We continue with minority languages today, but since it is the Second Sunday of Advent (将临期第二主日 or 降临第二主日) we bring out a major work, Ivan Ilyich Zakharov’s (Иван Ильич Захаров 1816-1885) Complete Manchu-Russian Dictionary (Полный Маньчжурско-Русскій Словарь), originally published 1875 in Saint Petersburg, but our copy is the 1939 Peking edition. Zakharov was a Russian diplomat, working in the Peking Orthodox Mission 1839-1850. He assisted with the 1851 Treaty of Kulja (Ghulja غۇلجا, Yining 伊宁, in Ili Prefecture 伊犁) 中俄伊犁塔爾巴哈臺通商章程 which opened for border trade. Zakharov later became a professor of Manchu studies at Saint Petersburg Imperial University (now Saint Petersburg State University).
Zakharov’s dictionary was one of the first Manchu dictionaries available to a Western audience. Manchu studies declined as its own field after the fall of the Qing dynasty, but has seen a revival in recent years as knowledge of Manchu language is relevant for Qing historical studies. Manchu studies never really developed in Sweden, but thanks to maybe Bernhard Karlgren (although he left Gothenburg in 1939 when this book was published), or more likely one of his students we own a copy. The National Library of Sweden does not have the Complete Manchu-Russian Dictionary, but copies are kept at British Library, Bibliothèque nationale de France and Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin among a handful other libraries in Europe. If you want to learn more about Manchu I suggest to contact the Manchu Studies Group. Manchu is only spoken as first language by a handful of people today, but thousands have been learning it as a second or third language in China in recent years.