Angelė KAULAKIENĖ

90TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST LITHUANIAN PHYSICS TEXTBOOK

The origins of Lithuanian physics terminology can be traced back to the mid-19th century, when a series of articles was published in the newspaper "Keleivis iš Karaliaučiaus broliams lietuvininkams žinias parnešęs" (1848–1880). These introduced readers to some of the most important physics discoveries of the late 18th and early 19th centuries (electromagnetic induction, the law of conservation of energy, phenomena of magnetism, etc.) and to new machines and devices (the steam engine, telephone, telegraph, thermometer, etc.). At that time, physics and technology were very closely related. Physics was regarded as the theoretical foundation of technology. Consequently, the articles popularizing physics in both "Keleivis" and the later "Aušra" (1883–1886) contained numerous terms that could be classified as belonging to both physics and technology.

Only in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when original and translated Lithuanian physics textbooks appeared, can one speak exclusively of the further development of physics terminology, which was shaped in part by three popularizers of the natural sciences of that period: Petras Vileišis, Juozas Adomaitis-Šernas, and Jonas Šliūpas.

Petras Vileišis (1851–1926), žinomas švietimo ir kultūros veikėjas, yra pirmojo lietuviško fizikos vadovėlio "Populariškas rankvedis fizikos" autorius. Rašydamas populiarinimo knygeles, jis pasirašinėdavo įvairiais slapyvardžiais: P. Neris, Nėris, Nerys, Ramojus, Giedrius, Gintautas, Svalė ar tik P.N., L., G. Kartais visai nepasirašydavo arba nurodydavo savo artimesnių draugų inicialus, pavyzdžiui, Vl.S. (Vladas Stulginskis)¹. Juozas Vileišis aiškina, jog P. Vileišis taip darė, norėdamas parodyti rusų valdžiai, jog tos knygelės yra ne vieno, bet daugelio asmenų darbas².

¹ Aničas J. Petras Vileišis: 1851–1926. V., 1993. P. 104.

² Vileišis J. Spaudos laisvė ir inž. Petras Vileišis. K., 1927. P. 8.

69

He signed the textbook "Populiariškas rankvedis fizikoz" under the pseudonym P. Nerio³. He sent the textbook to J. Šliūpas in America so that he could publish the "handbook." However, J. Šliūpas, who had only a tiny, primitive printing press, was unable to publish P. Vileišis’s book, and instead settled for printing two excerpts from it, "Balsas" (i.e., sound) and "Šviesa" (light), in his "Lietuviškasis balsas." Later, P. Vileišis’s manuscript came into the hands of the priest A. Milukas, who had established a publishing house for books and the journal "Dirva" in Senandore (Pennsylvania). In 1899, A. Milukas published P. Vileišis’s "Populiariškas rankvedis fizikoz." On part of the book’s print run, A. Milukas pasted an additional title page before the original, bearing the following bibliographic information: "Dirva" No. 2, vol. 9, April. "Populiariškas rankvedis fizikoz." P. Nerio". Thus, the book became an issue of the journal. Later, in 1905, after making some spelling corrections, P. Vileišis reprinted this textbook at his own "Vilniaus žinios" printing house⁴. Accordingly, this year marks the 90th anniversary of the first Lithuanian physics textbook printed in Lithuania.

P. Vileišis’s textbook received a favorable assessment at the time. Here is how "Populiariškas rankvedis fizikoz" was reviewed in the newspaper "Tėvynė" in 1899: "It is an important and useful little book, with many illustrations. It could be used as a handbook in schools, and, in the absence of Lithuanian schools, anyone could read it and benefit greatly"⁵.

The newspaper "Vienybė Lietuvninkų," also in 1899, not only welcomed the appearance of this textbook but briefly discussed its structure as well. "At last we have received a physics handbook, albeit a short one. From this book, the reader will learn about simple manifestations of the force found in every object. The book is divided into 5 chapters: the first describes weight (gravity), the second heat, the third sound, the fourth light, and the fifth electricity. The book is very useful, and it is to be hoped that everyone will

³ Populiariškas rankvedis fizikoz. Parašė P. Neris. V. "Vilniaus žinių" spaustuvė. 1905. – 100 p.

⁴ Petronis J. Petras Vileišis. V., 1992. P. 73–74.

⁵ Tėvynė Mėnesinis laikraštis. Organas susivienijimo lietuvių Amerikoji. Plymouth. Pa, 1899, Nr. 5, P. 148. The text of the excerpts has been left authentic throughout this article.

70

read, wishing to learn the force that sustains all things⁶.

Undoubtedly, under the conditions of the time, it was in fact a finely produced, richly illustrated, fairly substantial book of 100 pages, and for a long time probably the only book in which many physical phenomena were explained simply and comprehensibly. Here, for example, is how evaporation and cold are explained: "let us fill a glass vessel with water and begin to boil it, as we usually say. After waiting a while, we will hear the water begin to squeak and tremble; bubbles begin to rise from the bottom of the vessel, and when they reach the top they burst; if we keep the fire going well without interruption, we will see that the bubbles grow larger each time, and finally all the water begins to bubble, moving vigorously, while the steam, which we could already glimpse a little earlier, begins to billow forth strongly" (p. 56). "It seems to us that cold is something other than heat. But is that really so? In the middle of summer, when the heat has subsided to 10 or 11°, everyone begins to complain: oh, how cold it is today. Yet on a late autumn day, when the temperature sometimes rises to 10 or 11°, everyone says: "What a warm little day"! From this we see that the very same temperature is called cold in summer and heat in autumn. Therefore, cold is nothing more than heat that is insufficient to warm our bodies adequately" (p. 51).

These excerpts show the author's desire to make do as far as possible with native Lithuanian words. Consequently, most of the textbook's terms are taken from dialects and old writings (e.g.: echo 80, axis 11, voice 74, thing 63, clouds 71, material 3, layer 65, spoke 13, spring 44, light 82, melting 52, weave 71, glowing 96, etc.), from the forerunners of physics terminology, i.e. popularizing physics articles in "Keleivis" and "Aušra", for example: roundness 19, "volume"; pajėga 12 (pajėga 57), "force"; naugės 82, "metals"; svarbė 3, "weight", etc., or terms coined by P. Vileišis himself, for example: thunder-conductor 97, "lightning rod"; conductor 94, "conductor"; and others. Therefore

⁶ Vienybė Lietuvninkų Literatūros, mokslo ir politikos savaitinis laikraštis. Plymouth, Pa. USA, 1899. Nr. 7. P. 205.

⁷ Žr. Populiariškas rankvedis fizykos. V. 1905.

71

quite a few of P. Vileišis's textbook terms have survived to the present day, for example: echo 80, cf. FTŽ⁸, particle 41, refraction of light 173, focus 396, etc. All this shows that the author was able to choose many terms appropriately.

Of the 150 names of basic concepts presented in the textbook, 110 are Lithuanian and only 40 borrowed. Thus, Lithuanian terms made up 73%, and borrowed ones 27% of all the names mentioned. Most borrowed terms are of Greek or Latin origin, for example: aerostat 43, cf. Greek aer, "air," and statos, "standing"; electricity 92, cf. Greek elektron, "amber"; molecule 21, cf. Latin moles, "mass," and the diminutive suffix -cula; spectrum 88, cf. Latin spectrum, "image, picture." Only a few terms were borrowed from French, Slavic, or other languages, for example: insulator 94, cf. French isolateur, "nonconductor"; syla 3, cf. Russian cula, used in the sense of force only once, for example, I take a book; to hold it requires greater or lesser force (syla), depending on its size. Otherwise, in such cases the term pajėga is used throughout. Apparently, P. Vileišis was familiar with K. Obelaitis's article, which questions whether it is appropriate to use syla in the sense of force⁹. Moreover, the term syla is given as a synonym for force only in parentheses. In general, the textbook quite often gives a Lithuanian equivalent alongside a loanword; compare also diameter (cross-section) 49, gas (gases) 43, sphere (circle) 4, etc. Thus, the textbook's terminology, like the physics terminology of the time in general (here meaning the terms in popularizing physics articles in "Keleivis" and "Aušra"), rested on a firm foundation—Lithuanian vocabulary.

From the perspective of word formation, its words can be divided into certain derivational categories, which also determine the categories of the terms themselves. In this case, one can distinguish categories of actions, properties, phenomena, objects, and dimensions, associated with particular features of naming. One of these is the synonymy of concept names. Usually, a concept is named by two, sometimes three, synonymous or compound terms, distinguished from one another by a comma or parentheses. Most often, as already mentioned, this is a loanword and its Lithuanian equivalent; compare also line (drawing), metal (naugės), stričkė (shpulė, skri-

⁸ Fizikos terminų žodynas. V., 1979. – 677 p.

⁹ O b e l a i t i s K. Kalbos dalykai/ Varpas, 1892, Nr. 8, p. 114–115.

72

dinys) 11 etc. There are cases where two synonyms are linked by the conjunction or, e.g.: measurement of humidity or hygrometry 69, source or spring 27, middle or center 4, etc. In my view, the origins of this presentation of synonyms should be sought in "Keleivis"; cf. electromagnetic writing machines or telegraphs (1854, 14, 56)¹⁰, silk balloon or eyepiece (1860, 47, 188), lightning post or telegraph (1865, 22, 88), and in "Aušra"; cf. will-o’-the-wisp or marsh light (1886, 1, 25), ores or metals (1883, 10, 256), etc.

The second distinctive feature of the textbook’s terminology is categorical polysemy. It characterizes names for concepts that encompass properties belonging simultaneously to two logical categories. Most often these are the logical categories of property and magnitude or quantitative parameter, and, less frequently, of action and result. In the textbook, property and magnitude are expressed by derivatives with the suffix -umas, e.g.: all bodies, falling through the air, have the same speed 19; <...> heat passes in every body from one particle to another at a different rate of quantity transfer 65. Then all the lines <...> will be radii of equal length 4, and so on. Although there are cases where derivatives with the suffix -umas name only a quantitative parameter, a particular volume, e.g.: it will then express such a volume of water as itself, namely a cubic foot 17; <...> one must compare them by taking the same volume for both; let it be a quart 15. It seems that P. Vileišis used the term apvalumas in the sense of a quantitative parameter, a particular volume, after the model of "Aušra"; cf. lean lime does not increase its volume more than twofold (1884, 10–11, 353), gypsum paste does not increase in volume as it dries (1884, 12, 415), etc.

Sometimes property and magnitude, or a quantitative parameter, are named using both derivatives with the suffix -umas and derivatives with the ending -is, e.g.: in a cylinder, water should rise to exactly its height, as high as it stands in the vessel 26, <...> the water in both vessels will be distributed equally and rise to the same height 22, etc.

Only later, in the first decades of the 20th century, was an attempt made to abandon this categorical polysemy. In Prof. Ig. Končius’s list

¹⁰The newspaper’s year, issue number, and page are given in parentheses.

73

In “Terminai fizikos reikalams” [“Terms for Physics”], published in the newspaper "Lietuva" in 1923–1924, the terms mentioned above are explained as follows: 1138. greitis, -čio – скорость (как величина), while 1137. greitumas, -o – скорость (размер скорости), 305. ilgis, -io – длина (как величина), while 306. ilgumas – длина (размер величины), etc.

The third distinctive feature of the textbook’s terminology is the distinction between generic and specific terms, e.g.: body: hygroscopic body 70, solid body 77, liquid body 76 or expansion 21–22, 43, 58; electricity: negative electricity 93, positive electricity 93, natural electricity 94; fountain: natural fountain 27, artificial fountain 27; steam: saturated steam 62, superheated steam 62, compressed steam 62, water (aqueous) vapor 69; conductor: good conductors 94, poor conductors 94; pump: suction pump 40, forcing pump 39. As these examples show, almost all adjectives and participles (mostly passive present-tense forms) serving as specific components of compound terms are definite forms, with only a few exceptions, e.g.: force (pa-jėga):expelling force 67, pulling force 12, and so on. Thus, even then the author was convinced of the appropriateness of using definite forms of adjectives or participles to express a distinguishing or specific feature of a concept. On the other hand, the author’s approach may have been influenced by terms already used in "Keleivis": electric current (1851, 11, 43), galvanic joint (1851, 13, 50), burning vapors (1854, 13, 52), voltaic battery (1851, 11, 43), etc.

Thus, it can be argued that "Populiariškas rankvedis fizikos" [“A Popular Handbook of Physics”] also contains the beginnings of a certain standardization of terminology. First, efforts were made to select Lithuanian equivalents for international terms or loanwords, or to provide Lithuanian terms alongside international ones. Second, most specific concepts were named with adjectives or passive present-tense participles in their definite forms. These beginnings of standardization undoubtedly influenced the subsequent development of physics terminology.

74