Arnold Chikobava (March 14, 1898 - November 5, 1985) was a Georgian linguist, philologist and public
benefactor, one of founders and Academician of the Georgian Academy of Sciences (GAS), founder of the
scientific school of the Iberian-Caucasian linguistics, Meritorious Scientific Worker of Georgia, Doctor
of Philological Sciences, Professor.
He was born in 1898, in a small village Sachikobavo (Mingrelia (Samegrelo), Western Georgia). In 1922 he
graduated from the Tbilisi State University (TSU). In 1926-1985 Associate Professor (1926-1933) and Professor
(1933-1985) of this University. In 1933-1960 Chikobava was a Head of the Department of Caucasology of
TSU. In 1929 he received a degree of Doctor of Philological Sciences.
In 1936-1985 Chikobava was a Head of the Department of the Iberian-Caucasian languages of the
Institute of Linguistics of the Georgian Academy of Sciences (now the Arnold Chikobava Institute of
Linguistics). In 1950-1952 Director of this Institute.
Since 1941 he was one of founders and Academician of the Georgian Academy of Sciences (GAS). In 1950-1963
member of the Presidium of GAS.
Prof. Chikobava was: Honoured Doctor of the University of Berlin (1960), Honorary Member of the
Royal Philological Society of Great Britain (1968), Laureate of the State Prize of Georgia (1971) and owner
of the Lomonosov Prize of the Moscow State University (1951).
Main fields of scientific activity of Arnold Chikobava were: the Iberian-Caucasian linguistics,
general problems of linguistics, Rustvelology, grammar of Georgian and Caucasian languages, history of Georgian
language and literature, Basque-Caucasian hypothesis, lexicography, etc. He was author about 300 scientific-
research works and 14 monographs. He was a founder and Editor-in-Chief of the international scientific journal
"The Yearbook of the Iberian-Caucasian Linguistics" (now "Iberian-Caucasian Linguistics").
Chikobava died in 1985, in Tbilisi. He is buried in the garden of the Tbilisi State University.