In memoriam Rūdolfas Grabis (1906–1996)

He compiled and published “A Lithuanian Spelling Dictionary for Schools” (six editions appeared from 1956 to 1980), with Pr. Kniūkšta, “A Teaching Dictionary of Lithuanian Spelling and Stress” (four editions appeared from 1983 to 1996), with V. Kosuchin, the school-oriented “Lithuanian-Russian Dictionary” (1956), and with K. Gaivėnis and V. Šernas, “A School Lithuanian-Russian Dictionary” (1985). A. Lyberis also compiled a larger “Lithuanian-Russian Dictionary” intended for a wider readership. Its first edition (1962) contained about 37,000 words, and the second, revised and expanded edition (1989), about 65,000. Having begun contributing to “Naujoji romuva” during his student years (his first publication, which appeared in 1935, probably introduced the public to J. Jablonskis’s collected works published by J. Balčikonis), A. Lyberis later published numerous articles in scholarly publications and periodicals on Lithuanian lexicography, lexicology, terminology, language culture, and other subjects, as well as significant memoirs on the history of Lithuanian linguistics and about individual linguists. On November 6, 1996, A. Lyberis celebrated his 87th birthday after nearly six years of suffering from a serious illness; November 22 was the final day of his life. At Vilnius’s Karveliškės Cemetery, a large gathering of relatives, students, colleagues, and friends bade farewell to a linguist who had accomplished much and left behind the fruits of fine work, a teacher of luminous memory, and a good man. Antanas Lyberis and his work have become part of the history of Lithuanian linguistics. Kazys Morkūnas IN MEMORIAM RŪDOLFAS GRABIS (1906-1996) For Latvian linguistics, 1996 was a year of painful losses: Marta Rudz yte, a professor at the University of Latvia, left too soon the field of scholarship she so dearly loved; Valdis Zepas, a Latgalian who had grown up in exile and a professor at the University of Wisconsin, did not complete the work he had begun; and Rūdolfas Grabis, one of the most prominent researchers of the Latvian language in recent decades, who had celebrated his ninetieth birthday in fine style and adorned his earthly journey with valuable work, brought it to an end on December 17. R. Grabis was born on August 11, 1906, at “Gribži” in the former Kū dumo parish (Cēsis District). He graduated from the University of Latvia in 1934. His teachers there included Ana Abele, Ludis Berzinis, Janis Endzel y nas, and other eminent Latvian philologists of the time. In 1931, the first substantial publication by R. Grabis, then a student, appeared in the journal of the Society of Latvian Philologists, “Filologu biedribas raksti,” edited by J. Endzelynas: a description of his native dialect (“Kūduma pagasta izloksnes apraksts”). In 1935, another dialectological article by R. Grabis, “Notes on the Dialects of Straupe Parish” (“Piezīmes par Straupes draudzes izloksnēm”), was published in the same journal. R. Grabis taught at Riga’s secondary schools and lectured at the Riga Teachers’ Institute. 278 His textbook on the Latvian language for schools, “Word and Sentence” (“Vārds un teikums”), written with others, was published several times. From 1945 to 1947 he was a lecturer at the University of Latvia. In 1946, J. Endzelīns invited R. Grabis to work at the Language and Literature Institute of the newly established Latvian Academy of Sciences. For nearly thirty years, he effectively directed the work of the institute’s linguists. From 1970 to 1974 he was also deputy director of the institute. The team of linguists led by R. Grabis prepared the most comprehensive description of the structure of contemporary Latvian, “A Grammar of Contemporary Latvian Literary Language” (“Mūsdienu latviešu literārās valodas gramatika”, I–II, Rīga, 1959, 1962). In 1965, R. Grabis and his co-authors were awarded the Latvian State Prize for this work. R. Grabis also directed the work of Latvian terminologists. In 1963, the “Dictionary of Linguistic Terms” (“Valodniecības terminu vārdnīca”, Rīga, 1963), prepared by him together with Dzidra Barbare and Ana Bergmane, was published. He was also chairman of the editorial board of the most important postwar work of Latvian lexicography, the “Dictionary of Latvian Literary Language” (“Latviešu literārās valodas vārdnīca”, 1–8, Rīga, 1972–1996). R. Grabis published valuable studies on the history of the Latvian language. His study “An Overview of Seventeenth-Century Latvian Grammars” (“Pārskats par 17. gadsimta latviešu valodas gramatikām”. – Valodas un literatūras institūta raksti, V, 1955, 205.–266. lpp.) deserves mention first. After retiring, the linguist maintained very close ties with his native Kū(d)umi. Exactly sixty years later, he returned to the subject of his youth and published what was, as it were, a continuation of his first linguistic publication, “Texts in the Kū(d)umi Dialect” (“Kūduma izloksnes teksti”, Rīga, 1991). Those who had the opportunity to associate with this Latvian linguist will always remember him as a kind and sincere person. Besides his native language, R. Grabis loved Latvian folk songs deeply. From his mother’s stories, the linguist recalled that he could reproduce the melodies of these songs perfectly even when he still could not pronounce their words. In 1968, R. Grabis was elected a corresponding member of the Latvian Academy of Sciences, and in 1992 an honorary member. Rudolfas Grabis died in Riga. He was buried in the Second Forest Cemetery. May his native soil rest lightly upon him. Algirdas Sabaliauskas 279