Igor Mikhailovich Diakonoff (occasionally spelled Diakonov, ; 12 January 1915 – 2 May 1999) was a Russian historian, linguist, and translator and a renowned expert on the Ancient Near East and its languages. His brothers were also distinguished historians.

Life and career

Diakonoff was brought up in Norway. He graduated from Leningrad State University (now Saint Petersburg State University) in 1938. In the same year he joined the staff of the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg). In 1949, he published a comprehensive study of Assyria, followed in 1956 by a monograph on Media. Later on, he teamed up with the linguist Sergei Starostin to produce authoritative studies of the Caucasian, Afroasiatic, and Hurro-Urartian languages. Diakonoff was honored in 2003 with a festschrift volume published in his memory, edited by Lionel Bender, Gábor Takács, and David Appleyard. In addition to articles on Afro-Asiatic languages, it contains a five-page list of his publications compiled by Takács.

Family

Diakonoff's family members are known for their contributions to various fields of knowledge, both sciences and humanities. His wife and two sons became well-known researchers and achieved ranks of full professors.

Brother's family

Wives

Igor's first wife Nina Dyakonova (1915–2013) was a historian and critic of English literature, with a special interest in English Romantic poetry of the early 19th century (Keats, Byron, Shelley) and its reception in European and Russian literature. A student of Professors Viktor Zhirmunsky and Mikhail Alexeyev, she was a professor at her alma mater Saint Petersburg State University, and later, teacher-training Herzen University. His second wife, Ninel Yankovskaya (1925–2005). was a historian, assyriologist in the State Hermitage Museum.

Sons

Igor's sons became prominent physicists.

Selected bibliography

Sources