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Birthday anniversary of the prominent philologist and historian, Academician Yakov Karlovich Grot
15 (27) December 1812, in St. Petersburg, to a noble family of German descent, was born future linguist, literary historian, translator, Academician Yakov Karlovich Grot.
Grot family moved to Russia in 1760. Yakov’s grandfather, Joachim, was the author of the "Freedom of religion in Russia" which became a known book and was noted by the Empress Catherine II. Having been educated at home first, in 1823, Yakov was sent to the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum board, where he stayed at government expense, and three years later he became a freshman at the Lyceum. During the studies he presented his first literary efforts, and seriously studied foreign languages- Latin, English and Italian. In 1832, Grot graduated from the Lyceum as the best student and joined the Office of the Committee of Ministers, under the command of M. A. Korff, continuing, meanwhile, his literary work. In 1832, "Contemporary" published his translation of Byron's "Mazepa", which was highly appreciated by the public and literary circles.
From the second half of the 1830s and early 1850s, Grot’s scientific interests were related with Scandinavia. Speaking fluently Swedish and Finnish, Yakov published a large number of translations, as well as many of his own articles on the history, culture, geography and literature of the Scandinavian countries. This work of Grot attracted widespread attention of the reading public. As a result, under the protection of V. A. Zhukovsky, Groth was assigned an official for special assignments under the State Secretary of the Grand Duchy of Finland. In 1847, Yakov left the public service and started working as a professor of Russian language and literature at the University of Helsingfors, where he lectured in Swedish and Russian, and also made a number of ethnographic expeditions to Finland to collect folklore.
Another facet of Grot’s scientific interests was the comparative linguistics, grammar and history of the Russian language. During the 1850's he published a number of articles on these issues in national magazines, later brought together in the "Philological studies. Materials for vocabulary, grammar and history of the Russian language." This work passed through several editions and became a significant contribution to the development of etymology, lexicography and grammar of the Russian language.
In 1852, Yakov again moved to St. Petersburg and became a mentor to children of Grand Duke Alexander Nikolaevich - the future Emperor Alexander II. He taught Nicholas and Alexander (the future Emperor Alexander III) Russian language, world and Russian history, geography and German language: he gave lessons to the great princes four times a week from 7:00 am to 2 pm. A year later, Grot began to combine these activities with the post of Professor of Russian Language and Literature at the Imperial Alexander Lyceum.
In the second half of the 1850s, for scientific services and proximity to the Imperial House Grot was promoted to Academician for scientific services and closeness to the Imperial House. In 1857, he published the book "On the elementary teaching of the Russian language. Analysis of theories by F. Buslayev and Ya. Grimm" where he outlined his thoughts on the specifics of the Russian language and the features of its teaching. Groth’s pedagogical concept was built on taking in account of children’s psychology and was intended to awaken the idea and initiative of students.
Grot’s research in the area of spelling made a notable contribution to the development of this branch of language science. His textbook "Russian spelling", first published in 1885, was recognized a standard one until the language reform of 1918. Yet, another facet of Grot’s scientific creativity was associated with the study of Russian literature of the 18th – 19th centuries. He’s the author of sketches on M. V. Lomonosov, N. M. Karamzin, I. I. Dmitriev, I. A. Krylov, G. R. Derzhavin, A. S. Pushkin, Catherine II as a writer. In addition to biographical and literary descriptions, Yakov Karlovich put into scientific circulation genuine, verified texts of literary works, epistolary heritage and other archival materials related to the life and work of writers. In 1860 he began writing the nine-volume edition, "The works of Derzhavin with explanatory notes," issued from 1864 to 1883.
This monumental work laid the foundation for the creation of academic and scientific publications. It was the most complete edition of the works by Derzhavin, which included not only the early, unpublished works, but all possible copies, verified by sources. The nine-volume also contains a huge amount of scientific historical and literary comments, and one of the volumes was entirely devoted to the biography of Derzhavin. In addition, the last volume included the bibliography of published works by Derzhavin and literature about him, as well as "Dictionary to the poems by Derzhavin" - a completely new type of dictionary, which was widespread in literary criticism of the 20th century.
The last two years of his life Yakov Karlovich led the publication of the academic "Dictionary of Russian language", and paid tribute to his studies at the Lyceum and its most famous graduate. Archival, historical and literary studies of Grot resulted in a series of articles under the title "Pushkin, his lyceum comrades and mentors," and the book "Pushkin Lyceum (1811-1817)", published after the death of the scientist.
Yakov Grot died May 24 (June 5), 1893 in St. Petersburg at the age of 80.
Lit.: Грот Яков Карлович // Русские филологи XIX века: Библиографический словарь-справочник / Авт.-сост. М. Е. Бабичева [и др]. М., 2006.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:
Грот Я. К. Русское правописание. СПб., 1890;
Грот Я. К. О пребывании пленных шведов в России при Петре Великом СПб., 1853;
Грот Я. К. Екатерина II в переписке с Гриммом. СПб., 1878;
Грот Я. К. По поводу вопросов о предметах общего образования. СПб., 1871;
Грот Я. К. Карамзин в истории русского литературного языка СПб., 1867;
Грот Я. К. Спорные вопросы русского правописания от Петра Великого до ныне. СПб., 1876;
Грот Я. К. Деятельность и переписка Державина во время Пугачевского бунта. СПб., 1861;
Грот Я. К. Воспоминание о В. И. Дале: с извлечениями из его писем. СПб., 1873;
Грот Я. К. Сотрудничество Екатерины II в Собеседнике княгини Дашковой. СПб., 1877;
Грот Я. К. Екатерина II и Густав III // Русская старина. Г. 8 (1877). Т. 18, кн. 1-3, январь-март;