Yuri Otkupshchikov (russian: Юрий Владимирович Откупщиков; 29 August 1924, Kazan – 25 September 2010, St. Petersburg; also spelled ''Otkupscikov'', ''Otkupsikov'', ''Otkupschikov'', ''Otkupschtschikov'') was a Soviet and Russian philologist and linguist. For more than 50 years, he taught at the
St. Petersburg State 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 ...
Faculty of Philology.
Biography
He was born in
Kazan
Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering a ...
,
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 ...
and graduated from high school there in 1942. Then he volunteered for war service and served with the Baltic Fleet. He took part in the battles of the
Siege of Leningrad
The siege of Leningrad (russian: links=no, translit=Blokada Leningrada, Блокада Ленинграда; german: links=no, Leningrader Blockade; ) was a prolonged military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the Soviet city of L ...
.
After the war, he studied philology at
Kazan University
Kazan (Volga region) Federal University (russian: Казанский (Приволжский) федеральный университет, tt-Cyrl, Казан (Идел буе) федераль университеты) is a public research uni ...
, graduating in 1950. Then he continued his studies at the Classical Philology Department of Leningrad University, where he studied under a noted Russian philologist Ivan Tolstoi (1880-1954). In June 1953 he defended his thesis and began teaching at Leningrad University. Starting in 1956, he was sent to work for some time in
Mongolia
Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...
as Latin instructor, being one of the pioneers in this area. He also studied
Mongolian, and published on this subject. In 1967 he received his doctorate for his monograph on the history of the Indo-European word-formation.
Otkupshchikov specialized in classical linguistics, Indo-European languages, Baltic and Slavic languages, and the etymological analysis. From 1971 to 1992, he headed the Department of Classical Philology of St. Petersburg State University.
Contributions
Otkupshchikov authored over 240 scientific publications. His book “Догреческий субстрат” (1988) (The Pre-Greek substrate) received an award. Among his other works (all in Russian) are a popular science book «К истокам слова» ("The origins of speech" – 4 successive editions) ; collections of articles «Opera philologica minora», and «Очерки по этимологии» ("Essays on etymology"); monographs «Карийские надписи Африки» ("Carian inscriptions in Africa"
966
Year 966 (Roman numerals, CMLXVI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place Byzantine Empire
* 23 June - Arab-Byzantine Wars, Byzantine-Arab War: Arab-Byzantine ...
, and "Фестский диск: Проблемы дешифровки" (Phaistos disk: the problems of decipherment).
Carian language research
Otkupshchikov spent 25 years on his research on the
Carian
The Carian language is an extinct language of the Luwic subgroup of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family. The Carian language was spoken in Caria, a region of western Anatolia between the ancient regions of Lycia and Lydia, b ...
and the
Paleo-Balkan languages
The Paleo-Balkan languages or Palaeo-Balkan languages is a grouping of various extinct Indo-European languages that were spoken in the Balkans and surrounding areas in ancient times.
Paleo-Balkan studies are obscured by the scarce attestation of ...
problem. In 1966, he suggested his own interpretation of the Carian alphabet, and his own reading of Carian inscriptions; he saw Carian as a language quite close to Greek, and to other Paleo-Balkan dialects. He saw the
Thracian
The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied t ...
,
Phrygian, and
Ancient Macedonian languages as such dialects.
In his book, he was trying to justify his point of view using the analysis of Carian names and onomastics, as well as using other linguistic evidence as preserved in Greek texts. Also, according to him, his attempt to read newly discovered Carian inscriptions in Egypt gave him additional supporting evidence.
Otkupshchikov came to the conclusion that Carian was a Paleo-Balkan dialect with quite transparent onomastical links especially to the Thracian and Phrygian. The book contains much linguistic evidence for his views. Nevertheless, the questions remain whether or not Otkupshchikov managed to identify the genuine Carian element in all that ancient material or, rather, that his cases may also represent an adstrate brought in by Paleo-Balkan infiltrations.
In the latter part of his scholarly career, Otkupshchikov focused especially on the Balto-Slavic research.
Ancient Greek and the Paleo-Balkan languages
Otkupshchikov believed that the language of the ancient Phrygians was closest to the ancient Greek language. Phrygian had more features in common with ancient Greek than with other Indo-European languages. This theory finds new supporters.
He believed that:
"... Greek is genetically close to a group of related Paleo-Balkan languages, whose speakers lived in the northeastern part of the Balkan Peninsula... Later on, the ancestors of the Carians, Phrygians and Thracians, in several waves and at different times, moved to the south of the Balkan Peninsula and ... Indo-Europeanized a non-Indo-European culture, borrowing a significant amount of non-Indo-European vocabulary. However, the majority of Phrygians and Thracians moved not to the south, but to the southeast - to Asia Minor (along the path laid by the Armenians) ... The Greeks moved southward in part with the Paleo-Balkan tribes, but mostly after them."[Откупщиков, 1988, p. 39]
Awards
Otkupshchikov received many high official awards, both for his war service, and for his educational work.
Notes
Bibliography
WorldCat entry for Otkupshchikov, I︠U︡. V.*Yuri Otkupshchikov, ''Фракийцы, фригийцы и карийцы в доисторической Элладе.'' (Thracians, Phrygians and Carians in prehistoric Hellas) // Moscow, "Science Publishers", 1984.
*Yuri Otkupshchikov, «К истокам слова» ("The origins of speech") - Moscow: Education Publishers, 1986. 176 pp.
*Yuri Otkupshchikov
''Догреческий субстрат'' ("The Pre-Greek substrate. At the roots of European civilization").- Leningrad: Leningrad State University, 1988.
*Yuri Otkupshchikov, ''Фестский диск: Проблемы дешифровки.'' (Phaistos disk: the problems of decipherment.) - St. Petersburg: Publishing House of the St. Petersburg State University, 2000. 40 p.
*Yuri Otkupshchikov, «Очерки по этимологии» ("Essays on etymology"). St. Petersburg: Publishing House of the St. Petersburg State University, 2001. 480 pp.
*Yuri Otkupshchikov, “Opera philologica minora” (Essays in etymology and linguistics). - Moscow: Science Publishers, 2001. 456 pp.
*Yuri Otkupshchikov, ''Из истории индоевропейского словообразования.'' (“On the history of Indo-European word formation.”) 2nd ed. - St. Petersburg: Academy Publishers, 2005. 316p
st ed. 1967
*Yuri Otkupshchikov, «Карийские надписи Африки» // Kariǐskie nadpisi Afriki (''Carian inscriptions in Africa'') Leningrad: Leningrad State University, 1966
{{DEFAULTSORT:Otkupshchikov, Yuri
Linguists from Russia
Linguists from the Soviet Union
20th-century linguists
Paleolinguists
Historical linguists
Linguists of Indo-European languages
Linguists of Anatolian languages
Linguists of Paleo-Balkan languages
Etymologists
1924 births
2010 deaths