Mikalojus Daukša (other possible spellings include ''Mikalojus Daugsza'', pl, Mikołaj Dauksza and ''Mikolay Dowksza''; after 1527 – February 16, 1613 in

Medininkai Medininkai (; be, Меднікі) is a village in Lithuania, located east of Vilnius city municipality and from the Lithuanian–Belarusian border. The village is situated on the Medininkai Highland, near the highest points of Lithuania � ...

) was a Lithuanian and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

religious writer, translator and a

Catholic church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

official. He is best known as the first among Lithuania's humanists to underline the need to codify and promote the

Lithuanian language Lithuanian ( ) is an Eastern Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is the official language of Lithuania and one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.8 mill ...

over

Chancery Ruthenian Old East Slavic (traditionally also Old Russian; be, старажытнаруская мова; russian: древнерусский язык; uk, давньоруська мова) was a language used during the 9th–15th centuries by East ...

and Polish, which were in use in the Grand Duchy at the time. Daukša's Lithuanian translation of Jacob Ledesma's catechism became the first book in Lithuanian to be published in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Born probably after 1527 somewhere in the territory of the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that existed from the 13th century to 1795, when the territory was Partitions of Poland, partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire, Habsburg Empire of ...

(in Babėnai?),As cited in: Daukša probably received his education in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urba ...

and at one of the Western European Universities. He spoke several languages and had a personal library including books by

Erasmus of Rotterdam Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' w ...

and

Philip Melanchthon Philip Melanchthon. (born Philipp Schwartzerdt; 16 February 1497 – 19 April 1560) was a German Lutheran reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the L ...

. Daukša was a

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

(nowadays Varniai) and an official member of the

Samogitia Samogitia or Žemaitija ( Samogitian: ''Žemaitėjė''; see below for alternative and historical names) is one of the five cultural regions of Lithuania and formerly one of the two core administrative divisions of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

Polish Biographical Dictionary ''Polski Słownik Biograficzny'' (''PSB''; Polish Biographical Dictionary) is a Polish-language biographical dictionary, comprising an alphabetically arranged compilation of authoritative biographies of some 25,000 notable Poles and of foreigner ...

Under the auspices of bishop Merkelis Giedraitis, he translated the

catechism A catechism (; from grc, κατηχέω, "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adul ...

by the Spanish Jesuit theologist Jacobo Ledesma.Full title in ''Kathechismas arba mokslas kiekwienam priwalvs. Paraszytas per D. Iakvba Ledesma Theologa Societatis IESV'' The

postil A postil or postill ( la, postilla; german: Postille) was originally a term for Bible commentaries. It is derived from the Latin ''post illa verba textus'' ("after these words from Scripture"), referring to biblical readings. The word first occurs ...

, translated from the Polish translation by Jakub Wujek, was published in

1595 Events January–June * January – Mehmed III succeeds Murad III, as sultan of the Ottoman Empire. * January 17 – During the French Wars of Religion, Henry IV of France declares war on Spain. * April 8 (March 29 O.S. ...

, and became one of the means to fight

paganism Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. I ...

. Paganism was at that time still practiced in Lithuania. The work also served to counter the growing threat posed to Catholicism by the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

, which was promoted in Lithuania by the mighty Radziwiłł family. It was also the first book in Lithuanian to be printed in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1599 Daukša published another important work, the Lithuanian translation of the Polish language collection of

sermon A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher, usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present contexts. ...

s by Jakub Wujek, the ''Catholic Postil''.Full title in : ''Postilla catholicka. Tai est izguldimas ewangeliu...'' There are two prefaces to this work, one in Latin and one in Polish. In the Polish preface, Daukša advocates the promotion of the Lithuanian language in the Grand Duchy and gave a brief definition of the Lithuanian

nation A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective identity of a group of people understood as defined by th ...

and

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

. The book is regarded as more valuable and important than the Catechism, and constitutes one of the monuments of the Lithuanian language. In his translations, Daukša used the central High Lithuanian dialect, influenced by both eastern High Lithuanian and Samogitian. As one of pioneers of written Lithuanian, he is credited with the introduction of several

neologism A neologism Ancient_Greek.html"_;"title="_from_Ancient_Greek">Greek_νέο-_''néo''(="new")_and_λόγος_/''lógos''_meaning_"speech,_utterance"is_a_relatively_recent_or_isolated_term,_word,_or_phrase_that_may_be_in_the_process_of_entering_com ...

s, among them ''mokytojas'' (teacher), ''valia'' (will), ''įkvėpimas'' (

inspiration Inspiration, inspire, or inspired often refers to: * Artistic inspiration, sudden creativity in artistic production * Biblical inspiration, the doctrine in Judeo-Christian theology concerned with the divine origin of the Bible * Creative inspirat ...

) and ''išmintis'' (wisdom). Of special importance for our knowledge of the Lithuanian language are the accent signs Daukša employs in the Postilla.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dauksa, Mikalojus 1520s births 1613 deaths People from Kėdainiai District Municipality Balticists 16th-century Latin-language writers Lithuanian Christians Lithuanian translators Lithuanian writers Polish translators Translators to Lithuanian