The History of Celtic Scholarship in Russia and the Soviet Union

Abstract

In recent years there has been a remarkable burgeoning of interest in Celtic scholarship in the Slavic countries. Much of the work carried out by Slavic scholars, however, is written in the Slavic languages and is not readily accessible to Western scholars. The result is that the scope and achievement of Celtic scholars in these countries is not widely known and appreciated. The aim of this paper is to give a short history of this tradition and of some of the major scholarly landmarks. While the emphasis will be primarily on Celtic Studies in Russia, reference will also be made to the work of scholars in other Slavic countries. Several centuries before Christ, the Proto-Slavic dialect area appears to be north of the Carpathian mountains between the Rivers Oder and Vistula in Poland and the River Dnepr in the Ukraine. It is in a kind of intermediate zone which includes other language areas, including Illyrian, Thracian and Phrygian, and is bordered to the west by Germanic, Celtic and Italic, and to the east by Scythian and Tocharian. The paper will examine briefly the history and contribution of Celtic Slavic scholars to the question of the links between Proto-Slavic and Celtic in this region. The writings of the famous academicians A.A. Schachmatov (1864–1920) and A.N. Veselovsky (1838–1906) are taken as points of departure in outlining the history of Celtic linguistic and literary scholarship in Russia, and both their work and methodologies, and the work of other scholars, such as V. Propp, E. Meletinsky, Yu. Lotman, V.N. Toporov and A.Ya. Gourevitch, are considered in light of their influence on modern Celtic scholarship in the Slavic countries. Consideration is also given to the work and influence of deceased Celtic scholars A.A. Smirnov, V.N. Yartseva, A.A. Koroljov and V.P. Kalygin, the work of scholars such as T.A. Mikhailova and S.V Schkunayev, and the development of a new generation of very able and productive younger scholars.