Dali (English spelling) Vladimir Ivanovich Dal'

Russian folklorist, lexicographer and author. His father was a Danish doctor who had naturalised in Russia. After serving as a naval officer, he graduated from the medical school at Derpt University (now the University of Tartu in Estonia) and became a military doctor, later entering the civil service. In his spare time as an official, he devoted himself to collecting and organising folklore and dialect materials, as well as to creative work. In 1838, he was elected an associate member of the natural sciences department of the Russian Academy of Sciences for his research into the flora and fauna of the Orenburg region. He was also a representative writer of the "naturalist" movement, and wrote many works, including "Russian Folk Tales" (1831), "True and Fantastic Tales" (4 volumes, 1833-1839), "Cossacks of the Urals" (1843), "Drunkenness, Dreams and Reality" (1843), "The Squire" (1845), and "The Corpse" (1857). He pioneered a method of detailed description of the lives of ordinary Russian people in a folk vernacular, and was highly praised by the critic Belinsky. His greatest achievement was the four volumes of "Great Russian Language Explanatory Dictionary" (1863-1866), which he completed on his own after more than half a century. It contains about 200,000 words, includes many special vocabulary from dialects and occupations, and is loved by educated Russians as a dictionary to read because its descriptions have the character of an encyclopedia of life. Another important work was the collection of more than 30,000 proverbs, proverbial phrases, and riddles, called "Russian Proverbs" (1861-1863). He was friends with the poet Pushkin, and it is well known that he was present at Pushkin's deathbed as a friend and physician after he was killed in a duel.

[Kurihara Shigeo July 20, 2018]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

ロシアの民俗学者、辞書編纂(へんさん)家、作家。ロシアに帰化したデンマーク人の医師を父にもつ。海軍将校を経てデルプト大学（現、エストニアのタルトゥ大学）医学部を卒業し、軍医となり、のちに官途についた。役人生活の余暇に民俗・方言資料の収集、整理と創作活動に専念。1838年、オレンブルグ地方の動植物相の研究によりロシア科学アカデミーの自然科学部門の準会員に選ばれた。カザーク・ルガンスキーというペンネームをもつ「自然派」の代表的作家でもあり、『ロシア民話集』（1831）、『実話と空想物語』4巻（1833～1839）、『ウラルのコサック』（1843）、『酔いと夢と現実(うつつ)』（1843）、『従卒』（1845）、『死体』（1857）など多くの作品を書き、ロシア常民の生活を民衆的な俗語の語り口で細やかに描写する手法を開拓し、批評家ベリンスキーから高い評価を受けた。最大の業績は半世紀以上の歳月を費やして独力で完成した『大ロシア語詳解辞典』4巻（1863～1866）で、約20万語を収録し、方言や職業的位相からくる特殊語彙(ごい)を多数含み、記述が生活百科事典的性格を有するために読む辞典として教養あるロシア人に愛用されている。『ロシアの諺(ことわざ)』（1861～1863）も重要な業績で、3万以上の諺、諺的成句、謎(なぞ)を収録したもの。詩人のプーシキンと親交があり、決闘で倒れたプーシキンの臨終に友人、医師として立ち会った話は有名である。

［栗原成郎　2018年7月20日］

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