BAYATỊ, GAPPO (Ger.: Georg-Gappo Baiew), b. 9 September (old style 28 August) 1869, d. 24 April 1939, Ossetic man of letters. He was born in Vladikavkaz (now Ordzhonikidze) of a prominent north-Caucasian family. He entered upon his literary career about the turn of the century, and became in the last decades before the October Revolution a distinguished figure in the political and cultural life of the Ossetes and one of the foremost pioneers of Ossetic literature. Among his earliest publications are Gälabu (“Butterfly,” 1900), a collection of poems including some written by himself, Iron ämbisändtä ämä uciucitä (“Ossetic proverbs and riddles,” 1900); Farn (“Peace,” 1901), a collection of folktales and poems, including his own; and Iron argʾäudtä (“Ossetic folktales,” 1901). During the civil strife of 1905-07 he sided with the czarist regime, and in the following years favored a democratic-monarchical form of government; in 1917 he joined the anti-Bolshevist forces. After the establishment of Soviet power in the Caucasus, he emigrated to Germany and settled in Berlin, where he taught Ossetic at the Oriental Seminar of the university and at the Ausland-Hochschule (Dozent, 1926-39) and dedicated himself to the propagation of knowledge of Ossetic and Caucasian culture. In 1922, he published a new edition of Khetägkatị Kʾosta’s (q.v.) Iron fändịr, containing the poet’s biography, and in 1928 his translation of the Book of Daniel appeared. He also wrote several papers on Caucasian matters. He died in Berlin.
See also bible viii.
Bibliography:
Nafi Dzhusoĭty, Istoriya osetinskoĭ literatury I, Tbilisi, 1980, pp. 111-20.
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(F. Thordarson)
Originally Published: December 15, 1988
Last Updated: December 15, 1988
This article is available in print.
Vol. III, Fasc. 8, p. 886
