Yefim Karskiy
Encyclopedia
Belarusian language
The Belarusian language , sometimes referred to as White Russian or White Ruthenian, is the language of the Belarusian people...
linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
, literary studies and paleography, a member of numerous scientific institutions, author of more than 100 works on the linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
, ethnography
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
, paleography and others.
Karskiy was described by his contemporaries as a person extremely industrious, accurate, self-organised, reserved in behaviour, was acclaimed as a scientist of the highest integrity. Karskiy's input into the contemporary Slavistics
Slavistics
Slavic studies or Slavistics is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic areas, Slavic languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was primarily a linguist or philologist who researches Slavistics, a Slavic or Slavonic scholar...
, especially into the Belarusian branch, was immense. The first significant revisions of Karskiy's views on the development of the Church Slavonic and Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
languages were proposed much later, by Viktor Vinogradov
Viktor Vinogradov
Viktor Vladimirovich Vinogradov was a Soviet linguist and philologist who presided over Soviet linguistics after World War II.Vinogradov's teachers at the Petrograd Institute of History and Philology included Lev Shcherba and Aleksey Shakhmatov, but it was Charles Bally's ideas that influenced him...
. One of the best known works of Karskiy is Belarusians.
Belarusians
Karskiy's seminal seven-volume work Belarusians is considered to be the "Belarusian philology encyclopedia, unique by the extent and depth of the material", "uncomparable to any other study of Slavonic people in exhaustiveness" . This work was the first to scientifically disprove the concept of the linguistic identity between the RussianRussian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
and the Old Belarusian language
Old Belarusian language
Old Belarusian was a historic East Slavic language, written and spoken at least in the 14th–17th century, and reported spoken as late as the very beginning of the 19th century, in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later in the East Slavic territories of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, probably...
, and from this argued for the existence of a distinct Belarusian nationality, presenting to a wider world the richness of the Belarusian traditional culture. This work "opened the eyes of Belarusians to see themselves as a real nation", putting them (in the beginning of the 20th century) "unexpectedly at the head of all the Slavonic people in the scientific knowledge about their language"
Karskiy's views of the ethnic history and areal of Belarusians were revised by V. K. Bandarchyk (c. 1998 – 1999). The significant amendments to the Karskiy's history of the oral folk lore were made by A. S. Fyadosik (c. 1998) and others.
For his teaching and research activities, Karskiy was given the civil rank of "real state’s counsellor" (?). Decorated with orders of St. Stanislaus
Order of Saint Stanislaus
The Order of Saint Stanislaus , also spelled Stanislas, was an Order in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and The Kingdom of Poland between 1765 and 1831 and of Russian Empire from 1831 to 1917.-History of the Order of Saint Stanislaus:Stanisław August Poniatowski, King of Poland, established the...
III grade (1889) and II grade (1899), St. Anna
Order of St. Anna
The Order of St. Anna ) is a Holstein and then Russian Imperial order of chivalry established by Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp on 14 February 1735, in honour of his wife Anna Petrovna, daughter of Peter the Great of Russia...
III grade (1895) and II grade (1903), St. Vladimir
Order of St. Vladimir
The Cross of Saint Vladimir was an Imperial Russian Order established in 1782 by Empress Catherine II in memory of the deeds of Saint Vladimir, the Grand Prince and the Baptizer of the Kievan Rus....
IV grade (1911), various medals. In recognition of his research on the Belarusian ethnography, he was awarded the Great Golden Medal of the Russian Geographical Society
Russian Geographical Society
The Russian Geographical Society is a learned society, founded on 6 August 1845 in Saint Petersburg, Russia.-Imperial Geographical Society:Prior to the Russian Revolution of 1917, it was known as the Imperial Russian Geographical Society....
(1894), the Golden Medals of Batyushkov of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences consists of the national academy of Russia and a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation as well as auxiliary scientific and social units like libraries, publishers and hospitals....
(1898, 1902), Minor Lomonosov Prize of Russian Academy of Sciences (1901), Batyushkov Academical Prize (1910), Akhmatov Academical Prize (1913).
In 1964, the memorial of Karski was opened in the building of the Lasha School.
Biography
Yefim Karskiy was born in LashaLasha
Lasha, meaning fissure - a place apparently east of the Dead Sea . It was afterwards known as Callirhoe, a place famous for its hot springs....
(Grodno Uyezd of Grodno Governorate
Grodno Governorate
The Grodno Governorate, was a governorate of the Russian Empire.-Overview:Grodno: a western province or government of Europe lying between 52 and 54 N lat 23 and E long and bounded N by Vilna E by Minsk S Volhynia and W by the former kingdom of Poland The country was a wide plain in parts very...
, now in Hrodna Voblast
Hrodna Voblast
Hrodna Voblast or Grodno Oblast is a voblast in northwestern Belarus.The capital - Grodno is the biggest city of the province. It lies on the Neman River. Grodno's existence is attested to from 1127. Two castles dating from the 14th - 18th centuries are located here on the steep right bank of...
, to the family of teacher F. Novitskiy and Orthodox deacon’s daughter M. Novitskaya. Initially, he bore the family name of his mother, Novitskiy. With his family, he spent his childhood years in Navahradak
Navahradak
-Early history:First mentioned in the Sophian First Chronicle and Fourth Novgorod Chronicle in 1044 in relation to a war of Yaroslav I the Wise against Lithuanian tribes. It was also mentioned in the Hypatian Codex under 1252 as Novogorodok -Early history:First mentioned in the Sophian First...
(at Yatra
Yatra
' , in Hinduism and other Indian religions, generally means pilgrimage to holy places such as confluences of sacred rivers, places associated with Hindu epics such as the Mahabharata and Ramayana, and other sacred pilgrimage sites. Tīrtha-yātrā refers to a pilgrimage to a holy site, and is...
and Byarozavyets) and Minsk
Minsk
- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
(at Volma) regions of Belarus.
- c. 1870s – studied in Folk School at YatraYatra' , in Hinduism and other Indian religions, generally means pilgrimage to holy places such as confluences of sacred rivers, places associated with Hindu epics such as the Mahabharata and Ramayana, and other sacred pilgrimage sites. Tīrtha-yātrā refers to a pilgrimage to a holy site, and is...
, (Navahradak Uyezd). - 1874 – c. 1880s – studied in Minsk Ecclesiatical School, later in Minsk Seminary.
- 1881 – became interested in ethnography, leaving ecclesiastical studies and entering Nezhin historical-philological institute.
- 1883 – published his first philological research paper, in the "Russian Philological Courier".
- 1885 – graduated from the Nezhin historical-philological institute (1885) in the field of Russian and Slavonic philology, supervised by Professor R. F. Brandt.
- 1885 – moved by the absence of the scientific development of the Belarusian language, he published his first major scientific work Review of Sounds and Forms of Belarusian Language (1886).
- 1885 – 1893 – taught Russian and Church Slavonic languages and Russian literature in the Vil’na Liceum No.2, also worked as the secretary of the Liceum in 1885 – 1889 and as elected member of the Resources Committee in 1890 – 1892.
- 1888 – published "Grammar of Old Church Slavonic Language as Compared with Russian Language". Until the very October 1917, this grammar had been re-published 19 times.
- 1891-09-17 – successfully passed his magister’s examination.
- 1893-02-01 – began teaching Russian languageRussian languageRussian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
in Warsaw University. Later also taught Slavonic paleography, Russian dialectologyDialectologyDialectology is the scientific study of linguistic dialect, a sub-field of sociolinguistics. It studies variations in language based primarily on geographic distribution and their associated features...
, Church Slavonic grammar. - 1893-10-23 – successfully defended his magister’s thesis "To the history of sounds and forms of the Belarusian talk" in Kiev UniversityKiev UniversityTaras Shevchenko University or officially the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv , colloquially known in Ukrainian as KNU is located in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. It is the third oldest university in Ukraine after the University of Lviv and Kharkiv University. Currently, its structure...
. This was the first dissertation in history, concerned with the Belarusian languageBelarusian languageThe Belarusian language , sometimes referred to as White Russian or White Ruthenian, is the language of the Belarusian people...
. - 1894-06-26 – was elected for the position of associated(?) professor of Warsaw University, chair of RussianRussian languageRussian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
and Church Slavonic languages and history of Russian literature. - 1897-02-14 – was promoted to the position of the ordinary(?) professor of Warsaw University.
- 1898 – 1900, 1903 – studied the local talks of the Belarusian people, both by the literary artefacts and by ethnographical tours, esp. to the Grodno, Vil’naVilniusVilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
, MinskMinsk- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
regions. - 1901 – became associated member of Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences, dept. of Russian language and literacy.
- 1902 – published the first map of the ethnic areal of the Belarusians.
- 1903 – published the first volume of his seminal work "Belarusians".
- 1905-01-01 – became an editor of journal "Russian philological courier" .
- 1905 – 1910 – rector of Warsaw University, elected twice, in 1905 and in 1908. By the anecdotal evidence, refused the position in protest against the policies of the (supposedly reactionary) Minister KassoLev KassoLev Aristidovich Kasso was an Imperial Russian Politician. A Professor of Civil Law by education he served as Imperial Minister of Education from 1910 through 1914 in the Stolypin and Kokovtsov governments.-References:...
. - 1915 – 1916 – conducted pedagogical work in the Rostov University (ex-Warsaw University).
- 1916-10-08 – elected for the full member of Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences, with specialisation in ethnography and linguistics. Moved to Petrograd.
- 1916 – c. 1918 – taught in the Petrograd University, later Leningrad University.
- 1917 Founder member of the Commission for the Study of the Tribal Composition of the Population of the Borderlands of RussiaCommission for the Study of the Tribal Composition of the Population of the Borderlands of RussiaThe Commission for the Study of the Tribal Composition of the Population of the Borderlands of Russia was set up in February 1917 by Sergey Oldenburg under the auspices of the Russian Academy of Sciences...
- 1917, December – participated in the First All-Belarusian Congress in MinskMinsk- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
, elected Honorary Chairman. Barely managed to avoid the arrest in the following dispersal of the Congress, returned to Petrograd. - 1918 – forced by the economic ruin in Petrograd, moved to MinskMinsk- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
. Appointed the teacher position at the Belarusian Courses for Teachers of Minsk Region (then headed by Yazep Lyosik), later transformed into Minsk Pedagogical Institute. - 1919-03-14 – removed from the position of professor of the Minsk Pedagogical Institute.
- c. 1919-05-05 – arrested by the Extraordinary Commission ("Cheka"), luckily, not for long.
- c. 1919 Fall – moved to Petrograd.
- c. 1919 – 1920 – partially (~20%) published "Belarusians" in Belarusian language in the newspapers "Zvon" and "Byelarus’".
- 1920 – became an editor of journal "News of the Academy of Sciences of USSR. Digest of Dept. of Russian Language"
- 1919 – ? – taught in the Petrograd University, later Leningrad University.
- c. 1920 – 1921 – participated (together with Picheta, DylaDYLADYLA is a music AM station owned and operated by Vimcontu Broadcasting Network. The station's studio and transmitter are located at Port Area, Cebu City. It is one of the pioneer radio stations in Cebu.-History:...
) in preparing the opening of the Institute of Belarusian Culture ("Inbyelkult") in MyenskMinsk- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
. - c. 1920 – 1930, September– became the Head of the Museum of Antropology and Ethnography of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
- 1921, Summer (or in 1919, Summer)– permanently moved to Petrograd, never to see his homeland again.
- 1922 – became a full member of the Institute of Belarusian Culture. Donated his library to the newly-created Belarusian State UniversityBelarusian State UniversityBelarusian State University , Minsk, Belarus, was founded on October 30, 1921. The BSU is a higher education establishment in the Republic of Belarus.-History:...
. - 1924 – participated in the First International Congress of Slavonic Geographers and Ethnographers in Prague.
- 1926 – made scientific visits to PolandPolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, YugoslaviaYugoslaviaYugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
. His scientific reports of these visits was highly appreciated by the USSR Academy of Sciences. However, his reports had political repercussions. - 1926, December – he refused the instructions given him by the Vice-Head of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
- 1927 – became the target of a sharp political critique, in the newspapers "Zvyazda" (MyenskMinsk- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
) and "Pravda" (Moscow). His membership in the USSR Academy of Sciences was put under question (13 April 1927). Despite of enjoying a certain amount of political patronage he wasn’t given the room in the pressto defend himself. - 1929, January – was elected for the member of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
- 1930, September (or in 1929) – abruptly removed from the position of the Director of the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, St Petersburg.
Works
- Обзор звуков и форм белорусской речи. – Москва, 1886. – Известия Историко-филологического Института в Нежине, том X.
- Грамматика древнего церковнославянского языка сравнительно с русским (курс средних учебных заведений). – Вильна, 1888 – 1900, Варшава, 1901 – 1916, Сергиев Посад, 1917.
- К истории звуков и форм белорусской речи. – Варшава, 1893. – Магистерская диссертация.
- К вопросу о разработке старого западнорусского наречия. – Вильна, 1893.
- Что такое древнее западнорусское наречие?. – Труды Девятого археологического съезда в Вильне, 1893.
- О языке так называемых литовских летописей. – Варшава, 1894.
- Особенности письма и языка Мстиславова Евангелия. – Русск. Филолог. Вестн., 1895.
- Образцы славянского кирилловского письма с Х по XVIII век. – Варшава, 1901.
- Очерк славянской кирилловской палеографии. – Варшава, 1901.
- Славянская кирилловская палеография. [S.l.], 1928.
-
- Work re-published in: Карский Е. Ф. Славянская кирилловская палеография. Moscow, 1979.
Belarusians
- Белорусcы. Т. I. Введение в изучение языка и народной словесности. – Варшава, 1903.
-
- Work re-published: Белорусcы. Т. I. Введение в изучение языка и народной словесности. – Вильна, 1904.
- Белорусcы. Т. II. Язык белорусского племени. В. 1. – [S.l.], 1908.
- Белорусcы. Т. II. Язык белорусского племени. 2. Исторический очерк словообразования и словоизменения в белорусском наречии. – [S.l.], 1911.
- Белорусcы. Т. II. Язык белорусского племени. 3. Очерки синтаксиса белорусского наречия. Дополнения и поправки. – [S.l.], 1912.
- Белорусы. Т. III. Очерки словесности белорусского племени. 1. Народная поэзия. – Москва, 1916.
- Белорусы. Т. III. Очерки словесности белорусского племени. 2. Старая западнорусская литература. – Петроград, 1921.
- Белорусы. Т. III. Очерки словесности белорусского племени. 3. Художественная литература на народном наречии. – [S.l.], 1922.
- Complete work re-published: Белорусы: Т. 1 – 3. – Москва, 1955 – 1956.
- Work re-published: Белорусcы. Т. I. Введение в изучение языка и народной словесности. – Вильна, 1904.
Sources
- [Bulakh 1981] Булахов М. Г. Евфимий Федорович Карский: Жизнь, научн. и обществ. деятельность / Под ред. В. И. Борковского. – Мн. : Изд-во БГУ, 1981.
- [YanuTsvir 2001] Янушкевіч Я., Цвірка К. Яўхім Карскі і яго "Беларусы" // Карскі Я. Беларусы / Я. Карскі; Уклад. і камент. С. Гараніна і Л. Ляўшун; Навук. рэд. А. Мальдзіс; Прадмо. Я. Янушкевіча і К. Цвіркі. – Мн. : Беларускі кнігазбор, 2001. – ( Беларускі кнігазбор; сер. II. Гісторыка-літаратурныя помнікі). ISBN 985-6638-26-7.
- [KUC 2006] Курцова, Унучак, Чаквін. Прадмова да першага тома працы Я. Ф. Карскага "Беларусы" // Карский, Е. Ф. Белорусы: 3 т. Т. 1 / Уступны артыкул М. Г. Булахава, прадмова да першага тома і каментарыі В. М. Курцовай, А. У. Унучака, І. У. Чаквіна. – Мн. : БелЭн, 2006. ISBN 985-11-0360-8 (Т.1), ISBN 985-11-0359-4.
- [RublSkal 2006] Рублевская Людмила, Скалабан Виталь. Околонаучный спор. Злополучная командировка профессора Карского // Беларусь сегодня, #12 (22422), 20.01.2006 – http://sb.by/article.php?articleID=49432
- [Rulex 2006] [Н. Т.?] Карский [1890s-1900s?] // Большой русский биографический словарь. – Электронная репринтная версия. – http://www.rulex.ru/01110673.htm.