Aleksander Hilferding
Encyclopedia
Alexander Hilferding was a Russia
n linguist and folklorist of German descent
who collected some 318 bylina
s in the Russian North. A native of Warsaw
, he assisted Nikolay Milyutin
in reforming the administration of Congress Poland
. In the late 1850s, he was a Russian diplomatic agent in Bosnia; he published several books about the country and its folklore. Hilferding was elected into the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences in 1856. He died of typhoid while collecting folk songs in Kargopol
, in the north of European Russia, and was later reburied in the Novodevichy Cemetery
, St. Petersburg. Hilferding's collection of Slavonic manuscript
s is preserved in the Russian National Library
.
s are held in the same, a language wrongly called Cassubian, because Cassubians, Pomeranias, [and] Poles indeed had one language, but the actual Cassubian lands were where Belgard, . . . Neustettin, Dramburg and Schievelbein lie.) The Slovincians seem, however, to have used the name of themselves as merely a synonym for Cassubian, saying, when asked: "Wir sind Slowinzen, Slowinzen und Kaschuben ist dasselbe" (We are Slovincians, Slovincians and Kassubians are the same). Florian Ceynowa
and Hilferding were not the only ones to study the language and legends of the Kashubians
, but they had the greatest influence and prompted others to take up investigations. The individual character of the Kashubian character and language was first described by Hilferding, to whom we are indebted for the first data about the range of Kashubian dialects. In 1856 he travelled to the Kashubia
and demarcated the borders of contemporary Kashubian Pomerania. He researched the Kashubian language
, describing its properties and origins.
to Sanskrit
is often overlooked. Soon after graduating the St.Petersburg University in 1853 he wrote an Essay "О сродстве языка славянского с санскритским/O srodstve jazyka slavjanskogo s sanskritskim" (On cognation of Slavonic language with Sanskrit). In this work he made the first scientific and systematic comparison of the phonetic correspondences between the two languages and provided a list of several hundred cognate words. It is particularly important that being an expert in many Slavonic languages and not just Russian and having knowledge of the Russian dialects Hilferding did not limit this list to Russian but it embraced all the principal Slavonic languages. Although some of his etymologies appear not correct, this essay stands unsurpassed even today and is unduly forgotten. These are some quotes from the Introduction to this book:
"Linguistics is yet a very young science. Therefore, although it has attained great achievements in the course of its 36 year existence, there are still considerable gaps in it. One of the most significant gaps is the Slavonic language. The science of Linguistics had its start in Germany and it owes to the German scholars its most important discoveries. It is natural that they, while keeping as the base Sanskrit - the language that has preserved most truthfully the primordial state of the Indo-European tongue, dispersed, distorted or lost in other cognate languages, mainly expounded the languages that were better known to them, namely Greek, Latin and all German dialects. Other languages attracted much less of their attention. Yet it is strange that out of all other languages Slavonic takes the last place in their works. They would rather base their conclusions on the Zend language or Lithuanian or Celtic then on the rich and flourishing language of the tribe occupying the Eastern part of Europe. This phenomenon is hard to explain: they are either unable to lean the Slavonic language (yet they could indeed learn a language which was not known to anybody with an unknown writing - the Ancient Persian), or they are lost in the multitude of Slavonic dialects having equal importance for a scientist, or they do not want to touch the subject which should be developed by Slavs themselves. Whatever it was, the comparative linguistics, created in the West by German scientists, does not have the knowledge of the Slavonic language; it only knows that there is a rather rich language in the Indo-European family known as Slavonic. But what is this language? What is its relation to the cognate languages? Do not ask this from the Linguistics of our Western neighbours."
Hilferding believed that it would only be correct to study the relations of Slavonic to other Indo-European languages after clearing up the relation between Slavonic and Sanskrit. He planned to make a number of essays on this subject and particularly on the relations between Lithuanian and Sanskrit. Unfortunately, this work was interrupted by the untimely death in 1872.
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n linguist and folklorist of German descent
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
who collected some 318 bylina
Bylina
Bylina or Bylyna is a traditional Russian oral epic narrative poem. Byliny singers loosely utilize historical fact greatly embellished with fantasy or hyperbole to create their songs...
s in the Russian North. A native of Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, he assisted Nikolay Milyutin
Nikolay Milyutin
Nikolay Alexeyevich Milyutin was a Russian statesman remembered as the chief architect of the great liberal reforms undertaken during Alexander II's reign, including the emancipation of the serfs and the establishment of zemstvo.-Early life:Nikolay Milyutin was born in Moscow, Russia on June 6,...
in reforming the administration of Congress Poland
Congress Poland
The Kingdom of Poland , informally known as Congress Poland , created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna, was a personal union of the Russian parcel of Poland with the Russian Empire...
. In the late 1850s, he was a Russian diplomatic agent in Bosnia; he published several books about the country and its folklore. Hilferding was elected into the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences in 1856. He died of typhoid while collecting folk songs in Kargopol
Kargopol
-Culture and recreation:Today, Kargopol is a sleepy historical town adjoining the Kenozyorsky National Park. It is best known in Russia for Kargopol toys , which are small, simple clay figures painted in traditional style....
, in the north of European Russia, and was later reburied in the Novodevichy Cemetery
Novodevichy Cemetery (Saint Petersburg)
Novodevichy Cemetery in Saint Petersburg is a historic cemetery in the South-West part of the city near the Moscow Triumphal Gate. The cemetery is named after the historical Resurrection Convent...
, St. Petersburg. Hilferding's collection of Slavonic manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
s is preserved in the Russian National Library
Russian National Library
The National Library of Russia in St Petersburg, known as the State Public Saltykov-Shchedrin Library from 1932 to 1992 , is the oldest public library in Russia...
.
Kashubian studies
Hilferding is credited with having coined the name Slovincians (Polish, Słowińcy) to describe the Lutheranized Wends of Hinter Pomerania (also sometimes called Lebakaschuben). The story has spread all over the Internet, but it seems unlikely that he actually did so. The term Slovincian evidently existed long before Hilferding's time. The Lutheran pastors Simon Krofey (1586) and Michael Pontanus (German, Brüggemann; 1643) speak of a slowinzischen language (which they call wendisch in German and--by mistaken association--vandalicus in Latin). Friederich von Dreger, Prussian Kriegs- und Domänenrat in Pomerania, wrote in 1748: “Die meisten Dörfer, sonderlich in Hinterpommern, sind von Wenden bewohnt geblieben, wie denn auch jenseits dem Stolpischen Fluss die wendische Sprache von den Bauern noch gebraucht, auch noch der Gottesdienst in selbiger gehalten wird, welche Sprache man irrig die cassubische heisst, weil Cassuben, Pommern, Pohlen zwar eine sprache gehabt, das eigentliche cassubische Land aber gewesen, wo nun Belgard, . . . Neustettin, Dramburg und Schievelbein belegen ist.” (Most villages [in the region], especially in Hinter Pomerania, remain inhabited by Wends, who also still use the Wendish tongue of the peasants on the other side of the river Stolp [Polish, Słupia River], and church serviceChurch service
In Christianity, a church service is a term used to describe a formalized period of communal worship, often but not exclusively occurring on Sunday, or Saturday in the case of those churches practicing seventh-day Sabbatarianism. The church service is the gathering together of Christians to be...
s are held in the same, a language wrongly called Cassubian, because Cassubians, Pomeranias, [and] Poles indeed had one language, but the actual Cassubian lands were where Belgard, . . . Neustettin, Dramburg and Schievelbein lie.) The Slovincians seem, however, to have used the name of themselves as merely a synonym for Cassubian, saying, when asked: "Wir sind Slowinzen, Slowinzen und Kaschuben ist dasselbe" (We are Slovincians, Slovincians and Kassubians are the same). Florian Ceynowa
Florian Ceynowa
Florian Ceynowa was a doctor, political activist, writer, and linguist. He undertook efforts to identitfy Kashubian language, culture and traditions. He awakened Kashubian self-identity, thereby opposing both Germanisation and Prussian authority, and Polish nobility and clergy...
and Hilferding were not the only ones to study the language and legends of the Kashubians
Kashubians
Kashubians/Kaszubians , also called Kashubs, Kashubes, Kaszubians, Kassubians or Cassubians, are a West Slavic ethnic group in Pomerelia, north-central Poland. Their settlement area is referred to as Kashubia ....
, but they had the greatest influence and prompted others to take up investigations. The individual character of the Kashubian character and language was first described by Hilferding, to whom we are indebted for the first data about the range of Kashubian dialects. In 1856 he travelled to the Kashubia
Kashubia
Kashubia or Cassubia - is a language area in the historic Eastern Pomerania region of northwestern Poland. Located west of Gdańsk and the mouth of the Vistula river, it is inhabited by members of the Kashubian ethnic group....
and demarcated the borders of contemporary Kashubian Pomerania. He researched the Kashubian language
Kashubian language
Kashubian or Cassubian is one of the Lechitic languages, a subgroup of the Slavic languages....
, describing its properties and origins.
Comparative linguistics
Although Hilferding is mostly known for his works on Slovincians the other important side of his work - research into the relations of SlavonicSlavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
to Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
is often overlooked. Soon after graduating the St.Petersburg University in 1853 he wrote an Essay "О сродстве языка славянского с санскритским/O srodstve jazyka slavjanskogo s sanskritskim" (On cognation of Slavonic language with Sanskrit). In this work he made the first scientific and systematic comparison of the phonetic correspondences between the two languages and provided a list of several hundred cognate words. It is particularly important that being an expert in many Slavonic languages and not just Russian and having knowledge of the Russian dialects Hilferding did not limit this list to Russian but it embraced all the principal Slavonic languages. Although some of his etymologies appear not correct, this essay stands unsurpassed even today and is unduly forgotten. These are some quotes from the Introduction to this book:
"Linguistics is yet a very young science. Therefore, although it has attained great achievements in the course of its 36 year existence, there are still considerable gaps in it. One of the most significant gaps is the Slavonic language. The science of Linguistics had its start in Germany and it owes to the German scholars its most important discoveries. It is natural that they, while keeping as the base Sanskrit - the language that has preserved most truthfully the primordial state of the Indo-European tongue, dispersed, distorted or lost in other cognate languages, mainly expounded the languages that were better known to them, namely Greek, Latin and all German dialects. Other languages attracted much less of their attention. Yet it is strange that out of all other languages Slavonic takes the last place in their works. They would rather base their conclusions on the Zend language or Lithuanian or Celtic then on the rich and flourishing language of the tribe occupying the Eastern part of Europe. This phenomenon is hard to explain: they are either unable to lean the Slavonic language (yet they could indeed learn a language which was not known to anybody with an unknown writing - the Ancient Persian), or they are lost in the multitude of Slavonic dialects having equal importance for a scientist, or they do not want to touch the subject which should be developed by Slavs themselves. Whatever it was, the comparative linguistics, created in the West by German scientists, does not have the knowledge of the Slavonic language; it only knows that there is a rather rich language in the Indo-European family known as Slavonic. But what is this language? What is its relation to the cognate languages? Do not ask this from the Linguistics of our Western neighbours."
Hilferding believed that it would only be correct to study the relations of Slavonic to other Indo-European languages after clearing up the relation between Slavonic and Sanskrit. He planned to make a number of essays on this subject and particularly on the relations between Lithuanian and Sanskrit. Unfortunately, this work was interrupted by the untimely death in 1872.