Minint žodynininkės Zitos Virginijos Šimėnaitės (1950–2016) 70-ąsias gimimo metines

BENDRINĖ KALBA 93 (2020) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 GERTRUDA NAKTINIENĖ, AURELIJA GRITĖNIENĖ Lietuvių kalbos institutas MININT ŽODYNININKĖS Zita Virginia Šimenaite (1950–2016) 70TH BIRTHDAY Today I will take my heart for a walk. I'm not going. I'm not going anywhere... Justinas Marcinkevičius This year, 2020, the dictionary writer Zita Virginija Šimėnaitė would have turned 70 on October 14. Sister Mirtis passed away on August 1, 2016. Colleagues still remember with special warmth the small-sized, small-bodied, always stylish Zitelė (this small name was very suitable for her). Ji mokėjo telkti žodynininkus, buvo leksikografijos ir leksikogafų metraštininkė, žodynų, kitų knygų, bibliografijų rengėja, sudarytoja ir redaktorė. Zita was an aesthetic, a beautiful, sensual and very sensitive person, focused on the essentials and the most important values. Zita Šimėnaitė was born in 1950 in the city of Šakiai. He graduated from Kretinga secondary school in 1969 and Vilnius University in 1974 (specialty – Lithuanian language and literature). In 1973 he began working in the Dictionaries Department of the Institute of Lithuanian Language and Literature of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. In 1973 she was a senior laboratory assistant, in 1974–1991 – a junior research associate, in 1991–2012 – a researcher, since 2012 – a senior researcher, in 2005–2014 – the head of the then Lexicography Centre of the Lithuanian Language Institute. GERTRŪDA NAKTINIENĖ, AURELIJA GRITĖNIENĖ. Minint žodynininkės 70th anniversary of the birth of Zita Virginija Šimėnaitė (1950–2016) | 2 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2020.93.04 BENDRINĖ KALBA 93 (2020) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 As for many other lexicographers of the Lithuanian Language Institute (hereinafter – the Institute), the preparation of the Great Dictionary of Lithuanian Language (hereinafter – DL) su kitais žodynininkais ji rašė LKŽ XII–XVIII tomų tekstą (1981–1997). Redagavo XVII–XX was her life’s work. She also edited the text of the volumes (1996–2002), was a member of the editorial board of volume XVII, prepared the electronic version of this dictionary (2005, updated versions 2008 and 2018, see www.lkz.lt), the second electronic edition (2013), was a member of the editorial board of this edition. In total, Zita Šimėnaitė wrote about 740 pages (more than 70 author arcs) of the main text of LKŽ – short and long dictionary articles. They contained inherited Baltic and Lithuanian words, old and newer borrowings, words that came from the nation’s creativity and needs, which grew into our consciousness and life. Among the words described by Zita are the essential for Lithuanians multi-meaning words heart, child, darkness, dense, trūkti, walk, crown, etc., which are covered with a multitude of metaphors, comparisons, proverbs, phraseologisms. Articles of such words with their vivid sentences of living speech can be read as works of art. Kartu su kolegomis kalbininkė parengė Mokomąjį lietuvių kalbos žodyną (2000; 2-as revised edition 2010), Phraseology Dictionary (2001), contributed to the writing of texts for the General Lithuanian Language Dictionary (http://bkz.lki.lt). In 2002, he was awarded the Lithuanian Science Prize for Phraseology Dictionary together with co-authors, and in the same year, together with others, he received the Government of the Republic of Lithuania's thanks for his contributions to the great Lithuanian language dictionary. The working group led by Zita Šimėnaitė prepared the seventh revised and supplemented edition of the Contemporary Lithuanian Language Dictionary (master editor Stasys Keinys, 2012) based on the provisions created by her and Danutė Liutkevičienė. Together with her colleagues she contributed to the preparation of the Endre Bojtár Lithuanian-Hungarian Dictionary (2007). The experienced editor of dictionaries was particularly interested in one of her own words written in the LKŽ – the noun heart, which has 23 meanings and numerous phraseologisms, with broad functional connections. From this lexicographical work a theoretical topic has grown. Zita Šimėnaitė prepared and defended her doctoral dissertation “Semantics and derivation of the polysemantic word (substantive heart microsystem)” in 2003. This dissertation and the articles written on its subject “The semantics of the noun heart” (Lietuvių kalbotyros klausimai 37, 1997, 62–87), “The derivatives of the noun heart” (Lietuvių kalbotyros klausimai 35, 1995, 148–168), “The semantics of phraseologisms with the noun heart” (Leksikografijos ir leksikologijos problemos, 2003, 225–252) can be considered as an example of complex studies of the polysemantic word. In the process of collecting language data, the lexicographer participated in more than ten expeditions to various places in Lithuania. The Lithuanian language dictionary recorded about 10,000 GERTRŪDA NAKTINIENĖ, AURELIJA GRITĖNIENĖ. Minint žodynininkės 70th anniversary of the birth of Zita Virginija Šimėnaitė (1950–2016) | 3 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2020.93.04 BENDRINĖ KALBA 93 (2020) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 dialect words. In the catalog of additions we will find cards written by her from Dubčiai (1971), Skáistgiris and Žagãrė (1975), Daugai (1979), Krâžiai (1981), Kavársko (1983), Pal venė (1986), Sein (1989), Gr šlaukis (1990), Sãlako (1991), Kùktiškiai (1991, 1993, 1996), Vaiš škis (1991, 1993, 1994), Salant (1994), Inturkė (1995, 1996). Rarer, more interesting word, more beautiful saying she caught at work. He wrote down many cards from Elena Ažusienienė (1931–2013), a woman from Švenčionys, who was the oral LCŽ card library manager and with whom he worked in the same room at the Institute for some time. He also collected words from written sources: periodical press, writings of Antanas Vaičiulaitis, Romualdas Granauskas and other writers. 1 PAV. Zita Šimėnaitė’s cards from various places in Lithuania for the Lithuanian language dictionary Zita was particularly interested in the eastern Altai dialect of the Molėtų region. He wrote many cards from his grandmother Zofija Siminkevičienė (1901–1984), who knew Alantõ well. Zita’s summers and weekends were spent in the surrounding village, where her aunt Valerija Kazakevičienė (1925–2012) was also within reach. And from it Zita wrote not one thousand cards for the dictionary. After collecting many audio recordings of Alani tales, she began preparing a collection of dialect texts of this dialect with commentaries for the press. In 2001, he organized a lexicographic expedition to Åland. It is a pity that due to the abundance of other works, and then also due to deteriorating health, she never managed to complete these texts for publication. GERTRŪDA NAKTINIENĖ, AURELIJA GRITĖNIENĖ. Minint žodynininkės 70th anniversary of the birth of Zita Virginija Šimėnaitė (1950–2016) | 4 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2020.93.04 BENDRINĖ KALBA 93 (2020) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 In the scientific press, the dictionary publishes articles on lexis, phraseology, phraseography, lexicography. 2 PAV. The first page of the manuscript of Zita Šimėnaite’s article “Language culture” in the 59th edition with editorial corrections by Pranas Kniūkštas, the editor of the publication. He studied the lexicographical sources of the LKŽ, the works of the lexicographers Jon Kruop, Antanas Lyberis in various aspects. She was interested in the relationships between Lithuanian and Polish lexicography and wrote articles on this subject (see, for example: Związki leksykografii polskiej i litewskiej, Językowe i kulturowe dziedzictwo GERTRŪDA NAKTINIENĖ, AURELIJA GRITĖNIENĖ. Minint žodynininkės 70th anniversary of the birth of Zita Virginija Šimėnaitė (1950–2016) | 5 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2020.93.04 BENDRINĖ KALBA 93 (2020) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskiego, Bydgoszcz, 2010, 158–166). She has worked on various linguistic projects, and has led several of them. Among these projects are “Expressions of Lithuanian spiritual culture: electronic compendium of ethnology, language, history sources” (RaSa, www.aruodai.lt, 2003–2006), “Compilation of the Lithuanian language dictionary database” (2006), “Compilation of the lexical heritage of unresearched dialects” (2007, director), “Preparation of the electronic version of the database of Kazimieras Boge etymological dictionary” (2007–2008, director), “Preparation and implementation of the programme for the recovery of minds” (2008, coordinator), “Collection and scientific research of the lexical and audio data of little researched dialects” (2009–2010), “Konstantinas Sirvydas – pioneer of Lithuanian lexicography” (2012, director), “Konstantinas Sirvydas’ works and his era” (2013, director). He was the director of the Lithuanian Science Council’s project “Student Scientific Practice” (2006-2008). Coordinated the work of the investment project “Creation of ICT solutions and content that help to preserve the Lithuanian language in the public space and the creation of opportunities to use them” implemented under the program “Lithuanian language in the information society” “Digitization of the Lithuanian language dictionary database” and “Digitization of monolingual Lithuanian language dictionaries” (2012–2015), especially contributed to the development of the concept of the latter project. She has also been involved in international projects. In 2012, she led the project “Lithuanian Studies in Hungary” (two major projects were carried out: A. Sabaliauskas’s book “We are Balts” was prepared for printing and published in Hungarian, and a Lithuanian textbook for Hungarian-speaking students “Meetings with Lithuania” was prepared by Aranka Laczházi). In 2013, he collaborated on the EUROPHRAS project “Widespread Idioms in Europe and Beyond”. In 2013–2014 he led the project “Preparation of the Belarusian–Lithuanian dictionary” (http://bylt.lki.lt). He compiled an index of Lithuanian phraseology literature (1956–1997) (1998), the bibliography of linguists Kazimieras Eigminas (Homo sum: žodžiai Kazimierui Eigminui, Vilnius, 1998, 283– 294), Sofija Kėzytė (1999), Kazis Pakalkas (2000), Irena Ermanytė (2007), Klementina Vosylytė (2008), Aldonas Pupkis (2008, with A. Pupkis), Antanas Lyberis (Antanas Lyberis. Leksikografijos teorija ir praktika, 2009, 410–422), the bibliography of the first dictionary writer Konstantinas Sirvydas (1960–2013) (Leksikografija ir leksikologija 3, 2013, 387– 405). He corrected and supplemented the second edition of Vytautas Vitkauskas’ bibliographic index (2005), edited Antanas Balašaitis’ bibliographic index (2011). GERTRŪDA NAKTINIENĖ, AURELIJA GRITĖNIENĖ. Minint žodynininkės 70th Anniversary of Zita Virginija Šimėnaitė (1950–2016) | 6 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2020.93.04 BENDRINĖ KALBA 93 (2020) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 He has published twenty volumes of the Lithuanian language dictionary (2002, with J. Zabarskaite), Antanas Lyberis. Theory and Practice of Lexicography (2009, scientific editor), Lexicography and Lexicology. Konstantino Sirvydo darbai ir jo epocha (2013, editor-in-chief of the collection of articles). She was a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Linguistics (2010) and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Linguistics (2011). It is symbolic that the last work she edited was A. Pupkis’ monograph Juozas Balčikonis and the great Lithuanian language dictionary (2013). In 2002, he was featured in the documentary The Dinosaur of Europe. During the production of this film about the Lithuanian language and the important work for the Lithuanian language science and culture – the Great Dictionary of Lithuanian Language (director Vitalija Steponavičiūtė, script author Albertas Žostautas, cameraman Algimantas Liutkevičius), together with the creative team we travelled around Molėtų area (Avičių, Antãliežių, Pasuoj s villages), interviewed informants, shared creative ideas, and later helped to organize the presentation of the film at Alantos Manor and the Lithuanian Language Institute. We also advised the creative team of the film “Being in the Language” (2005) (director Juozas Javaitis, screenwriter Elena Jolanta Zabarskaitė, cameraman Donatas Buklys). Zita Šimėnaitė worked hard and took care of the preparation of the book Memories of Vytautas Vitkauskas (2015). The book was published in 1999, and has been widely cited as the most influential book of the last decade. He cherished the people around him, took care to visit his colleagues who no longer worked or at least talk to them on the phone. Many of us remember Zita as a great photographer. She loved photographing people, gyvūnus, gamtos vaizdus, gėles... 3 PAV. Photo by Zita Šimėnaitė, taken in 2012 at friends' farm in Zarasai district GERTRŪDA NAKTINIENĖ, AURELIJA GRITĖNIENĖ. Minint žodynininkės 70th anniversary of the birth of Zita Virginija Šimėnaitė (1950–2016) | 7 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2020.93.04 BENDRINĖ KALBA 93 (2020) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 After many years of collecting old and new photographs of colleagues taken by various photographers and filling in the album collected by previous collaborators, in the spring of 2014 she organized an exhibition of photos of lexicographers who worked and still work at the Institute. Colleagues also remember the exhibition of her own photographs of the birds that Zita organized in the library foyer. Thus, it is symbolic that this year, commemorating Zita Šimėnaitė’s 70th birthday, we open an exhibition of her works and photographs in the Institute’s library. Let it remind you of Zita’s big heart and love for life. Received 08/10/2020 GERTRŪDA NAKTINIENĖ AURELIJA GRITĖNIENĖ Lietuvių kalbos institutas Petro Vileišio g. 5, LT-10308 Vilnius, Lithuania [email protected] [email protected]