Dmitri Tsvetkov (30 August 1890, Krakolje – 1930) was a Votic

Votes

Votes are a people of Votia in Ingria, the part of modern day northwestern Russia that is roughly southwest of Saint Petersburg and east of the Estonian border-town of Narva. Their own ethnic name is Vadjalain . The Finnic Votic language spoken by Votes is close to extinction. Votians were one of...

 teacher and linguist. He was the second child of Pavel Grigorevich and Agafia Illarionovna. From 1914 to 1916 he studied at St. Petersburg High School, and after that worked as Russian language teacher in Venkyul. He studied at the University of Tartu

University of Tartu

The University of Tartu is a classical university in the city of Tartu, Estonia. University of Tartu is the national university of Estonia; it is the biggest and highest-ranked university in Estonia...

 and was one of the few Votes to have ever attended and graduated from university. After that he returned to his home village and worked there as a teacher. During this time he also developed grammar for the Votic language and translated Anton Chekhov

Anton Chekhov

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...

's children's story Vanka into Votic. He also collected some ethnographic material about Votic customs and traditions. His other works include a Cyrillic alphabet for Votic and a dictionary of the Krakolje dialect. His grammar book was published in 2004, and is currently the only Votic language textbook in use.