IŠ LIETUVIŲ KALBOTYROS ISTORIJOS

LIETUVIŲ KALBOTYROS KLAUSIMAI XX (1980)

K. PAKALKA

ON THE TITLE OF THE FIRST EDITION OF K. ŠIRVYDAS’S DICTIONARY

As we mark the 400th anniversary of Vilnius University, which coincides with the 400th anniversary of the birth of Konstantinas Širvydas (1579—1631), a distinguished creator of early Lithuanian writings and the first Lithuanian linguist, interest in the university’s founding period and in the work, life, and activities of its first professors is growing still further. Various wars and the frequent fires in Vilnius over four centuries destroyed many cultural treasures and books. Of Širvydas’s works, his Lithuanian grammar („Clauis linguae Lituanicae“) has not survived to our time; not a single copy of the second edition (1631) of his Polish—Latin—Lithuanian dictionary remains; and of the first edition, only one copy survives, lacking both its beginning and its end.

There is no precise information about when Širvydas began preparing the dictionary and grammar, whom he was in closest contact with, who continued his work, or what titles the first and second editions of the dictionary bore. It is also unknown where Širvydas was buried, and more detailed biographical information about him is lacking.

All we know about Širvydas’s origins is that he was undoubtedly descended from the noble Širvydas family, whose manor houses were located in the sixteenth century in Dabužiai and Grėžionys, near Anykščiai¹. The linguistic features of his writings also support Širvydas’s eastern origins.

Here we wish to express our opinion on what the first edition of Širvydas’s dictionary may have been called, and also to draw attention to inaccuracies repeated in our time concerning the language order of Širvydas’s dictionary, the nature of its editions, and the like.

Some conclusions about the title page and title of the first editions of Širvydas’s dictionary can be drawn from the information provided by the first three bibliographers of this author—P. Alegambe, N. Sotvelas, and S. Rostovskis—as well as from the headings of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Polish dictionaries.

The first bibliographers called Širvydas’s dictionary „Dictionarium“ and identified its three languages: P. Alegambe — Dictionarium Latino—Polono—Lithuanicum², N. Sotvelas and S. Rostovskis — Dictionarium Polono—Latino—Lituanicum³. The title pages of all three surviving editions (the third through fifth) bear the words „Dictionarium trium linguarum“, that is, the languages are not listed, and instead the general title “dictionary of three languages” is used.

The bibliographers mentioned above do not give the title of Širvydas’s dictionary, but rather list its languages: N. Sotvelas and S. Rostovskis state that the dictionary is Polish—Latin—

¹ Jablonskis K. Steponas Jaugėlis—Telega. — Kn.: Lietuvių kultūra ir jos veikėjai, V., 1973, p. 215.

² Alegambe P. Bibliotheca scriptorum Societatis Jesu. Antverpiae, 1643, p. 84.

³ Sotvellus N. Bibliotheca scriptorum Societatis Jesu. Romae, 1676, p. 157; Rostowski S. Lituanicarum Societatis Jesu historiarum provincialium. Pars prima. Vilnae, 1768, p. 457.

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Lithuanian languages, while in P. Alegambė’s bibliography Latin is given pride of place. It may be that P. Alegambė deliberately rearranged the order of the dictionary’s languages: wishing to give Latin, which prevailed in scholarship at the time, a special place, he mentioned it first. Not having seen a copy of the original, P. Alegambė could, of course, simply have made a mistake.

The early bibliographers mention the following works by Širvydas: “Puncta [Concionum]...”, “Dictionarium...”, “Clauis linguae Lituanicae”.

This fact leads us to believe that Širvydas did indeed prepare three separate works: sermons, called in Latin “Puncta Concionum...”; a dictionary, “Dictionarium...”; and a grammar, “Clauis linguae Lituanicae”.

Since the grammar has not survived, and the copy of the first edition of the dictionary is missing its beginning and end, to this day we do not know what Širvydas himself called his dictionary. J. Balčikonis believed that “Clauis linguae Lituanicae” might have been the title of Širvydas’s first dictionary edition, and that no grammar had existed at all. As evidence, J. Balčikonis cited the title of a dictionary published in Basel, Switzerland, in the early eighteenth century: “Clauis linguae Latinae Basileae, 1716”.

Nevertheless, the aforementioned opinion has no firm basis.

First. If the first edition of Širvydas’s trilingual dictionary had borne the title “Clauis linguae Lituanicae,” the early bibliographers would have treated “Clauis...” and “Dictionarium...” as a single bibliographical entry. After all, in every edition of Širvydas’s dictionary the order of the languages was the same: Polish—Latin—Lithuanian.

Second. Before Širvydas, there was no tradition of calling a dictionary “Clauis...”. Polish lexicographers of the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries gave this title to none of their dictionaries. Meanwhile, the most popular title for Polish and other peoples’ dictionaries was “Dictionarium”⁵.

The dictionaries of the Polish lexicographers Nicolaus Volckmar and Balthasar Fontanus and Grzegorz Knapski had a great influence on Širvydas. As we have already established, Širvydas prepared the first edition of his trilingual Polish—Latin—Lithuanian dictionary on the basis of the “Polonicolatina” section of Volckmar and Fontanus’s “Dictionarium quatuor linguarum...” (1613).

Širvydas took from M. Volckmar and B. Fontanus not only the Polish and Latin word register, but probably also its title, “Dictionarium.” Later publishers did not change the titles of the individual dictionary editions, but retained the first edition’s title. Although the register for the second and third editions was taken from G. Knapski’s dictionary “Thesaurus polonolatino-graecus,” the title remained “Dictionarium.” The title “Thesaurus” would also have been unsuitable for Širvydas’s dictionary, since the latter was much smaller in scope (Širvydas and those who continued his work omitted many words from G. Knapski’s dictionary).

⁴ Balčikonis J. Selected writings. Vilnius, 1978, vol. 1, p. 279.

⁵ Murmelius J. Dictionarium variarum rerum tam adultis utilissimus, germanica atque polonica interpretatione adjecto etiam vocabularum et capitulorum indice. Cracoviae, 1526, 1528, 1533, 1540, 1541. In the 17th century, this dictionary was published several times under a modified title—Dictionarium trium linguarum. Cracoviae, 1615, 1625, 1626, 1628. Mymerus F. Dictionarium trium linguarum, latinae, teutonicae et polonicae potiora vocabula continens. Regimonti, 1529. Volckmar N. Dictionarium trilingue ad discendam linguam latinam polonicam et germanicam accomodatu(m). Gedani 1596; Dictionarium quatuor linguarum, latine, germanice et polonice, per Nicolaum Volckmarum... Gedani, 1613.

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Only one dictionary was called “Lexicon” by Polish lexicographers⁶. Therefore, Širvydas could hardly have called the first edition of his dictionary “lexicon” either.

Of course, until we have new and more precise information about Širvydas’s grammar and copies of the first two editions of his dictionary come to light, when discussing the history of these works we will, in many cases, have to make do with conjectures.

Today, Širvydas’s dictionary has become a bibliographical rarity. Somewhat more copies have survived only of the last (fifth) edition. Consequently, those who have written about Širvydas’s dictionary, sometimes without being familiar with the latest research, often confuse the order of the languages in the dictionary: they consider it a Latin—Polish—Lithuanian⁷, Lithuanian—Polish—Latin⁸, or Polish—Lithuanian—Latin⁹ dictionary.

Thus, reversing the order of the languages distorts the nature of the dictionary and misleads readers.

Until 1972, the date of the first edition of Širvydas’s dictionary was considered to be 1629. We therefore maintained that the source for the Polish and Latin sections of this edition was the “Polonicolatina” section of the fourth edition (1623—1624) of M. Folkmar’s “Dictionarium quadrilingue”¹⁰. This section is identical in all four editions of M. Folkmar and B. Fontan’s dictionary: I — 1596, II — 1605, III — 1613, IV — 1623—1624.

Now that watermarks have revealed an earlier and more precise date for the printing of Širvydas’s first edition (around 1620)¹¹, we must take a somewhat different view of the source for the Polish and Latin sections of that edition. Širvydas could have used one of the three earlier editions of M. Folkmar and Fontan’s dictionary (I — 1596, II — 1605, III — 1613). The third edition (1613) was probably the one most readily available to him.

К. ПАКАЛКА

ON THE TITLE OF THE FIRST EDITION OF K. ŠIRVYDAS’S DICTIONARY

Abstract

From the first edition of K. Širvydas’s trilingual Polish-Latin-Lithuanian dictionary (around 1620), only one defective copy (lacking its beginning and end) has survived to the present day. Therefore, there is no direct evidence concerning the ti-

⁶ Mączyński J. Lexicon latino-polonicum ex optimis latinae-linguae scriptoribus concinnatum. Królewiec, 1564.

⁷ History of the Lithuanian SSR / Editorial board: Jablonskis K., Jurginis J., Žiugžda J. V., 1957, vol. 1, p. 298; Jurginis J. The Renaissance and Humanism in Lithuania. V., 1965, p. 261; Jurginis J., Merkys V., Tautavičius A. History of the City of Vilnius from Ancient Times to the October Revolution. V., 1968, p. 136; Historia nauki polskiej. Wrocław—Warszawa—Kraków, 1970, vol. 2, p. 65, 200.

⁸ Акстинас Б. Знакомьтесь: Литва. Вильнюс, 1977, с. 137.

⁹ Čepaitienė J., Dėjus T., Jankevičienė S. Lietuvių kalbos vadovėlis mokyklų dėstomąja rusų kalba IX klasei. V., 1969, p. 8—9.

¹⁰ Pakalka K. Dėl K. Širvydo „Dictionarium trium linguarum“ lenkiškosios—lotyniškosios dalies šaltinio. — Lietuvos TSR Mokslų Akademijos darbai. A serija, 1960, t. 1(8), p. 217—221.

¹¹ Pakalka K. Apie defektinį trikalbį K. Širvydo žodyną, Lietuvos TSR Mokslų Akademijos darbai, A serija, 1973, t. 4(45), p. 131—142; Balašaitis A., Pakalka K. Dar dėl K. Širvydo defektinio žodyno leidimo datos. — Baltistica, 1976, t. 12(2), p. 171—175.

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tle of the dictionary. Judging by the notes of K. Širvydas’s first bibliographers (F. Alegambe, N. Sotwel, S. Rostowski) and the conventional titles of Polish dictionaries of the 16th–17th centuries, it may be concluded that the first edition of K. Širvydas’s dictionary bore the title “Dictionarium trium linguarum”.