Manuk Abegian

Born Mar. 17 (29), 1865; died Sept. 25, 1944. Armenian Soviet specialist in literature, linguist, Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR (1943).

Abegian is the author of Armianskie narodnye mify v ‘Istorii Armenii” Movsesa Khorenatsi (1899), of the monumental Istoriia drevnearmianskoi literatury (vols. 1–2, 1944–46; Russian translation 1948), and of other works. He edited the publication of a collection of variants of the epic poem David Sasunskii (vol. 1, 1936; vol. 2, 1951). Abegian also completed the research works Gusanskie narodnye pesni, aireny i antuny, Narodnye pesenki (1940), and others. Abegian’s linguistic works are partially included in the book Teoriia armianskogo iazyka (1931). He upheld a realistic trend even in his critical articles of the 1890’s. The Institute of Literature of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR has been named for him.