Boris Uspenskij
Boris Andreevich Uspenskij (born 1937, in Moscow) is a Russian linguist, philologist, semiotician, and historian of culture.
Also recorded as Boris Andreevich Uspenskij
Boris Uspenskij
- Name
- Boris Uspenskij
- Born
- 1 March 1937
- Birthplace
- Moscow, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Soviet Union
- Field
- linguistics, semiotics, philology, history of culture
- Education
- Moscow State University
- Known for
- linguist, philologist, semiotician, historian of culture
- Nationality
- Soviet Union · Russia
- Occupation
- linguist · philologist · mythographer · painter · graphic artist · art historian · cultural studies scholar
- Fields
- linguistics · semiotics · Slavic studies · Byzantine studies
- Teachers
- Vyacheslav Ivanov
- Languages
- Russian · Italian · German
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Documentary summary
Boris Andreevich Uspenskij (born 1937, in Moscow) is a Russian linguist, philologist, semiotician, and historian of culture.
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Note VALÉORINE
Boris Uspenskij (born 1937) is a Russian and Soviet art historian, cultural studies scholar and graphic artist, among other activities. The art historian was born in Moscow.
Boris Uspenskij studied at Lomonosov Moscow State University. The art historian worked for Cornell University, Harvard University and Institute for African Studies, among others and is a member of Academia Europaea, Austrian Academy of Sciences and Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, among others. Boris Uspenskij is active in Byzantine studies, linguistics and semiotics. Languages used include German, Italian and Russian.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 01 October 2026
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Authority files
wikidata · Q739457 · wikipedia · Boris Uspenskij
In this article
Biography
Biography
Boris Uspenskij studied at Lomonosov Moscow State University. Training under Vyacheslav Ivanov is recorded. Alexey Gippius and Anna Feliksovna Litvina are recorded as having studied under Boris Uspenskij. The recorded working language is Russian, Italian and German. The field of work recorded is linguistics, semiotics and Slavic studies. Employment is recorded with Harvard University, Cornell University and Institute for African Studies.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Boris Uspenskij • Native Name — Бори́с Андре́евич Успе́нский • Born — 1 March 1937 • Birthplace — Moscow, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Soviet Union • Field — linguistics, semiotics, philology, history of culture • Workplaces — National Research University – Higher School of Economics, Russian State University for the Humanities • Education — Moscow State University • Known for — linguist, philologist, semiotician, historian of culture
Biography
Biography
Uspenskij graduated from Moscow University in 1960. He delivered lectures in Moscow until 1982, but later moved on to work in Harvard University, Cornell University, Vienna University, and the University of Graz. Full professor of Russian literature at the Naples Eastern University, he was elected to many scholarly societies and academies of Europe. Uspenskij worked with Juri Lotman and was influenced by his ideas as a member of Tartu-Moscow semiotics school. His major works include Linguistic Situation in Kievan Rus and Its Importance for the Study of the Russian Literary Language, Philological Studies in the Sphere of Slavonic Antiquities, and The Principles of Structural Typology. Uspenskij is well known in the study of icons for his work The Semiotics of the Russian Icon (Lisse, 1976), among others. Uspenskij is the member of the editorial boards of the following academic journals: Sign Systems Studies, Arbor Mundi (Moscow), Zbornik Matice srpske za slavistiku (Novi Sad), and Slověne. International Journal of Slavic Studies.
Career and activity
Career and activity
Boris Uspenskij worked in linguistics, semiotics, Slavic studies, Byzantine studies and history of the Russian Orthodox Church. He was employed by Harvard University, Cornell University, Institute for African Studies, Philological Faculty of Moscow State University and University of Vienna. He belonged to Academia Europaea, Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and Polish Academy of Learning.
Identity
Identity
Boris Uspenskij is recorded with the occupation graphic artist. Recorded as linguist, philologist, mythographer, painter and graphic artist.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1937
Boris Uspenskij was born on 1 March 1937.
Publications
Author of 550 publications in the fields of general linguistics, philology, semiotics, slavistics, history. Author of the following books: • Principles of Structural Typology. Moscow 1962 (in Russian). English translation: The Hague - Paris 1968. • Structural Typology of Languages. Moscow 1965 (in Russian). • The Archaic System of Church-Slavonic Pronunciation. Moscow 1968 (in Russian). • Towards a History of Church-Slavonic Proper Names in Russia. Moscow 1969 (in Russian). • Poetics of Composition. Moscow 1970; St. Petersburg 2002 (in Russian). English translation: Berkeley - Los Angeles - London 1973 (paper-back edition 1982). German translation: Frankfurt 1976. Also translated into Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Polish, Czech, Serbian, Slovenian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Finnish, Hebrew. • The First Russian Grammar in the Native Language. Moscow 1975 (in Russian). • Tipologia della cultura. Milano 19751, 1987 (paper-back edition, 1995). Joint publication with J. M. Lotman. • Semiotica della cultura. Milano-Napoli 1975. Joint publication with Yu.M. Lotman. • The Semiotics of the Russian Icon. Lisse/The Netherlands 1976. Also translated into Japanese, Italian, Serbian, Slovenian, Bulgarian. • Philological Investigation of Slavic Antiquities. Moscow 1982 (in Russian). Also translated into Polish. • The Linguistic Situation in Kievan Rus´ and its Significance for the History of the Russian Literary Language. Moscow 1983 (in Russian). Also translated into Italian. • The Semiotics of Russian Culture. Ann Arbor 1984. Joint publication with J. M. Lotman. • The Semiotics of Russian Cultural History. Ithaca 1985. Joint publication with Yu. M. Lotman and L. Ja. Ginsburg. • Towards a History of the Russian Literary Language of XVIII - early XIX centuries. Moscow 1985 (in Russian). • The History of the Russian Literary Language (XI - XVII centuries). München 1987, Budapest 1982, Moscow 2002 (in Russian). • Jean Sohier. Grammaire et Methode Russes et Françoises 1724. Bd. I-II. München 1987. • Storia e semiotica. Milano 1988. • Sémiotique de la culture russe. Lausanne 1990. Joint publication with J. M. Lotman. • Semiotik der Geschichte. Wien, 1991. • Tsar and God. Warszawa 1992 (in Polish). Joint publication with V. M. Živov. • Selected Works, vol. I-II. Sofia 1992-2000 (in Bulgarian). • Storia della lingua letteraria russa: Dall’antica Rus’ a Puškin. Bologna 1993. • Johann Ernst Glück. Grammatik der russischen Sprache (1704). Köln - Weimar - Wien 1994. Joint publication with Helmut Keipert and Viktor Zhivov. • Semiotics of Art. Moscow 1995 (in Russian). • Linguistica, semiotica, storia della cultura. Bologna 1996. • Selected Works, vol. I-III. 2d edition, revised and expanded. Moscow 1996-1997 (in Russian). • Tsar and Patriarch. Moscow, 1998 (in Russian). Also translated into Polish. • Historia i semiotyka. Gdańsk 1998 (in Polish). • Tsar and Emperor. Moscow, 2000 (in Russian). Italian version: "In regem unxit": Unzione al trono e semantica dei titoli del sovrano. Napoli 2001. Also translated into Polish. • Boris and Gleb: The Perception of History in Old Rus’. Moscow 1998 (in Russian). • Religia i semiotyka. Gdańsk, 2001 (in Polish). • Studies in Russian History. Saint Petersburg, 2002 (in Russian). • The Sign of the Cross and Sacred Space. Moscow, 2004 (in Russian). Also translated into Italian. • Part and Whole in Russian Grammar. Moscow, 2004 (in Russian). • Essays in History and Philology. Moscow, 2004 (in Russian). • Cross and Circle: From the History of the Christian Symbolism. Moscow, 2006 (in Russian). Also translated into Polish. • Ego loquens: Language and Communicational Space. Moscow, 2007; Moscow, 2012 (in Russian). Also translated into Serbian. • Works on Trediakovskij. Moscow, 2008 (in Russian). • The Ghent Altarpiece of Jan van Eyck: the composition (Divine and Homan Perspective). Moscow, 2009; Moscow, 2013 (in Russian). Italian version: Prospettiva divina e prospettiva umana: La pala di van Eyck a Gand. Milano, 2010. • “Tsar and God” and Other Essays in Russian Cultural Semiotics. Boston, 2012. Joint publication with V. M. Živov. • Veni kultuuri jõujooni: Valik artikleid. Tartu, 2013.
Primary material
Documents and archives
scholarly publication
- Boris Uspenskij and the semiotics of communication: An essay and an interview, Semiotica, 2014
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2014
- Boris Uspenskij and the Tartu–Moscow School of Semiotics, Chinese Semiotic Studies, 2012
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2012
- Boris Uspenskij: A possible reflection of the painter (Jan van Eyck) in the Ghent Altarpiece, Language, reason and education
Scholarly · Crossref registry
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q739457: Boris Uspenskij
Reputable secondary · Wikidata
- “Boris Uspenskij”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority file
- VIAF cluster 90631286 for Boris Uspenskij, aggregating national library name authorities.
General reference · OCLC
Fellowships, grants, awards
Fellowships, grants, awards
• 1989 British Academy (London) • 1992-1993 Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin (Institute for Advanced Studies, Berlin) • 1993 The Warburg Institute (London) • 1999 Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study (Uppsala) • 2007 Early Slavic Studies Association Annual Distinguished Scholarship Award
Memberships of associations, honorary titles
Memberships of associations, honorary titles
• Doctor honoris causa, Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow (2001) • Doctor honoris causa, Konstantin Preslavsky University, Shumen (2003) • Doctor honoris causa, Belgrade University (2010) • Doctor honoris causa, Tallinn University (2016) • Member, Academia Europaea (London) since 1990 • Foreign Member, Austrian Academy of Sciences (Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften) (Vienna) since 1987 • Foreign Member, Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (Oslo) since 1999 • Foreign Member, Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences (Polska Akademia Umiejętności) (Kraków) since 2011 • Honorary Member, Slavonic and East European Medieval Studies Group (Oxford - Cambridge) since 1987 • Honorary Member, Early Slavic Studies Association (U.S.A.) • Honorary Member, Association internationale de sémiologie de l’image (Paris) since 1991 • Member, Honorary Committee of the American Friends of the Warburg Institute (London) since 1993 • Member, International Association for Semiotic Studies (Bloomington) since 1976 • Member, Russian Pen-Center (Moscow) since 1994 • Member, Kungl. Humanistiska Vetenskapssamfundet i Lund (Société Royale des Lettres de Lund) since 1996 • Member ("Socio ordinario"), Società Filologica Romana (Rome) since 2001 • Member of Comitato scientifico of the journal Russica Romana
Literature
Literature
Literature
Boris Uspenskij and the semiotics of communication: An essay and an interview, Semiotica, 2014
A possible reflection of the painter (Jan van Eyck) in the Ghent Altarpiece, Language, reason and education
Boris Uspenskij in English: Bibliography, Sign Systems Studies, 2017
Zur Syntax des Uspenskij Sbornik, II: Das Skazanie von Boris und Gleb, On Medieval and Renaissance Slavic Writing, 1974
Soviet ‘semiotics of history’ in the West, Sign Systems Studies, 2017
Boris Uspenskij on history, linguistics and semiotics, Sign Systems Studies, 2017
Scholarly footprint
Literature
Scholarly footprint
A count of publications is evidence of attention, not of standing, and is given here only as a measure.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Boris Uspenskij and the semiotics of communication: An essay and an interview, Semiotica, 2014Crossref registry
Institutional witnessscholarly publication
Boris Uspenskij and the Tartu–Moscow School of Semiotics, Chinese Semiotic Studies, 2012Crossref registry
Institutional witnessscholarly publication
Boris Uspenskij: A possible reflection of the painter (Jan van Eyck) in the Ghent Altarpiece, Language, reason and educationCrossref registry
Institutional witnessauthority file
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
People, houses and institutions
Knowledge graph
People, houses and institutions
Teachers, collaborators, publishers and institutions recorded against this person, each on a stated basis.
Born at
1- MoscowPlace
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Further particulars
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Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
Boris Uspenskij studied at Lomonosov Moscow State University. The record notes the qualifications Doctor of Sciences in Philology and candidate of philology. He trained under Vyacheslav Ivanov. Each of those relationships is stated by the authority record rather than inferred from style.
The authorities additionally record the heading Boris Andreevich Uspenskij. His recorded languages were Russian, Italian, German and English. One child is recorded: Fyodor Uspensky. Naming and authority record. Those registers additionally record the forms Boris Uspenskij, 1937- and Boris Uspenskij, Russian linguist, philologist, semiotician, historian of culture.
Identity and origins
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
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