Rimma Kuruch

Rimma Dmitrievna Kuruch (Russian: Римма Дмитриевна Куруч, 6 May 1938 – 8 July 2019) was a specialist in language education. Much of her work focused on documenting, preserving, and encouraging the use of Kildin Sámi. Kuruch also helped form the Kola Sámi Association and served as its first co-vice president.

Early life and education

Kuruch was born in the village of Balovo in Vachsky District, Gorky Oblast, Russia. Her parents were of Moldovan heritage. In 1961, she graduated from the Bălți State Pedagogical Institute in the Moldovan SSR with a degrees in Russian Language, Literature, and English and she began working as a teacher in rural schools in Moldova. In 1967, she completed graduate studies at the Russian Academy of Education and she began work at Chernivtsi State University in the Ukrainian SSR in 1968. She became a full professor there in 1971 and continued at the university until 1975.

Sámi language work

In 1975, Kuruch relocated to Murmansk, where she joined Pedagogical Institute Murmansk (now the Murmansk Arctic State University) to work with the Institute of Linguistics of the USSR Academy of Sciences. There Kuruch participated as an editor and author in the project to create the first Sámi–Russian dictionary, Саамско–Русский Словарь/Са̄мь–Рӯшш Соагкнэһкь (published in 1985), which included 8,000 words, 400 proverbs and sayings, a sketch grammar, and extensive reference material.