Sergi Jikia ( ka, სერგი ჯიქია; October 20, 1898 ― December 6, 1993) was a Georgian historian and orientalist, founder of the

Turkology Turkology (or Turcology or Turkic studies) is a complex of humanities sciences studying languages, history, literature, folklore, culture, and ethnology of people speaking Turkic languages and the Turkic peoples in chronological and comparative c ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

Biography

Sergi jikia was born in the village of Onoghia ( ka, ონოღია; now

Martvili Municipality Martvili ( ka, მარტვილის მუნიციპალიტეტი) is a district of Georgia (country), Georgia, in the region of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti. Its main town is Martvili. Martvili Municipality is located in the north- ...

). In 1906 he enrolled at the parish school of Onoghia. In 1913 he continued his study at the Tbilisi Theological School, where he admitted in the third class. After completing the four classes of the school, he went to the Theological Seminary (from 1917 Tiflis 8th Gymnasium for Boys), which he graduated from in 1919. Upon finishing the gymnasium with honours, he enrolled at the faculty of philosophy of Tiflis State University, first at the department of history and a year later at the department of

linguistics 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 ...

. In 1923 he was elected a member of the Georgian society of linguistics. In 1924 he graduated from Tiflis State University.Duduchava, I., Tivadze, A. (2020). ''Sergi Jikia (1898-1993): Biobibliography.'' Tbilisi: Ivane Javakhisvili Tbilisi State University. The National Science Library series “Georgian Scientists“. pp. 37-39. From 1927 to 1929 Sergi Jikia was sent to the

Istanbul University Istanbul University, also known as University of Istanbul (), is a Public university, public research university located in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded by Mehmed II on May 30, 1453, a day after Fall of Constantinople, the conquest of Constantinop ...

to learn the Turkish language and literature. He worked on the Turkish language and historical sources in the archives in Istanbul. In 1929-1932 he was a postgraduate student at the

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 ...

Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. In 1930-1936 Sergi Jikia worked as an assistant professor at 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 ...

, where he was awarded with the honorary title. From 1934 to 1936 he was a senior research fellow at the N. Marr Institute. From 1936 to 1945 Sergi Jikia was a head of the department of oriental languages at Tbilisi State University. In 1936-1960 he worked at the institute of linguistics of the Georgian Academy of Sciences. From 1945 to 1952 he was a dean of the faculty of oriental studies at Tbilisi State University. In 1945-1973 he was a head of the department of Turkish university in Tbilisi. In 1959, Sergi Jikia was invited by the Polish Academy of Sciences and the University of Warsaw to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

with academician Giorgi Tsereteli to give lectures. From 1960 until his death, he was a head of the department of turkology at the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Academy of Sciences of the Georgian SSR.

Contributions

Sergi Jikia has worked on Turkish philology, dialectology of Turkish languages, Turkish language history, Turkish historical sources, Turkish-Georgian relations, and Eastern Anatolian and Azerbaijani dialects of Turkish. He studied Georgian,

Megrelian The Mingrelian or Megrelian language ( ) is a Kartvelian language spoken in Western Georgia (regions of Mingrelia and Abkhazia), primarily by the Mingrelians. Mingrelian has historically been only a regional language within the boundaries of his ...

and Laz texts in

Evliya Çelebi Dervish Mehmed Zillî (25 March 1611 – 1682), known as Evliya Çelebi (), was an Ottoman Empire, Ottoman explorer who travelled through his home country during its cultural zenith as well as neighboring lands. He travelled for over 40 years, rec ...

Seyahatnâme ''Seyahatname'' () is the name of a literary form and tradition whose examples can be found throughout centuries in the Middle Ages around the Islamic world, starting with the Arab travellers of the Umayyad period. In a more specific sense, the ...

. He published ''Defter-i Mufassal-i Vilayet-i Georgia'', dated 1595, with the original text, Georgian translation, analysis and explanations as The Great Book of the Tbilisi Vilayet. He also studied Laz-Turkish relations. Jikia prepared Georgian-Turkish dictionaries Azerbaijan compiling Georgian textbooks for schools in Turkey. Jikia is the author of Turkish reading passages published in Georgia and

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 ...

Awards and honours

Sergi Jikia was awarded ''the medal for valiant labour in the great patriotic war 1941-1945'' and the degree of a candidate of philological sciences in 1946. In 1956 he received the degree of a doctor of philological sciences and next year he became a professor. In 1961, Sergi Jikia was awarded the title of an honored person of the Georgian SSR. He was awarded a medal for ''labor bravery'' in 1961.

Legacy

A street in

Tbilisi 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 ( ...

is named after Sergi Jikia. The book "Founder of Georgian Turkology: Sergi Jikia" about the life of Sergi Jikia was written by Ia Duduchava and translated into

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

by Ilyas Ustuner.

Works

* Sergi Jikia, Nodar Shengelia; "The Great Book of the Tbilisi Vilayet of 1728".

References

Bibliography

* Jangidze V.,

Georgian Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Georgian Soviet Encyclopedia'' ( ka, ქართული საბჭოთა ენციკლოპედია, tr, ქსე) is the first universal encyclopedia in the Georgian language, printed in Tbilisi from 1965, the editor ...

, Vol. 11, Tbilisi, 1987. - p. 568.

External links

Sergi Jikia at Biographycal Dictionary of Georgia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jikia, Sergi 1898 births 1993 deaths 20th-century historians from Georgia (country) Members of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences Tbilisi State University alumni Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Philologists from Georgia (country) Turkologists