Archivum Lithuanicum

The grammar of the Lithuanian language Litauiſche Elementar=Grammatik (1879–1881; first part ŠLG 1879) for students of the Tilsit Gymnasium was prepared by Julius Erdmann Schiekopp. It is an abridged version of Friedrich Kurschat’s Grammatik der littauischen Sprache (1876; KG). In 1881, Schiekopp’s grammar was reprinted in Tilsit under the same title Litauiſche Elementar=Grammatik; the edition differs from the first one only by the title page. The grammar was also republished by Alexander Kurschat under the title Litauiſche Elementar=Grammatik (1901–1902; ŠLG 1901). Jonas Pajevskis and Jurgis Gylius prepared a Russian edition of Schiekopp’s grammar, Литовская грамматика (1891; ЛГ 1891). It was approved as the official textbook of the Lithuanian language for schools of the Warsaw Education District. The first part of this grammar was reprinted five years later under the same title, Литовская грамматика (1896; ЛГ 1896). The first part of Schiekopp’s grammar was also translated into Polish as Gramatyka litewska początkowa (1902; GLP) by Juozas Januškevičius and Antanas Macijauskas. This arti cle is intended to clarify, which edition of Schiekopp’s grammar was translated by the two translators. The comparative analysis of the editions of Schiekopp’s grammar shows that Januškevičius and Macijauskas translated ŠLG 1879. These two editions are linked by the structure and the material they contain – some of the material of ŠLG 1879 was not included in ЛГ 1891, ЛГ 1896, and ŠLG 1901, but is present in GLP. For example, Alexander Kurschat did not include in ŠLG 1901 the classification of consonants, a comment on the meaning of the accent, tables of the endings of nouns, nominal adjectives, pronouns, notes about [t, d] turning into affricates [č, dž], about shortened nouns in colloquial language, the accentuation of adjectives, ungraded adjectives and participles, the shortening of verb forms. In Russian grammars ЛГ 1891 and ЛГ 1896, a note on the softness of consonants, some comments on nouns of the 1st declension, accentuation of nouns and adjectives, pronouns, the shortening and accentuation of verb forms are omitted. The emerging standard Lithuanian of the early 20th century was no longer the same as described by Friedrich Kurschat and Schiekopp in the 1870s. Therefore, the article also highlights how Januškevičius and Macijauskas changed the material of Schiekopp’s grammar. They took into consideration the emerging standard Lithuanian and the target audience of the grammar they were preparing – a resident of Lithuania Major, rather than East Prussia as was the case with Friedrich Kurschat’s or Schiekopp’s grammars.