Hugo Schuchardt and Georgia - WordPress.com · 2019. 10. 1. · An eight-page letter by Hugo...
Transcript of Hugo Schuchardt and Georgia - WordPress.com · 2019. 10. 1. · An eight-page letter by Hugo...
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HugoSchuchardtandGeorgia
compiledbyMarineAroshidzeandNinoAroshidze
VersionJuly2019
The correspondence of Hugo Schuchardt (1842–1927), a famous Austrian philologist, with
Georgianscholars,writersandpublicfiguresconcerningtheGeorgianlanguageandcultureisoneof
themost interesting and important phases for Kartvelology. Schuchardt worked in times of great
“social turmoilandturbulence”,hence it isnotsurprisingthatthisstage inthehistoryofGeorgian
philology was insufficiently covered in Soviet scientific journals praising the superiority of Soviet
scienceoverthe“representativesoftheWest.”PublicationsanalysingtheimpactofwesternEuropean
philologyonGeorgianscholarsappearedonlyinthepost-Sovietperiod.Thesepublicationsspecifically
stressthecrucialroleofSchuchardtinshapingKartvelology.
TheGeorgianNationalCenterofManuscriptscherishesthelettersoftheAustrianscholarwho
wasmultilingualand fluent inGeorgian.ZhuzhunaPeikrishviliand IvetaVashakidze, theauthorsof
Materials for the History of International Kartvelian Studies, indicate that Schuchardt was soknowledgeableofthestructureoftheGeorgianlanguagethathewasthefirsttodrawtheGeorgian
scholar’s attention to certain interesting characteristics such as: (1) the features of the Georgian
ejectives,(2)thecharacterofstress,(3)formsoftheinstrumentalcase,(4)transitiveverbs,(5)ergative
structures,etc.Furthermore,GeorgianculturologistsnotetheinvaluablecontributionofSchuchardt
tothestudyoftheancientGeorgianmanuscripts.
Unfortunately,onlyasmallpartofSchuchardt’s letterswaspreserved inGeorgia.His lively
correspondencewithscientists,writersandpublicfiguresinGeorgiaincludedprominentnamessuch
as Ilia Chavchavadze,NicholasMarr, Akaki Shanidze, PetreMelikishvili,Mose Janashvili, Alexander
Khakhanashvili,orIvaneJavakhishvili.Theselettersrevealtheexchangeofopinions,requeststosend
booksinGeorgian,verificationoftheopinions,and,ofcourse,scientificdisputes.VakhtangImnaishvili,
whostudiedthecorrespondenceoftheGeorgianscientistsandpublicfigures,alsoworkedwiththe
Hugo Schuchardt Archive established at Graz University (http://schuchardt.uni-graz.at), and very
symbolically titled his study Ardavitskebaeba Mokvrisa (which in antonymic translation results in
somethinglike“MemoryoftheLovedOnes”),whichanalysesthecorrespondenceofHugoSchuchardt
withGeorgianscholars.
ThepresentdocumentaimstoprovideafirstinsightintothetracesofmaterialsonSchuchardt
keptinGeorgiatoday.DespitetheimportanceofhisworkstothedevelopmentofKartvelology,there
isnoseparatebookdevotedtoSchuchardtinGeorgianlanguage.Also,hisbookswerenevertranslated
into the Georgian, mostly because his contemporary linguists such as A. Shanidze, N.Marr or A.
ChikobavaknewGermanand/orFrenchandwere thereforeable todrawonhisGerman-language
books as references. In SovietGeorgia, translations intoGeorgian got very limited in general, and
translationsofforeignscientistswerenotencouragedatall,neitherintoRussiannorintoGeorgian.
Therefore, section 1 exemplarily shows a pre-Soviet translation of one of Schuchardt’sworks into
Russian.Section2stressesthepublicattentiontoSchuchardt’sworksinGeorgiansocietybylooking
at late 19th
-century newspapers and contemporary comments on the philologist’s work on the
Georgianlanguage.Section3thenreproducesthecorrespondencebetweenSchuchardtandGeorgian
publicfiguresofthetime, inGerman,GeorgianandFrenchlanguage,astheyarekepttodayatthe
GeorgianNationalCentreofManuscripts.Section4thenprovidesafewreferencestoSchuchardtand
hisworkbyGeorgianscholarswith thealreadymentioned lackofa singlemonograph inGeorgian
language.
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1.BooksbyHugoSchuchardt
HugoSchuchardt.Ogeografiiistatistikekartvelskikh(juzhnokavkazskikh)iazikov.Tiflis,1899.
Schuchardt’s“OnGeographyandStatisticsofKartvelian(SouthCaucasian)languages”isasignificant
contribution to the development of Kartvelology, published in Russian in 1899. As a result of
scrupulous work, he drafted a map (“Oblast’ of the Kartvelian language in the South-Western
Caucasus”) that outlines the area of the Kartvelian languages in the south-western Caucasus. He
analysedlanguage,cultureandreligionofthepopulationintheBatumidistrict.
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2.GeorgianNewspapersonHugoSchuchardt
GeorgianscientistsfollowedHugoSchuchardt‘spublicationsontheGeorgianlanguageasnewspapers
ofthatperiodindicate.Schuchardt’ssurnameaswellashisbooktitlesisgiveninGermanlanguage,
i.e.inLatinletters.
2.1‘Iveria’16September1895
ThiscolumninformsthereadershipofthepublicationofHugoSchuchardt’sbookUberdasGeorgiche
(sic!)inVienna.Attheendofthemessage,itisstressedthattheauthordedicatedhisbooktoprofessor
P.Melikishvili.
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2.2‘Iveria’21September1895
Fivedayslater,thenewspaperincludedanotherbriefcommentonthebookÜbeddasGeorgische(sic!)
byHugoSchuchardt.Theauthorhighlightsthegreatimportanceofthisworkforthedevelopmentof
Kartvelology.
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2.3‘Iveria’17November1895
Laterin1895,IveriacommentedonaletterbyHugoSchuchardttoprofessorP.Melikishviliinwhich
theformercommentedontheroleofthenativelanguage.TheeditorialteamnotifiedthatMelikishvili
wouldsoonpublishtheletterbySchuchardtinGeorgian.
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2.4‘BulletinoftheAjaraArchive’
TheGeorgianinterest inthestudyoftheworksofHugoSchuchardtremainshightothisday.After
havingworkedatUniversityofGraz,Austria,Prof.TamazPutkaradzepublishedanarticleontherole
ofHugoSchuchardtinsecuringancientGeorgianmanuscripts(7th
–11th
centuries)todaykeptinthe
specialcollectionsofUniversityofGraz’slibrary.
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3.CorrespondencebyH.Schuchardt
The Georgian National Centre of Manuscripts boasts a collection of letters to and from Hugo
Schuchardt; in Georgian, German and in French. They are reproduced here with courtesy of the
GeorgianNationalCentreofManuscripts.
636-1
Atwo-pageletterbyHugoSchuchardttoIliaChavchavadze.InFrench.11.06.1895.SentfromGraz.
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636-2
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638
A letterbyHugoSchuchardt to IliaChavchavadze inGeorgian (8.12.1895) inwhichhe thankedthe
latterforsendingthebooksinGeorgian.TheletterwassentfromGraz.
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639
Aone-pageletterbyHugoSchuchardttoIliaChavchavadze.InFrench.01.07.1895.SentfromGraz.
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703-1
Atwo-pageletterbyHugoSchuchardttoAlexandrKhakhanashvili.InGerman.06.10.1895.Sentfrom
Friedrichroda.
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703-2
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705-1
Aneight-page letterbyHugoSchuchardt toAlexandrKhakhanashvili. InGerman. 01.03.1896. Sent
fromGraz.Theextensive lengthofthe letter isexplainedbythescientificdispute.Theauthorcalls
Khakhanashvili his ‘dear colleague’. Pay attention to page 4with theGeorgian exampleswith the
transcription.
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705-2
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705-3
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705-4
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705-5
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707-1
Afour-pageletterbyHugoSchuchardttoAlexandrKhakhanashvili.InGerman.27.09.1896.Sentfrom
Gotha.AscientificconversationbetweentwocolleagueswithGeorgianexamplesonthesecondpage.
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707-2
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707-3
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707-4
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713-1
Afour-pageletterbyHugoSchuchardttoAlexandrKhakhanashvili.InGerman.23.11.1902.Sentfrom
Graz.ThelatestlettersentbySchuchardt.
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713-2
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713-3
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713-4
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4.LiteratureaboutHugoSchuchardtbyGeorgianscientists
Chikovaba,Arnold.Istoriiaizucheniiaiberiĭsko-kavkazskikhiazykov.Tbilisi,1sted.,Tbilisi1965.
Chikovaba,Arnold.Iberiul-kavkasiurenatashescavlisistoria.2nded.,Tbilisi2008.
Imnaishvili,Vakhtang.Vinyiddaavstriashiqarthulkhelnaverebs.Tbilisi1979.
Imnaishvili,Vakhtang.Ardavicqebamoqvrisa…(kartvelmecniertadasazogadomoghvacetaepistoluri
memkvidreobidan).Tbilisi2006.
Putkaradze,Tamazet.al.(eds.).Kartulienasistoria.Kutaisi2006.
Peikrishvili, Zhuzhuna and Iveta Vashakidze.Masalebi sazghvargaretuli kartvelologiis istoriisatvis.
(MaterialsfortheHistoryofInternationalKartvelianStudies).Tbilisi2012.
Shanidze,Akaki.Qarthulienisstruqturisadaistoriissakithxebi.Tbilisi1957.
Shanidze,Akaki.Qarthulixelnaverebigracshi.TomiIX.Tbilisi1957.