Stepanos Sargsi Malkhasiants ( hy, Ստեփան Սարգսի Մալխասյանց; – July 21, 1947) 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 ...

academician An academician is a full member of an artistic, literary, engineering, or scientific academy. In many countries, it is an honorific title used to denote a full member of an academy that has a strong influence on national scientific life. In syst ...

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 ...

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

, and

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 ...

. An expert in

classical Armenian Classical Armenian (, in Eastern Armenian pronunciation: Grabar, Western Armenian: Krapar; meaning "literary anguage; also Old Armenian or Liturgical Armenian) is the oldest attested form of the Armenian language. It was first written down at ...

literature, Malkhasiants wrote the critical editions and translated the works of many classical Armenian historians into modern Armenian and contributed seventy years of his life to the advancement of the study of the

Armenian language Armenian ( classical: , reformed: , , ) is an Indo-European language and an independent branch of that family of languages. It is the official language of Armenia. Historically spoken in the Armenian Highlands, today Armenian is widely spoken t ...

Early life and education

Malkhasiants was born in Akhaltsikh, in what was then

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, in 1857. He received his primary education at the Karapetian Parochial school in Akhaltsikh. From 1874 to 1878, he attended the Gevorgian Seminary in Vagharshapat (current-day

Echmiadzin 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 ...

). Malkhasiants was admitted to the department of

Oriental studies Oriental studies is the academic field that studies Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology. In recent years, the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Middle Eastern studi ...

at Saint Petersburg State University. He graduated in 1889 with an emphasis in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

and Armenian-

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

studies. Durgarian, K. G. s.v. "Malkhasiants, Stepan Sargsi,"

Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia'' ( hy, Հայկական սովետական հանրագիտարան, ''Haykakan sovetakan hanragitaran''; ASE) publishing house was established in 1967 as a department of the Institute of History of the Armen ...

, vol. 7, p. 162. Following the completion of his studies, Malkhasiants taught Armenian at schools and became a regular contributor to periodicals and academic journals. Returning to the

Transcaucasus The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Arme ...

, he took up a teaching position at the Karapetian Parochial school and later the Yeghiazarian gymnasium (also in Akhaltsikh), the Nersisian, Hovnanian and Gayanian seminaries 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 ...

and at the Gevorgian Seminary. After

Yerevan State University Yerevan State University (YSU; hy, Երևանի Պետական Համալսարան, ԵՊՀ, ''Yerevani Petakan Hamalsaran''), also simply University of Yerevan, is the oldest continuously operating public university in Armenia. Founded in 1919 ...

's foundin in February 1920, Malkhasiants became a part of the faculty of the department of history and linguistics and was the first instructor to deliver a lecture there. In 1940, Malkhasyants was awarded with his ''

doktor nauk Doctor of Sciences ( rus, доктор наук, p=ˈdoktər nɐˈuk, abbreviated д-р наук or д. н.; uk, доктор наук; bg, доктор на науките; be, доктар навук) is a higher doctoral degree in the Russi ...

'' in philology, '' honoris causa''. In 1943 he helped found the

Armenian Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia (NAS RA) ( hy, Հայաստանի Հանրապետության գիտությունների ազգային ակադեմիա, ՀՀ ԳԱԱ, ''Hayastani Hanrapetut’yan gitut’yunneri az ...

and was formally elected into its body. Grigorian, A. V. "Stepan Malkhasiantsi tsnndyan 125-amyaki artiv" n the occasion of the 125th anniversary of Stepan Malkhasiants' Birthday ''

Patma-Banasirakan Handes ''Patma-Banasirakan Handes'' ( hy, Պատմա-Բանասիրական Հանդես (ՊԲՀ, ''PBH''); russian: Историко-филологический журнал, ''Istoriko-Filologicheskii Zhurnal''; "Historical-Philological Journal") is a ...

'' 100 (1983): pp. 3-15.

Works

Malkhasiants took an active interest in the study of classical and medieval Armenian historiography prior to his graduation from Saint Petersburg State. In 1885, he published the first critical edition of the ''Universal History'', written by the eleventh-century historian Stepanos Taronetsi. He later published several other critical texts by Armenian historians, including the primary histories written by

Pavstos Buzand Faustus of Byzantium (also Faustus the Byzantine, hy, Փաւստոս Բուզանդ, translit=P'awstos Buzand) was an Armenian historian of the 5th century. Faustus' ''History of the Armenians'' (also known as '' Buzandaran Patmut'iwnk) exists ...

(1896), Sebeos (1899),

Ghazar Parpetsi Ghazar Parpetsi ( hy, Ղազար Փարպեցի, translit=Łazar P῾arpec῾i) was a 5th to 6th century Armenian chronicler and historian. He had close ties with the powerful Mamikonian noble family and is most prominent for writing a history of ...

(1904) and

Movses Khorenatsi Movses Khorenatsi (ca. 410–490s AD; hy, Մովսէս Խորենացի, , also written as ''Movses Xorenac‘i'' and Moses of Khoren, Moses of Chorene, and Moses Chorenensis in Latin sources) was a prominent Armenian historian from the late an ...

(1940). Malkhasiants took a particular interest in Movses Khorenatsi and published over 50 works on the "Father of Armenian history" in the form of books, articles, and monographs. Subsequent works also focused on the grammar of

and ''ashkharabar'' (modern Armenian). His Russian translation of the eighteenth-century

Catholicos Catholicos, plural Catholicoi, is a title used for the head of certain churches in some Eastern Christian traditions. The title implies autocephaly and in some cases it is the title of the head of an autonomous church. The word comes from ancient ...

Simeon Yerevantsi's history work, ''Jambr'', was published in 1958. In 1944-1945, Malkhasiants completed a monumental four-volume Armenian-language

dictionary A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies ...

, ''Armenian Explanatory Dictionary'' (''Hayeren Batsadrakan Barraran'', Հայերէն Բացատրական Բառարան), which went on to win the

Stalin Prize Stalin Prize may refer to: * The State Stalin Prize in science and engineering and in arts, awarded 1941 to 1954, later known as the USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, ...

in 1946. The dictionary, which Malkhasiants began putting together in 1922, provides an exhaustive vocabulary list of classical Armenian,

middle Armenian Cilician Armenian (), also called Middle Armenian, but the former term may be confused for modern dialects, corresponds to the second period in written Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in th ...

, and modern Armenian words, as well as an exploration of the numerous

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...

s spoken by Armenians.Anon.
Malkhasyants, Stepan Sarkisovich
." Caucasian Knot. Accessed June 25, 2008. Malkhasiants also translated some foreign works into Armenian. In addition to

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's plays, including ''

King Lear ''King Lear'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between two of his daughters. He becomes destitute and insane an ...

'' and ''

Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...

'', he also translated the writings of

Georg Ebers Georg Moritz Ebers (Berlin, 1 March 1837 – Tutzing, Bavaria, 7 August 1898) was a German Egyptologist and novelist. He is best known for his purchase of the Ebers Papyrus, one of the oldest Egyptian medical documents in the world. Life Geo ...

. He died in Yerevan at the age of 89 in 1947.

References

External links

Armenian Explanatory Dictionary
o
also here
(ՀԱՅԵՐԷՆ ԲԱՑԱՏՐԱԿԱՆ ԲԱՌԱՐԱՆ) by Stepan Malkhasiants (about 130,000 entries). Yerevan, 1944. In 4 volumes. One of the definitive Armenian dictionaries. Written in classical Armenian orthography. {{DEFAULTSORT:Malkhasyants, Stepan 1857 births 1947 deaths People from Akhaltsikhe Saint Petersburg State University alumni Linguists from Armenia Linguists from the Soviet Union Soviet philologists 20th-century philologists 20th-century linguists Armenian lexicographers Soviet Armenians Flag designers Armenian people from the Russian Empire

Early life and education

Works

References

Further reading

External links