Pyotr Ivanovich Kafarov (Pre-reform Russian: Петръ Ива́новичъ Кафа́ровъ; Modern Russian: Пётр Ива́нович Кафа́ров), also known by his monastic name Palladius (Pre-reform Russian: Палла́дій; Modern Russian: Палла́дий; 29 September 1817,
Chistopol – 18 December 1878,
Marseille), was an early Russian
sinologist
Sinology, or Chinese studies, is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of China primarily through Chinese philosophy, language, literature, culture and history and often refers to Western scholarship. Its origin "may be traced to the ex ...
.
Biography
Kafarov was born in the family of an
Orthodox
Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to:
Religion
* Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...
priest. He studied in
Kazan seminary and Saint-Petersbourg Academy, from which was sent to the
Russian Orthodox Mission in China.
Like his teacher
Hyacinth (Bichurin)
Nikita Yakovlevich Bichurin (Никита Яковлевич Бичурин) (29 August 1777 – 11 May 1853, St. Petersburg), better known under his archimandrite monastic name Hyacinth (sometimes rendered as Joacinth), or Iakinf (Иакин ...
, Palladius was a Russian Orthodox monk. During his stay in China, he discovered and published many invaluable manuscripts, including ''
The Secret History of the Mongols''.
During his scholarly career, Kafarov's works focused on Chinese linguistics, history, geography, and religion. Kafarov notably translated many Buddhist scriptures from Chinese, Mongolian, and Tibetan. Kafarov also studied the history of Christianity in imperial China and helped pioneer the study of
Chinese Islam.
For more than three decades,
Archimandrite Palladius headed the Russian Orthodox mission in China
[''"Путешественник - Архимандрит Палладий Кафаров", Russian "СМ номер один" Magazine, September 2005, in Russian''] and held ethnographic and linguistic research there.
Kafarov designed a
Cyrillization
Cyrillization or Cyrillisation is the process of rendering words of a language that normally uses a writing system other than Cyrillic script into (a version of) the Cyrillic alphabets, Cyrillic alphabet. Although such a process has often been ca ...
system for the
Chinese language, known as the
Palladius system. This system has remained the basis for official transcription of Chinese personal and geographical names in Russia ever since.
The ''Chinese-Russian Dictionary'' composed by
Archimandrite Palladius remains a well-known work even today.
Works
* 《漢俄合璧韻編》掌院修士巴第遺篇，1888年，北京同文舘 (''Chinese-Russian Dictionary'' by Archimandrite Palladius, 1888,
Tungwen GuanVolume 1https://books.google.com/books/about/漢俄合璧韻編.html?id=yRo-PwAACAAJ
Volume 2https://books.google.com/books?id=GYpPAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:%22Pavel+Stepanovich+Popov%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=DHJ9VKerK4HlsATroIDADg&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
1896 edition
See also
*
Cyrillization of Chinese
The Cyrillization of Chinese (''Hanyu Cyril Pinyin'') is the transcription of Chinese characters into the Cyrillic alphabet.
The Palladius System is the official Russian standard for transcribing Chinese into Russian, with variants existing for U ...
«Elucidations of the Marco Polo’s Travels in North-China»(«Journal of the North-China Branch of the R. As. Soc.», vol. X, 1876)
«The Road from Beijing to Blagoveschinsk»(The journal of the Royal Geographic Society of London, Volume 42, J. Murray, 1872)
References
1817 births
1878 deaths
People from Chistopol
Lexicographers from the Russian Empire
Sinologists from the Russian Empire
Chinese Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox missionaries
Russian Orthodox monks
Archimandrites
Monks from the Russian Empire
Expatriates from the Russian Empire in China
Missionary linguists
19th-century lexicographers
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