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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

15

705-3

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705-4

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705-5

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705-6

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705-7

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705-8

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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.