KAZYS ULVYDAS

LET US SPEAK AND WRITE CORRECTLY

Manuscripts of radio language segments¹

1963.XII.13

1. Comrade Pranas Morkiškis from Vilnius asks whether the radio announcers’ expression 19 hours 30 minutes, used when announcing the next day’s program, is correct.

If the time when something will happen is specified, one says: 19 hours 30 minutes, 8 hours 21 minutes, 23 hours 2 minutes, 0 hours 8 minutes, 1 hour 34 minutes, and so on. Where possible, the minutes here are expressed in the nominative case. When the time now is specified, one says: It is now seven hours one minute, 22 hours 38 minutes, 16 hours 20 minutes, and so on. But here, too, there is no need to shy away from ordinal numerals—it would be perfectly possible to say: It is now the first hour, eight minutes; the fourteenth hour, 20 minutes.

There are also other constructions in the language for expressing hours and minutes, namely: Come at half past ten, it is now half past eight, we will leave two minutes past two, or—two minutes after two, call me at twenty to three, it is now twenty to three, or—twenty to the third, gather at twenty-five past four, or—twenty-five past the fourth, and so on. Thus, sometimes we even omit the forms of the words hour, minute, saying only the numeral forms (alone or with prepositions), and listeners understand it all.

¹ We publish the manuscripts of two radio language segments, preserved by Kazys Ulvydas’s daughter, Eglė Bugenienė. The language has not been corrected; the accent marks are as in the manuscript, and the words marked with a wavy line are printed in italics.

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In addition, instead of the expression fifteen minutes, the noun quarter is sometimes used (just as the noun half is used instead of the expression thirty minutes), for example: it is now a quarter past two, a quarter to six, a quarter to twelve, we will begin lunch a quarter past one, and so on.

Nevertheless, it should be said that of the many constructions available in the language for expressing hours and minutes, those we mentioned first are becoming the most convenient, namely: I will arrive at five minutes past ten and it is now twenty-three hours and four minutes (or: the twenty-third hour and four minutes). These constructions are very convenient for expressing time broken down hour by hour and minute by minute, or second by second.

2. Comrade Buzienė from Ukmergė asks whether the women’s names Vaivà, Daivà, Gaivಠare old or new, whether they are Lithuanian, and what they derive from.

The name Vaivõs is known from Krėvė’s work “Perkūnas, Vaiva ir Straublys” [“Thunder, Vaiva and Straublys”]. The other two are most likely recent coinages. Daivà lays claim to kinship with deivė [goddess], while Gaivà is indistinguishable from words such as gaivùs, gaivinti, and so on. Nowadays these names can be heard fairly often; they are reasonably well formed, and there is no reason to avoid them. But overall, we should be more careful when choosing names for children. First and foremost, we should make sure they are beautiful and correctly formed. Made-up names of any kind, especially those of dubious formation, should be avoided altogether. The Lithuanian language already has plenty of beautiful names.

3. Comrade Valančienė from Šiauliai District writes: “You explained that the name of the month birželis derives from the word berželis, but several dozen years ago at school I heard the names of the months explained in this way”

² These names are now accented according to the first accentuation pattern: Dáiva, Gáiva, Váiva (R. V.).

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names” (the letter’s author goes on to explain the names of the months, and says of birželis: “the farmers would sow grain and mark out the field—while sowing, they would mark the spot where they had already sown”).

It should be said that birželis, biržyti, beržas, and berželis are all related words.

Birch twigs were used for marking. Thus, birželis and biržyti cannot be separated from the word beržas.

4. A listener from Vilnius writes that in literary language, alongside the name of the tree kaštãnas, the variant kaštõnas is supposedly used unnecessarily.

Of course, it is not quite satisfactory for the same tree to be called by two variant words here, but for the time being there is no other way, since it is difficult to say which of the two variants should be retained. Some of us are more accustomed to using kaštãnas, others kaštõnas. So it is no accident that some dictionaries include both words. Sometimes our very sense of language dictates which variant should be retained in literary language and which discarded. In the case of Kaštãno – kaštõno, however, it is harder to settle the question. So let us leave it to time itself, and to actual usage, to resolve.

1978.IV.1

Dear fellow listeners,

After a two-week break, we are resuming our language segments, which take place on the same day, that is, Saturday, and at the same time, that is, at 14 hours and five minutes. We apologize to those comrades whose letters we were unable to answer at the promised time; we will try to answer at least some of them today.

1. A listener to our programs, Comrade Zigmas Mickevičius from Kaunas, asks whether the word veliumas is used in literary language, and what its origin, meaning, and value are, as well as what the

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the word’s relationship to the Lithuanian word nuometas, or whether nuometas can replace the word vėliumas.

First, let us make a few observations about the word vėliumas. This word derives from the Latin word velum, which means “sail.” In French, the word voile derives from the Latin word velum; it means a very fine, almost transparent fabric used by women to cover their faces or for other purposes. In Polish, the word welon derives from the Latin word velum and, among other meanings, denotes a covering for a bride’s head. The word vėliumas sounds very Latin in Lithuanian. One could say it is a Latin word with a Lithuanian ending added. Only in Lithuanian does vėliumas mean not a sail, but a particular kind of veil, a covering for a bride’s head. Here, the author of the letter in reply, having encountered the word in recent fiction (in a collection of short stories), wanted to find out what it meant but could not, because it appeared neither in the “Dictionary of International Words” nor in the “Dictionary of Modern Language.” The word has the specific meaning of a covering for a bride’s head in Lithuanian and is needed in the language. Its omission from the dictionaries mentioned was accidental. The Lithuanian word nuometas cannot replace the international word vėliumas, because nuometas chiefly means a married woman’s head covering. Thus, the international word vėliumas can quite properly exist in Lithuanian, and, naturally, it should be entered and explained both in a dictionary of international words and in a dictionary of Lithuanian literary language.

2. An employee at the office of the Okainiai collective farm in Kėdainiai District asks what gender the word vinis is—masculine or feminine. So how should one say: tos vinys or tie vinys, šiferinės vinys or šiferiniai vinys?

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In literary language, the word vìnis is feminine. It is declined vìnis, -ies, -iai, vinį, vinimi, vinìje; plural: vinys, vinių, vinìms... Thus, one should say: ta vinis, tos vinys, šiferinė vinis, šiferinės vinys.

By the way, on this occasion we would like to remind all listeners to our language sessions that many questions of language usage, many questions about word meanings, stress, and the use and standardization of words can be investigated on one’s own simply by consulting the “Dictionary of Modern Lithuanian,” published in 1972 and, fortunately, still available in many bookshops. If you cannot find it locally, you should ask your local bookshop to help order this valuable, substantial book from Vilnius, where it can certainly still be obtained. We confidently recommend it here to all lovers of their native language because it can greatly help anyone who writes with matters of language and usage. Some time will pass, and this book, which now costs only three rubles and a few kopecks, will become a major bibliographical rarity, since books of this kind are published only once every dozen or several dozen years. So, while it is still available, dear listeners, make sure to get a copy of the “Dictionary of Modern Lithuanian.”

3. Next, we will answer a letter from Comrade Juozas Didžbanis, sent from the “Bolshevik” collective farm in Šakiai District. The author dislikes the word laikotarpis, which is often heard in radio weather forecasts. The word laikotarpis is a good one, and there is no reason to avoid it. When the announcer says, Laikotarpio pabaigoje laukiama atšilimo, it has already been stated which laikotarpis is meant: a month, two weeks, a week, five or three days, and so on. Of course, if the time span meant is not specified, the word laikotarpis is meaningless. As far as I have noticed, the weather bureau’s announcements always make this clear; they always state beforehand what time span is meant. Then the word laikotarpis is clear and appropriate.

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Recalling the weather bureau reports read on the radio or television, one should criticize the weather bureau—and, along with it, the radio and television editors—for the inappropriate locative form gūsiuose (but, of course, not the announcers, since they receive texts already prepared by the editors). Although the word gūsis is not of Lithuanian origin (compare German guss), it is nevertheless acceptable in literary language if used properly. Gūsis means a break, a gust, a surge, for example: Vėjas pučia gūsiais. In Russian, gūsį corresponds to порыв. Samogitians say: Vėjas pučia atsiūbais (that is, in such surges, or gusts). Russians say: Ветер в порывах сильный. The Russian construction в порывах must on no account be translated mechanically using the locative gūsiuose. Only the instrumental gūsiais would fit here. But since the word gūsis is not of Lithuanian origin and is also not known to all Lithuanians, the instrumental of a purely Lithuanian word, tarpais, would be the best choice in this case. Thus, where weather forecasts wrongly say: Vėjas gūsiuose stiprus, one should say in Lithuanian: Vėjas tarpais stiprus.

BENDRINĖ KALBA 93 (2020)

http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba

ISSN 2351-7204