Giunashvili Jemshid

Giunashvili Jemshid [May 1, 1931, Tehran (Iran) – January 21, 2017, Tbilisi] was a linguist and scholar of Iranian Studies, Doctor of Philology (1967), Professor (1970) and Diplomat. He was born into the emigrant family of Shalva Giunashvili. In 1947, his family, having returned to Georgia under repatriation, was exiled to Kazakhstan by the Soviet government (1951–55). After his release from exile, Giunashvili engaged in scientific and pedagogical activities at Tashkent University (1956–58), later at Tbilisi State University (1958–94), the Institute of Linguistics (1958–60), the Institute of Oriental Studies (from its founding until 1994), and the Institute of Asian and African Studies (1991–94). From 1994 to May 2004, Giunashvili served as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Georgia to the Islamic Republic of Iran. From June 2004, he continued his scientific and public activities. His research areas were Iranian linguistics and philology. He is the author of many works, including those in Persian language phonetics and phonology, as well as lexicology and textology, which gained widespread recognition. He worked on the popularization of the Georgian language, literature, culture, and the history among various segments of Iranian society, including among the Fereydan Georgians. With his direct participation, the Georgian Embassy published the complete text of the "Knight in the Panther's Skin" translated by Farshid Delshad (for the first time in Persian, Tehran, 1998), and Gilan University published L. Geguchadze's "Georgian Language for Persian Speakers" (translated by Fardin Khomei, Rasht, 2004). He was a member of the "Society of Iranian Studies of Europe" (1998) and the founder and chairman of the "Society for Scientific-Cultural Relations and Cooperation between Georgia and Iran" (1994).

Literary works: „თარიხ-ე სისტანის" თბილისური ნუსხა, თბ., 1971; სპარსული ენის სახელმძღვანელო, თბ., 1987; ფერეიდნელის ოროველა, თბ., 2003; Фонетика персидского языка, Тб., 1964 (თანაავტ. შ. გაფრინდაშვილი); Система фонем литературного персидского языка, «თსუ შრომები», 1965, ტ. 116; Филологические заметки, Тб.,  1978; Concerning Georgian-Persian Bilingualism. Bilingualism in Iranian Cultures, Bamberg, 1992; Concerning the Textological Value of Evidence of the Historical Geography of Iran, «Proceedings of second European Conference of Iranian Studies», Rome, 1995; Georgian–Iranian Studies, Tbilisi–Tehran, 1997; Georgian Efforts Aimed at National stability and security, «Central Asia and the Caucasus Review», № 42, Tehran, 2003.

G. Chikovani