![Stimmer Jan Hus](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Stimmer_Jan_Hus.jpg)
''De orthographia bohemica'' ( en, On Bohemian Orthography) is a
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the 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 the power of the ...
work published between 1406 and 1412. It is attributed to
Charles University
)
, image_name = Carolinum_Logo.svg
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, established =
, type = Public, Ancient
, budget = 8.9 billion CZK
, rector = Milena Králíčková
, faculty = 4,057
, administrative_staff = 4,026
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, undergr ...
rector and reformer
Jan Hus
Jan Hus (; ; 1370 – 6 July 1415), sometimes anglicized as John Hus or John Huss, and referred to in historical texts as ''Iohannes Hus'' or ''Johannes Huss'', was a Czech theologian and philosopher who became a Church reformer and the inspir ...
. The book codified the
Czech language
Czech (; Czech ), historically also Bohemian (; ''lingua Bohemica'' in Latin), is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group, written in Latin script. Spoken by over 10 million people, it serves as the official language of the Czech Re ...
's modern spelling and orthography and had decisive impact on the orthography of a number of other European languages.
''Orthographia bohemica'' was the first known document in which spelling reforms were suggested for a Slavic language. It introduced, among other reforms, the
diacritic
A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacriti ...
signs ´ and ˇ which are now besides Czech used in the Baltic languages Lithuanian and Latvian, in other Slavic languages like Croatian, Slovak, Slovenian and partly Polish, and in several other European languages.
Provenance
Literacy in native languages became also one of the chief projects for the Czech
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 ...
including the first
Hussites
The Hussites ( cs, Husité or ''Kališníci''; "Chalice People") were a Czech proto-Protestant Christian movement that followed the teachings of reformer Jan Hus, who became the best known representative of the Bohemian Reformation.
The Hussit ...
but especially for their later
Unity of the Brethren Unity of the Brethren (Latin ''Unitas Fratrum'') may refer to:
*Unity of the Brethren (Czech Republic), the province of the Moravian Church in the Czech Republic
*Unity of the Brethren (Texas), a Protestant church formed in the 1800s by Czech immig ...
branch with their bishop
Comenius
John Amos Comenius (; cs, Jan Amos Komenský; pl, Jan Amos Komeński; german: Johann Amos Comenius; Latinized: ''Ioannes Amos Comenius''; 28 March 1592 – 15 November 1670) was a Czech philosopher, pedagogue and theologian who is considere ...
.
While the author's identity and the precise date of authorship are unknown, it is widely held that the author is
Jan Hus
Jan Hus (; ; 1370 – 6 July 1415), sometimes anglicized as John Hus or John Huss, and referred to in historical texts as ''Iohannes Hus'' or ''Johannes Huss'', was a Czech theologian and philosopher who became a Church reformer and the inspir ...
and the year of creation somewhere between 1406 and 1412, based on historical and philological studies.
Contents
The primary purpose of ''De orthographia bohemica'' was to simplify and unify Czech orthography in order to promote literacy by making the language "clearer and easier" to read and write. Instead of representing sounds using
digraphs and
trigraphs, it proposed a "diacritic orthography", where one letter indicates only one sound, and different but related sounds (such as those now represented by ''r'' and ''ř'') are distinguished by diacritics. Briefly, one can summarize the spelling changes in Orthographia Bohemica as follows:
*The basic letters of the
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and the o ...
(as well as the Latin digraph ''ch'') were to be used for writing Czech, with sound values according to the conventions of medieval Latin pronunciation in
Bohemia
Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...
at the time. The only difference was that the letter ''c'' was always to be used to represent the sound , and never for . ''d'' represented /d/ as in Latin, and the letter ''g'' before ''e'' and ''i'' represented ; in other cases ''g'' represented .
*Czech consonants that Latin did not possess would be represented by a Latin letter adorned with a diacritic dot. In particular, as Czech additionally possessed
palatalized consonants
In phonetics, palatalization (, also ) or palatization is a way of pronouncing a consonant in which part of the tongue is moved close to the hard palate. Consonants pronounced this way are said to be palatalized and are transcribed in the Internat ...
and a hard ''l'', the dot indicated softness above ''n'', ''d'', ''t'', ''c'' and ''z'', and hardness for ''l''.
*Long vowels (which Latin possessed but did not indicate) were to be indicated by the
čárka (an
acute accent
The acute accent (), , is a diacritic used in many modern written languages with alphabets based on the Latin, Cyrillic, and Greek scripts. For the most commonly encountered uses of the accent in the Latin and Greek alphabets, precomposed ch ...
) above ''a'', ''e'', ''i'' and ''y''.
To illustrate the simple and revolutionary nature of this spelling, take as an example the various ways of representing ř, compared with that seen in the grammar of
Jan Gebauer
Jan Gebauer (8 October 1838, Úbislavice – 25 May 1907, Prague) was a significant expert on Czech studies and one of the most renowned Czech scientists of all times. His scientific work was influenced by the methods of positivism.
Biography
Ja ...
. In manuscripts written before Hus, all of the following representations were in use: , , , , , , , and . Long vowels were written either with no indication of the length, or written double (sometimes with the second letter written in
superscript
A subscript or superscript is a character (such as a number or letter) that is set slightly below or above the normal line of type, respectively. It is usually smaller than the rest of the text. Subscripts appear at or below the baseline, whil ...
), or with any of a wide and unstandardized range of diacritical marks. One could not even assume that the same scribe would consistently use their own conventions, and their use often varied even within a single manuscript.
Significance and impact
![Praha, Nove Mesto - kostel Panny Marie na Slovanech](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Praha%2C_Nove_Mesto_-_kostel_Panny_Marie_na_Slovanech.jpg)
''Orthographia bohemica'' was the first known document in which such
spelling reform
A spelling reform is a deliberate, often authoritatively sanctioned or mandated change to spelling rules. Proposals for such reform are fairly common, and over the years, many languages have undergone such reforms. Recent high-profile examples ar ...
s were suggested for a
Slavic language
The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavs, Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic language, Proto ...
. It is not yet fully clear where Jan Hus drew inspiration for this work. Considered in the context of the contemporaneous study of letters of
St. Jerome
Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is comm ...
by Danish scholars of
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
working at the
Sorbonne
Sorbonne may refer to:
* Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities.
*the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970)
*one of its components or linked institution, ...
, there was a good knowledge of such orthographic practices at the time (particularly the designation of long vowels). According to a study by
F. V. Mareš, a stimulus for the project was the author's knowledge of
Glagolitic
The Glagolitic script (, , ''glagolitsa'') is the oldest known Slavic alphabet. It is generally agreed to have been created in the 9th century by Saint Cyril, a monk from Thessalonica. He and his brother Saint Methodius were sent by the Byzan ...
, used by
Croatian monks in the
Emmaus Monastery
The Emmaus Monastery ( cs, Emauzy or ''Emauzský klášter''), called Na Slovanech in the Middle Ages, is an abbey established in 1347 in Prague. It was the only Benedictine monastery of the Kingdom of Bohemia and all Slavic Europe.
In the 136 ...
(''Na Slovanech'') in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
.
The significance of the document lies in the longevity and wide application of its logical system of diacritics. Its impact is apparent in the , the first grammar of the Czech language, published in 1533, but the adoption of the new rules was relatively slow and far from uniform. Throughout the 16th century, some printers and typesetters ignored the prescriptions of ''Orthographia bohemica'' and continued to maintain some digraphs (e.g. ''ss'' for instead of ''š''), although their use became considerably more uniform. In addition, scribes adopted the new rules much more slowly than book printers.
Discovery and publication
![František Palacký](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Franti%C5%A1ek_Palack%C3%BD.jpg)
The manuscript for ''Orthographia bohemica'' was found by
František Palacký
František Palacký (; June 17, 1798 – May 26, 1876) was a Czech historian and politician, the most influential person of the Czech National Revival, called "Father of the Nation".
Life
František Palacký was born on June 17, 1798 at Hodslavi ...
on 13 August 1826, in
Třeboň
Třeboň (; german: Wittingau) is a spa town in Jindřichův Hradec District in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 8,100 inhabitants. The town centre with the castle complex is well preserved and is protected by law as an ...
in the south of Bohemia. The public was made aware of the existence of the work a year later, with the first issue of the newly founded journal ''Časopis společnosti vlastenského Museum v Čechách'' ("Journal of the Society of the National Museum in Bohemia"), but its publication had to wait a further thirty years. The Latin text with translation appeared in 1857 in ''Slavische Bibliothek'' in Vienna thanks to A. V. Šembera, who worked at the time at the university as Professor of Czech Language and Literature. A year later in Prague, the fifth volume of ''Mistra Jana Husi sebrané spisy'' ("Collected Works of Master Jan Hus") appeared with a Czech translation and a short introduction by
Václav Flajšhans, to date the latest Czech translation of this manuscript. The Latin text was published twice more: first in the unaltered Šembera edition by ''Slavische Bibliothek'' (Amsterdam, 1965) and second with a German translation and commentary by J. Schröpfer in Wiesbaden, Germany in 1968.
Šembera's Latin text was probably taken directly from Palacký's copy of the manuscript; Schröpfer produced a new revised (though not flawless) edition of the manuscript. A critical evaluation comparing the preserved Třeboň manuscript with the extant excerpts has yet to appear.
Preserved manuscripts
![PragueCastle](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/PragueCastle.jpg)
A manuscript of ''Orthographia bohemica'' in Jan Hus' hand has still not been found; the only complete copy of the manuscript which is available for study was written by a monk Oldřich Kříž of Třeboň (i.e. the copy found by Palacký). Its age can not be accurately determined as the copy is not dated. The end of the manuscript contains the inscription ''In die Leonardi'', i.e. on January 6; however, this may indicate either the date of completion of the original manuscript or Oldřich Kříž's copy. In the same volume as ''Orthographia bohemica'', however, are some more works: three of them bear the year 1459 and one 1457. The writings are not arranged chronologically, however, and so they serve only as an approximate guide for determining the age of the manuscript.
In addition to the Kříž manuscript there are various excerpts deposited in the archives of
Prague Castle
Prague Castle ( cs, Pražský hrad; ) is a castle complex in Prague 1 Municipality within Prague, Czech Republic, built in the 9th century. It is the official office of the President of the Czech Republic. The castle was a seat of power for kin ...
.
Anežka Vidmanová's comparative study with the manuscript of Oldřich Kříž shows that the Třeboň manuscript is unreliable in many places.
See also
*
Czech language
Czech (; Czech ), historically also Bohemian (; ''lingua Bohemica'' in Latin), is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group, written in Latin script. Spoken by over 10 million people, it serves as the official language of the Czech Re ...
*
Czech orthography
Czech orthography is a system of rules for proper formal writing (orthography) in Czech. The earliest form of separate Latin script specifically designed to suit Czech was devised by Czech theologian and church reformist Jan Hus, the namesake of ...
*
Phonemic orthography
A phonemic orthography is an orthography (system for writing a language) in which the graphemes (written symbols) correspond to the phonemes (significant spoken sounds) of the language. Natural languages rarely have perfectly phonemic orthographi ...
*
Spelling reform
A spelling reform is a deliberate, often authoritatively sanctioned or mandated change to spelling rules. Proposals for such reform are fairly common, and over the years, many languages have undergone such reforms. Recent high-profile examples ar ...
*
Jan Hus
Jan Hus (; ; 1370 – 6 July 1415), sometimes anglicized as John Hus or John Huss, and referred to in historical texts as ''Iohannes Hus'' or ''Johannes Huss'', was a Czech theologian and philosopher who became a Church reformer and the inspir ...
*
Josef Jungmann
Josef Jungmann (16 July 1773 in Hudlice, near Beroun – 14 November 1847 in Prague) was a Czech poet and linguist, and a leading figure of the Czech National Revival. Together with Josef Dobrovský, he is considered to be a creator of the moder ...
, advocate of the rebirth of written Czech language in the 19th century.
Sources
Historical grammars
*Gebauer, Jan. Historická mluvnice jazyka českého. Díl I, Hláskosloví. ČSAV, Prague 1963.
*Lamprechtt. Vývoj fonologického systému českého jazyka. Universita J. E. Purkyně, Brno 1966.
Orthographia Bohemica
* Bartoš, F. M.: K Husovu spisku o českém pravopise, in: Jihočeský sborník historický, Tábor 1949, p. 33-38.
*
* Hus, Jan. Pravopis český, in: Mistra Jana Husi Sebrané spisy. Svazek V. Spisy české, díl II. Přel. Milan Svoboda, úvody a vysvětlivkami opatřil prof. dr. Václav Flajšhans, Praha 1858, p. 105-113.
* Mareš, František Václav. Emauzské prameny českého diakritického pravopisu, in: Z tradic slovanské kultury v Čechách, Prague 1975, p. 169-172.
* Orthographia Bohemica. Ed. Kateřina Voleková, Czech translation Ondřej Koupil, English translation Marcela Koupilová and David Livingstone. Praha: Akropolis, 2019.
* Palacký, František. Literní zprávy, in: Časopis společnosti vlastenského Museum v Čechách. První roční běh. Svazek první. České Museum, Prague 1827, p. 132-140.
* Schröpfer, Johann. Hussens Traktat „Orthographia Bohemica“ - Die Herkunft des diakritischen Systems in der Schreibung slavischer Sprachen und die Älteste zusammenhängende Beschreibung slavischer Laute. Wiesbaden, 1968.
* Vidmanová, Anežka. Ke spisku Orthographia Bohemica, in: Listy filologické, 1982, p. 75-89.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Orthographia Bohemica
Orthography reform
Czech language
Slavic culture
Linguistics books
15th-century Latin books
Jan Hus