Minorsky, Vladimir

(1877-1966)

   Vladimir Minorsky was arguably the most prominent Russian authority on the Kurds. His writings are still highly respected more than 40 years after his death. Since most Western scholars know very little about the significant work Russian scholars have done in Kurdish studies, it is important to know about Minorsky's work on the Kurds.

   Minorsky graduated from the University of Moscow in 1900 and then studied Oriental languages at the famous Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages in Moscow for three years. In 1903, he entered the Russian Foreign Ministry and eventually served in Persia, Turkistan, and the Ottoman Empire. Among other duties, he also performed intelligence work in Persia in 1911 with Sir Arnold Wilson, the representative from Great Britain. The two also helped delineate the Ottoman-Persian frontier.

   After the communists came to power in Russia, Minorsky eventually began working as an academic in France and then Great Britain. His association with the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London began in 1932. Some of Minorsky's publications are listed in the bibliography at the end of this dictionary.