LIETUVIŲ KALBOTYROS KLAUSIMAI XXXVIII (1997)

Vincentas DROTVINAS

SOURCES FOR THE ONOMASTICON OF LITHUANIA MINOR IN GERMAN ARCHIVES¹

My first direct encounter with sources for the personal and place names of Lithuania Minor in German archives was unplanned. Having begun researching seventeenth- and eighteenth-century dictionaries of Lithuania Minor², I sought more recent archival material about Lithuanian writers, lexicographers, and grammar authors of that period. In the spring of 1988, I was a visiting scholar at the Seminar for Indo-European Studies at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, where I was warmly welcomed and hosted by the distinguished German Balticist, Associate Professor Dr. Gertrud Bense. In Halle, I investigated the Lithuanian Language Seminar that operated at the local university from 1727 to 1740 and trained Pietist-minded pastors for Lithuania Minor. In the archives of the Francke Foundations library, I looked for traces of the life and work of Jonas Richter and Wilhelm Hako (Haack), who taught Lithuanian; I examined a manuscript of a German–Lithuanian dictionary (1728) attributed to Richter and held there, as well as a copy of Hako’s “Vocavblarivm Litthvanico-Germanicvm et Germanico-Litthvanicvm…” (Halle, 1730) containing corrections, and other material.

Since it was difficult to access the Prussian Cultural Heritage Secret State Archives (Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz, abbreviated GStA) in West Berlin (Dahlem) from Lithuania at the time, I worked for a while at the German Central State Archives in nearby Merseburg (Deutsches Zentral Staatsarchiv, Dienststelle Merseburg). Following the reunification of the two German states, the Merseburg holdings have belonged to the above-mentioned GStA archives in Berlin since 1994. The holdings of the Merseburg archives

¹ The author presented a paper on this topic, “On the Onomasticon of Lithuania Minor.” – Researchers and Research in the Lithuanian Language. Abstracts of Papers from the Conference Commemorating P. Skardžius, Vilnius: Institute of the Lithuanian Language, 1994, 12. See also the author’s report, “Sources for Lithuanian Studies in German Archives.” – Mokslo Lietuva, December 1993. No. 14(73).

² The author has prepared the following editions of dictionaries of Lithuania Minor: LEXICON LITHUANICUM. A seventeenth-century manuscript German–Lithuanian dictionary. The introduction, transliteration of the dictionary text, and word index prepared by V. Drotvinas. V.: Mokslas, 1987. – 586 pp.; CLAVIS GERMANICO - LITHVANA. A seventeenth-century manuscript German–Lithuanian dictionary. Part I. A–E. Introductory article, “Notes on Frydrych Pretorijus’s dictionary ‘Clavis germanico - lithvana’” (pp. X–XXVII). V.: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidykla. Bibliotheca Baltica. Lithvania. 1995. – 629 pp.; Part II. F–L. V.: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidykla, 1997. – 701 pp.; Parts III and IV are in press (editorial note).

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In the Merseburg archives, I found various kinds of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century documents from Lithuania Minor containing Lithuanian surnames and place names. Later (in 1991, 1993, and 1994), I had opportunities to become somewhat more familiar with sources for the onomasticon of Lithuania Minor in German archives.

The above-mentioned Berlin archive, which in 1978 took over the holdings of the former Königsberg State Archive (Staatliches Archiv Königsberg) from Göttingen (Staatliches Archivlager), contains an abundance of sixteenth- to nineteenth-century documents reflecting the history, political system, economy, and culture of the Prussian state (first a duchy, later a kingdom)³. The archive’s holdings are important sources for the history of Prussian Lithuanians, Lithuanian culture, and, more specifically, the history of philology. Although the archives yielded no sensational discoveries in essence, they contain abundant authentic primary biographical material that can illuminate the lives and work of Lithuanian writers, from the sixteenth century through Kristijonas Donelaitis. (This is a separate subject and a specific task for cultural historians)⁴.

The holdings are known as the East Prussian Folios (Ostpreußische Folianten)⁵; they contain government records dating from the very beginning of the Duchy of Prussia, that is, from 1525. There are many sixteenth- to eighteenth-century administrative records (Amtsrechnungen) from the districts of Lithuania Minor, including property and tax lists (German Steuerlange, Nachtgeldregister, Hufenschußprotokoll), and the like. It is worth considering one of the folios in detail: the 1540 tax register of the Ragnit district, comprising 602 pages.⁶ Usually two or three peasants’ (farmers’) surnames are written on each page, less often one, and very rarely four (p. 448) or five (p. 524). Taxes are listed by village (villa). The inventory of livestock usually takes up six to nine lines, rarely fewer; at the bottom of the page, the owner’s wealth is totaled in head of livestock (summa lateris) and monetary value (facit an gelde). The folio contains nearly 2,000 designations of individuals by one or two names (overwhelmingly men), as well as a considerable number of place names. The personal-name forms suggest that in the first half of the sixteenth century, as in Lithuania Minor as a whole, the two-part (given name and surname) naming system was already well established in Ragnit.⁷ It is noteworthy that pages 52 (unnumbered)–53

³ For more detail, see Kurt Forstreuter. Das Preußische Staatsarchiv in Königsberg. Ein geschichtlicher Rückblick mit einer Übersicht über seine Bestände (Veröffentlichungen der niedersächsischen Archivverwaltung 3), Göttingen, 1955; Bernhard Jähnig. Amtsrechnungen und andere Akten der Kriegs- und Domänenkammern des Historischen Staatsarchivs Königsberg in Kaliningrader Gebietsarchiv. – Preußenland. Jahrgang 32/1994. Nr. 1. S. 18–19.

⁴ For an overview of Lithuanian studies in the Königsberg archive, see Z.Il[vinskis]– Lietuvių enciklopedija. Vol. 10. Chicago, 1957. pp. 497–500.

⁵ See the catalogue “Verzeichnis der Ostpreußischen Folianten (ausschließlich Ermland). Nachgeprüft in Juli 1950. Findbuch Nr. 160.”.

⁶ Heading: “Nochfolgende verzeichnis der anlage des Amptes Rangnt Armorū des XXXX t bis Jres 5 C t”. –OF Nr. 911a, Bd. 27. Imprinted in the lower corner inside the front cover: “Restauriert und neu eingebunden, den 25. 2. 1954. Staatliches Archivlager”.

⁷ The occurrence of single-name designations can be explained by the fact that the tax register is not an entirely official document: in it, the district official Pakamorė listed peasants known to him, who could also be referred to more individually, “privately.” However, the relationship between single- and two-part naming is a separate question.

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four spellings of the surname Mažvydaitis have been found:

Glande villa⁸.

Laurin maswideit[is] Jacob MASVIDEITIS Mickna MASVIDEIT[IS] Jhan MASVIDEITIS⁹

Here we have a list of the Lithuanian inhabitants of the Ragainė parish, where Martynas Mažvydas served as a pastor from 1548 to 1563. Mažvydas interacted with many of these peasants or members of their families: he taught them, baptized them, and buried them. The foliant merits special onomastic study. Moreover, as a document of the material condition of Lithuanian inhabitants in the mid-sixteenth century, it could also interest economic historians.

Panašios 1540, 1543 ir 1563–1565 m. mokesčių knygos yra Įsruties (Nr. 11), Klaipėdos (Nr. 19), Labguvos ir Laukiškos (Nr. 14), Tepliavos su Vėluva (Nr. 34), Tilžės (Nr. 35). Savo turiniu ir pavardžių bei vietovardžių gausumu išsiskiria Labguvos perkėlos šlūžo muitinės pajamų sąrašas (Zoll-Einnahmen, 1674) ir Labguvos muitinės sąskaitos (Schleusenzoll-Rechnungen, 1676)¹⁰, kurių pirmajame randame 580, o antrajame – per 850 pavardžių asmenų, iš Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštystės ar iš Tilžės plaukusių į Karaliaučių, Vėluvą su stintomis arba grįžusių, vežusių odas, kailius ir kt., plukdžiusių sielius, pvz., Brosche Kurschait aus der Gilge nach Königsberg, Butkus Paulaitis von Königsberg nach Rogaiten. Atskirai minėtinas 1561 m. Jurbarko ir Virbalio činšo registras (Zinsregister von Litauisch Jurburg u. Nowowola).

Other material on Lithuania Minor from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries is held in the archive in the so-called Etat-Ministerium (abbreviated EM) collections, which are organized by administrative units—towns (Stadt) and districts (Amt)—and by subject into sections (Abteilung). The material has been catalogued (though not all of it, especially material from the former Merseburg collections). For example, catalogue (Findbuch) 154 covers documents relating to localities in Lithuania Minor (government decrees, petitions and complaints by individuals, official correspondence, various lists, etc.), which are also identified by section numbers, e.g. for Įsrutis—Abt. 118, Tilžė—Abt. 138, and so on. The documents are further subdivided by subject: church affairs (Generalia, Personalia, i.e. appointments and transfers of clergy, their welfare and that of widows, etc.; catechization, the preparation and publication of religious literature, records of various visitations, etc.), school affairs (the establishment of schools,

⁸ The village has not yet been located.

⁹ For more, see Vincentas Drotvinas. Martyno Mažvydo bendrapavardžiai. –Kazimiero Būgos konferencija: Etimologija ir onomastika. Konferencijos programa ir tezės. Vilnius, 1996 m. lapkričio 6 d. P. 8–9. For more, see Baltistica 32(1), 1997 (in press).

¹⁰ Labiawsche Schleußen Zoll Rechnung Anno 1674. Schleußengeld von Wittinnen, Strußen und Holtz Trifften, so auß vom Großfürstenthumb Lüttawen und von Tilsitt her undt zurück gegangen. – EM – XX. HA Nr. 13025, 13026.

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construction, repairs, acquisition of equipment, firewood, arable land, grain, care of the poor); criminal offenses, court cases; forestry and hunting matters, fires, etc. (all these are further marked with the letters a, b, c, d, and so on). Lithuanian personal names and place names appear in all these documents, both in lists and individually. Inventorizing the documents (describing, selecting, etc.) for onomastic purposes would be a separate undertaking.

This archive also holds seventeenth- to nineteenth-century church registers (Militärkirchenbücher) of the old and new (after 1806) Prussian army, or their photocopies. They contain the surnames of Lithuanian inhabitants who served in the army, as well as those who died in the war against Napoleon or in the German-French War of 1870–1871.¹¹

Some of the personal names (and place names) in this archive have been published, though not in Lithuanian studies, but in works by German historians and genealogy specialists. The following publications are noteworthy: Horst Kenkel. Eine Rolle der jungen Mannschaft der Stadt Tilsit von Jahre 1703. – Altpreußische Geschlechterkunde. Blätter des Vereins für Familienforschung in Ost- und Westpreußen. Neue Folge. 11. Jahrgang. 1961. Hamburg. S. 106–116; Horst Kenkel. Bauernlisten des Amts Tilsit aus der Zeit vor und nach der großen Pest von 1709/10. Hamburg, 1968; Horst Kenkel. Familiennamen im nördlichen Ostpreußen. Herkunft, Wandel und Wechsel.- Altpreußische Geschlechterkunde. Neue Folge. Blätter des Vereins für Familienforschung in Ost- und Westpreußen. Hamburg. 19. Jahrgang. Heft 4/6. 1971. S. 317–32; Hans Heinz Diehlmann. Erbhuldigungsakten des Herzogtums Preußen. I. Teil. 1525 bis 1642. Hamburg, 1980; II Teil. 1648 bis 1678. Hamburg, 1983; III. Teil 1678 bis 1737. Hamburg, 1992; Bruno Janczik, Fritz Naunheim. Dragoner, Wibranzen und Enrollirteeen zur Zeit der großen Pest. Berichte und Tabellen der Amter 1711. – Altpreußische Geschlechterkunde. Bd. 16. 1986. Hamburg, S.181–221; Bd. 20, 1990, Hamburg, S. 143–254; Reinhard Wenskus. Namengebung und Namenwechsel im nordöstlichen Ostpreußen in der frühen Neuzeit.-Altpreußische Geschlechterkunde. Neue Folge. Blätter des Vereins für Familienforschung in Ost-und Westpreußen. Hamburg. 38 Jahrgang. Band. 20. 1990, S. 27–124. Lithuanian historians, for example, draw on the material in these publications, including lists and statistics of Lithuanian surnames: Algirdas Matulevičius. Tilžės apskrities lietuviai ir jų pavardės prieš 3 amžius. – Lietuvininkų kraštas. Monografija. Kaunas, „Literae universitatis“, 1995. P. 213–222. These lists are not always reliable for linguistic research: it is necessary to verify whether the transcription of surnames and place names corresponds to the original.

However, perhaps the most important and extensive source for the onomastics of the Lithuanians of East Prussia is the church register books of the Lithuanian parishes of Lithuania Minor—baptism, communicant, banns, marriage, confirmation, and death records, written from the seventeenth century until 1944, at first in Lithuanian (sometimes interspersed with

¹¹ A catalogue of army church registers is being prepared for publication.

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in German), Latin, and later German. They are held in two archives—the Central Evangelical Archive (Evangelisches Zentralarchiv, EZA) in Berlin and the German Central Office for Genealogy (Deutsche Zentralstelle der Genealogie) in Leipzig. The history and contents of the collections in these archives are almost unknown in Lithuania, so they deserve a somewhat more detailed account.

In 1935, the so-called Nuremberg Laws (Nürnberger Gesetze) came into force in Nazi Germany, under which all residents had to prove by means of documents their “Aryan ancestry” going back two generations. For this purpose, state civil registry offices were established to issue documents on the basis of entries in church books. A special genealogical research office (Reichsstelle für Sippenforschung), together with the Evangelical Church synod, was responsible for filming the books.¹² Since some original church books were destroyed or badly damaged during World War II, photographs made from the films became after the war the sole source for the church registration entries of many parishes. Church registration books from East Prussian parishes, which after the war came under the authority of the Soviet occupation zone, were filmed only after the war.¹³ These books were transferred to the Central Evangelical Archive in 1991. Thus, today the East German church registration book collections of the Central Evangelical Archive (EZA) constitute the most important repository of church registration books from the East Prussian churches of the old Evangelical Church (German: Altpreußische Union); analogous books from other church provinces are also kept there. The archive’s purpose is to provide replacement documents to people who lost their civil registry records during the war (in cases of inheritance of property, etc.), and also to supply material for genealogical research. The Central Evangelical Archive currently holds about 3,700 church books from East Prussian parishes, covering the years 1579–1945.¹⁴

The oldest entries in church books from Lithuanian parishes held in this archive date from the mid-seventeenth century: Peterswalde (?), 1629–1899; Tilsit, 1673–1799; Žiliai, 1687–1819; Būdviečiai, 1695–1944; Stalupėnai, 1729–1803; Bilderviečiai, 1730–1913; Priekulė, 1732–1877; Kraupiškas, 1736–1904; Vėluva, 1751–1852; Ragainė, 1757–1822; Geldupė, 1780–1809; Įsrutis, 1781–1845; Gavaičiai, 1809–1830; Didlaukis, 1880–1901, etc.

The filmed East Prussian church books from the above-mentioned Reich genealogical research office are also held at the German Central Office for Genealogy in Leipzig

¹² For further details, see Christa Stache. Das Evangelische Zentralarchiv und seine Bestände. Berlin, Alektor–Verlag. 1992. S. 221–223.

¹³ This was carried out by members of the Mormon Church, “Kirche Jesu Christi der Heiligen der letzten Tage” (USA); see Christa Stache. Op. cit., p. 221.

¹⁴ Verzeichnis der Kirchenbücher im Evangelischen Zentralarchiv in Berlin. Teil I. Die Kirche der altpreußischen union. 3., erweiterteund verbesserte Auflage bearbeitet von Christa Stache. (Veröffentlichungen des Evangelischen Zentralarchiv in Berlin. Herausgegeben von Hartmut Sander. Band 30. –Berlin, Evangelisches Zentralarchiv. 1992.

¹⁵ Bestandverzeichnis der Deutschen Zentralstelle der Genealogie. Teil I. Die Kirchenbuchunterlagen der östlichen provinzen Posen, Ost- und Westpreußen, Pommern und Schlesien. Bearbeitet von Martina Wermes, Renate Jude u.a. Verlag Degener and Co, Neustadt/Aisch. Leipzig, 1991.

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ge¹⁵. Among the oldest books in Leipzig, those worth mentioning are the books of Įsrutis (1619), Tilžė (1647), Žuvininkai (1648), Laukstyčiai (1663), Kaukėnai (1668), Žiliai (1685), Būdviečiai and Nybudžiai (1695).

Having examined the books in the aforementioned archives de visu, it can be said in general that the Central Evangelical Archive in Berlin contains primarily microfiches of church books, although original books are also held there. The Leipzig archive holds films made from microfilms (Rollfilm), though it also has unique books—that is, books from places or years for which no copies are held by the Central Evangelical Archive. These include, among others, the books of Katyčiai from 1669–1682 and 1683–1687, Nemirsk iemis from 1680–1710, etc. The books (or their films) vary in both content and present condition. First of all, the books differ in the abundance of Lithuanian surnames. The quantitative ratio of Lithuanian to German surnames suggests that not all Lithuanian parishes of that time were inhabited exclusively by Lithuanians: the more remote the parish, the more predominantly Lithuanian the surnames. Lithuanian surnames are scarce in cities and towns. For example, Lithuanian surnames are very rare in the 1683 books of the Lithuanian parish of St. Elizabeth in Königsberg, as they are in the church books of Klaipėda. There are almost no Lithuanian surnames in the church books of Vėluva in the seventeenth century, or of Gumbinė, Įsrutis, Stalupėnai and other towns in the eighteenth century. Of course, this does not mean that Lithuanians did not live in the areas surrounding those towns: the assessment is based on the books that have survived. The quality of the manuscripts (and of the films and microfiches made from them) is also important to note. Not all books are equally easy to read. For various reasons—disjointed, hurried handwriting, entries that are not always orderly (paper had to be saved), the quality of the paper, faded or blurred ink that has sometimes bled through to the other side, and so on—perhaps one tenth of the texts on the book pages remain illegible (reading them would require restoration of the text). Copies often further degrade the text, making it almost illegible.

Until now, research into Lithuanian onomastics has been based primarily on data from sources of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It is true that some church register books from Lithuanian parishes in Lithuania Minor, along with other historical documents, are held in the libraries of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, the Lithuanian National Martynas Mažvydas Library and Vilnius University. Not all these books have been catalogued, and the linguistic significance of their contents has not yet been described. The personal names in sources held in Vilnius archives have also received little study. It should be noted that this year the Onomastics Department of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language is beginning to collect personal names and place names from Lithuania Minor¹⁶.

A first acquaintance with documents in the aforementioned German archives (an exact list of them can be compiled only after a more thorough study of the sources) suggests that all the material on the personal names of the Lietuvininks in German archives constitutes a new source for Lithuanian historical onomastics. It is therefore important to compile a card index of tens of thousands of personal names—

¹⁶ Genovaitė Kiškienė. On surnames in former East Prussia with the Lithuanian suffix -ait-. – Baltistica, XIX (2), 1983. p. 179–183.

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a card index of personal names and place names representing the sixteenth- to twentieth-century onomasticon of the Lietuvininks. The renowned Lithuanian onomastician Prof. Habil. Dr. A. Vanagas was very keen to see the holdings of the Onomastics Department of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language supplemented in this way; Acad. Z. Zinkevičius and Habil. Dr. V. Maciejaukienė are no less interested. The card index would be a mine of linguistic wealth and should attract its own “miners.” It would be a source hitherto unused for the history of the anthroponymy and toponymy of Lithuania Minor. By investigating the formation of Lietuvinink surname forms and the origin, formation, Germanization and other issues concerning personal and place names, the research findings would supplement and expand the conclusions of existing studies of Lithuanian onomastics, and ensure progress in Lithuanian historical onomastics¹⁷.

Of course, compiling the planned card index is not a one-day task; it requires a special project and funding. First of all, people capable of compiling the index are needed. In Berlin, discussions were held with the “wealthiest owner of surnames,” Dr. Hartmut Sander, director of the Central Evangelical Archive (EZA). Mr. Sander understands the scholarly nature of this project and has helped ensure that copies of some of his archive’s materials reach Vilnius sooner. (We sincerely thank him for this.) The first copying work was financially supported by Vilius Petraitis, chairman of the Lithuania Minor Foundation. The necessary funds must be found for copying documents and collecting material in Berlin and Leipzig.

I am grateful for the opportunity to work in German archives to the chairmen of the Historical Commission in Berlin, Prof. Dr. h. c. Klaus Zernach and Prof. Dr. Volfram Fischer, as well as to Dr. Rudolf Kerscher, chairman of the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung foundation.

SOURCES OF THE ONOMASTICS OF LITHUANIAN MINOR LITHUANIA IN THE ARCHIVES OF GERMANY

Abstract

The article discusses sources for Lithuanian personal and place names from the 16th–20th centuries, preserved in the parish registers of Lithuanian congregations and other records of East Prussia in the Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, the Evangelisches Zentralarchiv, Berlin, and the Zentralstelle für deutsche Genealogie, Leipzig. These archival materials are still virtually unknown in Lithuania and represent a current subject of research into the history of Lithuanian onomastics.

¹⁷The sources of the Evangelical Central Archive in Berlin are beginning to be researched; see Aušra Šeškutė, Vincentas Drotvinas. On the surnames and given names of the Lithuanians of Ragainė County. – Lithuanian Language: Researchers and Research: To Commemorate the 450th Anniversary of the First Lithuanian Book—the Catechism by Martynas Mažvydas. Institute of the Lithuanian Language. Abstracts of Conference Papers. October 23–24, 1996, pp. 32–33.

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