Juozui Karaciejui sukako 60 metų

S. AmbrAzAS. Juozas Karacius turns 60 343 SAULIUS AMBRAZAS Institute of Lithuanian Language 60 years of Juozas KaracieJus with KaKo Associate Professor Dr. Juozas Karaciejus celebrated his 60th anniversary in 2008. He was born on January 12, 1948 (according to documents on October 28) in Cimanieniai, Lazddininkai district. On this occasion, even if we look back briefly, we will see his deeply engraved indelible marks or dotted lines pointing to the future in many places. The dissertation of the candidate of philological sciences (now – doctor of philology) defended at Vilnius University in 1987, whose final version was written in Russian according to the requirements of the time, is particularly important for historical linguistics: История соа циаль ных терминов литовского языка (на материале письменных па мят 16th–18th centuries ), scientific director algirdas sabaliauskas. it is a fairly large work in two parts (over 200 typewritten pages). It examines the origin of Lithuanian old social terms and, most importantly, their use in ancient Lithuanian writings, which has been collected from various sources. It is a pity that this in many respects much needed work has not been published in a separate book1. Only a few short articles on this subject have appeared, scattered among various publications and not replacing the whole of the dissertation: about the earlier interpretations of the origin of the terms kēdis, familià, tautà (Lietuvių kalbotyros klausimai 19, 1979, 125–130), about the ancient, now extinct form of the term rykūnia „the chief administrator of affairs“ (Lietuvių kalbotyros klausimai 22, 1983, 124–127), about the history of the words draũgas, bičiùlis (Mintis ir ženklas, 1983, 104–110), svẽčias / svetỹs, viešnià (Ženklas ir prasmė, 1986, 62–75), bérnas, mergà (Words and Meanings, 1991, 36–40), about the use of the words kiemas „village“, kiemionis „peasant“, kiemystė „rural roughness“ (Kalbos kultūra 33, 1977, 81–82), giminė, gentis, šeimyna, valdonas „subject“ (Lietuvių kalbotyros klausimai 20, 1980, 101–107) in Konstantinas Sirvydas’ writings. 1 One can be comforted only by the fact that this fate befell many of the dissertations written in the Soviet period. After all, the doors of the publishing house were opened for such works only a few years ago, when the Lithuanian Language Institute began publishing the book series Opera Linguistica Lithuanica. 344 Language Culture | 81 In addition to these, there are articles on the history of the kinship term vèsti(s) “to take for wife” (LTSR MA darbai 2(95), 1986, 113–117), on the origin of the word sbras (Baltistica 29(2), 1995, 184–187), on the problems of preparing a historical and etymological dictionary (Lietuvių kalbotyros klausimai 37, 1997, 209–214), on etymological remarks in Prano Skardišos work Lietuvių kalbos žodžių daryba (Lietuvių kalbotyros klausimai 38, 1997, 21–26), as well as reviews of Algirdas sabaliauskas’s book Lietuvių kalbos leksika (Baltistica 27(2), 1994, 100–102), Konstantinas Karolis’s etymological dictionary of Latvian language (Baltistica 29(2), 1994, 215–217), Daniel Peti (Petit)’s monograph Apophonie et catégories grammaticales dans les langues baltiques (Acta Linguistica Lithuanica 53, 2005, 111–116). In 1987–1996, Karacejus and others at Vilnius University prepared a Lithuanian etymological dictionary. This work was led by Vincas Urbutis. thus laid the foundations of a new etymological dictionary. Furthermore, for the bibliography published in Linguistica Baltica, Karaciejus collected information about Baltic studies published in Lithuania for several years (vols. 1–8). Another important area of the linguist’s work is the study and publication of ancient writings. He has published Wolfenbüttel’s Postel2 (1995), Kiprionas Lukauskas’ Pamoksas lus3 (1996), Martinas Mažvydas’ Christmas Carols (1997). The scientific edition of Contiones Lituanicae, a collection of sermons in manuscript from the beginning of the 15th century, which has been waiting in the publishing house for a long time, should appear soon. press and other manuscript sermon collections are being prepared (see Naujasis židinys 9, 1996). Karacius also contributed to the anthology of Lithuanian church hymns of the 15th–18th centuries, Giesmės dangaus miestui (1998). He is now assisting Vincent Drotvin in preparing a dictionary of Jakub Brodowski for publication. With detailed analytical reviews, Karacius received the reviews of various ancient texts prepared by Jonas Palionis (Baltistica 32(1), 1997, 131–132; Acta Linguistica Lithuanica 45, 2001, 187–201), Vincentas Drotvinas (Archivum Lithuanicum 1, 1999, 171–178), Guido michelinio (Baltistica 32(2), 1998, 307–309; 36(2), 2002, 320–324; Acta Linguistica Lithuanica 53, 2005, 116–125), Dainora Pociūte (Acta Linguistica Lithuanica 51, 2004, 115–121) 2 truth, here based on a photocopy, and the manuscript of this unique 15th-century monument of Lithuanian language, kept in Wolfenbüttel, in the Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel (signature cod. It is currently being thoroughly researched by Jolanta Gelumbeckaitė, who defended her habilitation in Germany in 2007. 3 Together with Vytautas Zinkevičius, a computerized concordance of forms of this manuscript has been compiled. It is based on a word index. S. AmbrAzAS. 345 permits were issued to Juozas Karacius for 60 years. reviewed Jochen D. range’s Bausteine zur BretkeeForschung (Linguistica Baltica 2, 1993, 251–252), Jono Palionis’s Lietuvių rašomosios kalbos istorija (Darbai ir dienos 4(13), 1997, 223–225). On Karaciejus’ desk lies a monograph on the language of the 15th-century ecclesiastical writings of Greater Lithuania. Several articles on this topic have already appeared (Lietuvių kalbotyros klausimai 39, 1998, 134–139; Žmogus ir žodis 2, 2000, 24–26; Acta Balticoa Slavica 30, 2006, 173–179). It gradually becomes clear that the decline of Lithuanian writing in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 15th century4 was not as severe as it is often depicted, that the tradition of a written language based on the middle interdialects (with only an increasingly thickening layer of lowland dialects), which was born in the time of Michael Daukša, was continued at that time, and that most of the Slavisms used in the period under consideration are essentially the same as in the writings of the 15th–17th centuries, and that their greater frequency was determined by the “macaroni” language characteristic of the Baroque era. the aforementioned articles on Martynas Mažvydas’ Catechism (Darbai ir dienos 4(13), 1997, 93–98; the English translation was published in Martynas Mažvydas and Old Lithuania, 1998, 159–172); about Jurgis Gerulis’s principles of compiling Old Lithuanian reading and their significance for Lithuanian studies (Lietuv tuvių kalbotyros klausimai 36, 1996, 25–29). Dialectologists should be grateful to Karacius for his translation into Lithuanian of the monograph Buivydžių šnekta (1990) by Robert Gauthiot (Gotjo) (1876–1916). In addition, in a separate article he discussed the little-known report of his trip to Lithuania in 1900 (Problems of Language History and Dialectology 1, 2005, 224–240). other important works of this tragic French scholar for Lithuanian studies are being prepared for publication. He was interested in Karacius and the attempts of the Swiss linguist Adolf Pictet (Piktė) to etymologize Lithuanian words (Kalbos kultūra 39, 1980, 95–97), translated into Lithuanian the review of antoine meillet (antuano mejė) about Kazimieras Būga’s Aistiškus studijas (Lietuvių kalbotyros klausimai 20, 1980, 50– 52), published alone (ibid., 86–96) and together with Algirdas sabaliauskas (ibid., 54–86) a series of Būga’s letters. He wrote about the importance of tambourine works for the spelling of common language (Kalbos kultūra 28, 1975, 42–48) and on topics relevant to current language culture (Kalbos kultūra 26, 1974, 38–39; 27, 1974, 53–55). 4 Aleksas Girdenis (Kalbotyros darbai 2, 2000, 393) drew attention to this in the early Soviet period (in an internal review of Jon Kabelkas’ textbook Introduction to Baltic Philology in 1981). and recently there has been a general increase in the number of scholars who have a more sober assessment of the writings of that period (cf. Archivum Lithuanicum 5, 2003, 378, 3. cited literature). However, there is still a lack of comprehensive, all-encompassing studies. 346 Language Culture | 81 Karacejus has also contributed to the education of the new generation of Lithuanianists at Vilnius and Vytautas the Great Universities. However, his roots are mostly in the Department of Language History and Dialectology of the Lithuanian Language Institute. Here he matured as a scientist, here and now he works successfully. In conclusion, I would like to wish my dear colleague that, despite all the storms and storms, for a long time in his garden of spirit, new and everlasting fruits of science will ripen.