''Universitas lingvarum Litvaniæ'' ( lt, Lietuvos kalbų visuma; en, The Entirety of the Lithuanian language) is the oldest surviving

grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes domain ...

of 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 ...

published 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 partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire of Austria. The state was founded by Lit ...

. It was written in

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 ...

and was published in the Lithuanian capital

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 urb ...

by the Vilnius University Press in 1737. Its author is unknown, however the grammar of the Lithuanian language shows that the author may have originated from the districts of

Dotnuva Dotnuva (formerly pl, Datnów, russian: Датновъ, Датново, Датнов, german: Dotnau) is a small town with a 2003 population of 775 in central Lithuania, 10 km northwest of Kėdainiai, in the Kėdainiai district municipality. ...

Kėdainiai Kėdainiai () is one of the oldest cities in Lithuania. It is located north of Kaunas on the banks of the Nevėžis River. First mentioned in the 1372 Livonian Chronicle of Hermann de Wartberge, its population is 23,667. Its old town dates to ...

, Surviliškis,

Šėta Šėta is a small town in Kaunas County in central Lithuania. In 2011, it had a population of 935. References *''This article was initially translated from the Lithuanian Wikipedia.'' Towns in Lithuania Towns in Kaunas County Vilkomi ...

. It was written independently as there is no influence of the grammar of the Lithuanian language of

Lithuania Minor Lithuania Minor ( lt, Mažoji Lietuva; german: Kleinlitauen; pl, Litwa Mniejsza; russian: Ма́лая Литва́), or Prussian Lithuania ( lt, Prūsų Lietuva; german: Preußisch-Litauen, pl, Litwa Pruska), is a historical ethnographic re ...

. The structure of the ''Universitas lingvarum Litvaniæ'' and the classification of parts of language were influenced by the Latin and

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

grammars of that period. The most important feature of the ''Universitas lingvarum Litvaniæ'', which distinguishes it from other grammars of the Lithuanian language of that period, is the understanding of the system of

accentuation In linguistics, and particularly phonology, stress or accent is the relative emphasis or prominence given to a certain syllable in a word or to a certain word in a phrase or sentence. That emphasis is typically caused by such properties a ...

of the Lithuanian language and fairly consistent marking of

adjectives In linguistics, an adjective (abbreviated ) is a word that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives were considered one of the mai ...

. In 1829, Simonas Stanevičius published an expanded variant of the ''Universitas lingvarum Litvaniæ'' in Vilnius with a title ''Grammatica brevis linguæ Lituanicæ seu Samogiticæ'' ( lt, Trumpas pamokimas kałbos lituviškos arba źemaitiškos; en, A Short Edification of the Lithuanian or Samogitian language). In 1896,

Jan Michał Rozwadowski Jan Michał Rozwadowski (7 December 1867 – 13 March 1935) was a Polish linguist and a professor at the Jagiellonian University. He was also the president of the Polish Academy of Learning The Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences or Polis ...

republished it in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

. In 1981, the facsimile edition together with the Lithuanian translation was published by in Vilnius.

References

External links

Online scanned version of the ''Universitas lingvarum Litvaniae'', 1737
Vilnius University Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Universitas lingvarum Litvaniae Grammar books 1737 books Lithuanian books Lithuanian grammar

See also

References

External links