Terminologas Stasys Keinys

Terminologist Stasys Keinys AUŠRA RIMKUTĖ Institute of the Lithuanian Language The distinguished Lithuanian terminologist Stasys Keinys celebrated his 70th birthday on September 20, 2006. This fine anniversary offers an opportunity to commemorate the life and work of an exceptionally industrious linguist. Stasys Keinys was born on September 20, 1936, in the village of Pąkalupis, Viekšniai rural district, Mažeikiai County. In 1954 he graduated from Viekšniai Secondary School. From 1954 to 1959, he studied Lithuanian language and literature at the Faculty of History and Philology of Vilnius State University (now Vilnius University). After graduating, he began working at the Institute of the Lithuanian Language and Literature. St. Keinys was invited to join the Institute by the distinguished Lithuanian linguist Jonas Kruopas, who organized work in linguistics and terminology. This invitation proved decisive for St. Keinys. A few years later, he entered the postgraduate program at Vilnius University. After completing his postgraduate studies, St. Keinys worked at the Kaunas Evening Faculty of Vilnius University from 1966 to 1975. In 1968, he successfully defended his dissertation for the Candidate of Philological Sciences degree (nostrified in 1993 as a Doctor of Humanities degree in 246 Aušra Rimkutė | Terminologas Stasys Keinys the humanities) entitled Types of Word Formation of Lithuanian Monolexemic Terms. In 1975, he was awarded the title of Associate Professor. In 1974, J. Kruopas invited St. Keinys to return to the Institute of the Lithuanian Language and Literature. He returned for good, to work on the lexicographic and terminological projects he loved. His years at the Institute were his most creative. From 1976 to 1992, he served as deputy chairman of the Terminology Council under the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences. At the Institute, he headed the Department of Contemporary Lithuanian Literary Language (1987–1989), and later the Department of Language Culture and Terminology (1989–1991). In addition to all this, St. Keinys is an excellent teacher: he taught at the Kaunas Evening Faculty of Vilnius State University, the Šiauliai Pedagogical Institute, and Vytautas Magnus University, and continues to work at the Faculty of Lithuanian Studies of Vilnius Pedagogical University. He teaches contemporary Lithuanian morphology and word formation to bachelor’s students specializing in Lithuanian language and literature; terminology to master’s and doctoral students; and language use and standardization to master’s students. He supervises term papers, diploma theses, bachelor’s and master’s theses, doctoral committees and doctoral students, and is invited to serve as an official opponent for dissertations. It is hard to give a brief account of the full range of his scholarly work... The linguist’s activity is broad-ranging. The principal areas of his scholarly work include word formation, morphology, terminology, and lexicography. St. Keinys’s lexicographic work is highly significant. He was the editor-in-chief of the third (1993), fourth (2000), and fifth (2003) revised and expanded editions of the Dictionary of Contemporary Lithuanian. Thanks to his efforts, the fourth edition of the Dictionary of Contemporary Lithuanian was issued on CD-ROM in 2002 and put online in 2003. The computerized fifth edition of the dictionary is intended for schools. At the Infobalt 2004 exhibition, this dictionary was selected as the best Lithuanian lexicographic publication, and at the end of 2005 St. Keinys received the Language (Felicija) Prize for the computerized version of the dictionary. Over more than four decades of active scholarly and teaching work, many valuable scholarly articles and reviews of academic publications appeared, as well as books on language and terminology: In the Alphabet of Terminology (1980) sets out the theoretical foundations of Lithuanian terminology; Word Formation in Standard Lithuanian (1999) presents a concise description of the formation of nominative parts of speech; and the thematic collection of the linguist’s terminological works published over four decades (1966–2005), Contemporary Lithuanian Terminology, published in 2005, discusses current issues of the second half of the 20th century Terminologija | 2006 | 13 247 the latter half and the beginning of the 21st century—matters of Lithuanian terminology, both broader theoretical issues and practical ones, concerning individual terms or groups of terms, their use and recommendation. St. Keinys was the managing editor of the first issue of the scholarly journal Terminologija. In fact, the journal published in 1994 had a different title—Terminologijos vagos. Even then, in the preface, the linguist wrote to readers: “Terminologijos vagos—this publication was given that title for a reason. It is hoped that all those who need, care about, and cherish the language of Lithuanian science and its core terms will together plow those furrows through their combined efforts” (Terminologijos vagos 1994: 7). St. Keinys also devotes much time to the practical work of organizing terminology. He has reviewed, revised, and edited numerous terminology dictionaries in various fields of science, as well as a substantial number of terminology standards. The dictionaries prepared with coauthors deserve mention. They have produced more than a dozen... The first explanatory dictionary of Lithuanian linguistics terms, Kalbotyros terminų žodynas (1990), was prepared with Kazimieras Gaivenas; Geležinkelininko žodynėlis (1992), Rusų–lietuvių kalbų geležinkelių transporto žodynas (1997), Socialinės apsaugos terminų žodynas (1999), Radioelektronikos terminų žodynas (2000), Aiškinamasis geležinkelių transporto terminų žodynas (2006), and others. St. Keinys devoted considerable attention to standardizing railway terminology. This was, as it were, a desire to continue the work of his father, who had long worked “on the railway,” though in a somewhat different way... The Minister of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Lithuania recognized the work of the creator and standardizer of Lithuanian railway terms. By ministerial order, St. Keinys was awarded the Honorary Railwayman’s Badge. And that is not all. St. Keinys’s work is best seen in the Bibliografijos rodyklės (2006), which contains more than 600 entries. The linguist works productively and without respite—continuing to write articles, prepare books and dictionaries, teach students, and supervise their work. It is not easy to speak about St. Keinys, one of the most prominent Lithuanian terminologists. He has no shortage of Samogitian stubbornness, principled resolve, acuity, and boundless diligence. Yet working with St. Keinys is pleasant and rewarding. I would like to conclude with a quotation from his collection of articles on terminology: “The work of cultivating, developing, and maintaining terminology, as with the standard language in general, is never finished. The day will never dawn when all terminology has been definitively put in order and made suitable for everyone without exception. If that were to happen, it would mean that not day but eternal night had fallen, that not only language but also the people who use it were gone, and that Lithuanian terminology was therefore no longer needed by anyone. As long as the sun of language and terminology has not set (and for us it will never set!), we must together 248 Aušra Rimkutė | Terminologas Stasys Keinys with language carefully, devotedly, and knowledgeably cherish and, as the Samogitians say, tend the tree of terminology. As long as there are creative people who think freshly and not in set formulas, as long as genuine science lives and progress continues, changes in terms and in their understanding, and a certain degree of variation, are inevitable. Everyone should understand this, for it is a sign that terminology is alive. Among living people, not only language but terminology, too, is alive” (Keinys 2005: 227). The fact that Lithuanian terminology is alive is a great achievement of the terminologist Stasys Keinys. This is evident from the breadth of his activities and the abundance of his work. As we celebrate the jubilarian’s contribution to Lithuanian terminology (as well as to word formation, morphology, and lexicography), let us wish him strength and good health on this special anniversary as he continues the unending work of terminology, and continued success in tending the tree of terminology. Ad multos annos! LITERATŪRA LKE 1999: Lietuvių kalbos enciklopedija, Vilnius. Keinys St. 2005: Dabartinė lietuvių terminologija, Vilnius. Terminologijos vagos 1994: Terminologijos vagos, Vilnius. Gauta 2006-12-03 Aušra RIMKUTĖ Lietuvių kalbos institutas P. Vileišio g. 5, LT-10308 Vilnius E. paštas [email protected] Terminologija | 2006 | 13 249