Nicholas Poppe
Encyclopedia
Nicholas N. Poppe was an important Russia
n linguist.
He is also known as Nikolaus Poppe, with his first name in its German form. He is often cited as N.N. Poppe in academic publications.
Poppe was a leading specialist in the Mongolic languages
and the larger Altaic
language family to which, in the view of many linguists, the Mongolic, Turkic
, and Tungusic languages
belong. Poppe was open-minded toward the inclusion of Korean in Altaic, but regarded the evidence for the inclusion of Korean as less strong than that for the inclusion of Mongolic, Turkic, and Tungusic.
Poppe’s boyhood and youth were marked by wars: the Boxer Rebellion
, the Russo-Japanese War
, the First World War
, and the Russian Civil War
, which was followed by the establishment of the Soviet regime. Later, he experienced Stalin's Great Purge
and the Second World War
.
Poppe began teaching at the Institute for Modern Oriental Languages in 1920 at the age of 23. Three years later, in 1923, he began teaching at the University of Leningrad. In 1931, he was appointed head of the Department of Mongolian Studies in the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Soviet Academy of Sciences. In 1933, at the age of 36, he was elected as the youngest associate member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences.
During World War II
Poppe lived in the Caucasus
, in a region which was overtaken by the Germans. Poppe served as a translator between the local population and the German invaders. When the Germans withdrew he and his family also took the opportunity to leave the Soviet Union. In 1943 Poppe moved with his family to Berlin. There, Poppe began working at the SS-affiliated Wannsee Institute (not to be conflated with the Wannsee Conference
). After the war, he spent several years underground in hiding from the Soviets. In 1949, he managed to emigrate to the United States, where he joined the faculty of the Far East and Russian Institute at the University of Washington. He continued teaching there up to his retirement in 1968.
In 1968, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Bonn. He was elected a Foreign Member of the Finnish Academy of Sciences in 1968 and again in 1977.
In May 1989, a group of graduate students interested in Central and Inner Asian Studies initiated the first Nicholas Poppe Symposium. Poppe attended its first meeting in 1989 and the second in 1990. He was invited to the third meeting in May 1991 but was unable to attend on account of the state of his health.
Poppe died in June 1991 at the age of 94.
His publications in the realm of Mongolian oral literature include eleven volumes of Mongolian epics, collections of Mongolian sayings, songs, and fairytales, and Mongolian versions of works in Sanskrit.
After 1949, Poppe wrote mostly in German and English, in addition to his native Russian. Regardless of the language he used, his writing was remarkable for its simplicity and clarity. As a result, his works are easily comprehensible to specialists and non-specialists alike.
Poppe was very supportive and encouraging to young scholars and always tried to bring out the best in everyone. He did his best to give advice and assistance to anyone who asked.
The secret of his high productivity, as he jokingly described it, was that while other people were enjoying “the beautiful surroundings of Seattle, climbing the mountains or sailing the waters”, “he sits at his desk, wearing out one typewriter after the other like other people wear out their shoes”.
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n linguist.
He is also known as Nikolaus Poppe, with his first name in its German form. He is often cited as N.N. Poppe in academic publications.
Poppe was a leading specialist in the Mongolic languages
Mongolic languages
The Mongolic languages are a group of languages spoken in East-Central Asia, mostly in Mongolia and surrounding areas plus in Kalmykia. The best-known member of this language family, Mongolian, is the primary language of most of the residents of Mongolia and the Mongolian residents of Inner...
and the larger Altaic
Altaic languages
Altaic is a proposed language family that includes the Turkic, Mongolic, Tungusic, and Japonic language families and the Korean language isolate. These languages are spoken in a wide arc stretching from northeast Asia through Central Asia to Anatolia and eastern Europe...
language family to which, in the view of many linguists, the Mongolic, Turkic
Turkic languages
The Turkic languages constitute a language family of at least thirty five languages, spoken by Turkic peoples across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western China, and are considered to be part of the proposed Altaic language family.Turkic languages are spoken...
, and Tungusic languages
Tungusic languages
The Tungusic languages form a language family spoken in Eastern Siberia and Manchuria by Tungusic peoples. Many Tungusic languages are endangered, and the long-term future of the family is uncertain...
belong. Poppe was open-minded toward the inclusion of Korean in Altaic, but regarded the evidence for the inclusion of Korean as less strong than that for the inclusion of Mongolic, Turkic, and Tungusic.
Life
Nicholas Poppe's father was stationed in China as a consular officer in the Russian diplomatic service. Poppe was born in China on August 8, 1897.Poppe’s boyhood and youth were marked by wars: the Boxer Rebellion
Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, also called the Boxer Uprising by some historians or the Righteous Harmony Society Movement in northern China, was a proto-nationalist movement by the "Righteous Harmony Society" , or "Righteous Fists of Harmony" or "Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists" , in China between...
, the Russo-Japanese War
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...
, the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, and the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
, which was followed by the establishment of the Soviet regime. Later, he experienced Stalin's Great Purge
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
and the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Poppe began teaching at the Institute for Modern Oriental Languages in 1920 at the age of 23. Three years later, in 1923, he began teaching at the University of Leningrad. In 1931, he was appointed head of the Department of Mongolian Studies in the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Soviet Academy of Sciences. In 1933, at the age of 36, he was elected as the youngest associate member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Poppe lived in the Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
, in a region which was overtaken by the Germans. Poppe served as a translator between the local population and the German invaders. When the Germans withdrew he and his family also took the opportunity to leave the Soviet Union. In 1943 Poppe moved with his family to Berlin. There, Poppe began working at the SS-affiliated Wannsee Institute (not to be conflated with the Wannsee Conference
Wannsee Conference
The Wannsee Conference was a meeting of senior officials of the Nazi German regime, held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee on 20 January 1942. The purpose of the conference was to inform administrative leaders of Departments responsible for various policies relating to Jews, that Reinhard Heydrich...
). After the war, he spent several years underground in hiding from the Soviets. In 1949, he managed to emigrate to the United States, where he joined the faculty of the Far East and Russian Institute at the University of Washington. He continued teaching there up to his retirement in 1968.
In 1968, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Bonn. He was elected a Foreign Member of the Finnish Academy of Sciences in 1968 and again in 1977.
In May 1989, a group of graduate students interested in Central and Inner Asian Studies initiated the first Nicholas Poppe Symposium. Poppe attended its first meeting in 1989 and the second in 1990. He was invited to the third meeting in May 1991 but was unable to attend on account of the state of his health.
Poppe died in June 1991 at the age of 94.
Academic career
Poppe spoke fluent Mongolian and attained an unmatched familiarity with Mongolian oral literature. His research focused on studies of the Altaic language family, especially Khalkha-Mongolian and Buriat-Mongolian, and on studies of the folklore of these and related languages. He wrote manuals and grammars of written and colloquial Khalkha-Mongolian and Buriat-Mongolian, Yakut, the Alar dialect, and Bashir.His publications in the realm of Mongolian oral literature include eleven volumes of Mongolian epics, collections of Mongolian sayings, songs, and fairytales, and Mongolian versions of works in Sanskrit.
After 1949, Poppe wrote mostly in German and English, in addition to his native Russian. Regardless of the language he used, his writing was remarkable for its simplicity and clarity. As a result, his works are easily comprehensible to specialists and non-specialists alike.
Poppe was very supportive and encouraging to young scholars and always tried to bring out the best in everyone. He did his best to give advice and assistance to anyone who asked.
Works
Poppe was an exceptionally prolific scholar. A bibliography of his publications from 1924 to 1987 includes 284 books and articles and 205 book reviews. Between 1949 and 1968 — a period during which he was teaching 16 to 17 hours a week at the University of Washington, with only three months in the summer for uninterrupted research — he wrote 217 works, including over 40 books.The secret of his high productivity, as he jokingly described it, was that while other people were enjoying “the beautiful surroundings of Seattle, climbing the mountains or sailing the waters”, “he sits at his desk, wearing out one typewriter after the other like other people wear out their shoes”.
Books authored
- 1926
- Jakut Grammar for students.
- 1927
- The Chuvash and their neighbors.
- Materials for the investigation of the Tungus language: the dialect of the Barguzin Tungus.
- The Finno-Ugric peoples: a sketch.
- 1930
- The Alar dialect. Part I, Phonetics and morphology
- 1931
- The Alar dialect. Part II, Texts
- Practical manual of colloquial Mongolian (Khalkha dialect)
- Materials on the Solon Language
- 1932
- Manual of Mongolian
- Specimens of Khalkha-Mongolian folklore: North Khalkha dialect
- Notes on the dialect of the Aga Buriat
- 1933
- Buriat-Mongolian linguistics
- Linguistic problems of East Siberia
- 1934
- The language and collective farm poetry of the Buriat-Mongols of the Selenga region
- 1935
- Annals of the Barguzin Buriats: texts and investigation
- Annals of the Khori-Buriate. First issue: The chronicles of Tugultur Toboev and Vandan Yumsunov
- 1936
- Annals of the Selenga Buriats. First issue: Chronicle of Ubashi Dambi Jaltsan Lombo
- Tserenov of 1868
- Khalkha-Mongolian structure
- Buriat-Mongolian folkloristic and dialectological collection
- 1937
- Khalkha-Mongolian heroic epics
- Grammar of written Mongolian
- Grammar of the Buriat-Mongolian language
- 1940
- Annals of the Khori-Buriats. First issue: Chronicles of Tugultur Toboev and Vandan Yumsunov
- Manual of Mongolian
- 1941
- History of the Mongolian Script. Vol.1: The square script
- 1951
- Khalkha-Mongolian grammar: with bibliography, texts, and glossary.
- 1954
- Grammar of written Mongolian.
- 1955
- Introduction to Mongolian comparative studies.
- Mongolian folklore: sayings, songs, fairytales and heroic sagas.
- 1957
- The Mongolian monuments in the 'Phagspa script
- 1960
- Comparative grammar of the Altaic languages. Part I: Comparative phonology.
- Buriat Grammar
- 1964
- Bashkir manual
- 1965
- Introduction to Altaic linguistics
- 1967
- The twelve deeds of the Buddha: a Mongolian version of the Lalitavistara
Mongolian texts with English translation and notes
- 1970
- Mongolian language handbook
- 1971
- The Diamond Sutra: three Mongolian versions of the Vajracchedikaaprajnaapaaramitaa: texts, translations, notes, and glossaries
- Khalkha-Mongolian heroic epic
- 1972
- The language and collective farm poetry of the Buriat-Mongols of the Selenga region
- 1975
- Mongolian epics I
- Mongolian epics II
- Mongolian epics III
- Mongolian epics IV
- 1976
- Mongolian epics V
- 1977
- Mongolian epics VI
- 1978
- Tsongol folklore (the language and Collective Farm poetry of the Buriat-Mongols of the Selenga Region)
- 1980
- Mongolian epics IX
- 1985
- Mongolian epics XI
External links
- several dozens of Poppe works available on-line
- Nicholas Poppe Symposium at the University of Washington Includes biographical material and photos.