Nayden Gerov

Najden Gerow (Bulgarian: Найден Геров; born February 23, 1823 in Koprivshtitsa, Bulgaria, as Najden Gerow Hadzhidobrevich, Bulgarian Найден Геров Хаджидобревич; † October 9, 1900 in Plovdiv ) was a Bulgarian linguist, folklorist and author and activist of the Bulgarian Revival.

Life

Gerows father Gero Dobrevich was a teacher. From 1834 to 1836 he attended a Greek school in Plovdiv; to 1839 he continued his education back in his home town continued and finally finished it in Odessa ( Russian Empire ), where he in 1845 at Richelieu Lyceum received his degree.

Gerow was a Russian citizen, but came back to Koprivshtitsa, where he founded his own school, named after Cyril and Methodius. His learning attracted attention, and he was asked to open a high school in Plovdiv, which he did.

As a publicist Gerow fought the assimilation of the Bulgars in the Greek culture, especially in Plovdiv. During the Crimean War from 1854 to 1856, he was forced at times as a Russian citizen to leave the country. 1857 Gerow " First Vice - Consul " Russia in Plovdiv. In this capacity, he was involved continue for the Bulgarian national movement; he helped among other young Bulgarians to get a scholarship abroad.

Gerow campaigned for the liberation of Bulgaria from the Ottoman Empire. He relied on the support of Russia and thus stood in opposition to radical revolutionary emigrants as Luben Karavelov, Vasil Levski and Hristo Botev, who wanted an independent uprising. During the April Uprising in 1875 Gerow was suspected to be one of the organizers and was forced to hide. He sought refuge in the Russian embassy in Constantinople Opel. After the liberation, he took over some administrative tasks, gave them a short time later, however, again and devoted himself exclusively to philology.

Gerows main work is his Dictionary of the Bulgarian Language ( Речникъ на блъгарскый языкъ ). He collected 50 years with ordinary people a large number of words, phrases, folk songs and proper names. In Russia, the first three titles in the years 1855 to 1856 have been published, the entire dictionary was published in five volumes from 1895 to 1904. 1908 added Gerows employee T. Panchev add an attachment. Including the Annex includes the dictionary to 100,000 entries. It is considered a valuable source for the study of the Bulgarian language of the 19th century.

Trivia

The Gerov pass in the Tangras Mountains on Livingston Island, Antarctica is named after Najden Gerow.

Swell

  • Куманов, Михаил и Колинка Исова. , 2006. Историческа енциклопедия България
  • A biography of Nayden Gerov, Author Georgi Konstantinov, Online ( Bulgarian )
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