Articae horulae succisivae, a slovenian grammar

Period

16th century

Name of the author

Adam Bohorič

Author's dates

cca 1520–1598

Biography of the author

The orthographic variant of the name: Adam Bohorizh. The Protestant pedagogue and the first grammarian of the Slovenian language. He was born near Brestanica in Slovenia. He is mentioned as baccalaureus in Vienna, 1547; then he studied at the Faculty of Arts of Wittemberg, where he was also a student of Ph. Melanchthon. Between the years 1551–63, he was a headmaster of his own school in Krško; between 1566–82 and 1595–98 he was a headmaster of the so called ‘School of the States’ in Ljubljana. Apart from the Grammar he also wrote (the lost) work Elementale Labacense cum Nomenclatura trium linguarum, Latinae, Germanicae et Sclavonicae (about 1580) and Otrozhia tabla preserved in a fragment. He was a member of revisers’ commission for the Slovenian translation of the Bible (1584). This work also stimulated the appearance of his Slovenian Grammar.

Title of the work

Arcticae horulae succisivae de Latinocarniolana literatura, ad Latinae linguae analogiam accommodata, Vnde Moshoviticae, Rutenicae, Polonicae, Boëmicae et Lusaticae lingvae, cum Dalmatica et Croatica cognatio, facilè deprehenditur. Praemittuntur his omnibus, tabellae aliquot, Cyrilicam et Glagoliticam, et in his Rutenicam et Moshoviticam Orthographiam continentes.

Translated title

Free winter hours on Latin-Carniolian Grammar, adapted from the Latin model, from which the similarity between the Moskowitic [Moshovitica = Moscovitica], Rutenian [Rutenica], Polish, Czech and Lusatian languages and also between the Dalmatian and Croatian languages, can be easily observed. Initially, there are added some tables with Cyrillic and Glagolytic orthography and within the scope of them also Rutenian and Moscowitic orthography.

Other title

Arcticae horulae succisivae

Remarks on the title

The basic title is de Latinocarniolana literatura (Latin-Carniolan Grammar), meaning the grammar of the Slovenian language, written in Latin, however the grammar is generally specified by rather peculiar title Arcticae horulae succisivae (Free Winter Hours), with which the author underlines that the grammar was written in spare time during the winter, at the end of the year 1583; it was written “in the spare time”, because the main task of Bohorič (and Jurij Dalmatin) in Wittemberg was namely to make corrections of the whole slovenian Bible, which was being printed at the same time.

Type of work

Didactic grammar for practical application with very little theory, specially intended to speakers of Slovenian with a good basic knowledge of Latin grammar and German.

Type : keyword(s)

Didactic grammar.

Dates, loc., 1st ed.

1584, Wittemberg, [Johann Kraffts Erben]

Edition used

1584, Wittemberg, [Johann Kraffts Erben]

Physical desc.

[XXIV +] 178 [i.e. 176] + 59 [+ XXI] p.

Number of signs

305 000

Recent edition(s)

Facsimile: R. Trofenik, München, 1969 (Geschichte, Kultur und Geisteswelt der Slowenen 4/1); Mladinska knjiga, Ljubljana, R. Trofenik, München, 1970 (Monumenta litterarum Slovenicarum 7). Facsimile with the translation into Slovene: Obzorja, Maribor, 1987, translated by Jože Toporišič.

Diffusion

The grammar in its rewritten form was edited twice (1715, 1758), and a manuscript copy (1755) has been preserved as well. In all three cases Bohorič’s authorship of the basic project was suppressed. The edition from 1715 with the title Grammatica Latino-Germanico-Slavonica ex pervetusto exemplari ad modernam in Carniolica Lingua loquendi methodum accomodata, a plurimis expurgata mendis, et Germanicis aucta dictionibus was in Latin elaborated by the Capuchin monk Hippolytus (Janez Adam Gaiger) and issued by J. G. Mayr. In this issue, several Latin and Slovene examples were omitted, though some German ones were added. The manuscript from 1755 with the title Grammatica Latino-Germanico-Slavonica ex pervetusto exemplari ad modernam in Carniolica lingua loquendi methodum accomodata has been preserved. It is an abbreviated and modified wording of the edition from 1715.In 1758, Jesuits from Celovec edited the additional revised grammar in German of the title Grammatica oder Windisches Sprach-Buch with a small three-lingual vocabulary added anew.

Target language(s)

Slovenian.

Metalanguage used

Latin.

Example language(s)

Slovenian; examples in Slovenian are always translated into Latin, sometimes to German, however very rarely also to Croatian. In the etymology of numerals, there are indicated two words in Greek.

Résumé of the work

The Introduction [Praefatiuncula] (p. *2a–**4b). Five tables (1–39): 1. Cyrillic orthography [de orthographia Cyrilica] (1-10), 2. Rutenian and Moscowitic orthography [de orthographia Rutenica et Moshovitica [sic!]] (11-15), 3. Glagolitic orthography [de orthographia glagolitica] (15-25), 4. Latin-Carniolan orthography [de orthographia Latinocarniolana] (25-35), 5. Lord’s Prayer in six Slavic languages (35-39). Etymology [de etymologia] (40–176): nominal [nomen], (40–78), pronoun [pronomen] (79–94), verb [verbum] (94–153), participle [participium] (153), adverb [adverbium] (154–158), preposition [praepositio] (158–164), conjunction [coniunctio] (164–166), interjection [interiectio] (166), the test of etymology [examen etimologiae] (167–176). Syntax [syntaxis] (1–59, [1]–[5]): of nominals [nominum] (1–9), of verbs [verborum] (9–52), of participles (participiorum] (52–53), of adverbs [adverbiorum] (53–55), of conjunctions [conjunctionum] (55–58), of prepositions [praepositionum] (58), of interjections [interiectionum] (58–59), the test of syntax [examen syntaxeos] ([1]–[5]). Several species of the metaplasm [de metaplasmi quibusdam speciebus] ([6]). Prosody or accent [de prosodia seu accentu] ([6]–[7]). Index [index] ([8]–[20]).

Author's objectives

By means of this work the author wants to add to the credit of the Slovenian language and prove its applicability and spread. The knowledge of the Slovene language enables to understand all Slavic languages, and for better understanding of different writings, some initial tables were added. On the one hand the Grammar would like to prove agreement of the Slovene language with the Latin grammar, and on the other to point out relevant differences. Young men of nobility and future educated persons of Slovenian origin, to whom the work was dedicated in the preface, will have become skilled in accomplished and correct writing and reading of the Slovenian language by using this grammar. Once assuming the duties of their fathers, they will be provided with the skill for spreading elementary knowledge of the language among their serves and other people of non-noble provenance.

General Interest

The first grammar of the Slovenian language. The work is closely related to the Latin grammarian tradition; its theoretical part is therefore reduced to the most essential information. The work is expertly and originally confronted with problems, provoked by selecting Latin grammar as a universal model for the grammar in describing vernacular language. In the forefront of the etymology, there is a presentation of paradigms of flexible words and division of non-flexible words according to Latin model. In the syntax there is prevailing a request for comparing expressional abilities of Slovene with Latin.

Parts of Speech

Following the Latin tradition, Bohorič distinguishes eight parts of speech. The article [articulus] is treated inside the nominal [nomen], and this chapter also includes a comprehensive study of numerals. The nominal [nomen] is divided to the proper [proprium] and common names [appellativum], and the latter to substantivum and adiectivum.

Terminological Innovations

None. Established Latin terms are applied by Bohorič.

Illustrative corpus

In the chapter on etymology many examples of Slovenian words are stated, however always translated to Latin. In the chapter treating nominal [nomen] many examples are translated also to German, which happens later only exceptionally. Only few examples are translated to Croatian in the section patronymica and in the chapter on cardinal numbers. Some examples show the influence of Melanchthon’s and Donat’s grammar, though certain parts of the grammar show a possible influence of Johannes Clajus. In the chapter on syntax the cases completely relay on Melanchthon’s grammar and are translated to Latin and several times also to German. In the chapter on orthography the Lord’s prayer is quoted in six Slavic languages (“Cyrillic”, Glagolitic Croatian, Polish, (Lower) Lusatian [i.e. lower Sorbian language, spoken in Niederlausitz in eastern Germany], Czech and Slovenian), as well as the tombstone inscription of the Bosnian queen Catharine [Catarina regina Bosnensis].

Complementary indications

The introduction to the Grammar is comprehensive and ambitious. It comprises a series of etymologies for names of places and nations. By Slavi he addresses all Slovenian people as well as all Slavs, emphasizing in addition the validity and scope of the language treated therein. By the term lingua Slavica he sometimes indicates Slavic language family, and sometimes the Slovenian language. Individual Slavic languages in this sense are dialecti or sermones of Slavonic. The Slovenian language is sometimes indicated as lingua Carniolana. In the chapter on etymology some short Slovenian-Latin-German alphabetically arranged dictionaries are added to individual declinations and conjugations. In treating the cases, the work follows the Latin scheme. The forms of Slovenian locative and instrumental case are described as variants of the terminations of words, caused by certain prepositions. Some forms of pronouns in the instrumental with prepositions are explained as adverbs according to Melanchthon. The expression of duration or perfectivity (perfectivity versus imperfectivity) of the verb is word-formative and semantic according to Bohorič, and not a grammatical property of the word. Both chapters on etymology and syntax are followed by a detailed examen explained on an example of Lord’s Prayer.

Influence on work

The chapter on etymology follows the example of the second and third edition of Melanchthon’s Latin Grammar (i. e. the text, published in 1540 by Iacobus Micyllus, and improved in 1550 by Joachim Camerarius) and a (probably bilingual) edition of Donatus, published before 1540. Some solutions show on possible impact of German grammar written by Johannes Clajus (1578). Direct source of the chapter De syntaxi is the second group of editions on Melanchthon's Latin syntax (i. e. the text, published in 1538 by Vitus Oertelius Winshemius).

Influence of work

The writing in this work, theoretically founded by Bohorič, is called bohoričica and was used for writing in the Slovene language until the middle of 19^th century. Bohorič’s Grammar in two printed versions was in use till the end of 18^th century. It certainly had impact on the grammatical addition of four-lingual dictionary by Hieronimus Megiser (1592), however, its impact on grammatical addition to the Italian-Slovenian dictionary by Alasius da Sommaripa (1607) is much harder to be proved. His thoughts from the Introduction to the Grammar can be traced in a number of subsequent works. Janez Vajkard Valvasor in his comprehensive work Die Ehre des Herzogthums Krain (1689) followed the example of the fourth and fifth table of Bohorič’s orthography. The first scientific estimate of Bohorič’s work was made by Jernej Kopitar in his grammar of the Slovenian language (1809).

Bibliographic cross-references

Ahačič 2004, 2006a, 2006b; Grdina 1999; Kidrič 1925; Pogorelec 1984a, 1984b, 1987; Simoniti 1979; Slodnjak 1971; Toporišič 1987.

Author of note

Ahačič, Kozma