Gappo Baev and the Ossetian-Russian-German Dictionary of Academician Vsevolod Fyodorovich Miller

This article outlines a significant episode in the history of the Ossetian-Russian-German dictionary, a major lexicographic work compiled by academician Vsevolod Fyodorovich Miller (1848–1913). The account highlights the contributions of the Ossetian émigré Georgii (Gappo) Vasilyevich Baev (1869–1939), who participated in the preparatory stages of the dictionary and later attempted to arrange its publication in Germany at the Ossetian press of Evgenii Aleksandrovich Gutnov in Berlin. The reconstruction is based on correspondence between Baev and Miller’s widow, Evgeniya Viktorovna, which records the strict conditions imposed by the USSR Academy of Sciences: retention of all rights by the Academy, prohibition of unapproved editorial changes, and the requirement that only a single manuscript copy be submitted to the printer. These constraints ultimately made the Berlin publishing initiative unfeasible. Archival materials from Baev’s personal collection at the Berlin State Library shed light on this little-known episode and indicate that his efforts helped revive scholarly interest in the dictionary within the USSR, very likely influencing its eventual publication under academician Aleksander Arnol’dovich Freiman. The account also underscores the decisive role of the Ossetian diaspora, and of Baev in particular, in safeguarding and promoting national cultural heritage despite the challenges of exile and institutional limitations.