Ph.D., Professor,
Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the ASSR
Malkhasyants was born on November 25, 1857, in Akhaltskha. He graduated from the local Karapetyan Parish School, in 1878 from the Gevorgyan Seminary, in 1889 from the Armenian-Sanskrit and Armenian-Georgian departments of the Faculty of Oriental Languages of St. Petersburg University, and received his Ph.D.
For many years, he taught Armenian language and literature in Armenian schools. In 1919 Malkhasyants was invited to lecture at the newly opened university in Alexandropol (now Gyumri) delivering the first lecture on February 1, 1920.
He is one of the founding academicians of the Armenian Academy of Sciences.
Malkhasyants was a remarkable philologist, linguist, and lexicographer. The editions of Movses Khorenatsi's "History of Armenia" (Yerevan, 1940) and Pavstos Buzand's "History of Armenia" (Yerevan, 1947) with extensive forewords, worldly translation and annotations are worth mentioning. In 1940, the monograph "Around the Mystery of Khorenatsi" was also published. He published comparative texts of chroniclers, "History of Armenia" by Ghevond the Great (1887), "History of Armenia and Letter to Vahan Mamikonyan" (with G. Ter-Mkrtchyan) (1904), "Useful Medicine" by Amirdovlat of Amasia, as well as " "A Course in the History of Armenian Bibliography" (1899), "Brief History of the Nersisian Spiritual School..." (1900) studies.
He substantiated with undeniable facts that Movses Khorenatsi is an author of the 5th century, and his "History of Armenia" is a completely reliable source.
Among the important linguistic works are the monographs "Grabar's Conjugation, and Prepositions" (Tbilisi, 1891), and "Agreement in Grabar" (Tbilisi, 1892). In 1944-1945, Malkhasyants published the four-volume "Armenian Explanatory Dictionary" covering 120,000 words, which is one of the monumental works of Armenian lexicography, the first of its kind (republished in 2010). In 1946, it was awarded the USSR State Prize.
St. Malkhasyants was also engaged in translation. He translated Shakespeare's tragedies "King Lear" (1887), "Macbeth" (1892), and G. Ebers' novel "I am a Human" (1898).
Malkhasyants passed away on July 21, 1947, in Yerevan.
