Igor Mikhailovich Diakonoff (occasionally spelled Diakonov, ; 12 January 1915 – 2 May 1999) was a Russian historian,

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

, and translator and a renowned expert on the

Ancient Near East The ancient Near East was home to many cradles of civilization, spanning Mesopotamia, Egypt, Iran (or Persia), Anatolia and the Armenian highlands, the Levant, and the Arabian Peninsula. As such, the fields of ancient Near East studies and Nea ...

and its languages. His brothers were also distinguished historians.

Life and career

Diakonoff was brought up in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. He graduated from Leningrad State University (now

Saint Petersburg State University Saint Petersburg State University (SPBGU; ) is a 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 university from the be ...

) in 1938. In the same year he joined the staff of the

Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and holds the large ...

in Leningrad (now

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 ...

). In 1949, he published a comprehensive study of

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...

, followed in 1956 by a

monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

Media Media may refer to: Communication * Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Interactive media, media that is inter ...

. Later on, he teamed up with the linguist

Sergei Starostin Sergei Anatolyevich Starostin (; March 24, 1953 – September 30, 2005) was a Russian historical linguistics, historical linguist and philology, philologist, perhaps best known for his reconstructions of hypothetical proto-languages, including hi ...

to produce authoritative studies of the Caucasian, Afroasiatic, and Hurro-Urartian languages. Diakonoff was honored in 2003 with a

festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

volume published in his memory, edited by Lionel Bender, Gábor Takács, and David Appleyard. In addition to articles on Afro-Asiatic languages, it contains a five-page list of his publications compiled by Takács.

Family

Diakonoff's family members are known for their contributions to various fields of knowledge, both sciences and humanities. His wife and two sons became well-known researchers and achieved ranks of full professors.

Brother's family

* Igor's brother Mikhail Mikhailovich Diakonoff was an authority in

Iranian studies Iranian studies ( '), 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 is a part of the wider field ...

. * Mikhail Diakonoff's daughter Elena Diakonova is a translator from Old and Modern Japanese.

Wives

Igor's first wife Nina Dyakonova (1915–2013) was a historian and critic of English literature, with a special interest in English Romantic poetry of the early 19th century ( Keats,

Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...

, Shelley) and its reception in European and

Russian literature Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia, its Russian diaspora, émigrés, and to Russian language, Russian-language literature. Major contributors to Russian literature, as well as English for instance, are authors of different e ...

. A student of Professors Viktor Zhirmunsky and Mikhail Alexeyev, she was a professor at her alma mater

, and later, teacher-training Herzen University. His second wife, Ninel Yankovskaya (1925–2005), was a historian, assyriologist in the State

Sons

Igor's sons became prominent physicists. * Mikhail Dyakonov (born 1940) – Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Chief Researcher\Honorary Fellow of the St. Petersburg Abram Ioffe Physicotechnical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and after that, since 1998 professor at the

University of Montpellier The University of Montpellier () is a public university, public research university located in Montpellier, in south-east of France. Established in 1220, the University of Montpellier is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous opera ...

, laureate of the

State Prize of the USSR 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 ...

; * (1949–2012) – Doctor of Physics and Mathematics, Deputy Head of the Sector of Theoretical Physics of High Energies, Professor B. P. Konstantinov St. Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Selected bibliography

* 1965. ''Semito-Hamitic Languages''. Moscow: Nauka. * 1984. Co-authored with V. P. Neroznak. ''Phrygian''. Delmar, New York: Caravan Books. * 1985. "On the original home of the speakers of Indo-European". ''Journal of Indo-European Studies'' 13, pp. 92–174. * 1986. Co-authored with Sergei A. Starostin. ''Hurro-Urartian as an Eastern Caucasian Language''. Munich: R. Kitzinger. * 1988. ''Afrasian Languages''. Moscow: Nauka. * 1992. Co-authored with Olga Stolbova and Alexander Militarev. ''Proto-Afrasian and Old Akkadian: A Study in Historical Phonetics''. Princeton: Institute of Semitic Studies. * 1995. ''Archaic Myths of the Orient and the Occident''. Acta universitatis gothoburgensis. * 1999. ''The Paths of History''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Sources

* Dandamayev, M.A., Mogens T. Larsen, and J. Nicholas Postgate (editors). 1982. ''Societies and Languages of the Ancient Near East: Studies in Honour of I.M. Diakonoff.'' Warminster: Aris and Philipps. * Bender, M. Lionel and Gábor Takács (editors). 2003. ''Selected Comparative-Historical Afrasian Linguistic Studies in Memory of Igor M. Diakonoff.'' Munich: Lincom Europa.

References

External links

Article on Diakonoff
at ''

Encyclopædia Iranica ''Encyclopædia Iranica'' is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritative English-language encyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization of Iranian peoples from prehistory to modern times. Scope The ''Encyc ...

''
Diakonoff as a translator
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Diakonov, Igor 1915 births 1999 deaths Writers from Saint Petersburg People from Sankt-Peterburgsky Uyezd 20th-century Russian historians Russian orientalists Linguists from Russia Linguists from the Soviet Union Russian philologists Soviet historians Indo-Europeanists 20th-century Russian translators Linguists of Caucasian languages Linguists of Afroasiatic languages Linguists of Hurro-Urartian languages Linguists of Indo-European languages Burials at Bogoslovskoe Cemetery Russian scientists