Yefim Karskiy

Who was Yefim Karskiy?

Yefim Karskiy, Russian: Евфимий Карский; 1 January 1861 – 29 April 1931 was a Russian linguist-Slavist, ethnographer and paleographer, founder of the Belarusian linguistics, literary studies and paleography, a member of numerous scientific institutions, author of more than 100 works on the linguistics, ethnography, paleography and others.

Karskiy was described by his contemporaries as a person extremely industrious, accurate, self-organised, reserved in behaviour, was acclaimed as a scientist of the highest integrity. Karskiy's input into the contemporary Slavistics, especially into the Belarusian branch, was immense. The first significant revisions of Karskiy's views on the development of the Church Slavonic and Russian languages were proposed much later, by Viktor Vinogradov. One of the best known works of Karskiy is Belarusians.