- Sergei Ozhegov
Sergei Ivanovich Ozhegov (Russian: Сергей Иванович Ожегов;
22 August 1900 -15 December 1964 ) was aRussia n lexicographer who in 1926 graduated from theLeningrad University where his teachers includedLev Shcherba andViktor Vinogradov .In 1935-40, Ozhegov contributed to
Dmitry Ushakov 's 4-volume explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. His main piece of work, the "Dictionary and Culture of Russian Speech" ("Словарь и культура русской речи"), as updated and corrected byNatalia Shvedova , is the most widely usedreference for theRussian language today.Ozhegov also ran the
Russian Language Institute as part of theRussian Academy of Sciences to oversee and advise on the correct spelling, grammar and pronunciation of the Russian language. His work was widely recognized in theSoviet Union and he was accorded burial at theNovodevichy Cemetery .Ozhegov was not without his detractors, especially among Russian émigrés.
Vladimir Nabokov , for instance, [http://books.google.com/books?lr=&as_brr=0&q=nabokov+ozhegov&btnG=Search+Books compared his dictionary] with that ofVladimir Dahl unfavorably and, in his novel "Ada or Ardor ", even called it "moronic".External Link
* [http://dic.academic.ru/searchall.php?SWord=&s=1&t=1&d=1 Searchable version of Dal's, Ushakov's and Ozhegov's dictionary]
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