"grammatica Sclavonica" (1645) by I. Uzhevych and the Abbey of Saint Vaast: Selected Reflections
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The proposed study, dedicated to I. Uzhevych’s 1645 handwritten Latin grammar of the Ukrainian language, continues a series of research on handwritten and printed grammars. "Grammatica Sclavonica" (1645), written in Latin, is the second version of the Ukrainian grammar of the mid-17th century by Ivan Uzhevych (Arras, France). For this reason, the 1645 "Grammatica" like his "Grammar Slavic" (Граматыка словєнскаӕ) of 1643, is included in the register of sources for the "Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language of the 16th – First Half of the 17th Century" ("Словник української мови XVI – першої половини XVII ст"). It is noted that this manuscript, which shows significant changes both in the grammatical presentation of the material and in its layout, was unknown to linguists for centuries. It is mentioned that only thanks to V. Jahych did Uzhevych’s "Grammatica" become known in Slavic studies. At the same time, for Ukrainian linguistics, this work was discovered by O. Horbach, I. Bilodid, and Ye. Kudrytskyi only in the second half of the 20th century. It is emphasized that Ukrainian linguists, both in Ukraine and abroad, worked specifically with a copy of the Arras manuscript. For the first time not only in Ukrainian linguistics but also in Slavic studies (following V. Jahych), the author of the proposed study had the unique opportunity to work with the original manuscript of "Grammatica Sclavonica" (1645) by I. Uzhevych, which is preserved in Arras. In particular, the title (without mention of the author) and the number under which the manuscript is currently stored (Grammatica Sclavonica (XVII); 989 (CGM 281)) were established, and the name of the location where this artifact is kept was clarified – the Mediathеque of the Abbey of Saint-Vaast at the Municipal Library of Arras, France (Mediathèque de lʼabbaye Saint-Vaast de la Bibliothèque municipale d’Arras, France). Some assumptions and reflections on the history of the manuscript "Grammatica Sclavonica" by I. Uzhevych are also expressed, and previously unknown facts are analyzed, particularly certain paleographic features of the manuscript. An attempt is made to identify the patron to whom the 1645 grammar might have been dedicated.
Author: O. Zanevych
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4410124842