Rouben Abrahamian, born Ṛubēn Tʻadēosi Abrahamyan ( hy, Ռուբեն Թադեւոս Աբրահամյանը; 1881 – 1951) was an

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

Iranologist Iranian studies ( fa, ايران‌شناسی '), also referred to as Iranology and Iranistics, is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the research and study of the civilization, history, literature, art and culture of Iranian peoples. It ...

, linguist and translator.

Biography

Rouben Abrahamian was born as Ṛubēn Tʻadēosi Abrahamyan in 1881 in the village of Gnishik in the

Vayots Dzor Vayots Dzor ( hy, Վայոց Ձոր, ) is a province (''marz'') of Armenia. It lies at the southeastern end of the country, bordering the Nakhchivan exclave of Azerbaijan to the west and the Kalbajar District of Azerbaijan to the east. It cover ...

Province of

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...

(then part of 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. ...

). He received his secondary education in

Etchmiadzin Vagharshapat ( hy, Վաղարշապատ ) is the 4th-largest city in Armenia and the most populous municipal community of Armavir Province, located about west of the capital Yerevan, and north of the closed Turkish-Armenian border. It is comm ...

and

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and i ...

, and then moved abroad for higher education in a number of places. First, he studied at the Faculty of History and Philology at the

Kiev University Kyiv University or Shevchenko University or officially the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv ( uk, Київський національний університет імені Тараса Шевченка), colloquially known as KNU ...

(1907), then at

Leipzig University Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December ...

(1909), and then at the Saint Petersburg State University (1911). After his academic spell in Europe, he returned and started teaching Russian, linguistics, and classical philosophy in Yerevan. Between 1912 and 1921, he taught in

Tiflis Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...

(Tbilisi), as well as at other schools in the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (country), Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range ...

region. In 1921, he moved to neighboring

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and taught for many years at various

schools in

Tabriz Tabriz ( fa, تبریز ; ) is a city in northwestern Iran, serving as the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. It is the List of largest cities of Iran, sixth-most-populous city in Iran. In the Quri Chay, Quru River valley in Iran's historic Aze ...

New Julfa New Julfa ( fa, نو جلفا – ''Now Jolfā'', – ''Jolfâ-ye Now''; hy, Նոր Ջուղա – ''Nor Jugha'') is the Armenian quarter of Isfahan, Iran, located along the south bank of the Zayande River. Established and named after the ol ...

, and

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

. During his time in Tehran, as the ''

Encyclopaedia Iranica An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article ...

'' states, Abrahamian served as the principal of a large Armenian school. At the same time, he also began his study of ancient and

modern Persian New Persian ( fa, فارسی نو), also known as Modern Persian () and Dari (), is the current stage of the Persian language spoken since the 8th to 9th centuries until now in Greater Iran and surroundings. It is conventionally divided into thre ...

. Some time later, he once again travelled to Europe for educational matters, and in 1935, he received his doctorate in

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 th ...

from the

Sorbonne University Sorbonne University (french: Sorbonne Université; la Sorbonne: 'the Sorbonne') is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de Sor ...

in Paris (nowadays University of Paris). He wrote his graduation thesis on the

Judeo-Persian Judeo-Persian refers to both a group of Jewish dialects spoken by the Jews living in Iran and Judeo-Persian texts (written in Hebrew alphabet). As a collective term, Judeo-Persian refers to a number of Judeo-Iranian languages spoken by Jewish com ...

dialects of Judeo-Isfahani and Judeo-Hamadani. As his biographer Jennifer Manoukian mentions, his interest for this topic stemmed from the time he translated the works of the 11th-century Iranian poet Baba Tahir into Armenian. Abrahamian's work on this matter was pivotal, for he found important commonalities between the language used in Baba Tahir’s poems and the Jewish dialects of the Iranian cities of

Hamadān Hamadan () or Hamedan ( fa, همدان, ''Hamedān'') ( Old Persian: Haŋgmetana, Ecbatana) is the capital city of Hamadan Province of Iran. At the 2019 census, its population was 783,300 in 230,775 families. The majority of people living in H ...

and Isfahan. His findings on behalf of Baba Tahir and the Jewish dialects were published in the following year under the title of ''Dialectologie iranienne: dialectes des Israélites de Hamadan et d’Ispahan et dialecte de Baba Tahir''. When the

University of Tehran The University of Tehran (Tehran University or UT, fa, دانشگاه تهران) is the most prominent university located in Tehran, Iran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as its research and teaching pro ...

was founded in 1935, Abrahamian participated actively in the establishment of its department of Ancient Iranian Languages, where he subsequently started teaching Pahlavi and became head of the faculty as well. In 1946, following the

Iran crisis of 1946 The Iran crisis of 1946, also known as the Azerbaijan Crisis () in the Iranian sources, was one of the first crises of the Cold War, sparked by the refusal of Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union to relinquish occupied Iranian territory, despite repeat ...

, he moved to

Soviet Armenia The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic,; russian: Армянская Советская Социалистическая Республика, translit=Armyanskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika) also commonly referred to as Soviet A ...

, where he worked at the Institute of Languages at the Academy of Sciences in Yerevan.

Publications

* Kʻareakner ew ḡazalner: Baba Tʻahir Orian Hamadani (The quatrains and ḡazals of Bābā Ṭāher ʿOryān Hamadāni), Tehran, 1930. * Ferdovsin ew ir Šahnamēn (Ferdowsi and his Shahnameh), Tehran, 1934. * Hatuatsner Šahnameits (Excerpts from the Shahnameh), Tehran, 1934. * Dialectologie iranienne : dialectes des Israélites de Hamadan et d’Ispahan et dialecte de Baba Tahir, Paris, 1936. * Alefbā-ye pahlavi, Tehran, 1937. * Rāhnemā-ye zabān-e pahlavi, Tehran, 1938. * Sayatʻ-Novayi tagherě (The Verses of Sayat Nova), Tehran, 1943. * Ardā Wīrāz-nāmag, Yerevan, 1958. * Pahlaveren-parskeren-hayeren-ṛuseren-angleren baṛaran (Pahlavi-Persian-Armenian-Russian-English dictionary), Yerevan, 1965.

References

Sources

* * H. M. Ayvazean, Ov ov ē hayer: Kensagrakan hanragitaran (Who is Who among Armenians: Biographical encyclopedia), Yerevan, 2005, p. 22. * B. L Chʻugaszean, Hayrenatardz iranahay dēmkʻer (Repatriated Iranian-Armenians), Yerevan, 1997, pp. 11–12. {{DEFAULTSORT:Abrahamian, Rouben 1881 births 1951 deaths People from Vayots Dzor Province People from Erivan Governorate Ethnic Armenian academics Ethnic Armenian translators Translators from Persian Translators to Armenian Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv alumni Saint Petersburg State University alumni University of Paris alumni Leipzig University alumni Iranologists Soviet emigrants to Iran Armenian people from the Russian Empire Soviet Armenians Iranian people of Armenian descent Iranian emigrants to the Soviet Union University of Tehran faculty Soviet translators 20th-century translators Iranian translators Linguists from Iran Linguists from the Soviet Union 20th-century linguists Linguists of Persian Iranian grammarians Expatriates from the Russian Empire in Germany Iranian expatriates in France