Evsevev, Makar
Evsev’ev, Makar Evsev’evich
Born Jan. 18 (30), 1864, in the village of Malye Karmaly, Buinsk District, Simbirsk Province; died May 10, 1931, in Kazan. Mordovian scholar, educator, folklorist, and ethnographer. Son of a peasant.
Evsev’ev graduated from the Kazan seminary for “non-Russians” in 1883. In 1921 he became a professor at higher educational institutions in Kazan and other cities of the Volga Region. From 1886 to 1931 he conducted field research in ethnography, folklore, and dialectology in Mordovia. He was the author of Fundamentals of Mordovian Grammar (1926), Erzia-Russian Dictionary (1931), Erzia Tales (1928), and Erzia Songs (1928). Evsev’ev’s meritorious achievements include the training of national teaching cadres, the creation of the Mordovian written language, and the publication of the first textbooks, newspapers, and literary works in Mordovian.