Bleichsteiner Robert

Robert Bleichsteiner (1891, Vienna, Austria – 1954, Vienna) was an Austrian linguist, Caucasologist, translator, ethnographer and a professor at the University of Vienna.

He studied ethnography, history, and Eastern and Caucasian languages at the universities of Vienna and Graz. He was fluent in Georgian and Armenian. He researched the Kartvelian languages and their dialects and continued the scientific traditions of Hugo Schuchardt’s school of linguistics. Bleichsteiner authored important works in the fields of Caucasian studies and Kartvelian studies, addressing ethnographic and literary issues, including: "An Overview of the Peoples and Languages of the Caucasus," "The Georgian Ballad of Amiran" (both 1918), "Georgian Proverbs, Riddles, Tales, and Folklore with Translations, Commentaries, Transcriptions, and a Dictionary" (published in 1919 in Vienna in Georgian and German), "The Caucasian Language Group" (1937), "The Knight in the Panther's Skin – A 12th Century Georgian Poem" (1940), "The Great Georgian Poet – Nikoloz Baratashvili" (1945), "Georgian Literature" (1948), "The Georgian People" (1949), "Georgia Yesterday and Today" (1950). He translated the popular folk version of The Knight in the Panther’s Skin into German, and published the collection of works titled "New Georgian Poets" (1946), which included works by Nikoloz Baratashvili, Ilia Chavchavadze, Galaktion Tabidze, Giorgi Leonidze, Valerian Gaprindashvili, and others. He also separately published Davit Chonkadze’s The Fortress of Surami (1947).

In 1950, Bleichsteiner visited Georgia and published his impressions in the University of Vienna’s journal ("A Visit to the University of Tbilisi"). Notably, Bleichsteiner mentored the Kartvelologist Friedrich Karl Neisser (who committed suicide during the Nazi occupation), whose doctoral dissertation Word Formation in Georgian was published in Wiesbaden in 1953 with Bleichsteiner's preface. In several works on the Iberian-Caucasian languages of the mountainous regions, Bleichsteiner attempted to establish their relation to other languages (Basque, Pamir languages).

Literary works: Eine georgische Ballade von Amirani, «Berichte des Forschungsinstituts für Osten und Orient», 1918 [Bd.] 2; Beiträge zur Sprach- und Volkskunde des georgischen Stammes der Gurier, «Caucasica», 1931 – 32, [v.] 7 – 9; Die kaukasische Sprachgruppe, «Anthropos», 1937, Bd. 32; Der Mann in Pantherfell. Ein georgischer Minnesang aus dem 12. Jahrh., «Asienberichte», 1940, [Bd.] 5; Der große georgische Dichter Nikolos Barataschwili, «Die Brücke», 1945, № 1, 6 – 7; Die Literatur Georgiens, იქვე, 1948, № 3; Das Volk der Georgier, იქვე, 1949, № 4.

G. Topuria

V. Kakhniashvili