Historical dictionary
of grammatical terms online

Rules for developing a dictionary

Project objective

To create a unique database of grammatical terms recorded in old grammars of the Polish language and in grammars of foreign languages written in Polish from the 15th century to 1939.

Sources

The selection of sources was determined by: the time and place of publication, the author, the impact of the work (school, number of editions), the extent of use of the Polish language (exempla, Polish terms, explanations of Latin terms in Polish), the language of the work, the novelties in the description, later judgements about the work and the availability of sources.

We mainly examined grammatical works whose titles appear in studies on the history of the Polish language, the history of Polish linguistic thought, contacts between Polish and other languages, or the teaching of Polish.

In the study we include not only grammars of the Polish language written in Latin (Piotr Statorius-Stojeński – Kraków 1568 et al.), then in German (Jeremiasz Roter – Wrocław 1616 et al.), French (F.D. Duchênebillot – Warszawa 1699), Lithuanian (Maciej Franciszek Marciński – Suwałki 1833), and since 1770 in Polish, but also grammars of foreign languages written in Polish: Italian (Adam Styla – Kraków 1675), Latin (Stanisław Konarski's grammar translated into Polish, Vilnius 1759), Russian (Maksymilian Lubowicz – Poczajów 1778), French (Stanisław Nałęcz-Moszczeński – Gdańsk 1774), English (Julian Antonowicz – Warszawa 1788), Greek (Jacek Przybylski – Kraków 1792), Sanskrit (Walenty Skorochód-Majewski – Warszawa 1828) and Lithuanian (X. D.K.P.S – manuscript dated 1820-1830).

We are keen to examine material from as many sources as possible, to create a large database that would allow not only to rewrite the history of Polish grammatical terminology, but also to show the contexts of its formation in different periods or provide a basis for assessing the contribution of individual grammarians to the work of codifying Polish grammatical terminology.

We planned to examine 86 grammatical works and 7 dictionaries (Mączyński's, Knapiusz's, Trotz's, Linde's, Słownik wileński, Słownik warszawski and Słownik języka polskiego edited by W. Doroszewski) (see tab: Works). Compared to the initial state, the list of sources has changed considerably. The reason for this was an overvaluation of the usefulness of individual books for the study on the formation of Polish grammatical terminology and the impossibility of extending the excerption.

Differences between editions of the same work also proved significant. For this reason, for example, we included in the sources various editions of Donat's or J. Muczkowski's grammars as well as Polish terms noted by Bartłomiej of Bydgoszcz in the margins of Reuchlin's dictionary (1544).

The need for creating Polish grammatical terminology originated from practical needs and later became the subject of theoretical reflection. The reason for this was the number of grammars published (more than 200), the change in the understanding of grammar, and the different motives (practical, patriotic, scientific) that guided grammar authors. The second half of the 19th century saw the birth of scientific linguistics, using new research methods, and delineating new areas of research. Existing systematics are restructured, which entails changes in terminology. Twentieth-century grammars of the Polish language (PAU, Szober's) are consistent with the state of linguistic knowledge at the time.

Sources

15th century

  1. Jakub Parkoszowic, Traktat o ortografii polskiej, manuscript 1440 (around).

16th century

  1. Stanisław Zaborowski, Ortographia seu modus recte scribendi et legendi Polonicum idioma quam utilissimus, Kraków 1514? (1518)
  2. Jan Seklucjan, [Nauka czytania i pisania...], [in:] Catechismus, to jest nauka krześciańska od Apostołow dla prostych ludzi we trzech cząstkach zamkniona, Królewiec 1547
  3. Jan Seklucjan, Krotka a prosta nauka czytania i pisania języka polskiego, [in:] Catechismus, to jest krotka a prosta (starej wiary chrześcijańskiej) nauka, Królewiec 1549.
  4. Stanisław Murzynowski, Ortografija polska. To jest nauka pisania i czytania języka polskiego, ile Polakowi potrzeba, niewielem słów dostatecznie wypisana, [in:] Ewanjelija święta…, Królewiec 1551.
  5. Piotr Statorius-Stojeński, Polonicae grammatices institutio..., Kraków 1568.
  6. Jan Kochanowski, Orthographia polska, [in:] Jan Ursinus, Methodicae grammaticae libri quatuor, Kraków 1592, p. 45-47.
  7. Jan Januszowski, Nowy karakter polski z drukarni Łazarzowej i ortografija polska Jana Kochanowskiego, Jego M. P. Łukasza Górnickiego etc. etc., Jana Januszowskiego, Kraków 1594.
  8. Mikołaj Volckmar, Compendium linguae Polonicae in gratiam iuventutis Dantiscanae collectum a Nicolao Volkmaro, Gdańsk 1594.

Entry

As the first grammars of the Polish language were written in Latin, then in German, and later in other languages, we decided to compile dictionaries of grammatical terms for each language.

The entry includes:

  1. Grammatical term, properly indexed;
  2. Information on the origin of the term;
  3. Forms which are synonymous, superior and/or inferior to the entry (each will refer the user to a separate entry);
  4. Definition: encyclopaedic (contemporary) and provided by the author(s), including the citation and its location;
  5. 2-3 citations exemplifying the definitions and completing them (maximum number of citations - 5);
  6. The branch of grammar to which the term applies;
  7. The sources in which the term is noted;
  8. Comments (additional information, questions);
  9. Author of the entry (term) in the given work.

We also include phonetic and graphic variants of the entries.

Transcription rules

Polish sources

We record as in the original:

  1. Upper and lower case spelling.
  2. Punctuation.
  3. Spelling of groups -ija//-yja.
  4. Spelling of nasal vowels (e.g., lack of distinction, errors in marking them).
  5. Assimilations within consonant groups.
  6. Extensions/constrictions of vowel articulation.
  7. By-forms of the pronouns się//sie, mię//mie, cię//cie.

We modernise:

  1. Conjunctive and disjunctive spellings (according to modern rules).
  2. The spelling of long ʃ, meaning [ś]. We replace ʃ with s and write the original form in brackets, e.g., jesli (jeʃli), since we cannot exclude this possibility of reading.
  3. The spelling of [j]. We replace i, y with j.
  4. The spelling of [w]. We replace u/v with w (according to the present-day spelling).

Spelling rules for French terms and quotations

  1. If an accent is missing, e.g., over a or e, we transcribe the quotation according to the contemporary spelling, e.g., âme instead of ame, préposition instead of preposition, génitif instead of genitif.
  2. We correct errors (usually typographical) in the articles: la maison instead of le.
  3. We write the articles according to the contemporary spelling: un instead of vn.
  4. We correct typographical errors (if in other passages the word is spelled accurately): plurieL instead of plurieR.
  5. We record grammatical terms according to the contemporary spelling (other orthographic forms are recorded as variants), e.g., pronom personnel (instead of personel), plus-que-parfait (instead of plusque parfait). If grammatical terms differ lexically (and possibly also orthographically), we keep both forms in the dictionary, e.g. passé parfait composé [contemporary passé composé] = plusque parfait composé (calque).
  6. We write f as s, e.g. passif instead of paffif.
  7. The spelling characteristics (including misprints) described in points 1-6 do not seem to be of fundamental importance for the history of the French language (in France as in Poland), which supports the above conclusion. The other spelling features are preserved. In case of doubt, and in order to identify possible variants, we refer to Trésor de la langue française informatisé (TLF) (the etymological-historical-linguistic section of the entries lists possible variants found in old French prints).

Biographical notes

The structure of the biographical notes was adopted from the study by S. Hrabec and F. Peplowski Wiadomości o autorach i dziełach cytowanych w Słowniku Lindego (Information on authors and works cited in the Linde Dictionary) (Warsaw 1963). They include information on: year and place of birth, social origin, ethnicity, education, professional work, interests, achievements.

The data, although given in a condensed form, constitute a unique appendix to the grammatical works. They provide information on the authors' knowledge of Polish (its regional variants) and foreign languages, their studies, contacts with significant cultural and scientific centres at home and abroad, or their language and linguistic awareness. In the case of forgotten, unknown authors, the data is often fragmentary. The set point for the notes were: Bibliografia literatury polskiej - Nowy Korbut (Bibliography of Polish Literature - New Korbut), Polski słownik biograficzny (Polish Biographical Dictionary), encyclopaedias and the website Old orthographies, grammars and handbooks of Polish language. Online educational compendium.