Archivum Lithuanicum

This article successfully identifies the manuscript, which currently is in the Manuscript Division of the Vilnius University Library and previously had been mistakenly ascribed to another author, as the draft of Mykolas Miežinis’s (1827–1888) quadrilingual Dictionary. To perform this task, it explores the history of assembling and editing the Dictionary and the structure of the handwritten text. Though Miežinis’ dictionary was far from perfection in many respects, this publication was an important lexicographic event for the epoch, becoming the only available dictionary of the Lithuanian language at that time and sparking interest in further lexicographic research (Antanas Baranauskas, Ignotas Šopara). We found that the marks in the manuscript correspond to the structure of the printed copy, which appeared in 1896 in Tilsit (today Sovetsk). The editions left by no fewer than three people who used several colours of ink resemble the complicated history of getting the manuscript ready for publishing (which is reconstructed based on contemporary correspondence and newspaper articles). The corrections included altering the Lithuanian spelling, choosing different synonyms for Russian and Latvian translations, adding Polish lexemes, and more. The character of the corrections and the sequence of languages allow dating the manuscript. The research concludes that this manuscript was a draft for the final copy, used by the typography. It could have been created before 1883, and no later than 1894.