Sergi Jikia

Sergi jikia was born in the village of Onoghia ({{lang-ka|ონოღია}}; now Martvili Municipality). In 1906 he enrolled at the parish school of Onoghia. In 1913 he continued his study at the Tbilisi Theological School, where he admitted in the third class. After completing the four classes of the school, he went to the Theological Seminary (from 1917 Tiflis 8th Gymnasium for Boys), which he graduated from in 1919.

Upon finishing the gymnasium with honours, he enrolled at the faculty of philosophy of Tiflis State University, first at the department of history and a year later at the department of linguistics. In 1923 he was elected a member of the Georgian society of linguistics. In 1924 he graduated from Tiflis State University.Duduchava, I., Tivadze, A. (2020). Sergi Jikia (1898-1993): Biobibliography. Tbilisi: Ivane Javakhisvili Tbilisi State University. The National Science Library series “Georgian Scientists“. pp. 37-39.

From 1927 to 1929 Sergi Jikia was sent to the Istanbul University to learn the Turkish language and literature. He worked on the Turkish language and historical sources in the archives in Istanbul.{{cite book |title= Language Magazine|year= 1997|publisher= Ankara University TOMER|page= 82|accessdate=17 January 2021 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3O8t-1TbSQcC&q=Sergi+Cikia}} In 1929-1932 he was a postgraduate student at the Nikolai Marr Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. In 1930-1936 Sergi Jikia worked as an assistant professor at the Leningrad University, where he was awarded with the honorary title. From 1934 to 1936 he was a senior research fellow at the N. Marr Institute.

From 1936 to 1945 Sergi Jikia was a head of the department of oriental languages at Tbilisi State University. In 1936-1960 he worked at the institute of linguistics of the Georgian Academy of Sciences.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}} From 1945 to 1952 he was a dean of the faculty of oriental studies at Tbilisi State University. In 1945-1973 he was a head of the department of Turkish university in Tbilisi.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}

In 1959, Sergi Jikia was invited by the Polish Academy of Sciences and the University of Warsaw to Poland with academician Giorgi Tsereteli to give lectures. From 1960 until his death, he was a head of the department of turkology at the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Academy of Sciences of the Georgian SSR.

Sergi Jikia has worked on Turkish philology, dialectology of Turkish languages, Turkish language history, Turkish historical sources, Turkish-Georgian relations, and Eastern Anatolian and Azerbaijani dialects of Turkish. He studied Georgian, Megrelian and Laz texts in Evliya Çelebi's Seyahatnâme.{{Cite book |title= Turkish language: journal of language and literature, 625-630. numbers|year= 2004|publisher= Turkish Language Society|isbn= |page= 540|accessdate=17 January 2021 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FwYIAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Sergi+Cikia%22}} He published Defter-i Mufassal-i Vilayet-i Georgia, dated 1595, with the original text, Georgian translation, analysis and explanations as The Great Book of the Tbilisi Vilayet.{{cite book |title= XIV. Turkish History Congress: Ankara, 9-13 September 2002 : papers presented to the congress, volume 3|year= 2005|publisher= Turkish history association |isbn= 9751618363|accessdate=17 January 2021 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a_QPfg8GzkIC&q=%22Sergi+Cikia%22}} He also studied Laz-Turkish relations. Jikia prepared Georgian-Turkish dictionaries Azerbaijan compiling Georgian textbooks for schools in Turkey. Jikia is the author of Turkish reading passages published in Georgia and Saint Petersburg.

Sergi Jikia was awarded the medal for valiant labour in the great patriotic war 1941-1945 and the degree of a candidate of philological sciences in 1946. In 1956 he received the degree of a doctor of philological sciences and next year he became a professor. In 1961, Sergi Jikia was awarded the title of an honored person of the Georgian SSR. He was awarded a medal for labor bravery in 1961.

A street in Tbilisi is named after Sergi Jikia. The book "Founder of Georgian Turkology: Sergi Jikia" about the life of Sergi Jikia was written by Ia Duduchava and translated into Turkish by Ilyas Ustuner.{{cite web | url = https://www.kirmizikedi.com/kitap/urun/e18650be8a8747ff8945e0e3e2fa01b4 | title = Gürcü Türkolojisinin Kurucusu : Sergi Cikia| website = kirmizikedi.com | accessdate = 17 January 2021 |language=tr}}

• Sergi Jikia, Nodar Shengelia; "The Great Book of the Tbilisi Vilayet of 1728".{{cite web|url=http://www.apsny.ge/2010/soc/1292912775.php|title=Презентована «Большая книга Тбилисского вилайета 1728 года»|accessdate=23 January 2013|language=ru}}

{{reflist}}

• Jangidze V., Georgian Soviet Encyclopedia, Vol. 11, Tbilisi, 1987. - p. 568.

• [http://www.nplg.gov.ge/bios/ka/00001143/ Sergi Jikia at Biographycal Dictionary of Georgia]

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Category:1898 births

Category:1993 deaths

Category:20th-century historians from Georgia (country)

Category:Members of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences

Category:Tbilisi State University alumni

Category:Recipients of the Order of Lenin

Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour

Category:Philologists from Georgia (country)

Category:Turkologists