A distinguished terminologist (on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of Kazimieras Gaivenis’s birth)

STASYS KEINYS

Institute of the Lithuanian Language, Vilnius

There are all kinds of monuments in this diverse world: wooden and stone, iron and bronze <...>. Yet, in my view, none matches the durability of monuments made of words <...>.

K. Gaivenis

A few kilometers from the town of Tauragnai, beside Lake Tauragnas, lie the fields of Stūčiai village. Generations of the Musteikis family lived in that village. The last Musteikis to farm there was named Kazimieras. Both his sons had studied military science, took part in the struggle for the independence of the Lithuanian state, restored in 1918, and, before the Second World War, had become high-ranking officers; Kazys also became a prominent statesman. Thus, only a daughter, Veronika, remained on the farm; she married Boliaus, a newcomer from another village

302 Stasys Keinys | Žymus terminologijos vagavarys (75-ųjų Kazimiero Gaivenio...

s, known as Boliaus (Boleslovas) Gaivenis. On January 18, 1934, a son, Kazimieras, was born to the young Gaivenis couple. Indeed, the fairies of Lake Tauragnas favored boys born at that homestead—for Kazimieras Gaivenis, too, went on to higher education and became a distinguished specialist in his field.

Kazimieras’s educational journey began during the war and lasted through the fourteen postwar years, when, despite the upheaval in their lives, people worked hard to secure their families’ future. For many, the best path to that future seemed to be their children’s education. Kazimieras Gaivenis completed Šeimatė primary school, Tauragnai seven-year school, Utena First Secondary School, and the Lithuanian language and literature program at the Faculty of History and Philology of Vilnius University. Throughout his studies, he was a diligent and exemplary pupil and student. This is attested by the books his teachers gave him as their top pupil and by his university diploma with honors. At university, when in his second year he had to choose a narrower course of study (language or literature), he chose language and took a particular interest in his native dialect—writing his term papers on it and defending his final thesis on the subject. He was assigned to work at the Academy of Sciences’ Institute of the Lithuanian Language and Literature.

At the Institute (which, after its division into two institutes in 1990, became the Institute of the Lithuanian Language), K. Gaivenis worked for forty-one and a half years, advancing through every rank from senior laboratory assistant to head of department. Throughout that time, except for the first couple of months, he worked on terminology—that is, on the organization and study of words and naming expressions used in specialized (scientific, technical, artistic, and other) language. His 1969 doctoral dissertation in philology (equivalent to today’s doctoral degree, which was recognized for him in the state that had regained its independence) was in this field. Five of the seven books he wrote alone or with others were devoted to terms and their use, as were a large proportion of his roughly 400 scholarly and popular-science articles and shorter pieces. As an adviser, editor, reviewer, and even translator, he contributed to the preparation of more than a hundred Lithuanian terminological dictionaries and standards; for many years he edited the annual publication Terminologijos. These works place K. Gaivenis alongside the foremost workers who shaped and developed our language and fostered its culture in the twentieth century. Theoretical and practical matters of terminology are set out concisely in his last work published during his lifetime, the book Lietuvių terminologija: teorijos ir tvarkybos metmenys (Vilnius, 2002, 148 pp.). In this book, read by all who teach or study terminology or are interested in it, a clear and exemplary account in specialized language presents the understanding of the field’s most important concepts and terms, describes characteristic features of terms, and reviews their origins

Terminologija | 2009 | 16

303

and methods of systematization, the foundations of creating and standardizing terms; it introduces the theoretical approaches to terminology best known and most influential in our country and discusses the major works of prominent scholars in those approaches. The subjects explained in the book are grounded in the vast experience of daily terminology work gained over several decades and in the erudition of a person devoted to linguistics and its culture, an erudition fostered and refined not only by an uninterrupted engagement with scholarly works of the past and present, but also by constant interaction with fellow linguists working in terminology and specialists in other fields.

Since K. Gaivenis worked extensively in the field of terminology, he is often called a terminologist. This is correct, for he was among Lithuania’s first professional linguists specializing in terminology. But he also worked as a lexicographer, co-authoring four dictionaries with others (Lithuanian–Russian, one of linguistic terms, one of terminological corrections, and one of radio electronics) and, as mentioned, contributing to a large number of dictionaries, including the preparation of the second edition of the normative Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodyno (Vilnius, 1972); in addition, he studied and discussed matters relating to dictionary writing. It should also be noted that K. Gaivenis was interested in words in general—his diploma thesis was on the vocabulary of his native dialect; he wrote articles about words of the standard language and the book Margas žodžių pasaulis (Vilnius, 1987, 112 p.); and he addressed place names and personal names on several occasions. Thus, he could be considered a lexicologist and lexicographer. But the most accurate description of him as a specialist is linguist.

Generally speaking, K. Gaivenis had a good education in philology, was widely read, could express his thoughts clearly, fluently, and vividly, and enjoyed popularizing linguistic topics. His numerous articles in general and specialized journals and newspapers (including those for children) are written in a lively, engaging, and appealing style. His personality harmoniously combined clear, logical thinking with a poetic spirit.

Eastern Highlanders are often portrayed as quiet, calm, perhaps somewhat cautious and reserved people. K. Gaivenis was a true easterner and did indeed possess these traits. He was also very hardworking, conscientious, disciplined, and modest—in a word, a serious person who avoided noisy events, did not rush to speaking platforms to say what he thought, and was not inclined to teach or judge others. Perhaps for this reason, although he accomplished a great deal as a linguist, his name was not mentioned in encyclopedias, almost nothing was written about him even on the anniversaries of his life, and he received no prestigious titles, orders, or awards. All the commotion of life, its pride and vanity, was somewhere far removed from K. Gaivenis’s way of life and seemed not to touch him.

304 Stasys Keinys │ Žymus terminologijos vagavarys (75-ųjų Kazimiero Gaivenio...

It was through deeds, not words, that K. Gaivenis loved his homeland, Lithuania, the Tauragnai region, and his birthplace. By regularly visiting his native corner of the country, he collected thousands of words from its people and preserved them for everyone in his works, in the card file of the great Lietuvių kalbos žodyno, and through it in the volumes themselves. Remembering a stanza from a poem written by Mato Grigonis in 1916:

Who loves sacred peace, To whom the scent of birch is sweet, Who loves the variety of nature, Let that one go to Tauragnai,

in the book Margas žodžių pasaulis he discussed the origin of his native village’s name, a handful of other local place names, and the surnames of his own family and of his maternal ancestors. Thus, it was no coincidence that, while writing the book, the image of his only sister, who had died in childhood, came to his mind—the book is dedicated “In memory of his first-grade little sister GRAŽINUTĖ.” Moreover, each section of the book opens with a thought from the works of university lecturers he held dear (listed here in the same order as in the book): Julija Žukauskaitė, Zigmas Zinkevičius, Vincas Urbutis, Jonas Palionis, Vytautas Mažiulis, Jonas Kabelka, Jurgis Lebedys, Kazys Ulvydas, Juozas Balčikonis, and Jonas Kruopas, who had guided him along his scholarly path at the Institute of the Lithuanian Language and Literature. It is probably easy to understand that this expressed not only a direct connection with the study of our own language, but also gratitude and respect for his Teachers. He also spoke warmly of his Tauragnai and Utena teachers.

Kazimieras Gaivenis died six months before his seventieth birthday, on July 11, 1993. He was buried in Sudervė Cemetery in Vilnius. More about his life and work can be read in books published by the Institute of the Lithuanian Language: Kazimieras Gaivenis: Bibliografijos rodyklė (Vilnius, 2003, 68 p.) and Terminologijos istorijos ir dabarties problemos (Vilnius, 2004, 380 p.), dedicated to the memory of Kazimieras Gaivenis. The book consists of two sections: a commemorative section containing articles and recollections about K. Gaivenis, excerpts from letters he wrote to a schoolmate during his student years, and a few photographs; and a larger research section featuring important and interesting articles on the theory, history, and present-day practice of terminology by Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian linguists and others involved in terminological work. The latter section opens with a substantial publication from K. Gaivenis’s legacy—an unpublished chapter of his dissertation, Sudėtiniai terminai dabartinėje lietuvių kalboje, entitled Sudėtinių terminų pateikimas ir aiškinimas terminų žodynuose.

Remembering Kazimieras Gaivenis on the seventy-fifth anniversary of his birth

Terminologija | 2009 | 16 305

On the occasion of the anniversary, we can clearly see how quickly life changes, turning into the past days that seem to have been only recently. The Terminology Centre of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language, Kazimieras’s only place of employment, no longer has a single member of the staff of the Terminology Group, established nearly forty years ago. More than half of the Centre’s employees know him only from the photograph hanging in one of the rooms assigned to the Centre, where, incidentally, the book Lietuvių terminologijos: teorijos ir tvarkybos metmenų was discussed before being sent to print. Thus, in the excerpt from Margo žodžių pasaulio placed at the beginning of this article, K. Gaivenis aptly called verbal monuments the most enduring “markers of the work” of people who lived in the past. His own written works are such monuments too, words important to the present and future of our language and of our national culture.

Received 2009-12-18

Stasys Keinys Institute of the Lithuanian Language P. Vileišio g. 5, LT-10308 Vilnius

306 Stasys Keinys | Žymus terminologijos vagavarys (75-ųjų Kazimiero Gaivenio...