„Aš veržiuosi į praeitį, kuri man spindi lengvumu, šventumu ir paprastumu“ (In memoriam Angelei Vilutytei-Rimševičienei, 1943–2022)

248 GENERAL LANGUAGE | 95 JOLITA URBANAVIČIENIĖ Lietuvių kalbos institutas “I will RUN to the past, which shines with meekness, holiness and plainness” (In memoriam Angelei vilutytei-Rimševičienei, 1943–2022) On June 28, 2022, the Lithuanian Language Institute received sad news – the dictionary writer, one of the authors of the Lithuanian Language Dictionary, laureate of the Lithuanian Science Prize Angelė vilutytė-Rimševičienė passed away. A couple of weeks ago Angelė had presented her latest book Treasures of the Native Language to the people of her native Kaltanėnai region, she probably had more creative plans, but Providence arranged differently – She left on the eve of her 79th birthday. Angelė Vilutytė-Rimševičienė was born on June 29, 1943 in the village of Kūriniai, Kaltanėnai village (Švenčionys district). The future linguist studied at Saldutiškis secondary school, later graduated from classical philology at Vilnius University. 249 Jolita Urbanavičienė. „aš veržiuosi į praeitį, kuri man spindi lengvumu, šventumu ir paprastumu“ (in memoriam angelei vilutytei-rimševičienei, 1943–2022) University. From 1966 to 2010 he worked at the Institute of Lithuanian Language and Literature (since 1991 – Lithuanian Language), the Centre of Lexicography. A. Vilutytė-Rimševičienė is one of the representatives of the Lithuanian school of lexicography. She belongs to the very productive fourth generation of authors of the Lithuanian language dictionary – together with Antanas Balašaitis, Irena Ermanyte, onute Kažukauskaitė, sofija Kėzyte, Antanas Lyberis, gertrūda Naktiniene, Kazis pakalka, Jonas paulauskas, Ritutė petrokiene, Dovile svetikiene, Zita šimėnaite, Kazis ulvydas, Adele valeckiene, vytautas vitkauskas, Klementina vosylyte A. Rimševičienė worked on the dictionary from volume X: she wrote volumes X–XX, edited the texts of volumes XIX–XX. Since linguists from the region of Švenčionys did not participate in the editing of the Lithuanian language dictionary, Angela’s contribution was very important, because when working with authentic dialect material and transposing dialect facts into common language, dialect skills were highly valued. “We do not have linguists from Švenčionys region, you will have to contribute, collect material, bring it to us, and take an interest in Kaltanėnai dialect,” - this is how Professor Juozas Balčikonis defined Angela’s tasks at the beginning of her scientific career1. A. Vilutytė-Rimševičienė adhered to these principles throughout her life, saying: “I filled the dictionary as much as possible, so that our region would be known.”2 In 1996, A. Vilutytė-Rimševičienė and her colleagues were awarded the Republic of Lithuania Science Prize for their work on the Lithuanian Language Dictionary, vols. After the publication of the last volume of the dictionary, A. Rimševičienė, together with other authors of the dictionary, wrote the test texts of the dictionary supplements, as well as edited and adapted the texts of the electronic Lithuanian language dictionary3. Other research activities of A. Rimševičienė are closely related to the Lithuanian language dictionary. She recorded more than 70,000 words, of which 40,000 were from Lithuanian dialects. Angela has spoken about this bar as follows: “I was told: ‘you carry the material in bags, and where do you get so much of it.’ The priest always asked, "What are you doing with these old ladies in the temple? What do you want from those old ladies?” and I would ask, and since there were not many young people who would like to communicate, they would be happy to talk to me. by loving our language, let us love our native land. The Land of the Free 2022 m. birželio 25 d., p. 3. 2 ibid., p. 3. 3 Lithuanian Language Dictionary (I–XX, 1941–2002): electronic version, editors: g. Naktinienė (editor), J. paulauskas, R. petrokienė, v. vitkauskas, J. Zabarskaitė; programmers: E. ožeraitis, v. Zinkevičius, vilnius: Lithuanian Language Institute, 2005 (updated version – 2018). Internet access: www.lkz.lt; https://ekalba.lt/lietuviu-kalboszodynas/. 250 GENDRINĖ KALBA | 95 raudavo, ateidavo.“4 A. Rimševičienė was considered one of the most experienced Lithuanian dictionary word collectors: she was able to distinguish from the flow of oral language a figurative sentence illustrating an authentic dialect word, her sentences did not need to be stamped, and she presented the forms or interpretation of the meanings of the title words with lexicographical accuracy. A. Rimševičienė advised beginner word collectors, organized lexical data collection, and herself has participated in expeditions to Lithuanian islands in Belarus – Pelesa, Rodūnija, as well as Degušiai (Zarasai r.), Žilinas (Varenai r.), Adutiškis (Švenčionys r.) and elsewhere. She was interested in the issue of the authenticity of the data of the Lithuanian language dictionary database, and in her publications assessed the reliability of word collectors’ material5. In 2001 A. Rimševičienė together with her colleagues I. Ermanyte, O. Kažukauskaitė, G. Naktinienė, J. Paulauskas, Z. Šimėnaitė prepared and published the Frazeoloog dictionary6, which includes phraseologisms from oral language (dialects), ancient writings, periodical and fictional literature, as well as the structure of phraseological compounds, their meaning and use characteristics, and the phenomenon of phraseology itself is discussed. Another area of activity of A. Rimševičienė is related to the lexicographic legacy of Jurgis Ambraziejus accent. She studied the dictionary of botanical terms of J. A. Emphasis in Sry Balsenyyny. Biiluu Žemayt (1834)7, a systematic nomenclature of plants Waardaa taislyynee Augimiu, analyzed the remarks of Jon Kruop about the works of J. A. Emphasis8. A. Rimševičienė’s publications on various other issues of lexicography and language culture regularly appeared in scientific journals. During her long career as a dictionary writer, Angela tasted the bread of teaching, translator and editor. In 1975–1982 she taught Latin at Vilnius Pedagogical University, in 1988–2007 she worked at the Faculty of Medicine of Vilnius University. teaching future doctors Latin, translated 4 Jakštas Algis. by loving our language, let us love our native land. The Land of the Free 2022 m. birželio 25 d., p. 3. 5 hopeless angel. Authenticity problems of the data of the Great Lithuanian Language Dictionary. Dialects: Problems of text and dictionaries preparation. Materials of the international scientific seminar dedicated to the 85th anniversary of Antanas Kučinskas, 2000, Šiauliai: Šiaulių University, p. 108–116. 6 Phraseology Dictionary, edited by: Irena Ermanytė, ona Kažukauskaitė, gertrūda Naktinienė, Jonas paulauskas (edited), Zita šimėnaitė, Angelė vilutytė, Vilnius: Lithuanian Language Institute, 2001; electronic version – 2015. access online: https://ekalba.lt/frazeologijos-zodynas/. 7 hopeless angel. "Dictionary of Botanical Terms by J. A. Balsenyyny (1834)". Journal of Linguistics, 1995, pp. 169–175. 8 vilutytė-Rimševičienė A. Jono Kruopos remarks on the lexicographical legacy of Jurgis Ambraziejus. Leksikografija ir leksikologija 2, 2010, p. 35–45. 251 Jolita Urbanavičienė. „aš veržiuosi į praeitį, kuri man spindi lengvumu, šventumu ir paprastumu“ (in memoriam angelei vilutytei-rimševičienei, 1943–2022) Sabina Filipčak-Novicka and Zofija Grech-Zmijevska’s textbook Lingua Latina ad usum medicinae studentium9. A. vilutytė-Rimševičienė has cooperated with the publishing house „versmės“ in preparing monographs of the Lithuanian counties series: Saldutiškis (2020)10, Viešvilė (I–II d., 2020)11, Kaltanėnai. Labanor. Reškutėnai (still in preparation). Angelė also edited Jonina Lipskienė’s dictionary Vaizdingieji lietuvių kalbos posakiai (2008)12. The lexicographers who worked on the Lithuanian language dictionary were used to collective work, but Angelė did not limit herself to that. one of the most important works of her life – a monument to the native dialect – the Kaltanėnai schnekt dictionary, published in 2008. The dictionary, which was prepared over 40 years and consists of 40,000 vocabulary units with illustrative sentences, not only preserves the picturesque old Kaltanėnai dialect, but also contains important geolinguistic material, since the Kaltanėnai area is the border of two eastern Altay sub-groups – Utenis and Vilnius (in 1919–1939 the demarcation line between Lithuania and Poland passed through these places). The data provided by A. Rimševičienė, that at the beginning of the 21st century in Kukliai, gožkiniai, Kaltanėnai villages the unpronounced o is pronounced as halflong [ɔ.], while in Berniūnai, terpežio, Kūriniai, žvirbliškės villages the halflong [a.]13 is maintained, provide important information for determining the boundaries of the patarmiai. all illustrative dictionary sentences are written in phonetic transcription, so they are valuable for both lexicographers and phoneticists, and the authenticity of the material may also interest ethnographers. In the preface of the dictionary the author wrote: „Every time in my hometown I was drawn by an ancient word spoken, an unheard story of neighbors.“14 She remembered with great affection her mother Eleonora Dailidytė-vilutienė – an unparalleled storyteller, her grandmother Eleonora Dailidienė – a herbalist and a famous in the whole area. Their words also entered the dictionary. Angelė wrote her last book, Treasures of Mother Tongue (2022), under quarantine conditions, only by visiting her native Works in her mind. The book presents dialect stories of the old generation of Kaltanėnai people, 9 Filipczak-Nowicka sabina, grech-Żmijewska Zofia. Lingua Latina ad usum medicinae stuum den tium, translated from Polish by Angelė Rimševičienė, text supplemented and adapted by Jūratė Baronienė, Vilnius: Science and Encyclopedia Publishing Center, 2004; 2nd ed. 2010 edition. 10 Saldutiškis: monograph, compiled by Jūratė Baltrukaitienė, 38th book of the series Lithuanian counties, vilnius: versmė, 2020. 11: Monograph. III dalys, compiled by A. sinkevičius, series Lithuanian counties 40th book, vilnius: versmė, 2020. 12th edition by Jonna. Vilnius: Lithuanian Language Institute, 2008. 13, Angel. Kaltanėnų šnektos žodynas, vilnius: Lithuanian Language Institute, 2008, p. XIv. 14 Ibid., p. IX. 252 GENERAL LANGUAGE | 95 collected figurative expressions, phraseologisms, a dictionary of Slavisms, there are also photos from the personal album. The book is accompanied by a CD with stories of Eleonora Dailidytė-vilutienė, recorded in 1975. Angelė has admitted that by publishing the book she wanted to encourage Kaltanėnai people to love their language, to know a little bit of their dialect, and through the language to love their land15. The author still managed to present the book to the Kaltanėnai community. The event was attended by her son Laurynas, a doctor and poet, who has said that his mother’s work influenced his work: “I used to read cards with dialect sentences, which accumulated thousands at home. Therefore, I know various words that reality has already displaced.”16 In the author’s words, Angela herself speaks poetically, returning in her memories to the past, “which shines with lightness, holiness and simplicity.”17 He sees Angela sitting at her native cottage on the shore of Kiuna and listening to a bird concert. near as if to feel the presence of ancestors, peacefully resting in the village cemetery. Beside them now lay Angela, a man of extraordinary modesty, who worked all her life for the good of her native land and its dialect. Rest in peace, dear colleague, your work will never be forgotten. may the land of Kaltanėnai be easy for you! JoLitA uRBANAvIčIENĖ Lietuvių kalbos institutas petro vileišio g. 5, Lt-10308 vilnius [email protected] 15th Anniversary Edition. by loving our language, let us love our native land. 25 June 2022, p. 6. 16, by Lillian. medicine and poetry lead on the path of searching for a miracle. Bernardinai, 2015 m. balandžio 27 d. prieiga internete: https://www.bernardinai.lt/2014-01-09-medicina-ir-poezija-veda-miraklo-sieskojimo-keliu/. 17, Angel. Treasures of native language, vilnius: versmė, 2022, 15.