Nayden Gerov , born
Nayden Gerov Hadzhidobrevich February 23, 1823,
KoprivshtitsaKoprivshtitsa is a historic town in Sofia Province, central Bulgaria, lying on the Topolnitsa River among the Sredna Gora mountains...
–October 9, 1900,
PlovdivPlovdiv is the second-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia, with a population of 380,312. Known in ancient times as Philippoupolis, it is the administrative center of Plovdiv Province in southern Bulgaria and three municipalities and Bulgaria's Yuzhen tsentralen planning region , as well as the...
) was a
BulgarianThe Bulgarians are a South Slavic people, generally associated with the Republic of Bulgaria and the Bulgarian language. Emigration has resulted in Bulgarian minorities or immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-Ethnogenesis:...
linguist, folklorist,
writerA writer is anyone who creates a written work, though the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, as well as those who have written in many different forms.-Profession:...
and public figure during the
Bulgarian National RevivalThe Bulgarian National Revival , sometimes called the Bulgarian Renaissance, was a period of socio-economic development and national integration among Bulgarian people under Ottoman rule...
.
Gerov was the son of Gero Dobrevich, a teacher. He studied at his father's school, then at a Greek school in Plovdiv from 1834 to 1836, again in his hometown until 1839, and finally in
OdessaOdessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .Odessa was founded by Hacı I Giray, the Khan of Crimea, in 1240...
, in the
Russian EmpireThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia, and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
, where he graduated from the Richelieu
LyceumA Lyceum can be*an educational institution , or*a public hall used for cultural events like concerts.*Mount Lyceum...
in 1845.
Nayden Gerov , born
Nayden Gerov Hadzhidobrevich February 23, 1823,
KoprivshtitsaKoprivshtitsa is a historic town in Sofia Province, central Bulgaria, lying on the Topolnitsa River among the Sredna Gora mountains...
–October 9, 1900,
PlovdivPlovdiv is the second-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia, with a population of 380,312. Known in ancient times as Philippoupolis, it is the administrative center of Plovdiv Province in southern Bulgaria and three municipalities and Bulgaria's Yuzhen tsentralen planning region , as well as the...
) was a
BulgarianThe Bulgarians are a South Slavic people, generally associated with the Republic of Bulgaria and the Bulgarian language. Emigration has resulted in Bulgarian minorities or immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-Ethnogenesis:...
linguist, folklorist,
writerA writer is anyone who creates a written work, though the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, as well as those who have written in many different forms.-Profession:...
and public figure during the
Bulgarian National RevivalThe Bulgarian National Revival , sometimes called the Bulgarian Renaissance, was a period of socio-economic development and national integration among Bulgarian people under Ottoman rule...
.
Gerov was the son of Gero Dobrevich, a teacher. He studied at his father's school, then at a Greek school in Plovdiv from 1834 to 1836, again in his hometown until 1839, and finally in
OdessaOdessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .Odessa was founded by Hacı I Giray, the Khan of Crimea, in 1240...
, in the
Russian EmpireThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia, and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
, where he graduated from the Richelieu
LyceumA Lyceum can be*an educational institution , or*a public hall used for cultural events like concerts.*Mount Lyceum...
in 1845. Gerov became a Russian subject and came back to Koprivshtitsa, where he established his own school, named after
Saints Cyril and MethodiusSaints Cyril and Methodius were Greek brothers born in Thessaloniki in the 9th century, who became missionaries of Christianity among the Slavic peoples of Great Moravia and Pannonia. Through their work they influenced the cultural development of all Slavs, for which they received the title...
. He became famous for his erudition and was invited to open a
gymnasiumA gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools...
in Plovdiv as well, an invitation which he accepted. As a publicist, he fought the "Graecisation" (assimilation to Greek culture) among the Bulgarians of the time, especially in Plovidiv. At the same time, he managed to compete successfully with the Greek gymnasium in Plovdiv. During the
Crimean WarThe Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire on one side and an alliance of the British Empire, France, the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia on the other. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
(1854-56), he was forced to temporarily leave the country as a Russian subject. In 1857, Gerov became "First Vice-
ConsulThe title Consul is used for the official representatives of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, and to facilitate trade and friendship between the people of the country to whom he or she is...
" of Russia in Plovdiv. As such, he strove to further the Bulgarian national cause, help young Bulgarians to receive scholarships abroad, etc.. He also tried to further the
Liberation of BulgariaIn Bulgarian historiography, the term Liberation of Bulgaria is used to denote the events of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 that led to the establishment of a Bulgarian state with the Treaty of San Stefano of 3 March, 1878...
from the
Ottoman EmpireThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
, but he relied on help from Russia and was opposed to the more radical revolutionary
emigreEmigre, also known as Emigre Graphics, is a type foundry in Berkeley, California, founded by Rudy VanderLans and Zuzana Licko. It also published Emigre magazine between 1984 and 2005...
s who wanted an independent uprising, such as
Lyuben KaravelovLyuben Stoychev Karavelov was a Bulgarian writer and an important figure of the Bulgarian National Revival.Karavelov was born in Koprivshtitsa. He began his education in a church school, but in 1850 he moved to the school of Nayden Gerov in Plovdiv...
,
Vasil LevskiVasil Levski was the nickname of Vasil Ivanov Kunchev , a Bulgarian revolutionary renowned as the national hero of Bulgaria. Dubbed the Apostle of Freedom, Levski ideologised and strategised a revolutionary movement to liberate Bulgaria from Ottoman rule...
, and
Hristo BotevHristo Botev , born Hristo Botyov Petkov , was a Bulgarian poet and national revolutionary. Botev is widely considered by Bulgarians to be a symbolic historical figure and national hero.-Early years:Botev was born in Kalofer...
. During the
April uprisingThe April Uprising was an insurrection organised by the Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire from April to May 1876, which indirectly resulted in the re-establishment of Bulgaria as an autonomous nation in 1878...
(1875), he was suspected for having been one of the organizers and was forced to go into hiding and sought refuge in the Russian legation in Constantinople. After the liberation, he held some administrative offices for a short time, but soon devoted all of his time to
philologyPhilology considers both form and meaning in linguistic expression, combining linguistics and literary studies.Classical philology is the philology of the Greek, Latin and Sanskrit languages...
.
Gerov's principal work was his unique
Dictionary of the Bulgarian Language (Речникъ на блъгарскый языкъ). For about fifty years, he collected, from ordinary people, a great number of words, expressions,
proverbA proverb , also called a byword or nayword, is a simple and concrete saying popularly known and repeated, which expresses a truth, based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity. They are often metaphorical. A proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a maxim...
s, folk songs, and proper nouns. The first three letters were already published in 1855–1856 in Russia, but the dictionary as a whole was published in five volumes, from 1895 to 1904, with an appendix added in 1908 by Gerov's collaborator T.Panchev. The dictionary contains about 100 000 entries (if the appendix is included). It is considered an extremely valuable source for the study of the Bulgarian language of the 19th century.
Gerov was also an advocate of an
orthographyThe orthography of a language specifies the correct way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example for Kurdish, there can be more than one orthography. Orthography is derived from Greek ὀρθός orthós and γράφειν...
for the Bulgarian literary language based on the
etymologicalEtymology is the study of the history of words and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages, and texts about the languages, to gather knowledge about how words were used at earlier stages, and...
priniple. His orthography was, however, eventually rejected in favour of the one proposed by
Marin DrinovProfessor Marin Stoyanov Drinov was a Bulgarian historian and philologist from the National Revival period who lived and worked in Russia through most of his life...
.