LITUANUS LITHUANIAN QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES   Volume 41, No.1 - Spring 1995 Editor of this issue: Antanas Klimas, University of Rochester ISSN 0024-5089 Copyright © 1995 LITUANUS Foundation, Inc.

BAUDOUIN DE COURTENAY'S CONTRIBUTION TO LITHUANIAN LINGUISTICS

WILLIAM R. SCHMALSTIEG 
The Pennsylvania State University 1,2,

According to A. Sabaliauskas, 1979, 133, Baudouin de Courtenay did not publish any very important investigations of the Lithuanian language, but by his pedagogical, and social activity he contributed so much to the Lithuanian culture and to the science of language that in this respect it would be difficult to compare any other non-Lithuanian linguist with him.

Baudouin de Courtenay was born on the 13th of March 1845 in Radzymin (not far from Warsaw) in a surveyor's family. His distant ancestors came from France. "By ancestry a Frenchman and nominally a Catholic, he considered himself a Pole and an atheist. But having lived and taught most of his life in Russia, Austria, Latvia, and Poland, he was, in effect, a cosmopolitan who, in the words of Antoine Meillet, 'a eu le mal heur de n'appartenir toutà fait à aucun pays' (he had the misfortune of not belonging completely to any country)" (Stankiewicz, 1972, 8). Baudouin de Courtenay studied from 1862-1866 at the Polish University in Warsaw (Szkoła Główna), in which, as he wrote later in his biography he was most interested in the physiology of sounds, Sanskrit, Lithuanian and the Slavic languages, particularly diligently collecting material for the history of the Polish language. From 1867-68 he studied in Prague, Jena and Berlin. In Jena he attended the lectures of the famous Indo-Europeanist August Schleicher* and in Berlin he studied Sanskrit under A. Weber. In 1868 he went to St. Petersburg where, under the direction of I. Sreznevskij, he wrote his master's paper 'Concerning the Old Polish language up to the 14th century.' In Leipzig he got his doctor of philosophy degree for his work entitled 'A few cases of the action of analogy in the Polish declension' and some other works written during his study at different places. In Leipzig he attended the lectures of August Leskien, studied the Slavic dialects of northern Italy and southwestern Austria. In 1875 he defended a doctoral dissertation on the Slavic dialects of Italy and Austria Opyt fonetiki rez'janskix govorov (Phonetic Outline of the Rezija Dialects) (Warsaw, St. Petersburg, 1875).

Baudouin de Courtenay considered himself to be self-taught, an autodidact and was rather skeptical about his famous teachers. Quoting the words of F. Nesselmann* (1869), Baudouin de Courtenay wrote that 'Schleicher war ein zwar grosses, aber ganz einseitiges Formgenie)' He wrote that Leskien's lectures were very interesting but in essence contributed nothing new and he called his studies with I. Sreznevskij 'meaningless.' Baudouin de Courtenay considered only his semester of Sanskrit studies in Berlin as the most successful period of his life.

Baudouin de Courtenay's first real mention of Lithuanian is in his 1876 review of J. Karlowicz's work O języku litewskim 'About the Lithuanian language.' In his review among other things Baudouin de Courtenay had good things to say about A. Baranauskas* with whom he had become acquainted during his (Baudouin de Courtenay's) first visit to Lithuania in 1875. Baudouin de Courtenay encouraged Baranauskas' linguistic and mathematical interests, sent him various kinds of literature and tried to help Baranauskas to get his works published. In one letter to Baudouin de Courtenay, Baranauskas wrote: 'your kindness has no ends or boundaries' (Sabaliauskas, 1979, 134-135). Baranauskas is probably best known for his early classification of Lithuanian dialects.

In 1875 when Baudouin de Courtenay arrived in Kazan a Lithuanian by the name of Jonas Juška also arrived in Kazan to teach in one of the local gymnasia (high schools). Jonas' brother Antanas* (a Roman Catholic priest) lived in Lithuania and with indescribable eagerness collected Lithuanian folk songs and words from the spoken language. He had texts of about 7,000 songs, the melodies of about 2,000 songs, and about 70,000 words for a dictionary. When Jonas Juška met Baudouin de Courtenay, he told him about his brother's collections. Baudouin de Courtenay managed to print four songs in the Latin alphabet in the scientific works of the University of Kazan. Fortunately nobody noticed that one of the czar's laws had been transgressed (from 1864-1904 it was illegal to print Lithuanian in the Latin alphabet in the Russian empire). Finally Father Antanas Juška himself, already an old man, arrived in Kazan to oversee the preparation of the texts for publication. At Baudouin de Courtenay's initiative the scientific council of the university made the decision to publish Juška's songs and in 1880 the first volume appeared with the title, Lithuanian Songs Transcribed by Antanas Juškevičus in the District of Pùšaločiai and Veliuonà from the Words of Lithuanian Singers. For the appearance of this volume Lithuanians must be thankful especially to Baudouin de Courtenay.

Baudouin de Courtenay notes (1880 [1983, 38-39]) in his necrology of Antanas Juška that although the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg had agreed to publish Juška's works at the expense of the Academy the University of Kazan only agreed to publish the works at the expense of the Juška brothers themselves. Therefore according to Baudouin de Courtenay the publication carries only the name of the University of Kazan. Thus Father Juška devoted not only his work but even the small capital which he had collected (niewielki zebrany przez siebie kapitalik) in order to enrich the literature of the Lithuanian people whom he loved and to give researchers of this people completely trustworthy and extraordinarily interesting material about their language, songs, customs, etc. For this deed the magnificent Father Antanas Juška deserves gratitude both from those who love the Lithuanian language and people as well as from all scholars who are interested in the life of the nation, i.e., linguists, ethnographers, specialists in mythology, as well as researchers of folk literature and common law. A few weeks before Antanas Juška's death there began the printing of his 'Description of Wedding Customs in Lithuania' and although Father Juška was already too sick to read the proof himself, it was read to him and in the less comprehensible parts he gave explanations. These explanations are absolutely essential since at every step one encounters expressions and phrases which are incomprehensible even for someone who knows the language well if he hasn't taken stock of and remembered all the details of a certain rite or custom. Then according to Baudouin de Courtenay the entire task of bringing to publication the collections of Father Antanas had fallen to the lot of his older brother, Jonas, himself an accomplished expert in the Lithuanian language although one who had lived for a long time far from his native country.

Although Baudouin de Courtenay was an avowed atheist, in his necrology of Father Juška he wrote: 'Father Antanas Juška belonged to that constantly diminishing group of older clergy who were able to reconcile the conscientious fulfillment of clerical duties with a tolerance for and a pure love of science. The younger generation of priests, if they occupy themselves with science, generally devote it entirely to the service of clericalism, ultramontaneism, and various political affairs. Those who do science for the sake of science are becoming today a true exception. A great honor is due to those clergy who, not blinded by biassed aims (nie zaślepieni stronniczymi dążnościami), have endeavored to spread light for the sake of light and truth for the sake of truth and in every genuine human being see a brother without regard to which branch of humanity he belongs (bez względu na to, w jakiej rubryce ludności został zapisany). Honor be unto you therefore, dear brother, in the name of light and truth.

Through an unfortunate twist of fate the body of Father Antanas has been laid to rest far from his native land. His dying wish was that instead of a monument there should be planted on his grave a rustling tree. Perhaps a tree, with its whisper repeated by thousands of lindens, pines and oaks, will inform the Nemunas and Villija countryside that in the earth of Kazan there rests a heart which was deeply in love with you, o beautiful Lithuanian land.'

The positive feelings of Baudouin de Courtenay towards the Juška brothers were reciprocated and on May 10th, 1883, Jonas Juška wrote in his foreword to the edition of the wedding songs published in St. Petersburg: 'In printing these songs I have made much use of the help of the famous Kazan University professor Baudouin de Courtenay, who, in reading along with me the greater part of the proof in all circumstances deigned to render to me his patronage. With all my heart I thank this man of science for this. (Spausdindamas šias dainas, daugel naudojau pašalpa garsingojo Kazaniaus Universiteto profesoriaus pono Jono Bodueno de Kurtene, kursai, skaitydamas su manimi drauge didesnę dalį korektūros, žėdname atsitiktime teikės man išreikšti savo pasergėjimus. Už tai šiam mokslo vyrui iš visos širdies dėkavoju' [1955 editon, p. 32]).

Antanas Juška had written a Polish-Lithuanian dictionary in the years 1853-1854, but he did not want to publish this dictionary. Later he began to compose a Lithuanian-Polish dictionary which in its final form was published as a Lithuanian-Polish-Russian dictionary. This was reviewed by the Russian scholar I. Sreznevskij and the Ukrainian scholar A. Potebnja and finally the Russian Academy of Sciences agreed to publish the dictionary and even in Latin letters. The fate of this dictionary is very complicated and only three volumes were finally published (A-D in 1897; E-J in 1904; to the word Kukštuoties in 1922). Although formally the Russian scholar F. Fortunatov was the editor, in fact the spiritus movens and the chief editor was Baudouin de Courtenay (Kaupuż, 1990, 191). In May of 1884 he wrote to his friend A. Karłowicz that he had just gotten a new burden in the form of proof-reading of A. and J. Juška's Lithuanian dictionary. Baudouin de Courtenay wrote: The dictionary is rather incompetently compiled with a rather poor translation into Russian and native Polish, so that I must rework it fundamentally (Słownik to bardzo niedolężnie ułożony z dość lichym przekładem rosyjskim i korzenno-polskim, tak że muszę go prawie z gruntu przerabiać).' In the summer of 1885 Baudouin de Courtenay and J. Juška met in Lithuania. Following that meeting in a letter to J. Karłowicz Baudouin de Courtenay wrote: 'Juška is very sick... in short he won't be able to work on the dictionary. Now the burden of this work falls on my already overburdened shoulders. I am thinking, however, of sharing the work with Aleksandrov.' In the same letter we read: 'Juška gave me all the manuscripts and books (which I had wanted to get) left by his brother the priest.' Apparently these all perished with Baudouin's library in St. Petersburg during the revolution. (Kaupuż, 1990,192).

In April of 1886 J. Juška died and F. Fortunatov remained as editor of the dictionary, both the widow and the son of J. Juška wanted Baudouin de Courtenay to continue work on the dictionary, but his candidacy was not confirmed by the Academy of Sciences. In April of 1887 Baudouin de Courtenay wrote to his friend J. Karłowicz that he did not know what was happening with Juška's dictionary; the respected Mr. Jagić decided that when Juška was finally unable to do more that he himself supposedly would undertake the work (although in fact he has done nothing), and then he recommended Fortunatov. Baudouin de Courtenay wrote that the editing of the dictionary was taken away from him in a 'extremely indecent' (wilce nieprzyzwoity) manner. During the life of J. Juška, Baudouin de Courtenay hadn't bothered to make any official statement (oficjalną rejestrację) about his work on the dictionary and in a letter to J. Grot he wrote that he had helped J. Juška from friendship and because of the scientific value of the dictionary. But why did V. Jagić remove Baudouin de Courtenay as editor of the dictionary? The reason, of course, was personal. The completely open and straightforward Baudouin de Courtenay was just the opposite in temperament from V. Jagić, a typical clerk of science who cleverly played on the favor of the czar and the upper administration of the Academy of Sciences. Baudouin de Courtenay did not hide his ill will 'towards the little brother, money-maker, deal-maker, cat in union with Reinhard the Fox (do bratuszki,  Geldmachera, obrabiającego Geschäfty, do kota w polączeniu z Reineke-Fuksem).'

(Kaupuż, 1990, 193). Since in the medieval European folk-tale both Reinhard the fox and the cat (Dieprecht in the German versions and Tibeert in the French versions) play mischievous tricks on each other I assume that Baudouin de Courtenay felt that Jagić was as bad as both the fox and the cat put together.

But the work on Juška's dictionary did give Baudouin de Courtenay much profit according to Kaupuż, 1990, 194. Already in his youth at German universities he had mastered Lithuanian theoretically, but he had always aspired to do research on the language 'from the mouths of the people (z ust ludu).' He was interested in problems of bilingualism and interference and completely in accordance with the wishes of the compiler of the dictionary, A. Juška, Baudouin de Courtenay took care that the dictionary should be a dictionary of folk speech.

Potebnja on the other hand had recommended the inclusion of bookish expressions. And again contrary to the recommendation of Potebnja that the Polish section be removed Baudouin de Courtenay insisted on the retention of the Polish. This has left for us a picture of Polish material and cultural life in Lithuania. All the time Baudouin de Courtenay was doing his editing, Fortunatov thought that these were changes introduced by Jonas Juška, brother of the deceased Antanas Juška (Kaupuż, 1990, 194).

In 1904 Baudouin de Courtenay published in Kraków his work entitled The question of the Lithuanian alphabet in the Russian state and its solution. On an inside page there is a notation that the article had been originally written at the request of the editors of the periodical Kraj, but that because of censorship it could not be published in full. In this booklet which is only 44 pages long Baudouin de Courtenay explains the history of the ban on the Latin-alphabet publication of books in Lithuanian and the attempts to publish Lithuanian works in the Russian alphabet. Baudouin de Courtenay points out (p. 8) that this was not an attempt to punish the entire Lithuanian nation for the fact that some Lithuanians had taken part in the uprisings of 1863 and 1864, but rather to distance the Lithuanians from Poles with whom they had very close ties. Actually the Russian philologist Alexander Hilferding had proposed a modified Russian alphabet which could be used by all the Slavic people. And he had wanted a few texts in Lithuanian to be printed in the Russian alphabet to make them easier for beginning Russian philologists. The problem was that the secretary of state Milutin remade Hilferding's philological notion into a political notion. A certain Stanisław Pawłowicz Mikucki offered to bring this great idea to fruition according to Baudouin de Courtenay (p. 9) who writes further that Mikucki was a uomo deliquente from birth, a man filled with hatred for mankind in general and at the same time capable of the most degenarate actions. This admirer of the naked fist had a low opinion of human intelligence and thought that one could convince humans of anything and inflict anything upon them. When Mikucki was deprived of his scholarship in St. Petersburg he obtained a letter from his classmate Hilferding recommending him to Milutin, who in turn gave Mikucki a letter of Muravjov, the governor general of the Northwest Territories (which included Lithuania and Belarus). In this famous letter Milutin wrote: 'Russian letters will finish that which was begun with the Russian sword (russkija pismena okončat to, čto načato russkim mečom).'

The Lithuanians of course considered the publication of Lithuanian books in the Russian alphabet as an attempt to ween them from the Catholic Church. Baudouin de Courtenay (p. 13) compares the situation of the Lithuanian to that of a Russian who might be asked to have all his religious books printed in the Latin alphabet rather than the Russian alphabet. Baudouin de Courtenay writes further (p. 17) that in 1880 the second section of the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, rather than insist on its right to print anything without censorship and without limit asked in the person of its president, Tolstoy, for the right to print in Latin rather than in Russian letters the wedding songs and the dictionary of Antanas Juška. The permission was given on the 22 of April 1880, but with the proviso to the minister of interior affairs, Makov, that such publications were not to be spread among the Lithuanian people.

Indeed that very Mikucki in 1865 had made trouble for the Academy because it had printed Schleicher's edition of the Lithuanian poet Donelaitis with Latin letters. Baudouin de Courtenay says (p. 17), however, that we (presumably speaking for the Academy of Sciences) would certainly look bad if we paid any attention to denunciations on the part of people like Mikucki. Baudouin de Courtenay writes (p. 18) that it was quite different thing with the University of Kazan at the end of 1879. When local zealots opposed the printing of another collection of songs by Antanas Juška, nobody asked anybody's permission, but on the basis of the established constitution of the university, Baudouin de Courtenay's representation in this affair was approved unanimously and the untimely violators of the law were sent on their way.

Baudouin de Courtenay writes further (pp. 23-24) that the use of Russian letters for the Lithuanian language which was supposed to bring the Lithuanians closer to the Russians had indeed just the opposite effect. Perhaps indeed it did separate the Lithuanians from the Poles, but it deepened the chasm separating the Lithuanian people from the Russian government and the Russian people. Such bans turn daily activities into religious rites. Forbid somebody to speak a certain language and the speaking of that language becomes a ceremony or the celebration of a religious service.

According to Baudouin de Courtenay the ban on the Latin alphabet for Lithuanian books and publications was one of the disturbing and very important factors in the awakening of Lithuanian patriotism and even chauvinism. Interestingly enough Baudouin de Courtenay writes here (pp. 24-25) that perhaps this performed a service for the Lithuanian people, but in his (Baudouin de Courtenay's) eyes this was not a service because for him any kind of chauvinism is abhorrent, but even harmful for the one practicing it. Baudouin de abhorrent Courtenay (pp. 25-26) notes the number of books published abroad and the emigration of Lithuanian intellectuals. He does give credit, however, to certain Russians who protested against forcing the Russian alphabet on the Lithuanians, e.g., Sergej Aksakov, VI. Lamanskij and E. Wolter, bibliographer of the Academy of Sciences. Newspapers defending the Lithuanian cause included the Peterburgskija Vedomosti, Syn Otečestva and even the ultra-patriotic (chauvinistic) Novoe Vremja published an article in 1902 favorable to the Lithuanians and demanding the return of their own alphabet, although usually the later newspaper viewed 'foreigners' and 'non-Christians' in a scornful and disdainful manner.

Baudouin de Courtenay writes further (p. 29) that there is no doubt that Russian letters as in general the letters of any alphabet can more or less render the sounds of any language. Thanks to long use and habit it seems to us now that the Russian alphabet is the best for Russian and the Latin-Polish alphabet is the best for Polish. But exactly the reverse could obtain and neither language would lose there from. Thus it would be quite possible to render Lithuanian with Russian letters, but that is not the point. The question is whether the nation wants a new alphabet for itself. Nobody has the right to inflict a foreign alphabet on a people which has other cultural traditions. It would be just as stupid to inflict the Latin alphabet on the Russians as to inflict the Russian alphabet on the Lithuanians. (I personally am of the opinion that it would be a good idea for all the nations of the world to adopt the Latin alphabet, thereby vastly simplifying the task of learning foreign languages.)

Similarly a false note is sounded by those who, defending the Lithuanian position, say that in the Lithuanian alphabet 'there isn't a single Polish letter (niema ani jednej litery polskiej)' (p. 30). This assertion is the most arrant nonsense. On the other hand although the Lithuanians took over wholesale the Polish form of the Latin alphabet with certain additions and modifications, that doesn't mean that their language became Polish.

Baudouin de Courtenay wrote (p. 31) that up to four government agencies (the customs, the police, officials of the ministry of justice and the ministry of education) fought against the contraband but without any significant result. A vast amount of government energy was spent in the pursuit of illusory goals. But in spite of all this work in the course of these forty years there were smuggled into Lithuania several million copies of Lithuanian books printed abroad. About a half a million books were confiscated one way or another. Not having their own books the Lithuanians felt particularly oppressed because the Poles, Latvians, Estonians and even the Jews were allowed to have their own books (p. 40).

Baudouin de Courtenay concludes by saying (p. 44) that the 24th of April (7th of May) will be a memorable day in the history of the culture and thought of the entire Russian state and perhaps even in the history of culture in general. The decision to rescind the ban on Lithuanian books was a victory over prejudices and misunderstandings which had been harmful for the entire state and for the various social groups inhabiting that state. On that day the full meaning of the expression: leben und leben lassen 'live and let live' was understood.

I have encountered very few negative remarks by a Lithuanian about Baudouin de Courtenay, but in a letter to Janis Endzelins written on the 17th (30th new style) of March 1912, Būga* wrote: 'Baudouin is a strange and incomprehensible man. Although he is my teacher, there is much in his character and behavior that I don't like. For the most part he has gone crazy in recent years.' Prof. Sabaliauskas in a letter dated 11 Feb. 1994 wrote that this was to express solidarity with Endzelins whose dissertation had been sharply criticized by Baudouin de Courtenay. The latter was especially critical of Endzelins' poor command of the Russian language. Prof. Sabaliauskas told me personally that he had heard this from the former Lithuanian general Motiejus Pečiulionis (1888-1960) who was studying mathematics in St. Petersburg at the time and was active in Lithuanian student affairs there. As a friend of Kazimieras Būga, Pečiulionis had gone to the dissertation defense of Janis Endzelins. This dissertation defense took place in St. Petersburg, even though Janis Endzelins got his doctoral degree from Kharkiv.

Būga, 1913, 86, wrote that all of the contemporary linguists except Baudouin de Courtenay and Kazimieras Jaunius* are convinced that the Baits are closer to the Slavs than any other eastern Indo-European people. According to Būga, Baudouin de Courtenay did not come to this conclusion on the basis of his own research, but rather on the authority of Kazimieras Jaunius. One must keep in mind, according to Būga, the fact that Baudouin de Courtenay frequently met with Jaunius and among other things they spent hours discussing the relationships of the Baltic and Slavic languages. But Jaunius knew how to talk with fervor and conviction such that in the course of time he attracted Baudouin de Courtenay to his side.

Doroszewski, 1962 (quoted here from 1963, 22) wrote that in 1918 Baudouin de Courtenay arrived as an honored guest invited by the University of Warsaw. In his inaugural lecture he said that Poland is being reborn as a state not to increase the number of states — imperialistic hyenas. At these words a part of the audience reacted with applause, a part with a whistle [expressing disagreement]. In 1922 the national minorities put forth Baudouin de Courtenay as a candidate for the presidency of Poland. He received 105 votes. He was always a great favorite of the minorities and along with Jaunius, Jablonskis, Maironis, P. Vileišis and A. Jakštas-Dambrauskas in 1908 he signed an appeal to reopen the University of Vilnius.

Baudouin de Courtenay died in 1929. According to Maila Talvio, the wife of J.J. Mikkola, the Finnish Slavist, just before Baudouin de Courtenay's death he returned to the faith of his childhood and died a Christian.

Appendix — Biographical Sketches

Antanas Baranauskas — born in 1835 in Anykščiai. From 1856-58 he studied in the priests' seminary in Varniai. In addition he studied at the universities of Munich, Rome, Innsbruck and Louvain. In 1865 he taught at the St. Petersburg Religious Academy and from 1867-1884 at the Kaunas priests' seminary. In 1870 when teaching Lithuanian in the Kaunas priests' seminary he used Schleicher's grammar of Lithuanian, having translated this grammar and not being completely satisfied with it he wrote a grammar himself which he dictated to his listeners, but which he did not publish. He finally finished the first 60 pages and sent it to his friend, the German linguist H. Weber, who urged him to publish it in German. Baudouin de Courtenay suggested publication of the grammar in Lithuanian at the University of Kazan, and later at the Krakow Academy of Sciences. But Baranauskas during the period of press prohibition, in order to avoid a conflict with the czarist government did not take advantage of Baudouin de Courtenay's help. In 1884 Baranauskas became suffragan bishop of Samogitia and in 1897 bishop of Seinai where he died in 1902. He is perhaps best known for his classification of the Lithuanian dialects, a revised version of which has been supported by the most recent researches of the contemporary Lithuanian dialectologists A. Girdenis and Z. Zinkevičius (Sabaliauskas, 1979,166-171).

Kazimieras Būga — born in 1895 in the Zarasai region. In 1902 he became acquainted with Kazimieras Jaunius and through the intermediary E. Wolter, K. Būga was appointed by A. Shakhmatov and F. Fortunatov as a paid secretary of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 1912 Būga received his first degree and entered the department of comparative linguistics then headed by Baudouin de Courtenay in order to prepare himself to become a professor. According to Sabaliauskas, 1979, 192, even before Būga had begun his studies, he became acquainted with Baudouin de Courtenay whose kind protection and caring attention he felt during the entire period of his scientific activity. In 1916 Būga passed his master's degree exams and was appointed a private docent at the University of St. Petersburg, but soon when part of the university was moved to Perm he was offered the chance to head the comparative linguistics department there. In 1917 he was given the title of associate professor (extraordinarius). Finally after the Russian revolution Būga was allowed to return to Lithuania, where he continued work on his Lithuanian Dictionary until his death in 1924. Būga was the first native Lithuanian to receive formal training in linguistics. His collected "works (Rinktiniai raštai) in three volumes are now available.

Jānis Endzelīns — born on 22 February in 1873 in northern Latvia. He got his candidate's degree in classical philology in 1897 at the University of Dorpat (now Tartu). In 1900 he got a candidate's degree in Slavic studies and in 1902 he took the master's degree exam in comparative linguistics. In 1903 he was appointed a Privatdocent at the University of Tartu and in 1905 he got his master's degree with a dissertation on Latvian prepositions. In 1912 he defended his doctoral dissertation entitled 'Slavo-Baltic Studies' at the University of St. Petersburg and was appointed full professor (ordinarius) at the University of Kharkiv. His Lettische Grammatik (Riga, 1922), he reissued in 1951 as Latviešu valodas gramatika (Riga) is authoritative. He is co-author with K. Mühlenbach of the Lettisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (Riga, 1923-1932, I-IV). He is the author of Senprūšu valoda (Riga, 1943), and the German translation Altpreussische Grammatik (Riga, 1944). His Baltu valodu skanas un formas was published in Riga in 1948 (the English translation by William R. Schmalstieg and B. Jēgers was published as Jānis Endzelīns' Comparative phonology and morphology of the Baltic languages in 1971 [The Hague, Paris, Mouton]). Endzelīns is undoubtedly the most outstanding specialist in Latvian (and porobably in general in Baltic philology) who ever lived. He died in 1961.

Kazimieras Jaunius — born in 1848 in the contemporary region of Šilalė. In 1875 he graduated from the Kaunas priests' seminary and was sent to study in the St.Petersburg Religious Academy. When in 1875 Baudouin de Courtenay and J. Karłowicz visited Kaunas Antanas Baranauskas presented Jaunius to Baudouin de Courtenay as one of his best students. Later Baudouin de Courtenay wrote that even the linguistics professors of German universities could be proud of such students (Sabaliauskas, 1979,172).

Baudouin de Courtenay described Jaunius as a brilliant person, considering the following characteristics: (1) an extraordinary memory which contained endless facts from a number of languages, (2) unusual ability to make generalizations and far reaching conclusions, (3) liveliness of intellect. Baudouin de Courtenay wrote that every meeting with Jaunius brought forth new linguistic data and a strong incentive for thought. Still, wrote Baudouin de Courtenay: 'the general impression from what Jaunius said led us to think that he wasn't the one who controlled his thought, but that he was controlled by his thought... he was a man not of this world.' (This quotation comes from Sabaliauskas, 1979, 176 — the original is from an article by Baudouin de Courtenay entitled 'Do charakterystyki s. p. Kazimierza Jawnisa' which appeared in Draugija, 1908, Nr. 16, p. 382 and Lietuvių Tauta, 1909,1(3), p. 409.)

Antanas Juška — born in 1819 in the region of Raseiniai. In 1843 he graduated from the Vilnius priests' seminary. He served as a priest in numerous places in Lithuania but in 1879 he moved to Kazan (where his brother was teaching in a gymnasium) and he died there in 1880. He began to collect words and minor folklore from the Lithuanian spoken language in 1850. In 1853-1854 he wrote a Słownik polsko-litewski with about 7,000 entries, but this was not published. Soon, however, he began to write a Lithuanian-Polish dictionary. In 1876 the part containing the letter M was given to the Russian scholar I. Sreznevskij on whom it made a good impression. The letter A was given to the Ukrainian scholar A. Potebnja who, although pointing out some deficiencies which could be corrected, nevertheless recommended publication. In 1877 permission was given to Juška to publish the dictionary and even with Latin letters, rather than the Cyrillic (remember that at this time [1864-1904] in the Russian empire Lithuanian was to be written only in Cyrillic letters). The first part A-D was published in 1897; the second part E-J was published in 1904 and the third part up to the word Kukštuoties was published in 1922. The editor of the first part, F. Fortunatov, wrote in the foreword that this dictionary is valuable in that only words which the author himself had heard are included. For linguistic as well as folkloristic reasons A. Juška's collections of Lithuanian songs are important: Lietùviškos dájnos 'Lithuanian songs' (Kazan, 1880-1882, I-III; there are 1586 songs in all three volumes).

Jonas Juška — born in 1815 in the Telšiai region. He studied classical philology at the University of Kharkiv from 1840-1944, but is best known for the help which he gave his brother in folkloristic and lexicographic works. During the last decade of his life J. Juška was close to Baudouin de Courtenay. J. Juška died in Kazan in 1886 (Sabaliauskas, 1979, 161).

Georg Heinrich Ferdinand Nesselmann — born in 1811 in Fürstenau not far from Elbing. In 1837 he received his doctorate from the University of Königsberg and in 1838 he wrote his Habilitationsschrift in Latin on a question of Sanskrit grammar. He was then appointed a docent for oriental studies. In 1843 he was made an associate professor (extraordinarius) and in 1859 a full professor (ordinarius). He was a man of great erudition and varied education. He published a monograph on Greek algebra, was the director of the university numismatics section and published works on Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic and Turkic philology and history. His most important Lithuanistic work is his Wörterbuch der Littauischen Sprache (Königsberg, 1851), which does not follow the usual alphabetical order. Nesselmann was the publisher of a collection of the most important Lithuanian folk songs (Littauische Volkslieder, gesammelt, kritisch bearbeitet und metrisch übersetzt von G.H.F. Nesselmann, Berlin, 1853). He was also author of Die Sprache der alien Preussen, Berlin, 1845 and Thesaurus Linguae Prussicae, Berlin, 1877. In the first of these books he used the term Baltische Sprachen 'Baltic languages' for the first time. Nesselmann died in Königsberg in 1881 (Sabaliauskas, 1979, 60-63).

Reinhard the Fox — In the Middle High German version of the famous Renard story, the cat is named Dieprecht, the fox Reinhard. Some three hundred lines into the text, they meet. Reinhard, greeting the cat in the friendliest fashion, tries to persuade Dieprecht to run, and by doing so, getting into a trap. The cat, suspecting some kind of treachery, evades the trap. Now, the cat, praising the fox's prowess, challenges him to run and jump. The fox, flattered by the praise, runs and gets into a trap. The cat runs away, a farmer comes along and tries to kill the fox by beating him. He only succeeds in smashing the trap, and thus the fox escapes. I am indebted to Prof. Ernst Ebbinghaus for this information. The Old French version Roman de Renard also contains adventures of the fox and the cat who play various tricks on each other.

August Schleicher — born in 1821 in Meiningen, Germany. He was graduated from the University of Bonn in 1846. After studying in Paris and London he went to Prague where he began to teach at the university in 1850. Because of political problems he moved to Jena in 1857. Probably the most important Indo-Europeanist of the last century he is the author of Die Formenlehre der kirchenslawischen Sprache (Bonn, Vienna, Prague, 1852), Handbuch der litauischen Sprache (Prague, 1856-1857, 1-2), Die deutche Sprache (Stuttgart, 1860), Compendium der vergleichenden Grammatik der indogermanischen Sprachen (Weimar, 1861-1862), Christian Donelaitis. Litauische Dichtungen (St. Petersburg, 1865), Laut- und Formenlehre der polabischen Sprache (St. Petersburg and Riga, 1871 [posthumous]). Schleicher was the author of the Stammbaumtheorie 'family tree theory' of language relationships. In 1868 feverish with pneumonia in order to recover faster and get back to work Schleicher poured cold water on himself. As a result he died soon afterwards (Sabaliauskas, 1973, 22).

References:

Baudouin de Courtenay, J. 1880. Ksiądz Antoni Juszkiewicz. Nowiny, no. 329 quoted here from Jan Niecisła w Baudouin de Courtenay. Dzieła wybrane, Tom VI (1983), pp. 35-39, Warsaw, PWN.
— — — 1876. Review of J. Karłowicz' book 'O języku litewskim'. Przegląd Krytyczny, Nr. 8, pp. 308-314 and in 1904 in Wisła 2-3, pp. 184-192. (I have not been able to get hold of this review and am quoting here from Sabaliauskas, 1979, 134 and Stankiewicz, 1972, 384.)
— — — 1894. Review of M. Miežinis' Lithuanian-Latvian-Polish-Russian Dictionary. Tydzień, no. 35. (I have not been able to get hold of this review and am quoting here from Sabaliauskas, 1979,134.)
— — — 1904. Kwestya alfabetu litewskiego w państwie rosyjskiem i jej rozwiązanie. Krakow, Nakład Antoniego Chołoniewskiego.
— — — 1963. Avgust Šleixer (August Schleicher). In Boduèn de Kurtenè: Izbranye trudy po obščemu jazykoznaniju, pp. 35-44.
— — — 1963. Boduèn de Kurtenè: Izbrannye trudy po obščemu jazykoznaniju, pp. 35-44. Moscow, Izdatel'stvo Akademii Nauk SSSR. Moscow.
Būga, K. 1913. Kalbų mokslas bei mūsų senovė. Draugija 20.80-98. Quoted here from Būga, K. 1958. Rinktiniai raštai I. Vilnius, Politinės ir mokslinės literatūros leidykla.
Doroszewski, Wit. 1962. Ob I.A. Baudouin de Courtenay. Slavia Orientalis Vol. XI, No. 4, pp. 437-466 (quoted here from Russian translation in 1963. I.A. Boduèn de Kurtenè. Izbrannye trudy po obščemu jazykoznaniju, pp. 21-30).
Juška, A. 1883. Litovskija narodnyja pesni, zapisanyja Antonom Juškevičiem i izdannyja Ivanom Juškevičiem. Sanktpeterburg, Tipografija Imperatorskoj Akademii Nauk. Reprted. as Lietuviškos svotbinės dainos užrašytos Antano Juškos ir išleistos Jono Juškos. Vilnius, Valstybinė grožinės literatūros leidykla. 1955.-
Kaupuż, Anna. 1990. J. Baudouin de Courtenay a słowing Antanasa Juški. Pp. 187-197 in Balto-slowianskie związki językowe, ed. by Michał Kondratiuk. Wrocław, Warszawa, Krakow, PAN.
Nesselmann, G.H.F. 1869. Christian Donalitius Littauische Dichtungen nach den Königsberger Handschriften mit metrischer Übersetzung, kritischen Anmerkungen u. genauem Glossar.
Sabaliauskas, A. 1973. Noted scholars of the Lithuanian Language: biographical sketches. Chicago, Akademinės skautijos leidykla and Dept. of Slavic Languages, Pennsylvania State University (English translation of Žodžiai atgyja, Vilnius, 1967).
— — — 1979. Lietuvių kalbos tyrinėjimo istorija iki 1940 m. Vilnius, Mokslas.
Sabaliauskas, A. and J. Karaciejus. 1980. K. Būgos laiškai J. Endzelynui. Lietuvių kalbotyros klausimai 20.54-85.
Stankiewicz, Edward. 1972. A Baudouin de Courtenay Anthology: The Beginnings of Structural Linguistics. Bloomington/London, Indiana University Press.
Talvio, Maila. 1989. Pasaulio vieškeliais (a partial Lithuanian translation of a Finnish original). Atodangos, pp. 174-175. Prepared by S. Skrodenis. (Maila Talvio was J. J. Mikkola's wife.)

1 This is an expanded version of a paper prepared for the panel on Baudouin de Courtenay organized by Prof. Rado Lencek for the November, 1994 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies held in Philadelphia.
2 An appendix at the end of this article gives brief biographical sketches of persons whose names are marked with an asterisk.