From the History of Ossetian Studies: The Correspondence Between Georgij (Gappo) V. Baev and Giorgi Akhvlediani

Abstract

After his emigration to the West, Georgij (Gappo) Baev (1865–1939), an outstanding cultural figure in Prerevolutionary Ossetia, spent many years in Germany, where he was involved in the translation of biblical texts into Ossetic and also taught his mother tongue as a lecturer at the Berlin Oriental Seminary (1922–1939). In the manuscript department of the Berlin State Library his personal archive is kept, containing a lot of interesting material, a real treasure of information not only about his personal life, but also and above all on Ossetic culture and history. The present paper features his correspondence with the Georgian linguist Giorgi Akhvlediani (1887–1973), whose personal archive is housed at the Tbilisi State University. The so far unpublished letters and postcards cover a relatively short time frame, namely from the 8 th of September 1927 to the 16 th of October 1928. Besides showing the deep respect and sincere appreciation of the two former colleagues for each other, the texts, all written in Russian, provide interesting facts which shed more light upon their biography and scientific activity. All in all, the professional and at the same time friendly correspondence, being a significant contribution to Ossetic studies, provides an insight into the nostalgic mood of the emigrant, on the one hand, and the interested tone of his counterpart, on the other.