Carl Hermann Salemann (, Karl Germanovitsh Zaleman; — ) was a Russian Iranist scholar. He was an academician of

Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...

(1895) and a director of

Asiatic Museum The Asiatic Museum (Азиатский музей) in Saint Petersburg was one of the first museums of Asian art in Europe. Its existence spanned 112 years from 1818 to 1930 when it was incorporated into the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of th ...

of the Academy of Sciences (1890—1916).

Biography

Salemann was a

Baltic German Baltic Germans ( or , later ) are Germans, ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950), their resettlement in 1945 after the end ...

, born in Revel (now

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

), on . He studied at of

Saint Petersburg Imperial 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 ...

, Arabic-Persian-Turkish and the Sanskrit-Persian sections, in 1867–1871. He defended a thesis on the

quatrain A quatrain is a type of stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four Line (poetry), lines. Existing in a variety of forms, the quatrain appears in poems from the poetic traditions of various ancient civilizations including Persia, Ancient India ...

s of

Khaqani Afzal al-Dīn Badīl ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿOthmān (), commonly known as Khāqānī (, , – 1199), was a major Persian poet and prose-writer. He was born in Transcaucasia in the historical region known as Shirvan, where he served as an ode-wr ...

and obtained master's degree on Persion literature in 1875. In 1875, he became an assistant university librarian, and in 1879, he was promoted to full librarian. From 1876, Salemann taught

Zend Zend or Zand () is a Zoroastrian term for Middle Persian or Pahlavi versions and commentaries of Avestan texts. These translations were produced in the late Sasanian period. ''Zand'' glosses and commentaries exist in several languages, including ...

and

Middle Persian Middle Persian, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg ( Inscriptional Pahlavi script: , Manichaean script: , Avestan script: ) in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasania ...

literature on Oriental Faculty. He held a position of

Privatdozent ''Privatdozent'' (for men) or ''Privatdozentin'' (for women), abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz., is an academic title conferred at some European universities, especially in German-speaking countries, to someone who holds certain formal qualifi ...

. In 1882, he was elected a member of

Imperial Russian Archaeological Society The Imperial Russian Archaeological Society (Императорское Русское археологическое общество), originally known as the Archaeological-Numismatic Society, was an archaeological society in the Russian Empir ...

. He was also elected an adjunct member of

(specializing in Asiatic literature and history) in 1886, an extraordinary academician in 1890, an ordinary academician in 1895.Карл Германович Залеман
//

Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences The Institute of Oriental Manuscripts (IOM) of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ), formerly the St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, is a research institute in Saint Petersburg, Russi ...

From 1890, he was a director of

of the Academy of Sciences. In this position he collected manuscripts and books and published descriptions of newly acquired items, as well as prepared catalogues of the museum. In 1890, he became a librarian of second section of the library of the Academy of Sciences. In 1902, Salemann became an honorary professor of

University of Giessen University of Giessen, official name Justus Liebig University Giessen (), is a large public research university in Giessen, Hesse, Germany. It is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in the German-speaking world. It is named afte ...

. In 1903, he became a member of the Russian committee for the Study of Central and Eastern Asia. In 1904, he became a corresponding member of the

Hungarian Academy of Sciences The Hungarian Academy of Sciences ( , MTA) is Hungary’s foremost and most prestigious learned society. Its headquarters are located along the banks of the Danube in Budapest, between Széchenyi rakpart and Akadémia utca. The Academy's primar ...

. In 1908, he became an honorary member of the

Royal Asiatic Society The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, commonly known as the Royal Asiatic Society, was established, according to its royal charter of 11 August 1824, to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encourag ...

Bibliography

Main works of Salemann: * «Ueber eine Parsenhandschrift der K. Oeffentl. Bibliothek zu St. Petersburg» («Travaux de la 3-е session du Congrès international des Orientalistes», vol. II,

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

, 1879); * «Mittelpersische Studien» («Bulletin de l’Académie», 1886); * «Scham-si-Fachrii lexicon Persicum» (

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

, 1887); * «Bericht über die Ausgabe des Mi’jar i Jamali» («Bulletin de l’Académie». 1888); * «Persische Grammatik mit Litteratur, Chrestomathie und Glossar» (together with V. Zhukovsky,

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

., 1889); * «Краткая грамматика новоперсидского языка, с приложением метрики и библиографии» (together with V. Zhukovsky,

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 ...

, 1890); * «Noch einmal die Seldschukischen Verse» (1890, «Bulletin de l’Académie»).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Salemann, Carl Philologists from the Russian Empire Full members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Iranologists Academic staff of Saint Petersburg State University Baltic-German people from the Russian Empire Directors of Asiatic Museum Corresponding fellows of the British Academy 1850 births 1916 deaths