, another object. The first object in this relation is said to ''refer to'' the second object. It is called a ''name'' ...
for the
Russian language
Russian (russian: русский язык, russkij jazyk, link=no, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language mainly spoken in Russia. It is the First language, native language of the Russians, and belongs to the Indo-European langua ...
today.
Ozhegov also ran the
Russian Language Institute
The V.V. Vinogradov Russian Language Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (russian: Институт русского языка имени В. В. Виноградова РАН) is the language regulator of the Russian language. It is bas ...
as part of 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 t ...
to oversee and advise on the correct spelling, grammar and pronunciation of the Russian language. His work was widely recognized in the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
and he was accorded burial at the
Novodevichy Cemetery
Novodevichy Cemetery ( rus, Новоде́вичье кла́дбище, Novodevichye kladbishche) is a cemetery in Moscow. It lies next to the southern wall of the 16th-century Novodevichy Convent, which is the city's third most popular tourist ...
.
Ozhegov was not without his detractors, especially among Russian émigrés.
Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (russian: link=no, Владимир Владимирович Набоков ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Bo ...
Vladimir Dahl
Vladimir Ivanovich Dal ( rus, Влади́мир Ива́нович Даль, p=vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr ɨˈvanəvʲɪdʑ ˈdalʲ; November 22, 1801 – October 4, 1872) was a noted Russian-language lexicographer, polyglot, Turkologist, and founding ...
unfavorably and, in his novel ''
Ada or Ardor
''Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle'' is a novel by Vladimir Nabokov published in 1969.
''Ada'' began to materialize in 1959, when Nabokov was flirting with two projects, "The Texture of Time" and "Letters from Terra." In 1965, he began to see a ...
'', even called it "moronic".
Tribute
On September 22, 2020,
Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
celebrated his 120th birthday with a
Google Doodle
A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running an ...