ACTA LINGUISTICA LITHUANICA

XLV (2001), 179–186

PUBLICATIONS

Source Publications

LETTER FROM FRIEDRICH WILHELM HAACK TO GOTTHILF AUGUST FRANCKE

In recent decades, researchers’ interest in the history of the Lithuanian Language Seminar in Halle (1727–1740) and, more specifically, in F. W. Haack’s work at the seminar has intensified (see Bense 1974, 1994; Schiller 1994a, 1994b; Drotvinas 1998a, 1998b, 2001). However, research into various aspects of this important topic in the history of Lithuanian studies is hampered, among other things, by a lack of archival documents. Continuing my research into the lexicography of Lithuania Minor, I found in the archive of the Franckesche Stiftungen in Halle a letter from F. W. Haack (shelfmark A FSt/M 5 C5:14) to Gotthilf August Francke, then head of the Francke Foundation. The letter was written on a sheet 17.3 cm long and 10.2 cm wide, folded in half to make four pages. The letter’s text appears on the first and second pages, while the third is blank. For mailing, the whole letter was folded in half once more; on the fourth page is the address in red ink AMonsieur Monsieur Francke Profesſeur en Theologie à Halle. The sender’s red sealing-wax seal is damaged and illegible. In the archive, the letter is catalogued as a two-page text. In the upper right corner of the first page, beneath the place and date of writing (Stettin d. 19 May 1732)¹, the storage unit’s pagination number 402 is stamped with a numbering machine, and 505 is written in pencil; a further 14 is written in red pencil at the bottom. The pagination continues with number 403 in the upper right corner of the third (blank) page. Both pages of the letter are perforated with two holes each (four in total), which have “bitten off” parts of some words and make the text difficult to read.

F. W. Haack’s letter is significant in several respects. It clearly shows how graduates of the theological faculty at the University of Halle were employed in carrying out the colonization of East Prussia. As a document of the political and cultural life of the first decades of the eighteenth century, the letter has attracted historians’ attention and is cited in a documentary collection on the history of the spread of Pietism (Müller-Bahlke, Gröschel 1999). The letter itself was exhibited at the Francke Foundation in Halle from June 26 to October 28, 2001, and annotated in the catalogue devoted to the exhibition².

The letter provides information for refining Haack’s biography and shedding light on the prospects for the activities of the Lithuanian Language Seminar in Halle. In fact, why did Haack, after replacing Johann Richter, the first head and instructor of the Lithuanian Language Seminar, when Richter left Halle in the autumn of 1728 and returned to Lithuania Minor, have to leave the Lithuanian Language Seminar and say farewell to Halle, when he was halfway through his fourth year of work in that post? It is known that King Friedrich Wilhelm I,

¹ The day 19 is corrected from 10 (?), see Müller-Bahlke, Gröschel (1999: 140).

² On plans to involve Halle’s Waisenhaus in the development and integration of East Prussia, see Müller-Bahlke (2001: 140).

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While colonizing Prussia, depopulated by the great plague and famine, he invited 16,000 Salzburg emigrants. Their route passed through Halle and Berlin, and then onward to Lithuania Minor. Students from the theology faculty of the University of Halle, including Haack, were sent to accompany the emigrants as chaplains and interpreters. One such companion, Johann Friedrich Breuer, reports to Francke in a letter from Berlin dated May 9 that the preachers Hahn and Haack are ready to accompany the Salzburgers³. Haack is also mentioned in the diary of another companion, the student Kuhch, describing his journey from Halle to Berlin from April 24 to May 12, 1732; it records that on May 10 Haack left Berlin with a group of emigrants⁴. Aware of the possible consequences of Haack’s departure from Halle, Francke asked the king to keep Haack in Halle as a lecturer in the Lithuanian Language Seminar and had probably received his consent. In a letter dated May 13, 1732, Francke, on behalf of himself and the theology faculty professors Joachim Lange and Johann Heinrich Michaelis, thanks the king for his order that Haack return to Halle for six months. In the same letter, Francke regrets that the king’s order did not reach Haack in Berlin, and writes that he has therefore sent him letters to Königsberg and Stettin⁵. However, Haack’s letter to Francke shows that Francke was too quick to rejoice at the permission for Haack to return to Halle: the king had not granted the Halle theologians’ request, and Haack had to obey the higher order—that is, the king’s⁶. Haack’s failure to return to Halle was detrimental to the seminar’s subsequent work. Francke and Haack undoubtedly had various plans for developing Pietism and strengthening the tradition of Lithuanian studies. Unfortunately, the seminar’s later directors made no contribution to Lithuanian studies.

The letter also helps establish who authored the annotations in Haack’s Vocabvlarivm. The Franckesche Stiftungen library holds Haack’s dictionary, a so-called durchschossenes Exemplar, that is, a copy of the Vocabvlarivm with manuscript additions and annotations (for more, see Drotvinas 1998). These manuscript additions are the work of several unidentified hands. In searching for the author(s) of the annotations, I conjectured that one might be the compiler of the Vocabvlarivm himself, but I did not have an autograph by Haack. Now that the letter presented here has been found, Haack’s handwriting can be compared with that of the annotations. This comparison lends stronger support to my earlier conjecture that a substantial, perhaps even the greater part (at least 2/3), of the annotations was written in Haack’s own hand. Of course, more precise conclusions could be reached by conducting a comparative graphological analysis of both texts—the annotations and the letter. Even so, we may already regard the additions written by Haack as his own efforts to collect material for a second edition of the Vocabvlarivm, which may not have been prepared precisely because the author left Halle.

We present a facsimile of the original letter by F. W. Haack, an expanded transliteration of the text, and a translation into Lithuanian. In the transliteration, abbreviations are expanded and restored letters are written in square brackets. Capital letters are reproduced as in the text. Words written in Latin (humanistic) script are rendered in italics⁷.

³ Sign. 5 C 5: 22, see Müller-Bahlke, Gröschl (1999: 31); cf. also Müller-Bahlke (2001: 140).

⁴ Diary of a theology student about his journey accompanying the Salzburg emigrants from Halle to Berlin, sign. 5 C 5: 22, see Müller-Bahlke, Gröschl (1999: 31).

⁵ Letter of thanks from Gotthilf August Francke to Frederick William I for the order that Haack return to Halle, sign. 5 C 5: 28, see Müller-Bahlke, Gröschl (1999: 35).

⁶ We know from Haack’s biography that in 1733 he was ordained as a pastor in Berlin, then appointed deacon in Gumbinnen, served as pastor in Gervishken, and from 1734 until his death in 1754 was pastor in Pillkallen.

⁷ I thank Ms. Aušrinė Jonikaitė, who helped decipher the letter and refine the translation.

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[Adresas] AMonsieur Monsieur Francke Professeur en Theologie à Halle.

[1] Stettin, 19 May 1732. Most Reverend and Most Learned, especially highly esteemed Sir ProfessorProfessor. Your Reverendness will permit me to answer briefly to your letters, owing to lack of time. 1. As regards the circumstances into which I was placed a short time ago, I can only say that they are from God, who convinces me ever more powerfully that He wills it so and no other way. Therefore, I shall not leave them before I myself have been led out of them by Him. The circumstances of the Lithuanian Seminary are not capable of dissuading me from this, since in Königs=berg

*corrected from 10 (?)

*half-enlarged minuscule g

*h corrected

*after “ich” crossed out “geg”

[2] berg woll Jemand wird gefunden werden, der es mit größern Nut[en] und Treue wird verricht[en] kön[nen] als ich es habe thun können. Es fällt mir auch sehr schwer Diejenig[en]* Seelen die mir anvertrauet [ind, zu verla[en zu mahl bey der ersten Einrüftung, darauf es doch das mei= [te in der Führung ankom[m]t; Finde doch* bei mir keine Neigung zurück zu gehen. Der H[er]r Profe[eu]r* werden denn die Liebe** mir erzeug[en] und die Umstände alle zu[am[m]en nehm[en] u[nd] prüfen, damit Sie nicht etwa aus guter Mei= nung gottes Werk hindern möcht[en]. Berichte auch jetzo [elb[ten] meine Umstände an den König. 2) Daß ich auff den Brieff des He[rrn] Professoris den ich in berlin empfangen nicht da geblie= ben sonde[rn] weiter gegangen bin, kan mir

*d lowercase corrected to uppercase

*word “doch?” pierced

*u omitted and unmarked **L difficult to distinguish from l

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not be at all offended, since I had a reciprocal order from the Ober Directorio to go along with the people. 3) That I cannot return now, [on= the contrary, I will set out from here* today still in the name of God; this is partly* for the reason given above, and partly because I have received no ſpecielle ordre from the King to go back. For the rest, I commend you to God and [His] grace and remain yours

*Letters of words pierced through have been restored. *Corrected; after theils, obig (?) was crossed out.

Dienſtwiliger F. W. Haack.

Translation into Lithuanian:

[1] Stettin, 19 May 1732.

Your Excellency and Most Learned, Especially Esteemed Mr. Professor.

Your Excellency will forgive me for giving a brief reply to Your letter, owing to lack of time. 1. As for the service I have been performing for some time now, I can say nothing other than that it is appointed by God, and I am increasingly convinced that He wills it so and not otherwise. Therefore I shall not depart from here until He Himself wishes it. The service of the Lithuanian Language Seminar cannot compel me to leave here, since in Königsberg

[2] someone will surely be found who can manage things with greater benefit and dedication than I could. It is also difficult for me to leave those souls entrusted to me in my first service, and this is the most important matter in spiritual guidance.

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I feel no desire to return. May the P[rofessor] forgive me and consider all the circumstances, so that, guided by good intentions, you do not try to change God’s will. I will also now inform the King of my circumstances by letter.

2) That, in reply to the P.[rofessor’s] letter, which I received in Berlin, I did not stay there but continued on my journey cannot in any way be held against me, since I had contrary orders from the Supreme Command to proceed onward with the people without delay.

3) That I cannot return now, but am departing in God’s name, is because, in part, of the reasons mentioned above, and in part because I have not received a separate order from the King to return. In any case, may God and His grace bless you, and I remain your

obediently, F. W. Haackas

FIG. 1. ADDRESS ON HAACKAS’S LETTER TO FRANCKEI

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FIG. 2. FIRST PAGE OF HAACKAS’S LETTER TO FRANCKEI

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FIG. 3. SECOND PAGE OF HAACKAS’S LETTER TO FRANCKEI

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LITERATŪRA

Bense, G. 1974: Lithuanica in Halle. Zeitschrift für Slavistik 19 (2), 295–297.

Bense, G. 1994: Die litauistische Tradition in Halle. Bense, G., Hrsg., Diachronie–Kontinuität–Impulse. Sprachwissenschaftliches Kolloquium Halle, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lange, 79–95.

Drotvinas, V. 1998a: F. W. Haacko „Vocablarīvm Litthvanico-Germanicvm, et Germanico-Litthvanicvm“ (Halle, 1730). Lietuvių kalbotyros klausimai 39, 82–100.

Drotvinas, V. 1998b: F. W. Haacko „Vocablarīvm Litthvanico-Germanicvm, et Germanico-Litthvanicvm“ (Halle, 1730) rankraščių papildymų egzempliorius. Lietuvių kalbotyros klausimai 40, 3–21.

Drotvinas, V. 2001: Johannas Richteris ir Lietuvių kalbos seminaras Halėje. Acta Linguistica Lithuanica 44, 41–54.

Müller-Bahlke, Th., Hrsg., 2001: Gott zur Ehr und zu des Landes Besten – Die Franckeschen Stiftungen und Preußen. Aspekte einer alten Allianz. Halle (Saale): Verlag der Franckeschen Stiftungen.

Müller-Bahlke, Th., Gröschl, J. 1999: Salzburg–Halle–Nordamerika. Ein zweisprachiges Find- und Lesebuch zum Georgia-Archiv der Franckeschen Stiftungen. Herausgegeben von… und in Verbindung mit der Georgia Salzburger Society. Mit einer Einleitung von Hermann Winde. Tübingen: Verlag der Franckeschen Stiftungen Halle im Max Niemeyer Verlag.

Schiller, Ch. 1994a: Das litauische Seminar in Halle (1727–1740) und seine Mitglieder. Auf Spurensuche. Acta Baltica 32, 195–233.

Schiller, Ch. 1994b: Die litauischen Seminare in Königsberg und Halle. Eine Bilanz. Nordostarchiv N. F. 3, Heft 2, 375–392.

Vincentas Drotvinas Vilniaus pedagoginis universitetas Ševčenkos g. 31, 2009 Vilnius, Lietuva [email protected]

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