Pirmajai spausdintai lietuvių kalbos gramatikai – 370 metų

JŪRATĖ PAJĖDIENĖ Institute of the Lithuanian Language ORCID id: orcid.org/0000-0003-1542-2866 RESEARCH AREAS: the syntax, semantics, and pragmatics of Old and Modern Lithuanian; ethnolinguistics; the history of Lithuanian culture and ecclesiastical texts. DOI: doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2023.96.14 370 YEARS SINCE THE FIRST PRINTED GRAMMAR OF THE LITHUANIAN LANGUAGE Danielius Kleinas (1609 05 30–1666 11 28) is considered one of the most distinguished seventeenth-century writers in Lithuanian. He was both the author of the first printed grammars of the Lithuanian language, written in Latin and German (Königsberg, 1653 and 1654), and the compiler of a Lutheran hymnal and prayer book brought together in a single publication (Königsberg, 1666). The enduring recognition of D. Kleinas’s New Hymn Books and New Books of Very Necessary and Soul-Benefiting Prayers is attested by the dozens of reprints of this convolute, later revised to a greater or lesser extent1. The Lithuanian grammars Grammatica Litvanica and Compendium Litvanico-Germanicum2 were prepared around the same time as the hymnal (and prayer book)3, but printed earlier. The need for and impact of these printed works should be measured somewhat differently—not by print runs, but by the recurrence of their grammatical description and illustrative material in later linguistic works, namely grammars and dictionaries. This pattern of dissemination was also confirmed at the scholarly event organized by the Institute of the Lithuanian Language’s Center for the Study of Written Heritage in the Institute’s library on November 29, 2023, to mark the 370th anniversary of the publication of D. Kleinas’s grammar Grammatica Litvanica (1653)— 1 Žr. Kaunas Domas. Mažosios Lietuvos knyga. Lietuviškos knygos raida 1547–1940, 1996, Vilnius: Baltos lankos, 167–169. 2 For photographic reproductions and Lithuanian translations of these grammars, see The First Grammar of the Lithuanian Language, 1957, eds. J. Balčikonis and B. Larinas, Vilnius: State Publishing House for Political and Scientific Literature (hereafter in the notes, PLKG); for electronic transcriptions, see https://senieji.rastai.lki.lt (texts prepared by Mindaugas Šinkūnas, concordances by Mindaugas Šinkūnas and Vytautas Zinkevičius, 2011). 3 In his dedication to Duke Georg Wilhelm, D. Kleinas refers to “the work completed by the grace of God, namely: a grammar of the Lithuanian language and a little book of ecclesiastical hymns” (cf.: Abolutum itaque per DEI gratiam laborem, qui eft Grammatica Litvanica [...]: hymnis quàm plurimis adaucto Eccleſiaſticarum Cantionum libello); see PLKG 74; 401–402. JŪRATĖ PAJĖDIENĖ. Pirmieji spausdintai lietuvių kalbos gramatikai – 370 metų 245 seminar A Dialogue between Creators of the Seventeenth–Nineteenth Centuries and the Shifts in Linguistic Ideas in Daniel Klein’s Lithuanian Grammar, as well as the exhibition The Lithuanian Studies Legacy of Daniel Klein and Its Research4. The seminar opened with a welcoming address by Albina Auksoriūtė, director of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language (LKI). Recalling the significance of Klein’s grammars for the development of Lithuanian linguistics, she also noted the normative nature of the first Lithuanian grammar. The seminar’s first presentation was devoted to Daniel Klein and new facts about his biography. Birutė Triškaitė (LKI) introduced seminar participants and attendees to newly discovered archival material (presentation title: Daniel Klein: What New Revelations Do the Archives Offer?). After recalling archival sources published by Viktor Falkenhahn (1941), Domas Kaunas (1998), Liucija Citavičiūtė (2009), and Liane Klein (2009, 2010), the speaker discussed documents held in several memory institutions (the Prussian Secret State Archives of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and the Central Archives of the Evangelical Church, both in Berlin, as well as the Polish State Archive in Olsztyn), which provide not only already-known but also new information about D. Klein. Drawing on various sources, and also remembering to mention entries in Johann Jacob Quandt’s manuscript Preußische Presbyterologie (before 1772), B. Triškaitė spoke about D. Klein’s origins and the family he established: Daniel was a member of the third generation of clergy; his parents, Balthasar Klein and Gertruda Schönwald, married in 1595, and his father died in 1608, before Daniel was born. Daniel himself was married twice: with his first wife, Anna Klemm, he had seven children—one son and six daughters—and with his second wife, Anna Caseburg, one daughter5. The speaker also drew attention to D. Klein’s sedentary lifestyle (apart from nine years of study in Königsberg, he lived in Tilsit throughout) and spoke about his creative work, which involved not only preparing the aforementioned publications—two grammars, a hymnal, and a prayer book—but also checking Jonas Bretkūnas’s Bible translation (after 1638) and preparing a bilingual dictionary (around the mid-seventeenth century). The speaker also showed what is currently considered the earliest autograph by D. Klein, dated June 29, 1637— 4 Seminar participants and guests were shown an exhibition prepared especially to mark the 370th anniversary of the publication of D. Klein’s grammar Grammatica Litvanica. It featured reproductions of the title pages of this grammar and its shorter version, Compendium Litvanico-Germanicum, as well as articles, books, and special collections devoted to the study of D. Klein’s creative legacy. The exhibition was prepared by Birutė Triškaitė and Ugnė Baronienė. 5 Sulietuvintus vardų užrašymus žr. Vaclovas Biržiška 1990 [1960]. Aleksandrynas. T. 1: XVI–XVII amžiai, 2-asis (fotografuotas) leidimas, Vilnius: Lietuvos kultūros fondas, 302. 246 BENDRINĖ KALBA | 96 fą ir jo dukterų Gertrudos (1643), Catharinos (1644), Dorotheos (1651), Marios (1665) bei sūnaus Danieliaus (1646) gimimo (krikšto) datas liudijančius bažnytinių metrikų knygų įrašus, pasakojo apie naujai atrastą nedatuotą D. Kleino laišką, bylojantį, kad jo autorius gyvenęs visai pasiturimai (buvęs paskolinęs pinigų, be to, turėjęs du sklypus), pažindino su brėžiniu, perteikiančiu XVII a. vidurio Tilžės gatvių ir sklypų išsidėstymą, ir leidžiančiu įsivaizduoti D. Kleino pasivaikščiojimų kryptis to meto Tilžėje. Mindaugas Šinkūnas (LKI) spoke about the sources of D. Klein’s grammar (presentation title: Sources of Daniel Klein’s Grammar: New Insights). Having noted the grammar’s author’s excellent philological training (possibly involving knowledge of seven languages) and the 1639 general order issued by the Prussian authorities, which prompted D. Klein to undertake linguistic work by requiring Lithuanian-speaking pastors to prepare a Lithuanian grammar and a dictionary of the most frequently used words6, the speaker discussed possible sources for the first Lithuanian grammar, Grammatica Litvanica. Recalling that D. Klein cited numerous Latin grammars and several grammatical descriptions of European vernaculars in the preface to his grammar7, M. Šinkūnas discussed in detail possible models among the grammatical descriptions mentioned: German (Johan Clajus. Grammatica Germanicae Linguae, 1578, 1587, 1592, 1604, 1610, 1617, 1625, 1651, 1653), Polish (Mikołaj Volckmar. Compendium Linguae Polonicae, 1596, 1646; Jeremius Roter. Schlüssel zur Polnischen und Teutschen Sprache, 1616, 1646), and Czech (Laurentius Benedictus Nudozeirinus. Grammaticae Bohemicae, 1603, 1612) grammars. In addition to the authors named by D. Klein, the speaker also discerned a possible influence on D. Klein’s grammar from Francisco à Mesgnien’s grammar, Grammatica seu Institutio Polonicae Linguae (1649). The speaker further observed that D. Klein drew creatively on the finest sixteenth- and seventeenth-century grammars of Latin and Greek, as well as Polish, German, and Czech, selecting from the traditional 6 For more on D. Klein’s role as the principal executor of Duke Georg Wilhelm’s General Ordinance (Recessus generalis), acting not only at the duke’s direction but also on his own initiative, see Liucija Citavičiūtė, “The Significance for Lithuanian Writing of the Recessus generalis (1639), the Ordinance for the Visitation of Churches and Schools in the Insterburg District, and Its Executor Daniel Klein.” – Archivum Lithuanicum 11, 2009, 9–62. 7 Cf. D. Klein’s reference: Quid? quod in omnibus lingvis habeamus Grammaticas inſtitutiones; in Orientali non paucas, in Latinâ ferè innumeras. In Germanica olim ſcripſit Johannes Claius, in Polonica Nicolaus Volckmarus & Jeremias Roterus, in Bohemica M. Laurentius Benedictus Scholæ Teuto-Brodenſis Rector <...> (For we have grammar textbooks for all languages: a few for the Eastern languages, and almost innumerable ones for Latin. A grammar of German was written long ago by Johann Claius; of Polish, by Nicolaus Volckmarus and Jeremias Roterus; and of Czech, by M. Laurentius Benedictus, rector of the school at Nemecky-Brod <...>) PLKG 408. JŪRATĖ PAJĖDIENĖ. Pirmąjai spausdintai lietuvių kalbos gramatikai – 370 metų 247 selecting from the grammatical descriptions of classical languages examples suitable for describing Lithuanian; however, no connection with sources that have not yet been described has so far been established. Among the possible models for D. Klein, the only one worth mentioning is F. à Mesgnien’s Polish grammar. Christiane Schiller (Humboldt University of Berlin) spoke about D. Klein’s connections with the lexicographical tradition of Prussian Lithuania and asked whether he might be considered the compiler of not one but two dictionaries (presentation title: Daniel Klein and the Lexicographical Tradition of Prussian Lithuania). The existence of the lost dictionary is based on D. Klein’s own statements. One appears in the dedication of the 1653 grammar to the Elector8, and another in D. Klein’s 1659 letter to Friedrich Wilhelm, Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia (in which he states that, after a Latin-language instructional grammar of Lithuanian and a compendium of it written in German, “a dictionary was to follow”9; D. Klein had already mentioned it in the dedication and had been working on it since 1655). The speaker linked these two references to uncertainty about the number of dictionaries attributable to D. Klein: he may have expanded the dictionary mentioned in the grammar’s preface, or he may have begun compiling another dictionary in 1655. Drawing on an analysis of examples in the anonymous dictionary Clavis Germanico-Lithuana (after 1680), the speaker discussed possible traces of a dictionary attributed to D. Klein in this manuscript. In conclusion, she noted that D. Klein’s statement in his 1659 letter to the duke should be understood in connection with dictionary compilation still underway in 1657; D. Klein may therefore be credited with two dictionaries: a vocabulary-type dictionary and a dictionarum-type dictionary based on Konrad Agricola’s concordance. Vilma Zubaitienė (VU) aptarė D. Kleino gramatikų įtaką Frydricho Vilhelmo Hako (1730) ir Kristijono Gotlybo Milkaus (1800) gramatikoms. Išryškinusi D. Kleino gramatikoms būdingus gramatinio teksto pateikimo principus – jo paties nurodytą gramatikos metodą10 (tikslūs dėsnai, arba 8 Cf. Accipe ergò, ELECTOR POTENTISSIME, hæc laborum meorum primitias, Grammaticen novam unà cum annexo Compendio Germanico, ut & Lexico Lituanico, quæ ad pedes Serenissimæ Vestræ Celsitud. subjeci[s]simè depono (Therefore accept, most powerful Elector, these first fruits of my labours: a new grammar together with an attached German compendium and a Lithuanian dictionary, which I most humbly lay at the feet of Your Serene Highness) PLKG 402. 9 See the documents published in the appendix to Liucija Citavičiūtė’s article, The significance for Lithuanian writings of the Recessus generalis (1639), the visitation ordinance for the churches and schools of the Insterburg district, and its executor Danielius Kleinas (Archīvum Lithuanicum 11, 2009, 9–38), (ibid., 39–62), as well as the quotation of the phrase by D. Kleinas discussed there and its translation, given on pp. 46, 54). 10 See PKLG 1957, 86, 409. 248 BENDRINĖ KALBA | 96 rules taking usage into account, a concise presentation, and clear examples), the speaker discussed the tradition of later Lithuanian grammars. Research conducted by V. Zubaitienė showed that later grammars drew on D. Klein’s first grammar. F. W. Haack’s Anhang einer kurzgefassten litauischen Grammatik deviated least from its model (one innovation in this grammar worth noting is that adjectives are described separately from nouns). Gotfryd Ostermejer, the first to point out the links between this grammar and D. Klein’s 1953 grammar, sought to offer a somewhat different grammatical description of Lithuanian: the innovative character of his Neue littauische Grammatik (1791) is evident in its different classification of noun and verb inflectional paradigms, an expanded syntax section, and more abundant examples. F. W. Haack’s grammar was one of the principal sources for Povilas Frydrikas Ruigys’s Anfangsgründe einer litauischen Grammatik (1747), which in turn became a foundation for K. G. Milkus’s grammar, Anfangs-Gründe einer Littauischen Sprachlehre (1800) (which gave additional attention to noun declension and verb conjugation). According to the speaker, later grammars saw changes in terminology, the description and definitions of parts of speech, and the newly established order for examining inflected words; the inventory of pronoun and numeral examples was revised, and descriptions of rules expanded not only in the sections on phonetics, morphology, and syntax, but also in the illustrative material presented—which drew not just on religious writings, but also on folk literature and spoken language. Ona Aleknavičienė (LKI) presented the reception of D. Klein’s ideas in P. F. Ruigys’s grammar, Anfangsgründe einer Littauischen Grammatick (1747). The paper discussed the more significant differences between the grammatical descriptions of D. Klein and P. F. Ruigys, as well as the principal ideas carried over from one grammar to the other. The speaker attributed the frequent explicit and implicit reliance on D. Klein’s Grammatica Litvanica evident in P. F. Ruigys’s grammar to their belonging to a similar school of linguistic thought and to the acceptability of its ideas. The influence of D. Klein’s grammatical model on P. F. Ruigys’s work can be recognized in the choice of a principal dialect for the grammatical description, distinguished from the others (for D. Klein, this was the Įsrutis dialect, and for P. F. Ruigys, the dialect of the Įsrutis and Ragainė districts), as well as in the expansion of the syntax section. Adopting D. Klein’s idea of choosing a single dialect as the basis for describing Lithuanian, P. F. Ruigys highlighted the opposition pagrindinis: šalutinis (he identified three secondary dialects: two in Lithuania Major and one in Lithuania Minor). According to the speaker, by foregrounding one dialect’s stability, universality, and prestige in relation to other dialects, P. F. Ruigys continued the tradition begun by D. Klein of shaping a standard language on the basis of a single dialect. P. F. Ruigys’s JŪRATĖ PAJĖDIENĖ. Pirmajai spausdintai lietuvių kalbos gramatikai – 370 metų 249 grammar was directed not only at presenting the fundamentals of the language, but also at reducing the difference between written and spoken language: accentuation and accentology became important, since priests and teachers needed to learn correct pronunciation. Writing a grammar for non-Lithuanians, P. F. Ruigys devoted considerable attention to syntax and the development of communicative competence in the language. The speaker linked the correspondence between the models of grammatical-structure description found in the two authors’ grammars to the slow change of the Lithuanian language being described. Lina Plaušinaitė (VU) discussed links between the material presented in the dictionary compiled by Jokūbas Brodovskis (1692?–1744), Lexicon Germanico-Lithuanicum et Lithuanico-Germanicum, and D. Klein’s grammars (the paper’s topic was Kleino gramatikų atspindžiai Brodovskio žodyne). The speaker introduced the audience to the features and structure of this manuscript. It is a very extensive dictionary (for example, the German section, covering words from A to S, contains about 30,000 German lemmas) and provides numerous illustrations—biblical vocabulary, everyday and specialist language, idioms, proverbs, and riddles. According to L. Plaušinaitė, at first glance it might seem that the dictionary contains almost no grammatical information, but its fairly systematic provision in certain cases (for example, when explaining or distinguishing the meanings of homonyms) shows that the compiler had a clear plan for when such information was necessary. Grammatical notes formulated in Latin or German appear alongside the lemmas in J. Brodovskis’s dictionary. Traces of the influence of D. Klein’s grammars are evident in the dictionary. This is reflected in its vocabulary as well, although the lexical correspondences are more closely associated with D. Klein’s Compendium Litvanico-Germanicum than with the examples in his 1953 grammar. J. Brodovskis also sought to provide neutral (non-literary) examples. The speaker noted the possibility that some of D. Klein’s examples may have come through another source that served as an intermediary—the Clavis Germanico-Lithvana dictionary. Giedrius Subačius (University of Illinois at Chicago; Lithuanian Institute of History) discussed the features of a copy of D. Klein’s grammar found in one of Simonas Daukantas’s manuscripts (the paper’s topic was Daukantas ir Kleino gramatika). The researcher established an approximate date for the copying of this undated copy of the grammar by comparing its paper with that of another S. Daukantas manuscript, Išrašai iš knygų apie etnografiją ir istoriją, which suggests that the copy of the grammar dates from 1828 or somewhat later. The paper presented the structure and genesis of S. Daukantas’s copy: the fact that it transmits an incomplete (the first four opening sections of the grammar and several sections at the end are missing) and discontinuous (on p. 49, the grammatical text from pp. 89 to 93 is missing) transcription of D. Klein’s grammar is more likely 250 BENDRINĖ KALBA | 96 to be connected with copying not from the original, but from another copy. The quality of the paper, the orderly arrangement of the manuscript leaves, and S. Daukantas’s note nestaie [missing] also support this origin, indicating that he had realized he was copying from a defective manuscript. According to the speaker, D. Klein’s grammar and the comments about dialects in its preface are mentioned in the margin of a draft written by S. Daukantas perhaps a decade later; in an 1853 letter to Frydrichas Kuršaitis, S. Daukantas asks him to procure a Latin-language copy of D. Klein’s grammar. In conclusion, G. Subačius noted that although S. Daukantas showed interest in D. Klein’s 1953 grammar several times, in different places and at different times—Riga (the copy), St. Petersburg (the comment on the preface), and Varniai (the letter to Fr. Kuršaitis)—there is nevertheless no very clear evidence that he made extensive use of this grammar in his other works (the influence of D. Klein’s grammar may be connected only with the use of diacritics such as û, ê, ô, which appeared in S. Daukantas’s orthographic system in 1828). At the seminar’s concluding discussion, Jurgita Venckienė (LKI) spoke about the links between nineteenth-century Lithuanian grammars and D. Klein’s grammars. According to the researcher, Grammatica Lituanica was also drawn on by Augustas Schleicheris when writing Handbuch der litauischen Sprache in 1856–1857, and by F. Kuršaitis when preparing Grammatik der lit(t)auischen Sprache (1876); it is likely that Kazimieras Jaunius also drew on it, whose Lietuvių kalbos gramatika (1885–1892) was published in 1911. As V. Zubaitienė noted, Mykolas Miežinis’s Lietuviszka gramatika (1886) was likewise prepared (written) on the model of D. Klein’s or F. W. Haack’s grammar. The seminar papers revealed that interest in D. Klein’s Lithuanian scholarly legacy has not waned over time. The 2009 celebration of the 400th anniversary of D. Klein’s birth added to the abundance of research connected with his life and wide-ranging creative work, and prompted the creation and dissemination of electronic transcriptions of D. Klein’s books. It is to be hoped that the fitting celebration of the significant anniversary of the first Lithuanian grammar will also give rise to a new wave of scholarly publications and encourage targeted searches for archival data, enriching our understanding of D. Klein and his work. Received 2023 12 22 JŪRATĖ PAJĖDIENĖ Lithuanian Language Institute Petro Vileišio St. 5, LT-10308 Vilnius [email protected] JŪRATĖ PAJĖDIENĖ. Pirmieji spausdinti lietuvių kalbos gramatikai – 370 metų 251