Mikalojus Daukša (other possible spellings include ''Mikalojus Daugsza'', and ''Mikolay Dowksza''; after 1527 – 16 February 1613 in Medininkai) 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 spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

religious writer, translator and a Lithuanian Catholic Church 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 East Baltic languages, East Baltic language belonging to the Baltic languages, Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is the language of Lithuanians and the official language of Lithuania as well as one of t ...

over Chancery Ruthenian and Polish, which were in use in the Grand Duchy at the time. Furthermore, Daukša preached the ideas of

Counter-Reformation The Counter-Reformation (), also sometimes called the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to, and as an alternative to or from similar insights as, the Protestant Reformations at the time. It w ...

and Renaissance humanism. Daukša's Lithuanian translation of Jacob Ledesma's catechism (1595) became the first book in Lithuanian to be published in the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

. In 2007, Daukša's translated catechism of Jacob Ledesma was included into the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

's Lithuanian National Memory of the World Register and its copy is kept in the Vilnius University Library.

Biography

Daukša was born between 1527 and 1538 in Babėnai (?),

.As cited in: Daukša probably received his education 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 ...

and at one of the Western European Universities. He spoke several languages and had a personal library including books by Erasmus of Rotterdam and Philip Melanchthon. Daukša was a canon of Medininkai (nowadays Varniai) and an official member of the Samogitia. Polish Biographical Dictionary Under the auspices of bishop Merkelis Giedraitis, he translated the

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 ...

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 (; ) was originally a term for Bible commentaries. It is derived from the Latin ("after these words from Scripture"), referring to biblical readings. The word first occurs in the chronicle (with reference to examples of 1228 a ...

, translated from the Polish translation by Jakub Wujek, was published in 1595, and became one of the means to fight

paganism Paganism (, 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 Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...

. 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, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

, 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 context ...

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 type of social organization where a collective Identity (social science), identity, a national identity, has emerged from a combination of shared features across a given population, such as language, history, ethnicity, culture, t ...

and

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

. According to Daukša, a nation is a community which is united by territory,

customs Customs is an authority or Government agency, agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling International trade, the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out ...

and the same language. In Polish language preface Daukša addressed compatriots who had not yet encountered the tradition of the written Lithuanian language and used other languages in their daily lives. He praised the proficiency in the Polish language, which, in his opinion, was very widespread in Lithuania and "through the pleasant union of the Grand Duchy with the renowned Polish Crown, is almost natural to us." Moreover, Daukša claimed that in order to main their state the Lithuanians must use the Lithuanian language as the main language of the state, create laws, write books, study in schools. 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 In linguistics, a neologism (; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered ...

s, among them ''mokytojas'' (teacher), ''valia'' (will), ''įkvėpimas'' ( inspiration) and ''išmintis'' (wisdom). Of special importance for our knowledge of the Lithuanian language are the accent signs Daukša employs in the Postilla. In 2024, the main-belt asteroid was named after him.

References

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