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Antanas Juška (; 16 June 1819 – 1 November 1880) was a Lithuanian
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
priest known for his lifelong study of Lithuanian folk traditions. For about three decades, he observed the Lithuanian people, their traditions, and recorded their songs and vocabulary. Juška recorded about 7,000
Lithuanian folk songs Lithuanian folk songs (in Lithuanian: ) are often noted for not only their mythological content but also their relating historical events. Lithuanian folk music includes romantic songs, wedding songs, as well as work songs and archaic war s ...
, including about 2,000 songs with melodies, and wrote a 70,000-word Lithuanian–Polish dictionary. These works provide a wealth of information of the 19th-century Lithuanian life. His works were partially published with the help of his elder brother
Jonas Juška Jonas Juška (; 1815–1886) was a Lithuanian teacher and linguist. He studied the Lithuanian language and worked on publishing works by his brother the Catholic priest Antanas Juška. Educated at Kražiai College and Kharkiv University, Juška ...
. With the help of his brother Jonas, Juška attended
Kražiai College The Kražiai College () was a Jesuit college (equivalent to a modern secondary school) in Kražiai, Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later Russian Empire. Established in 1616 in hopes to educate new generations of Counter-Reformation, anti-Protestants ...
and later transferred to the Vilnius Theological Seminary. He was ordained as a Catholic priest and later worked in various locations in Lithuania – , Obeliai (1845), and
Zarasai Zarasai () is a city in northeastern Lithuania, surrounded by many lakes and rivers: to the southwest of the city is Lake Zarasas, to the northLake Zarasaitis, to the southeastLake Baltas, and the eastLake Griežtas. Lakes Zarasaitis and Griežtas ...
(1846–1849),
Ukmergė Ukmergė (; previously ''Vilkmergė''; ) is a city in Vilnius County, Lithuania, located northwest of Vilnius. It is the administrative center of the Ukmergė District Municipality. Ukmergė (Vilkmergė) was mentioned for the first time as a ...
(1849–1855), Pušalotas (1855–1862), Lyduvėnai (1862), Vilkija (1862–1864),
Veliuona Veliuona (, , ) is a small town on the Nemunas River in the Jurbarkas district municipality in Lithuania. History Veliuona (also known as Junigeda) was first mentioned in 1291 in the chronicle of Peter of Duisburg. The town is primarily known ...
(1864–1871),
Alsėdžiai Alsėdžiai ( Samogitian: ''Alsiedē'', ) is a small town in the Plungė district municipality. It is near the Sruoja River, from Plungė. Alsėdžiai is an administrative center of the Alsėdžiai eldership. Stanisław Narutowicz, one of the s ...
(1871–1879). During the failed
Uprising of 1863 The January Uprising was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at putting an end to Russian occupation of part of Poland and regaining independence. It began on 22 January 1863 and continued until the last in ...
, he was arrested and imprisoned for nine months on suspicions of sympathizing with the rebels. He died in
Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...
in 1880. Juška became interested in Lithuanian folk culture and language while living in Ukmergė but his most productive period was while living in Veliuona. He collected Lithuanian vocabulary and
folk songs Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has be ...
directly from the people. He was particularly interested in wedding traditions – he recorded numerous wedding songs and wrote a separate study on Lithuanian wedding traditions. He wrote down the songs as they were performed – i.e. preserving nuances of the
dialects A dialect is a variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standardized varieties as well as vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardized varieties, such as those used in developing countries or iso ...
. He also noted who were the singers, which was a relatively new development in
folklore studies Folklore studies (also known as folkloristics, tradition studies or folk life studies in the UK) is the academic discipline devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currency in the 1950s to distinguish the ac ...
. At about 7,000 songs, it was by far the largest collection of Lithuanian folk songs at the time (previously, a total of about 800 Lithuanian songs were published). However, only about 2,800 of them were published and the rest were lost during
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. When Jonas Juška moved to
Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...
and became acquainted with professor
Jan Baudouin de Courtenay Jan Niecisław Ignacy Baudouin de Courtenay, also Ivan Alexandrovich Baudouin de Courtenay (; 13 March 1845 – 3 November 1929), was a Polish linguist and Slavic studies, Slavist, best known for his theory of the phoneme and allophone, phoneti ...
in 1875, the brothers began working on publishing the vast material collected by Antanas. Due to the
Lithuanian press ban The Lithuanian press ban () was a ban on all Lithuanian language publications printed in the Latin alphabet, in force from 1865 to 1904, within the Russian Empire, which controlled Lithuania proper at the time. Lithuanian-language publications t ...
implemented as part of the larger
Russification Russification (), Russianisation or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians adopt Russian culture and Russian language either voluntarily or as a result of a deliberate state policy. Russification was at times ...
efforts after the Uprising of 1863, Lithuanian texts could only be printed in the
Cyrillic script The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic languages, Slavic, Turkic languages, Turkic, Mongolic languages, Mongolic, Uralic languages, Uralic, C ...
and not the traditional
Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet, also known as the Roman alphabet, is the collection of letters originally used by the Ancient Rome, ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered except several letters splitting—i.e. from , and from � ...
. However, with the help of Baudouin de Courtenay, Juškas managed to convince the
University of Kazan Kazan Federal University (; ) is a public research university located in Kazan, Russia. The university was founded in 1804 as Imperial Kazan University, which makes it the second oldest continuously existing tertiary education institution in Rus ...
to print three volumes of Lithuanian songs (a total of 1,586 songs) in 1880–1882. They also convinced the
Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...
to get a special exemption from Tsar
Alexander II of Russia Alexander II ( rus, Алекса́ндр II Никола́евич, Aleksándr II Nikoláyevich, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ftɐˈroj nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ; 29 April 181813 March 1881) was Emperor of Russia, Congress Poland, King of Poland and Grand Du ...
to publish a collection of 1,100 wedding songs in 1883. Melodies of 1,780 songs were published largely due to the efforts by Baudouin de Courtenay in 1900. Juška also wrote three dictionaries – 7,000-word Polish–Lithuanian (around 1854), 6,000-word Latvian–Lithuanian–Polish (1875), and 70,000-word Lithuanian–Polish dictionaries. The first two dictionaries were never published. His main dictionary was prepared not based on words picked out from published texts but from the local vernacular. He recorded words in sentences and explained their meaning in Lithuanian and only then translated them to Polish (later, Russian was added so that the dictionary could be published). Thus, he wrote an
explanatory dictionary An explanatory dictionary or defining dictionary is a dictionary that provides definitions of word meanings at its entries. It may give additional information on pronunciation, grammar, etymology Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin an ...
of the
colloquial language Colloquialism (also called ''colloquial language'', ''colloquial speech'', ''everyday language'', or ''general parlance'') is the linguistic style used for casual and informal communication. It is the most common form of speech in conversation amo ...
. After Juška's death, his dictionary was edited by numerous linguists, including his brother Jonas,
Vatroslav Jagić Vatroslav Jagić (; July 6, 1838 – August 5, 1923) was a Croatian scholar of Slavic studies in the second half of the 19th century. Life Jagić was born in Varaždin, where he attended the elementary school and started his secondary-scho ...
,
Jonas Jablonskis Jonas Jablonskis (; 30 December 1860, in Kubilėliai, Šakiai district – 23 February 1930, in Kaunas) was a distinguished Lithuanian linguist and one of the founders of the standard Lithuanian language. He used the pseudonym ''Rygiškių Jonas'' ...
,
Kazimieras Būga Kazimieras Būga (; November 6, 1879 – December 2, 1924) was a Lithuanian linguist and philologist. He was a professor of linguistics, who mainly worked on the Lithuanian language. He was born at Pažiegė, near Dusetos, then part of the Russ ...
, but the work was very slow and only three volumes up to the word ''kuokštuotis'' were published over the next four decades (in 1897, 1904, and 1922).


Biography


Early life

Juška was born in the village of , near
Ariogala Ariogala () is a town in central Lithuania. It is located on the Dubysa River, which flows through the town. Name Ariogala is the Lithuanian name of the town. Versions of the name in other languages include Samogitian: ''Ariuogala'', Polish: ...
. His parents were landless Samogitian nobles – the family had to rent farms from others and frequently moved from one location to another. His elder brother Jonas attended a Bernadine school in
Dotnuva Dotnuva (formerly , , ) is a small town with a 2003 population of 775 in central Lithuania, 10 km northwest of Kėdainiai, in the Kėdainiai district municipality. It is located on the Dotnuvėlė River. The geographical center of Lithuania, ...
and was admitted to
Kražiai College The Kražiai College () was a Jesuit college (equivalent to a modern secondary school) in Kražiai, Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later Russian Empire. Established in 1616 in hopes to educate new generations of Counter-Reformation, anti-Protestants ...
where he earned a living working as a superintendent in a students' dormitory. Jonas educated Antanas and he was admitted to the third grade at Kražiai College. Jonas graduated in 1839 and enrolled into the
Kharkiv University The V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University (), also known as Kharkiv National University or Karazin University, is a public university in Kharkiv, Ukraine. It was founded in 1804 through the efforts of Vasily Karazin, becoming the second old ...
. Left without financial support, Antanas enrolled into the Vilnius Theological Seminary which provided free education including room and board. Juška graduated in 1843 and became a priest in , Obeliai (1845), and
Zarasai Zarasai () is a city in northeastern Lithuania, surrounded by many lakes and rivers: to the southwest of the city is Lake Zarasas, to the northLake Zarasaitis, to the southeastLake Baltas, and the eastLake Griežtas. Lakes Zarasaitis and Griežtas ...
(1846–1849). In Zarasai, he witnessed a
typhoid Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a disease caused by ''Salmonella enterica'' serotype Typhi bacteria, also called ''Salmonella'' Typhi. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often ther ...
epidemic and helped nurse the sick and bury the dead. He was then reassigned as a chaplain of a school in
Ukmergė Ukmergė (; previously ''Vilkmergė''; ) is a city in Vilnius County, Lithuania, located northwest of Vilnius. It is the administrative center of the Ukmergė District Municipality. Ukmergė (Vilkmergė) was mentioned for the first time as a ...
where he worked until 1855. It appears that Juška started his studies of the Lithuanian language in Ukmergė. He asked his students to bring him examples of local dialects, idioms, proverbs, etc. He also read and was familiar with the latest publications on Lithuanian language and culture, including works by
August Schleicher August Schleicher (; 19 February 1821 – 6 December 1868) was a German linguist. Schleicher studied the Proto-Indo-European language and devised theories concerning historical linguistics. His great work was ''A Compendium of the Comparative Gr ...
,
Motiejus Valančius Motiejus Kazimieras Valančius (; , also known by his pen-name ''Joteika'' and ''Ksiądz Maciek''; 1801–1875) was a Catholic Bishop of Samogitia, historian and one of the best known Lithuanian/Samogitian writers of the 19th century. Biograph ...
,
Simonas Daukantas Simonas Daukantas (; 28 October 1793 – 6 December 1864) was a Lithuanian/Samogitian historian, writer, and ethnographer. One of the pioneers of the Lithuanian National Revival, he is credited as the author of the first book on the history of Li ...
,
Friedrich Kurschat Friedrich Kurschat (; 1806–1884) was a Prussian Lithuanian linguist and professor at the University of Königsberg. He studied the Lithuanian language and published its grammar in 1876 in which he was the first to describe Lithuanian accentuati ...
,
Kristijonas Donelaitis Kristijonas Donelaitis (; 1 January 1714 – 18 February 1780) was a Prussian Lithuanian poet and Lutheran pastor. He lived and worked in Lithuania Minor, a territory in the Kingdom of Prussia, that had a sizable Lithuanian-speaking minority. H ...
, Ludwig Rhesa. His brother Jonas, encouraged by professor
Izmail Sreznevsky Izmail Ivanovich Sreznevsky (; 13 June 1812, Yaroslavl – 21 February 1880, St. Petersburg) was a Russian philologist, Slavist, historian, paleographer, folklorist and writer. Life His father, Ivan Sreznevsky, was a prolific translator of Latin ...
, also became interested in the Lithuanian language, but he was more a theoretician while Antanas more a practician working in the field to collect words and examples from the living people. The two brothers closely cooperated in their studies; Jonas frequently visited Antanas in Lithuania during summer vacations. Sometimes it is difficult to determine which manuscript was written by which brother. Antanas' efforts to collect samples of Lithuanian vocabulary and songs intensified after he was relocated to Pušalotas in 1855. He also described local wedding traditions (the Russian language manuscript is unfinished). In 1861, during a
canonical visitation In the Catholic Church, a canonical visitation is the act of an ecclesiastical superior who in the discharge of his office visits persons or places with a view to maintaining faith and discipline and of correcting abuses. A person delegated to car ...
, bishop
Motiejus Valančius Motiejus Kazimieras Valančius (; , also known by his pen-name ''Joteika'' and ''Ksiądz Maciek''; 1801–1875) was a Catholic Bishop of Samogitia, historian and one of the best known Lithuanian/Samogitian writers of the 19th century. Biograph ...
visited Juška in Pušalotas and urged him to publish his materials. Juška renovated the church in Pušalotas in 1853, rebuilt burnt rectory in 1857, and built a stone fence around the churchyard and the cemetery. Due to conflicts with local residents over land rights, Juška was reassigned to Lyduvėnai in 1862. However, Juška did not want to be a pastor as he wanted to devote his time to the studies of Lithuanian language and culture. Therefore, after about half a year, he defied Valančius' orders and left Lyduvėnai for a monastery in
Dotnuva Dotnuva (formerly , , ) is a small town with a 2003 population of 775 in central Lithuania, 10 km northwest of Kėdainiai, in the Kėdainiai district municipality. It is located on the Dotnuvėlė River. The geographical center of Lithuania, ...
. He was then reassigned to Vilkija. It is said that he tied drunkards to a post in the town center so that they suffered
public humiliation Public humiliation or public shaming is a form of punishment whose main feature is dishonoring or disgracing a person, usually an offender or a prisoner, especially in a public place. It was regularly used as a form of judicially sanctioned puni ...
.


Uprising of 1863

Close contacts with local villagers made Juška sympathetic to their plight. In 1863, he published a
primer Primer may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Primer'' (film), a 2004 feature film written and directed by Shane Carruth * ''Primer'' (video), a documentary about the funk band Living Colour Literature * Primer (textbook), a te ...
which was similar to other primers of the period except it lacked customary sample texts that instilled obedience to the nobility. There were rumors though there is no clear evidence that Juška assisted
Antanas Mackevičius Antanas Mackevičius (; 26 June 1828 – 28 December 1863) was a Lithuanians, Lithuanian Roman Catholic priest who was one of the leaders and initiators of the January Uprising in Lithuania. Mackevičius was born to a family of Petty nobility, ...
, one of the leaders of the
Uprising of 1863 The January Uprising was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at putting an end to Russian occupation of part of Poland and regaining independence. It began on 22 January 1863 and continued until the last in ...
, who was active in the area of Vilkija. In 1867, Juška's brother Jonas married Mackevičius' niece which only adds weight to the rumor. In July 1863, Russian soldiers searched the nearby manor in . They found 13-year-old son of the manor tenant Vincas Juškevičius transcribing ''Lietuvos katekizmas'' (
Catechism A catechism (; from , "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of Catholic theology, doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult co ...
of Lithuania) in which the rebels described their goals and ideology in the traditional question-and-answer format of religious catechisms. Juška was arrested and imprisoned in Kaunas Prison by the Tsarist police as he was suspected as the author or at least distributor of ''Lietuvos katekizmas''. He was further suspected of supporting the rebels, maintaining contacts with them, and encouraging villagers to join the uprising. Residents of Vilkija sent a letter with 72 signatures to , Governor of Kovno, asking for Juška's release. The
Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...
also sent a letter asking for his release as he was working on a much needed Lithuanian–Russian dictionary (in fact, he was working on a Lithuanian–Polish dictionary). The letter achieved its goal and
Mikhail Muravyov-Vilensky Count Mikhail Nikolayevich Muravyov (; 12 October 1796 in Moscow – 12 September 1866 in Saint Petersburg) was a Russian imperial statesman of the 19th century, most known for brutally putting down of Polish and Lithuanian uprisings and leading s ...
, Governor General of Vilna, approved Juška's release on 22 February 1864. Juška, in poor health, was released after about nine months in prison. He needed to be put under the supervision of a trusted person, i.e. a
parson A parson is an ordained Christian person responsible for a small area, typically a parish. The term was formerly often used for some Anglican clergy and, more rarely, for ordained ministers in some other churches. It is no longer a formal term d ...
. Therefore, upon release, he was reassigned as a
vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...
to
Veliuona Veliuona (, , ) is a small town on the Nemunas River in the Jurbarkas district municipality in Lithuania. History Veliuona (also known as Junigeda) was first mentioned in 1291 in the chronicle of Peter of Duisburg. The town is primarily known ...
, but Tsarist police continued to be interested in his activities.


Collection and publication of songs

Juška was not deterred by his imprisonment or the
Lithuanian press ban The Lithuanian press ban () was a ban on all Lithuanian language publications printed in the Latin alphabet, in force from 1865 to 1904, within the Russian Empire, which controlled Lithuania proper at the time. Lithuanian-language publications t ...
which outlawed publications in Lithuanian printed in the
Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet, also known as the Roman alphabet, is the collection of letters originally used by the Ancient Rome, ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered except several letters splitting—i.e. from , and from � ...
. He continued to collect and record samples of Lithuanian folk songs. If anything, he became more devoted to the task. He wrote down not only song lyrics but also its melody. To help him with that he would carry a musical instrument (likely a
clavichord The clavichord is a stringed rectangular keyboard instrument that was used largely in the Late Middle Ages, through the Renaissance music, Renaissance, Baroque music, Baroque and Classical period (music), Classical eras. Historically, it was most ...
) or asked singers to come to his house where he had a piano. It is unknown what kind of musical education Juška had. Juška liked to attend various celebrations and ceremonies (e.g. weddings) so that he could hear the songs as they were naturally performed. Many singers felt uncomfortable and were reluctant to perform if asked to sing on purpose. To overcome this, Juška offered small gifts (e.g. a candy, ring, spoon) and even cash to compensate for lost time and work. In an 1880 letter, Jonas Juška wrote that they spend several hundred of Russian rubles collecting the songs. He also organized song contests among local women; he offered silk headscarf for the winner. While living in Veliuona, Juška collected some 5,500 songs (i.e. about 1,000 songs per year), wrote his largest ethnographic study on Lithuanian wedding traditions, and continued to work on a Lithuanian dictionary. Due to increasingly poor health (he had a heart condition and
asthma Asthma is a common long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wh ...
), Juška requested a transfer and a demotion so he would not be burdened by the daily tasks of a priest. In 1871, he was transferred to
Alsėdžiai Alsėdžiai ( Samogitian: ''Alsiedē'', ) is a small town in the Plungė district municipality. It is near the Sruoja River, from Plungė. Alsėdžiai is an administrative center of the Alsėdžiai eldership. Stanisław Narutowicz, one of the s ...
as an altarista. Juška continued to work with the people and collect songs but poor health forced him to live more sedentary life. In three years, he learned
Latvian language Latvian (, ), also known as Lettish, is an East Baltic languages, East Baltic language belonging to the Indo-European language family. It is spoken in the Baltic region, and is the language of the Latvians. It is the official language of Latvia ...
and wrote a Latvian–Lithuanian–Polish dictionary which he sent to the Science Commission of the in 1875. When Jonas Juška moved to
Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...
and became acquainted with professor
Jan Baudouin de Courtenay Jan Niecisław Ignacy Baudouin de Courtenay, also Ivan Alexandrovich Baudouin de Courtenay (; 13 March 1845 – 3 November 1929), was a Polish linguist and Slavic studies, Slavist, best known for his theory of the phoneme and allophone, phoneti ...
in 1875, the brothers began working on publishing material collected by Antanas in earnest. To expedite the process, Antanas moved to live in Kazan in 1879. He also sought better medical care for his illness, but after thirteen months of work in Kazan, Juška died on 1 November 1880. By the time of his death only the first segment of his song collection was published. Jonas Juška then devoted the rest of his life to the publication of Antanas' works. Three volumes of Lithuanian songs were published in Kazan in 1880–1882 and a volume with 1,100 wedding songs was published in Saint Petersburg in 1883. He also worked on publishing Antanas' dictionary but it was slow work and only parts of the dictionary were published by the time of Jonas Juška's death in May 1886.


Memory

Both brothers were buried in a joint grave in the Arskoe Cemetery in Kazan. Antanas' tombstone was black with a Latin inscription; Jonas' tombstone was of white marble with a Lithuanian inscription. Antanas Mockus, who prepared Juška's songs for republication in the 1950s, proposed to rebury Juškas in Lithuania in 1952 but his efforts were refused until 1989. Governments of both Lithuania and
Tatarstan Tatarstan, officially the Republic of Tatarstan, sometimes also called Tataria, is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia located in Eastern Europe. It is a part of the Volga Federal District; and its capital city, capital and largest city i ...
had to give the appropriate permissions. A solemn mass was held at
Vilnius Cathedral The Cathedral Basilica of St Stanislaus and St Ladislaus of Vilnius, also known as Vilnius Cathedral is the main Catholic cathedral in Lithuania. It is situated in Vilnius Old Town, just off Cathedral Square. Dedicated to the Christian saints ...
and the remains were transported to Veliuona where they were reburied in the churchyard on 3 November 1990. Jonas' tombstone was transferred from Kazan while Antanas' tombstone was recreated based on photographs as it was lost sometime before 1951. In 1990, a museum of Lithuanian ethnic culture named after brothers Juškas was established in the former rectory in Vilkija where Antanas briefly worked in 1862–1864. In 1993, high school in Veliuona was renamed in honor of brother Juškas. A monument to Juška and three other priests who were also writers and lived in Pušalotas was unveiled in 2009. Streets named after Juška are located in
Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...
, Veliuona, and near
Ramygala Ramygala (, literally "quiet end") is a town in Lithuania. It is located some south from Panevėžys on the banks of the Upytė River, a tributary to the Nevėžis River. According to 2017 estimate, it had 1,440 residents. Etymology The name R ...
.


Works


Folk songs

Over about thirty years, Juška recorded about 7,000
Lithuanian folk songs Lithuanian folk songs (in Lithuanian: ) are often noted for not only their mythological content but also their relating historical events. Lithuanian folk music includes romantic songs, wedding songs, as well as work songs and archaic war s ...
, including 1,852 songs with melodies. It was by far the largest collection of Lithuanian songs at the time. In total, about 2,800 songs collected by Juška were published, of them about 2,600 were recorded in Veliuona. Prior to that, only about 800 songs were published and the largest collection published by
Georg Heinrich Ferdinand Nesselmann Georg Heinrich Ferdinand Nesselmann (February 14, 1811 in Fürstenau, near Tiegenhof, West Prussia (now Kmiecin, within Nowy Dwór Gdański) – January 7, 1881 in Königsberg) was a German orientalist, a philologist with interests in Baltic ...
in 1853 had only 410 songs (of which about three quarters were already published elsewhere). Juška's manuscripts with songs were lost during World War I. Of some 4,000 unpublished songs, only 25 are known. Juška's collection encouraged others, including and , to collect Lithuanian songs and other folklore. It was also used by Lithuanian poets (e.g.
Maironis Maironis (born Jonas Mačiulis, ; – 28 June 1932) was a Lithuanians, Lithuanian Roman Catholic priest and the greatest and most-known Lithuanian poet, especially of the period of the Lithuanian press ban. He was called the Bard of Lithuanian Na ...
) and composers (e.g.
Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (; – ) was a Lithuanian composer, painter, choirmaster, cultural figure, and writer in Polish. Čiurlionis contributed to symbolism and Art Nouveau, and was representative of the fin de siècle epoch. ...
) to study and imitate Lithuanian songs. The songs also influenced the folk singers. For example, , a local organist in Veliuona, organized a choir which performed songs from Juška's collection.


Publication history

The first booklet with 33 Lithuanian songs and their translations to Russian was published by the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1867. Due to the
Lithuanian press ban The Lithuanian press ban () was a ban on all Lithuanian language publications printed in the Latin alphabet, in force from 1865 to 1904, within the Russian Empire, which controlled Lithuania proper at the time. Lithuanian-language publications t ...
, the Lithuanian words had to be transcribed in the
Cyrillic script The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic languages, Slavic, Turkic languages, Turkic, Mongolic languages, Mongolic, Uralic languages, Uralic, C ...
. Jonas Juška adapted the Cyrillic script to Lithuanian phonetics by introducing new letters (11 letters based on Cyrillic characters and a single letter ''j'' borrowed from the Latin alphabet), but the publication was not well received in Lithuania due to the script. Due to such reaction, Juška delayed further publications. The collection included a variety of songs: about half of them were wedding songs, but others varied from a war song that recalled the times of the
Lithuanian Crusade The Lithuanian Crusade was a series of campaigns by the Teutonic Order and the Livonian Order under the pretext of forcibly Christianizing the pagan Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Livonian Order occupied Riga in 1202 and in the 1230s they settled ...
to variations of two poems by Antanas Strazdas. The songs were treated primarily as material for language studies and not as works of poetry. Therefore, they were grouped based on the dialect and not on the theme or topic. Four large volumes of songs were published in 1880–1883, already after Juška's death, in the Latin alphabet despite the Lithuanian press ban. With the help of
Jan Baudouin de Courtenay Jan Niecisław Ignacy Baudouin de Courtenay, also Ivan Alexandrovich Baudouin de Courtenay (; 13 March 1845 – 3 November 1929), was a Polish linguist and Slavic studies, Slavist, best known for his theory of the phoneme and allophone, phoneti ...
, Jonas Juška convinced the
University of Kazan Kazan Federal University (; ) is a public research university located in Kazan, Russia. The university was founded in 1804 as Imperial Kazan University, which makes it the second oldest continuously existing tertiary education institution in Rus ...
to use its autonomy and publish three volumes of songs (but Juška had to pay the publication expenses). With the help of
Yakov Grot Yakov Karlovich Grot (; – ) was a Russian philologist of German extraction who worked at the University of Helsinki. Grot was a graduate of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. In his lifetime, he gained fame for his translations of German and S ...
, the
Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...
obtained a special exemption from Tsar
Alexander II of Russia Alexander II ( rus, Алекса́ндр II Никола́евич, Aleksándr II Nikoláyevich, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ftɐˈroj nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ; 29 April 181813 March 1881) was Emperor of Russia, Congress Poland, King of Poland and Grand Du ...
to publish a collection of wedding songs. A few times, songs collected by Juška were republished in small booklets. In 1901,
Petras Vileišis Petras Vileišis (; 25 January 1851 – 12 August 1926) was a prominent Lithuanian engineer specializing in the construction of railroad bridges. He was very active in Lithuanian public life and together with his brothers Jonas Vileišis, Jonas ...
published a selection of 50 songs (republished in 1905 and 1909). In 1906, ''
Vilniaus žinios ''Vilniaus žinios'' (literally: ''Vilnius news'') was a short-lived newspaper published in Vilnius, Lithuania. It was the first legal Lithuanian-language daily newspaper to appear after the Lithuanian press ban was lifted on May 7, 1904. History ...
'' published a selection of 44 songs. The full four volumes were republished in full only in 1954–1955. One copy of the first volume of songs was gifted by Juška to Rozalija Gotautaitė-Cvirkienė, one of the singers who contributed songs to the collection. In 1905, priest Juozas Montvila borrowed the book saying he would attempt to have it reprinted in the United States. Montvila died in the sinking of RMS ''Titanic'' in April 1912. The book was recovered from the wreck and offered in an auction in 2012.


Types of songs

In preparing these publications, Juškas brothers faced a challenge of organizing and classifying the songs. The wedding song classification by their function (i.e. their sequence in the wedding ceremony) was rather successful and was later largely adopted (with modifications) by the
Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore The Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore () is a scientific institution in Lithuania. It conducts research in Lithuanian literature and folklore. It resides in the former Vileišis Palace in Antakalnis district of Vilnius.
. The wedding song collection contained 1,100 songs plus eleven songs had added verses for variations, thus effectively increasing the total song count to 1,111. The songs were divided into three broad categories – matchmaking (463 songs), wedding (302 songs), and the first visit of the bride to her parents (243 songs) – and subdivided into more specific topics. The classification of other songs was much less successful and faced criticism while the books were still in printing. Juškos divided the songs into broad categories – wedding, love, feast, war, mythological,
lament A lament or lamentation is a passionate expression of grief, often in music, poetry, or song form. The grief is most often born of regret, or mourning. Laments can also be expressed in a verbal manner in which participants lament about something ...
s, and mixed. However, mixed songs were published first and took up the first two volumes published in Kazan. The three volumes published in Kazan had a total of 1,586 songs. The first two volumes had 1,023 numbered songs, but there are some inconsistencies in the numbering and the total is 1,028. Plus, there are 12 songs variations bringing the total to 1,040 songs. These songs are varied in their topic and are largely unsorted and unclassified. Researcher Antanas Mockus counted about 70 wedding-themed songs, 60 war songs, 30 feast songs, 350 love songs, 100 songs about family life, etc. There are also about 70 songs that were adapted from poems mainly written by Antanas Strazdas, as well as by Antanas Vienažindys and Laurynas Ivinskis. The longest song of 37 verses is a poem by an unknown author. The third volume included 47 feast songs, 106 war/military songs, 26 laments mixed in with other death-themed songs, mythological songs, 205 short mostly humorous songs, and a separate section for 100 songs collected in
Alsėdžiai Alsėdžiai ( Samogitian: ''Alsiedē'', ) is a small town in the Plungė district municipality. It is near the Sruoja River, from Plungė. Alsėdžiai is an administrative center of the Alsėdžiai eldership. Stanisław Narutowicz, one of the s ...
. About a fifth of all songs were reworked poems by different poets. While there were some attempts to print similar songs next to each other, there are a handful of cases when the same song or its close variations were printed several times in different sections.


Song context

Many earlier collectors of folklore wrote down only the song lyrics or melody, often edited to remove imperfections and disregarding the context in which they were recorded. However, in the 1860s, Russian researchers began developing a new more scientific approach to collecting and recording ethnographic data. The new method called for recording authentic data (including preservation of dialects and language nuances), providing notes and context (including who, when, and how provided the data), and registering as much data as possible (including variations). Juškas brothers largely tried to adhere to these standards and recorded the songs as they were performed abstaining for editorial changes. In particular, they tried to preserve the dialect but it is impossible to verify how well they did as their original notes and manuscripts were lost. They used the argument that to preserve the nuances of the dialects and their scientific value, the songs could not be transcribed in Cyrillic and needed to be published in the Latin alphabet. They also marked
word stress 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 as i ...
(as suggested by
Kazimieras Jaunius Kazimieras Jaunius (1848–1908) was a Lithuanian Catholic priest and linguist. While Jaunius published very little, his major achievements include a well regarded Lithuanian grammar, systematization and classification of the Lithuanian dial ...
) but it was not done consistently and there are errors. Juška left some notes on the song's context (i.e. that it was performed by shepherds or during a harvest ceremony) but it was not done systematically as the standards for folklore collection were just developing. He also recorded where the song was recorded (general area around a bigger town and not a specific village) and later started recording singer's name. However, he did not indicate when the songs were recorded. Identifying the singer was a gradual development that signified a shift in the attitudes towards folk culture in general. Earlier, the singer was just a faceless representative of the people, but researchers (including Juška) started valuing them as individual artists who made individual contributions to the
oral tradition Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication in which knowledge, art, ideas and culture are received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another.Jan Vansina, Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (19 ...
. Juška started recording singers' last names around 1862 likely in response to criticism faced by
Pavel Rybnikov Pavel Nikolayevich Rybnikov (Па́вел Никола́евич Ры́бников, 6 December 1831, Moscow, Russian Empire, – 29 November 1885, Kalisz, Poland, then part of the Russian Empire) was a Russian ethnographer, folklorist and litera ...
who published the first volume of Russian songs in 1861 (researchers doubted the authenticity of
bylina A (, ; ), also popularly known as a ''starina'' (), is a type of Russian oral epic poem. deal with all periods of Russian history. narratives are loosely based on historical fact, but greatly embellished with fantasy or hyperbole. or ...
s in his collection and criticized him for not providing any context for the collected songs). Juška not only recorded singers' last name but also highlighted the best singers and described them in general in the foreword of his collection: age, place of residence, social status, education, occasional biographical detail, how many songs were provided. A handful of singers provided hundreds of songs; for example, 410 songs were provided by Bakšaitienė, 274 songs by Juškytė, 237 songs by Blažienė, 234 songs by Norvilienė. In total, Juška recorded songs from 139 singers from around Veliuona.


Melodies

There is no evidence that the Juškas brothers attempted or contemplated publishing song melodies. The manuscripts were inherited by
Jan Baudouin de Courtenay Jan Niecisław Ignacy Baudouin de Courtenay, also Ivan Alexandrovich Baudouin de Courtenay (; 13 March 1845 – 3 November 1929), was a Polish linguist and Slavic studies, Slavist, best known for his theory of the phoneme and allophone, phoneti ...
who sent them to the
Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences The Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences or Polish Academy of Learning (, PAU), headquartered in Kraków and founded in 1872, is one of two institutions in contemporary Poland having the nature of an academy of sciences (the other being the Po ...
in
Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...
. The academy asked Oskar Kolberg, who had already published his own collection of Lithuanian folk songs and their melodies, to prepare the manuscript for publication. However, Kolberg died in 1890 having prepared only 120 melodies. The work was then continued by (he died in 1891), Baudouin de Courtenay, and Zygmunt Noskowski. The 1,780 melodies were finally published in early 1900. The publication was indicated as "part I", but it is unknown what was intended to be published as the second part. The editors, who were not experts in Lithuanian folk songs, faced many difficulties because Juška's notes were often unclear, imprecise, or erroneous as he had no formal musical education. In total, Juška recorded 1,852 melodies. The editors removed duplicates and otherwise unfit melodies and published 1,706 melodies with edits and 5 with no edits to demonstrate Juška's style in recording them. The editors included a lengthy foreword and introduction in Polish and German outlining the difficulties and editorial decisions that were taken. For example, many melodies were raised by an
octave In music, an octave (: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is an interval between two notes, one having twice the frequency of vibration of the other. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referr ...
or had pitch changed (to avoid too many flat or sharp signs). Noskowski also added notes for the last syllable of a verse not knowing that it was a common feature of Lithuanian songs for the last syllable to be silent. The resulting publication was met with mixed reviews – praised for the large number of melodies and criticized for the inaccuracies. Many melodies had their beat, rhythm,
cadence In Classical music, Western musical theory, a cadence () is the end of a Phrase (music), phrase in which the melody or harmony creates a sense of full or partial resolution (music), resolution, especially in music of the 16th century onwards.Don ...
,
foot The foot (: feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is an organ at the terminal part of the leg made up o ...
, etc. simplified or confused. Such simplifications even led Noskowski to conclude that Lithuanian folk songs were rather poor in terms of their rhythm – a conclusion that has been refuted and rejected by Lithuanian researchers. The simple metre (usually
triple Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a " treble": Sports * Triple (baseball), a three-base hit * A basketball three-point field goal * A figure skating jump with three rotations * In bowling terms, three strikes in a row * I ...
or duple) and rather monotonous use of quarter notes (which were commonly used in church choirs) are likely attributable to Juška as his lack of musical education. However, errors in cadence or errors in determining correct syllables are likely attributable to the editors. When Juška's melodies were prepared for republication in the 1950s, essentially all of them were reedited by .


Dictionaries

Around 1850, Juška started collecting materials for a Lithuanian language dictionary. Lithuanians still used the Polish–Latin–Lithuanian dictionary by Konstantinas Sirvydas first published in 1620. Therefore, several Lithuanian activists – including
Simonas Daukantas Simonas Daukantas (; 28 October 1793 – 6 December 1864) was a Lithuanian/Samogitian historian, writer, and ethnographer. One of the pioneers of the Lithuanian National Revival, he is credited as the author of the first book on the history of Li ...
, Mikalojus Akelaitis, Laurynas Ivinskis, Dionizas Poška, Simonas Stanevičius, and
Kiprijonas Nezabitauskis Kiprijonas Juozas Nezabitauskis-Zabitis (, 12 September 1779 – 10 July 1837) was a Lithuanian Roman Catholic priest and poet. He was half-brother of Kajetonas Nezabitauskis. After studies at Vilnius University and Vilnius Priest Seminary, Neza ...
– are known to have started compiling a dictionary but their works were not published. Juška discovered the manuscript of Poška's dictionary. Around 1853–1854, Juška compiled about 7,000-word Polish–Lithuanian dictionary. The words were also translated to Latin and Russian. He did not attempt to publish it and the manuscript is kept at the
Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore The Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore () is a scientific institution in Lithuania. It conducts research in Lithuanian literature and folklore. It resides in the former Vileišis Palace in Antakalnis district of Vilnius.
. He also wrote a 6,000-word Latvian–Lithuanian–Polish dictionary which he sent to the Science Commission of the in 1875. From around 1856, Juška began writing down not individual words but phrases and sentences and collected some 30,000 words used in a sentence over the next twenty years. He wrote a Lithuanian–Polish dictionary. Toward the end of the dictionary, Juška also added Latvian equivalents. Juškas brothers approached the Russian Academy of Sciences regarding the publication of the dictionary which was favorably reviewed by
Alexander Potebnja Alexander Afanasyevich Potebnja (; ; September 22, 1835 – December 11, 1891) was a Russian Imperial linguist, philosopher and pan-Slavist of Ukrainian Cossack descent, who was a professor of linguistics at the Imperial Kharkov University. He ...
. Jonas Juška edited the dictionary after Antanas' death and translated it to Russian. He completed his edits up to the letter ''L'' but managed to print only 10 author's sheets worth of material. After Juška's death, the dictionary was edited by numerous other linguists –
Vatroslav Jagić Vatroslav Jagić (; July 6, 1838 – August 5, 1923) was a Croatian scholar of Slavic studies in the second half of the 19th century. Life Jagić was born in Varaždin, where he attended the elementary school and started his secondary-scho ...
, Filipp Fortunatov, Vytautas Juška (Jonas' son),
Jonas Jablonskis Jonas Jablonskis (; 30 December 1860, in Kubilėliai, Šakiai district – 23 February 1930, in Kaunas) was a distinguished Lithuanian linguist and one of the founders of the standard Lithuanian language. He used the pseudonym ''Rygiškių Jonas'' ...
, ,
Kazimieras Būga Kazimieras Būga (; November 6, 1879 – December 2, 1924) was a Lithuanian linguist and philologist. He was a professor of linguistics, who mainly worked on the Lithuanian language. He was born at Pažiegė, near Dusetos, then part of the Russ ...
– but the work was very slow and only three volumes were published over the next four decades (letters A–D in 1897, letters E–J in 1904, and up to the word ''kuokštuotis'' in 1922). The published volumes contained 997 pages and about 30,000 words. The full dictionary had about 70,000 words. The dictionary was an important development in Lithuanian lexicography. Juška was the first to record words not from published works but from the everyday language of the people. He recorded words in sentences and explained their meaning in Lithuanian and only then translated them to other languages. Thus he started with an
explanatory dictionary An explanatory dictionary or defining dictionary is a dictionary that provides definitions of word meanings at its entries. It may give additional information on pronunciation, grammar, etymology Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin an ...
and created a valuable record of the
colloquial language Colloquialism (also called ''colloquial language'', ''colloquial speech'', ''everyday language'', or ''general parlance'') is the linguistic style used for casual and informal communication. It is the most common form of speech in conversation amo ...
of the second half of the 19th century. This provides researchers with ethnographic data on the everyday life in a Lithuanian village. The dictionary includes
loanwords A loanword (also a loan word, loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term t ...
, vulgarities, and setencences that express dissatisfaction with
social inequalities Social inequality occurs when resources within a society are distributed unevenly, often as a result of inequitable allocation practices that create distinct unequal patterns based on socially defined categories of people. Differences in acce ...
. However, because the words were recorded from the spoken language, some words are of dubious authenticity and they are near impossible to verify. Therefore, several times
Jonas Jablonskis Jonas Jablonskis (; 30 December 1860, in Kubilėliai, Šakiai district – 23 February 1930, in Kaunas) was a distinguished Lithuanian linguist and one of the founders of the standard Lithuanian language. He used the pseudonym ''Rygiškių Jonas'' ...
and
Kazimieras Būga Kazimieras Būga (; November 6, 1879 – December 2, 1924) was a Lithuanian linguist and philologist. He was a professor of linguistics, who mainly worked on the Lithuanian language. He was born at Pažiegė, near Dusetos, then part of the Russ ...
traveled to areas where Juška lived in attempt to verify and clarify words that were not previously known. Another key weakness of the dictionary was lack of proper accentuation (this was later corrected by Jablonskis and Būga) and sometimes incorrect markings of long and short vowels, particularly in words from the
Samogitian dialect Samogitian ( or sometimes , or ; ), is an Eastern Baltic language spoken primarily in Samogitia and is often considered a dialect of Lithuanian. It has preserved many features of the extinct Curonian language, such as specific phonologica ...
. Jablonskis (who edited the second volume from 1897) was critical of Juška's dictionary. However, he was not allowed to add or delete words from Juška's manuscript. Therefore, in the process of editing, correcting, and verifying Juška's work, Jablonskis collected about 14,500 cards with Lithuanian words (many taken from Juška's dictionary) and planned a new dictionary. The dictionary was not written, but Jablonskis' cards were used by Būga and entered the
Academic Dictionary of Lithuanian The Academic Dictionary of Lithuanian ( or ) is a comprehensive thesaurus of the Lithuanian language and one of the most extensive lexicographical works in the world. The 20 volumes encompassing 22,000 pages were published between 1941 and 2002 ...
.


Other works

In 1863, he published a
primer Primer may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Primer'' (film), a 2004 feature film written and directed by Shane Carruth * ''Primer'' (video), a documentary about the funk band Living Colour Literature * Primer (textbook), a te ...
which was similar to other primers of the period except it lacked customary sample texts that instilled obedience to the nobility. He prepared two versions of the primer – one in Samogitian and another in eastern Aukštaitian dialects. However, when printing the primer, he settled on a "middle" road based on the western Aukštaitian dialect. He used ''ṡ'' and ''ċ'' instead of widely used '' sz'' and '' cz'' borrowed from the
Polish language Polish (, , or simply , ) is a West Slavic languages, West Slavic language of the Lechitic languages, Lechitic subgroup, within the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family, and is written in the Latin script. It is primarily spo ...
. In 1880, Juška published ethnographic work ''Svotbinė rėdą veliuoniečių lietuvių'' (Wedding Traditions of Lithuanians in Veliuona) which he wrote in 1870. It was translated into German, Polish and in abbreviated form, into Russian. It was the first detailed local Lithuanian ethnographic work written from personal observations. The wedding ceremony (which lasted about a week) was divided into 53 episodes. For example, one episode concerned putting a headscarf (typically worn by married women) on the bride thus signifying her transition into her new role. It remains the most important source on the Lithuanian wedding traditions.


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Juska, Antanas 1819 births 1880 deaths People from Raseiniai District Municipality People from Rossiyensky Uyezd Balticists Lithuanian lexicographers Lithuanian folk-song collectors 19th-century Lithuanian Roman Catholic priests 19th-century lexicographers 19th-century musicologists