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Kerovbe Patkanian or Kerope Petrovich Patkanov (, ; – ) was a Russian
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 around the ...
philologist, linguist, orientalist, and historian who served as Professor of Armenian Studies at the
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 ...
. He was born in
Nakhichevan-on-Don __NOTOC__ Nakhichevan-on-Don (, ''Naxičevan’-na-Donu''), also known as New Nakhichevan (, ''Nor Naxiĵevan''; as opposed to the "old" Nakhichevan), was an Armenian-populated town near Rostov-on-Don, in southern Russia founded in 1779 by Armen ...
(today part of
Rostov-on-Don Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...
) into a noted family of scholars and educators. He published a number of works of medieval Armenian literature, some for the first time.


Biography

Kerovbe Patkanian was born in
Nakhichevan-on-Don __NOTOC__ Nakhichevan-on-Don (, ''Naxičevan’-na-Donu''), also known as New Nakhichevan (, ''Nor Naxiĵevan''; as opposed to the "old" Nakhichevan), was an Armenian-populated town near Rostov-on-Don, in southern Russia founded in 1779 by Armen ...
(today part of
Rostov-on-Don Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...
) on into a noted Armenian family of scholars and educators. His father, Petros Patkanian, was a priest, and his mother was the daughter of the educator and author Harutyun Alamdarian. He was the first cousin of writer
Raphael Patkanian Raphael Patkanian (, – ), also known by the penname Gamar Katipa (), was a nineteenth-century Russian Armenian writer and educator. He was born into a noted family of Armenian intellectuals in Nakhichevan-on-Don and began writing in his stude ...
. He received his initial education at the Armenian school of
Stavropol Stavropol (, ), known as Voroshilovsk from 1935 until 1943, is a city and the administrative centre of Stavropol Krai, in southern Russia. As of the 2021 Census, its population was 547,820, making it one of Russia's fastest growing cities. E ...
. In 1849, he graduated from the
Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages The Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages, () established in 1815, was a school specializing in orientalism, with a particular focus on that of Armenia, and was the principal cultural center of the Armenian diaspora in Moscow, Russia. Many Russi ...
in Moscow, where he was taught by the renowned Armenologist Mkrtich (Nikita) Emin. He then graduated from the University of Dorpat and the Main Pedagogical Institute in Saint Petersburg in 1857. In December of that year, he became senior teacher at the Transcaucasian Institute for Girls (''Zakavkazsky devichy institut'') and soon married A. A. Akimova. Now provided for financially, he was able to focus on scholarship. In 1861, he joined the staff of the Department of Armenian Literature of the
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 ...
, first as an (adjunct) professor and as a full professor after 1872. He headed the Department of Eastern Languages from 1861. He is credited with establishing Armenian philology as a subject of comprehensive study at the university; the "Petersburg school" of Armenian studies associated with Patkanian eventually included well-known scholars such as
Nikolai Marr Nikolai Yakovlevich Marr (, ''Nikolay Yakovlevich Marr''; , ''Nikoloz Iak'obis dze Mari''; — 20 December 1934) was a Georgian-born historian and linguist who gained a reputation as a scholar of the Caucasus during the 1910s before embarking o ...
,
Nicholas Adontz Nicholas Adontz (; ; January 10, 1871 – January 27, 1942) was an Armenians, Armenian historian, specialising in Byzantine studies, Byzantine and Armenian studies, and a philologist. Karen Yuzbashyan, Yuzbashyan, Karen. s.v. Adonts', Nikoghayos ...
,
Joseph Orbeli Joseph Orbeli (, Hovsep Abgari Orbeli; ; 20 March ( O.S. 8 March) 1887 – 2 February 1961) was a Soviet-Armenian orientalist, public figure and academician who specialized in medieval history of Transcaucasia and administered the Hermitage Museu ...
and others. In 1863, he successfully defended his master's thesis titled ''Opyt istorii dinastii Sasanidov po svedeniyam, soobshchayemym armyanskimi pisatelyami'' (An attempt at a history of the Sasanian dynasty according to the information reported by Armenian authors). In 1864, he obtained a doctoral degree for his work ''Issledovaniye o sostave armyanksogo yazyka'' (A study of the structure of the Armenian language). From 1872, he also served as the chief censor of Armenian publications of the Saint Petersburg Censorship Committee, in which capacity he is credited with playing a positive role in the development of Armenian publishing. Patkanian studied Armenian manuscripts in the libraries of Etchmiadzin, Tiflis, Venice, Munich, Berlin, Paris and Vienna. He published a number of works of medieval Armenian literature, including for the first time the works of Gregory of Akner (1870) and Mkhitar of Ani (1879). He also published new editions of the works of
Mekhitar of Ayrivank Mekhitar of Ayrivank ( ''Mxitʿar Ayrivanecʿi'') (1230/35 – 1297/1300) was an Armenian monk, or ''vardapet'', at the "Cave-Monastery", modern Geghard. He is best known for his list of history of the world. He preserves in his writings a list of ...
(1867),
Sebeos Sebeos () was the reputed author of a 7th-century Armenian history. As this authorship attribution is widely accepted to be false (pseudepigraphical), the author is frequently referred to as Pseudo-Sebeos. Though his name is not known, he was likel ...
(1879), Faustus (1883), and
Tovma Artsruni Tovma Artsruni (; also known in English-language historiography as Thomas Artsruni) was a ninth- to tenth-century Armenian historian who authored the ''History of the House of Artsrunik'' (). Despite its title, the four-volume work not only relat ...
(1887), which were of a higher quality than previous publications. He translated into Russian the works of
Movses Kaghankatvatsi Movses Kaghankatvatsi ( 'Moses of Kaghankatuk'), or Movses Daskhurantsi ( 'Moses of Daskhuran'), is the reputed author (or the alias of several authors) of a tenth-century Classical Armenian historical work on Caucasian Albania and the eastern ...
(1861), Sebeos (1862), Ghevond (1862), Mekhitar of Ayrivank (1869), Petros di Sargis Gilanents (1870), Maghakia Abegha (1871), Tovma Artsruni (1887), and the Armenian geography ''
Ashkharhatsuyts ''Ashkharhatsuyts'' (), often translated as ''Geography'' in English sources, is an early medieval Armenian geography attributed to Anania Shirakatsi. It believed to have been written sometime between 610 and 636. According to Elizabeth Redgate, ...
'' (1877, with the original Armenian text). He also compiled and translated information about the Mongols from Armenian histories (2 vols., 1873–74). According to Meri Saghian and Maxim Katvalian, Patkanian's translations "are characterized by closeness to the original text, a high level of scientific rigor, ndthey are accompanied by additional information, comments and annotations." He also wrote bibliographies and studies of medieval Armenian authors and their works. In his ''Opyt istorii dinastii Sasanidov'' and the work ''O mnimom pokhode Taklat-Palasara k beregam Inda'' (On the supposed campaign of Tiglath-Pileser to the shores of the Indus, 1879), Patkanian addressed a number of key questions in the ancient and medieval history of the Middle East. Patkanian also studied the
Urartian Urartian or Vannic is an extinct Hurro-Urartian language which was spoken by the inhabitants of the ancient kingdom of Urartu (''Biaini'' or ''Biainili'' in Urartian), which was centered on the region around Lake Van and had its capital, Tushp ...
cuneiform inscriptions discovered in Armenia and wrote a number of works about them. In his doctoral dissertation ''Issledovaniye o sostave armyanksogo yazyka'', Patkanian studies the origin, development and other characteristics of the Armenian language using the methods of historical and comparative linguistics. Patkanian considered
Classical Armenian Classical Armenian (, , ; meaning "literary anguage; also Old Armenian or Liturgical Armenian) is the oldest attested form of the Armenian language. It was first written down at the beginning of the 5th century, and most Armenian literature fro ...
to be the ancient spoken language of the
Ayrarat Ayrarat () was the central province of the ancient kingdom of Armenia, located in the plain of the upper Aras River. Most of the historical capitals of Armenia were located in this province, including Armavir, Yervandashat, Artashat, Vagharsha ...
province of Greater Armenia, serving as the official or common language of the Armenian people during the existence of the ancient Armenian kingdom and as the Armenian literary language from the fifth to the nineteenth century. He contributed to the study of Armenian dialects in his work ''Issledovaniye o dialektakh armyanskogo yazyka'' (Study on the dialects of the Armenian Language, 1869), for which Armenologist H. Dashian called him "the father of Armenian dialectology." These works include stories, fairy tales, and oral traditions in the dialects of Mush, Khoy, Agulis, Julfa, and
Karabakh Karabakh ( ; ) is a geographic region in southwestern Azerbaijan and eastern Armenia, extending from the highlands of the Lesser Caucasus down to the lowlands between the rivers Kura and Aras. It is divided into three regions: Highland Kara ...
. Patkanian considered the Armenian dialects to be the descendants of the ancient tribal languages of Armenia. In his view, Classical Armenian did not experience new development down to the nineteenth century and maintained its original grammatical structure, and it was not the living, spoken language of the Armenian people from the fifth to the nineteenth century. In his work ''O meste, zanimayemom armyanskim yazykom v krugu indoyevropeyskikh'' (The place occupied by the Armenian language among the Indo-European languages, 1879), Patkanian concluded that Armenian is a unique representative of an unknown branch of the
Indo-European language family The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...
located between the Iranian and Slavic languages. He collected materials for an Armenian explanatory dictionary and a dictionary of Armenian personal names (''Materialy dlya armyanskogo slovari'', parts 1–2, 1882–84), but this work remained unfinished. In a number of articles, he argued against what he viewed as unnecessary
purism Purism, referring to the arts, was a movement that took place between 1918 and 1925 that influenced French painting and architecture. Purism was led by Amédée Ozenfant and Charles Edouard Jeanneret (Le Corbusier). Ozenfant and Le Corbusier f ...
in the Armenian language. Patkanian died in Saint Petersburg on .


Selected works

A bibliography of Patkanian's works can be found in . * (1860) * (1861) The first Russian translation of the Classical Armenian history of
Caucasian Albania Caucasian Albania is a modern exonym for a former state located in ancient times in the Caucasus, mostly in what is now Azerbaijan (where both of its capitals were located). The modern endonyms for the area are ''Aghwank'' and ''Aluank'', among ...
attributed to
Movses Kaghankatvatsi Movses Kaghankatvatsi ( 'Moses of Kaghankatuk'), or Movses Daskhurantsi ( 'Moses of Daskhuran'), is the reputed author (or the alias of several authors) of a tenth-century Classical Armenian historical work on Caucasian Albania and the eastern ...
. * (1861–1863) "Armenia," "Arsacids" and a number of other articles on Armenian geography, history and literature in the Russian encyclopedia * (1863) * (1869) * (1877) Publication of the original Armenian text and Russian translation of the work of geography ''
Ashkharhatsuyts ''Ashkharhatsuyts'' (), often translated as ''Geography'' in English sources, is an early medieval Armenian geography attributed to Anania Shirakatsi. It believed to have been written sometime between 610 and 636. According to Elizabeth Redgate, ...
'' (formerly attributed to
Movses Khorenatsi Movses Khorenatsi ( 410–490s AD; , ) was a prominent Armenians, Armenian historian from late antiquity and the author of the ''History of Armenia (book), History of the Armenians''. Movses's ''History of the Armenians'' was the first attempt at ...
). Patkanian was the first to suggest
Anania Shirakatsi Anania Shirakatsi (, , anglicized: Ananias of Shirak) was a 7th-century Armenian polymath and natural philosopher, author of extant works covering mathematics, astronomy, geography, chronology, and other fields. Little is known for certain of his ...
as the likely author of this work. * (1879) * (1880) * (1887)


Note


References


Further reading

* * * Obituary in '' Istorichesky Vestnik'', vol. XXXVI, 1889, p
748
(in Russian). {{DEFAULTSORT:Patkanian, Kerovbe 1833 births 1889 deaths Linguists from the Russian Empire Academic staff of Saint Petersburg State University