Vasily (Vaso) Ivanovich Abaev, also Abayev or Abayti (, ; 15 December 1900 – 18 March 2001) was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Ossetian linguist specializing in

Iranian Iranian () may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Iran ** Iranian diaspora, Iranians living outside Iran ** Iranian architecture, architecture of Iran and parts of the rest of West Asia ** Iranian cuisine, cooking traditions and practic ...

, particularly Ossetian linguistics.

Biography

Abaev was born in the village of Kobi, Tiflis Governorate, Russian Empire. He studied at the Gymnasium of

Tiflis Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

in 1910-1918 and graduated from the

Leningrad University Saint Petersburg State University (SPBGU; ) is a public university, public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the Great, the uni ...

in 1925. He studied Iranian philology under Friedman's direction and, as many other young linguists, fell under the influence of the controversial Nicholas Marr, joining Marr's Yaphetic Institute in 1928. After Marr's death, he moved to broad Iranian topics and field work in Ossetia until the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In 1945 he moved back to Leningrad where he published his work on the Nart sagas, a dictionary and grammar book of Ossetian. With

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

's condemnation of Marr's linguistic theories the Yaphetic Institute was purged, but Abaev was spared. Starting with the 1950s, Abayev became internationally famous as the leading authority on Scythian and Sarmatian linguistics. Assisted by his friend,

Georges Dumézil Georges Edmond Raoul Dumézil (4 March 189811 October 1986) was a French Philology, philologist, Linguistics, linguist, and religious studies scholar who specialized in comparative linguistics and comparative mythology, mythology. He was a prof ...

, Abaev demonstrated connections between the Scythian languages and modern Ossetian. He also pointed out some striking similarities between Ossetian and Celtic mythology. In 1960s, he also became known as a determined opponent of

structuralism Structuralism is an intellectual current and methodological approach, primarily in the social sciences, that interprets elements of human culture by way of their relationship to a broader system. It works to uncover the structural patterns t ...

, which he compared to "dehumanization" of linguistics. His magnum opus, the '' Etymological Dictionary of Ossetian Language'', which is based on the material of 190 languages and dialects, was published in four volumes between 1959 and 1989 and became known outside the USSR as well. He died at the age of 100 in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. Several years later, a monument to him was unveiled in

Tskhinvali Tskhinvali ( ka, ცხინვალი ) or Tskhinval (, ; , ) is the capital of the disputed ''de facto'' independent Republic of South Ossetia, internationally considered part of Shida Kartli, Georgia (except by Russia and four other UN m ...

Honours and awards

Order of Merit for the Fatherland Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * ...

, 3rd class (December 20, 2000) - for outstanding contribution to the development of national science and training of highly qualified and in connection with the 100th anniversary of the birth; 4th class (December 7, 1995) - for services to the state, the progress made in work *

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour () was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the Soviet state and society in the fields of production, science, culture, literature, the arts, education, sports ...

* Twice winner of the prize K. Khetagurov * Honoured Worker of Science of Georgia and North Ossetia *

USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize () was one of the Soviet Union’s highest civilian honours, awarded from its establishment in September 1966 until the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. It recognised outstanding contributions in the fields of science, mathem ...

- 1981

Footnotes

References

Alans
Encyclopædia Iranica, V. Abaev and H. W. Bailey

TITUS (Thesaurus Indogermanischer Text- und Sprachmaterialien)
"Grammar of the Ossetian language", by Abaev

External links

* , four volumes plus index
''Alans''
in Encyclopædia Iranica by V. Abaev and H. W. Bailey {{DEFAULTSORT:Abaev, Vasily 1900 births 2001 deaths Soviet archaeologists People from Mtskheta-Mtianeti People from Tiflis Governorate Ossetian academics Linguists from Russia Russian archaeologists Caucasologists Etymologists Honorary members of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences Russian men centenarians Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 3rd class Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 4th class Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Recipients of the USSR State Prize Linguists from the Soviet Union