page_title: Hrachia Acharian
section_title: Life
hierarchical_section_title: Hrachia Acharian / Life
caption_attribution_description: This is a photo of a monument in Armenia identified by the ID 1.6/69.1
context_page_description: Hrachia Acharian was an Armenian linguist, lexicographer, etymologist, and philologist.
  An Istanbul Armenian, Acharian studied at local Armenian schools and at the Sorbonne, under Antoine Meillet, and the University of Strasbourg, under Heinrich Hübschmann. He then taught at various Armenian communities in the Russian Empire and Iran before settling in the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1923, working at Yerevan State University until his death.
  A distinguished polyglot, Acharian compiled several major dictionaries, including the monumental Armenian Etymological Dictionary, extensively studied Armenian dialects, compiled catalogs of Armenian manuscripts, and authored comprehensive studies on the history of Armenian language and alphabet. Acharian is considered the father of Armenian linguistics.
context_section_description: Acharian was born in Istanbul (Constantinople) on 8 March 1876 to Armenian parents. Acharian was blinded in one eye at an early age. His father, Hakob, was a shoemaker. He received initial education at the Aramian and Sahagian Schools in Samatya, then at the Getronagan (1889-93), where he learned French, Turkish, and Persian. Upon graduation, he began teaching in Kadıköy, Constantinople, but in 1894 he moved to teach at the Sanasarian College in Erzurum. In 1895 he was accepted to the University of Paris (Sorbonne), where he studied under, among others, Antoine Meillet. In 1897 he became a member of Société de Linguistique de Paris (Linguistic Society of Paris), where he presented a study on the Laz language. He then met Heinrich Hübschmann and transferred to the University of Strasbourg in 1898. 
  Acharian moved to Russian (Eastern) Armenia and began a teaching career at the Gevorgian Seminary in Ejmiatsin (1898-1902). He thereafter moved to Shushi (1902-04), Nor Bayazet (1906-07), Nor Nakhichevan (1907-19), and then to Iran: Tehran (1919-20) and Tabriz (1920-1923). He taught Armenian, French, Turkish, Armenian history literature, and accounting. Apart from teaching, he studied Armenian dialects wherever he resided. 
  Acharian moved to Soviet Armenia in 1923. He was one of the most prominent Armenian scholars who moved to Soviet Armenia from the diaspora. He was arrested on 29 September 1937, at the height of the Stalinist purges, on espionage charges. He was accused in being a spy for numerous foreign countries (Britain, Turkey) and being a member of a counter-revolutionary group of professors. He was released on 19 December 1939 due to lack of evidence.
  He died in Yerevan on 16 April 1953.
caption: Adjarian's bust in Yerevan
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