In memoriam Antuonina Rekena

IN MEMORIAM ANTUONINA REKENA (1928–1998) Our Latvian brothers have once again lost a distinguished researcher of their native language: on February 25, 1998, after a long and serious illness, Antuonina Rekena (Antoņina Reķēna, Jurgelāne), professor at the Liepāja Higher Pedagogical School, died. The deceased was born not far from the Lithuanian border, in Kalupes parish, Daugavpils district (now Baluožkalns, Ruozkalni parish, Preiļi district). She attended secondary school in Daugavpils and Preiļi. In 1952 she graduated from the Latvian State Pedagogical Institute in Riga, specializing in Latvian language and literature, as well as logic and psychology. In 1952–1953 she taught psychology at the Cēsis Teachers’ Institute. From 1953 she worked at the Liepāja Higher Pedagogical School, teaching psychology, Latvian dialectology, historical grammar, and Baltic linguistics. At the beginning of 1998, A. Rekena was awarded the honorary title of State Scientist Emerita. In 1962, the linguist defended her doctoral dissertation, “The Kalupes Dialect.” She published several articles on this subject. Her articles examining the dialect’s connections with Lithuanian and Slavic languages are of particular interest to Lithuanian language researchers1. The problems of Lithuanian loanwords in Latvian are also addressed in A. Rekena’s article on the language of Rainis’s translation of “Faust”2. In 1975, A. Rekena’s substantial monograph “The Vocabulary of Crafts in Some Southern Latgalian Dialects and Its Connections with Corresponding Names in Slavic Languages” (Amatniecības leksika dažās Latgales dienvidu izloksnēs un tās sakari ar atbilstošajiem nosaukumiem slāvu valodās. Rīga, 1975) was published. This monograph is also of great value to researchers of Lithuanian vocabulary. In 1978, A. Rekena received the Jānis Endzelīns Prize for this book. Together with several other articles, it also formed the basis of A. Rekena’s habilitation dissertation, “The Vocabulary of Southern Latgale Dialects,” defended in Riga in 1993. Shortly before her death, A. Rekena still had time to see the great work of her life—the two-volume “Dictionary of the Kalupes Dialect” (Kalupes izloksnes vārdnīca 1, A-M, 2, N-Ž, Rīga, 1998). Sarmytė Lagzdinia, Tamara Elste, Valija Sarkanė, Astra Kremane-Treimane, and Janis Elksnis helped the author complete this exceptionally beautifully published work, and our friend, former Latvian Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to Lithuania Dr. Albertas Sarkanis, prepared it for final publication. 1 R e ķ ē n a A. The meanings and usage of the prefix da- and the auxiliary word da in Upper Latvian dialect varieties compared with Lithuanian and Slavic languages. – Issues in the Theory and Practice of the Latvian Language. Riga, 1967, 81–93; Latvian language relations with Lithuanian and Slavic languages as reflected in the toponyms of Kalupe. – Problems of Latvian Language and Literature. Riga, 1970, 152–165, etc. 2 R e ķ ē n a A. Apvidvārdu lietojuma īpatnības „Fausta“ atdzejojumā. – Raiņa gadagrāmata 1988. Rīga, 1988, 86–112. 259 One of A. Rēkena’s last significant works was published in Vilnius’s “Baltistica” — “Parallels in Word Formation between the South Latgalian Dialects and Lithuanian” (Dienvidlatgales izloksņu un lietuviešu valodas paralēles vārd­darināšanā, 1996, 31 (1), 53–70). Antonina Rēkena’s most creative years were spent in Liepāja, but, according to her colleagues, “in her heart she remained throughout her life a daughter of the Latgalian peasantry, hard-working, persistent, and at the same time so sensitive and compassionate toward others.” Antonina Rēkena remained just as she was to her friends in Lithuania. Algirdas Sabaliauskas 260