The Most Famous

LINGUISTS from Georgia

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This page contains a list of the greatest Georgian Linguists. The pantheon dataset contains 214 Linguists, 4 of which were born in Georgia. This makes Georgia the birth place of the 13th most number of Linguists behind Poland, and Japan.

Top 4

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Georgian Linguists of all time. This list of famous Georgian Linguists is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

Photo of Nicholas Marr

1. Nicholas Marr (1864 - 1934)

With an HPI of 66.88, Nicholas Marr is the most famous Georgian Linguist.  His biography has been translated into 39 different languages on wikipedia.

Nikolai Yakovlevich Marr (Никола́й Я́ковлевич Марр, Nikolay Yakovlevich Marr; ნიკოლოზ იაკობის ძე მარი, Nikoloz Iak'obis dze Mari; 6 January 1865 [O.S. 25 December 1864] — 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 on his "Japhetic theory" on the origin of language (from 1924), now considered as pseudo-scientific, and related speculative linguistic hypotheses. Marr's hypotheses were used as a rationale in the campaign during the 1920–30s in the Soviet Union of introduction of Latin alphabets for smaller ethnicities of the country. In 1950, the "Japhetic theory" fell from official favour, with Joseph Stalin denouncing it as anti-Marxist.

Photo of Tamaz V. Gamkrelidze

2. Tamaz V. Gamkrelidze (1929 - 2021)

With an HPI of 59.06, Tamaz V. Gamkrelidze is the 2nd most famous Georgian Linguist.  His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Tamaz Valerianis dze Gamkrelidze (Georgian: თამაზ ვალერიანის ძე გამყრელიძე; 23 October 1929 – 10 February 2021) was a Georgian linguist, orientalist public benefactor and Hittitologist, Academic (since 1974) and President (2005–2013) of the Georgian Academy of Sciences (GAS), Doctor of Sciences (1963), Professor (1964).

Photo of Vasily Abaev

3. Vasily Abaev (1900 - 2001)

With an HPI of 56.53, Vasily Abaev is the 3rd most famous Georgian Linguist.  His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Vasily (Vaso) Ivanovich Abaev, also Abayev or Abayti (Russian: Василий Иванович Абаев, Ossetian: Абайты Иваны фырт Васо; 15 December 1900 – 18 March 2001) was a Soviet Ossetian linguist specializing in Iranian, particularly Ossetian linguistics.

Photo of Arnold Chikobava

4. Arnold Chikobava (1898 - 1985)

With an HPI of 54.23, Arnold Chikobava is the 4th most famous Georgian Linguist.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Arnold Stephanes dze Chikobava (Georgian: არნოლდ სტეფანეს ძე ჩიქობავა; March 14 (26), 1898 – November 5, 1985) was a Georgian linguist and philologist best known for his contributions to Caucasian studies and for being one of the most active critics of Nicholas Marr's controversial monogenetic "Japhetic" theory of language.

People

Pantheon has 4 people classified as Georgian linguists born between 1864 and 1929. Of these 4, none of them are still alive today. The most famous deceased Georgian linguists include Nicholas Marr, Tamaz V. Gamkrelidze, and Vasily Abaev. As of April 2024, 1 new Georgian linguists have been added to Pantheon including Arnold Chikobava.

Deceased Georgian Linguists

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Newly Added Georgian Linguists (2024)

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Overlapping Lives

Which Linguists were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 3 most globally memorable Linguists since 1700.