John Colarusso
United StatesAbout
John Colarusso is a linguist, anthropologist, and scholar of Caucasian languages and mythology. Born in California and raised in Mississippi and New Jersey, he studied physics and philosophy before earning a PhD in linguistics from Harvard University in 1975. He has taught at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, since 1976, where he became a professor emeritus of anthropology. Colarusso has devoted decades to studying the languages, folklore, and cultural history of the Caucasus, publishing extensively on comparative linguistics and mythology. His books include A Grammar of the Kabardian Language (1992), Myths from the Caucasus: The Nart Sagas of the Circassians, Abazas, Abkhaz, and Ubykhs (2002), and Tales of the Narts: Ancient Myths and Legends of the Ossetians (2016), which he co-edited with Tamirlan Salbiev and which was translated by Walter May. His scholarship has helped introduce the rich mythological traditions of the North Caucasus to a wider English-speaking audience.
