Bogoslav Šulek
Encyclopedia
Bogoslav Šulek, born Bohuslav Šulek (April 20, 1816 - November 30, 1895), was a Croatia
n philologist, historian
and lexicographer. He founded much of the Croatian terminology in the areas of social and natural sciences, technology and civilization. He is considered one of the most influential Croatian philologists of all time.
by birth. He was born in the Slovakia
n town of Sobotište, where he attended primary school. He studied at the evangelical
lyceum
in Bratislava
. He decided not to become a pastor
, but was unable to continue his studies in Jena
, so he came to his brother in the Croatia
n town of Brod na Savi
in November 1838. Soon he made contact with Ljudevit Gaj
, the central figure of the Croatian Illyrian movement
, and in autumn 1839 started working as a printer for Franjo Župan in Zagreb
.
He started writing for Gaj's papers in 1841 and was the editor-in-chief of the illegal paper Branislav, printed in Belgrade
, in 1844-45. He was the editor of Gaj's Novine Horvatske, Slavonske i Dalmatinske (Paper of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia) from 1846 to 1849, Slavenski jug (Slavic South) in 1849, and Jugoslavenske novine (Yugoslav Paper) in 1850. During the 1850s he wrote many textbooks (e.g. Learning to Read, Children's Primer, Natural Sciences for Primary School, Plant Studies for High School etc.). At the same time, he was writing a German-Croatian dictionary. He also wrote against the aggressive Serbia
n linguistic policy of the linguist and folklorist Vuk Karadžić.
n positions which was attributing the entire Shtokavian literature to the Serbian linguistic corpus. Those who want to deny the existence of a people should be well-armed with reasons based on the nature of things and evidence from credible historians. The coastal writers call their language Croatian
, says Šulek, citing a dozen works mentioning the Croatian language in the title. On the other hand, there are no old books written in Glagolitic
or Latin scripts where the writers call their language Serbian
; in fact, even the books written in Bosnian Cyrillic
call their language Croatian or Slav. Croatian writers could not call their language Serbian because the Serbs used a mixture of Old Church Slavonic
, Russian
and Serbian during most of their history, while the Shtokavian language "flourished only with the Croats until recently".
From 1858 till 1865, Šulek was the editor of Gospodarski list. He was one of the initiators of Pozor magazine (1867). He was an exceptionally prolific journalist and scientific propagator. In 1868 he issued his most famous political work, Naše pravice. Izbor zakonah, poveljah i spisah, znamenitih za državno pravo kraljevine dalmatinsko-hrvatsko-slavonske od god. 1202 - 1868 (Our Rights. A Selection of Laws, Charters and Documents Important for the State Right of the Kingdom of Dalmatia, Croatia and Slavonia, 1202-1868). He was a member of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts
and its secretary from 1871 till his death. He was promoted into a doctor of sciences in 1867 on the basis of his study of Ruđer Bošković.
When Croatian again became the official language in 1861 (instead of German
), Šulek dedicated much time to create the Croatian scientific terminology. After the Croatian-Hungarian Settlement of 1868, he also created many Croatian military terms.
He supported the linguistic principles of the Zagreb school of philology and promoted Croatian linguistic purism
. He replaced foreign words with solutions taken from Croatian dialects and other Slavic languages (most often from Slovak
and Czech
, but also from Russian and Slovenian
) and created neologisms. This brought him in conflict with the promoters of the so-called "pure folk language" (the Croatian partisans of Karadžić) who criticized his actions and slurred his lexical solutions as "Šulekisms".
The modern Croatian language has retained many words created by Šulek. He formed some crucial parts of the Croatian terminology in the areas of social and natural sciences, technology and urban civilization. For this reason, Šulek is considered one of the most influential Croatian philologists in history.
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n philologist, historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
and lexicographer. He founded much of the Croatian terminology in the areas of social and natural sciences, technology and civilization. He is considered one of the most influential Croatian philologists of all time.
Early career
Šulek was a SlovakSlovaks
The Slovaks, Slovak people, or Slovakians are a West Slavic people that primarily inhabit Slovakia and speak the Slovak language, which is closely related to the Czech language.Most Slovaks today live within the borders of the independent Slovakia...
by birth. He was born in the Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
n town of Sobotište, where he attended primary school. He studied at the evangelical
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
lyceum
Lyceum
The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies between countries; usually it is a type of secondary school.-History:...
in Bratislava
Bratislava
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...
. He decided not to become a pastor
Pastor
The word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....
, but was unable to continue his studies in Jena
Jena
Jena is a university city in central Germany on the river Saale. It has a population of approx. 103,000 and is the second largest city in the federal state of Thuringia, after Erfurt.-History:Jena was first mentioned in an 1182 document...
, so he came to his brother in the Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n town of Brod na Savi
Slavonski Brod
Slavonski Brod is a city in Croatia, with a population of 59,507 in 2011. The city was known as Marsonia in the Roman Empire, and as Brod na Savi 1244–1934. It is the sixth largest city in Croatia, after Zagreb, Split, Rijeka, Osijek and Zadar. Located in the region of Slavonia, it is the...
in November 1838. Soon he made contact with Ljudevit Gaj
Ljudevit Gaj
Ljudevit Gaj was a Croatian linguist, politician, journalist and writer. He was one of the central figures of the Croatian national reformation, also known as the Illyrian Movement.-Origin:...
, the central figure of the Croatian Illyrian movement
Illyrian movement
The Illyrian movement , also Croatian national revival , was a cultural and political campaign with roots in the early modern period, and revived by a group of young Croatian intellectuals during the first half of 19th century, around the years of 1835–1849...
, and in autumn 1839 started working as a printer for Franjo Župan in Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
.
He started writing for Gaj's papers in 1841 and was the editor-in-chief of the illegal paper Branislav, printed in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
, in 1844-45. He was the editor of Gaj's Novine Horvatske, Slavonske i Dalmatinske (Paper of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia) from 1846 to 1849, Slavenski jug (Slavic South) in 1849, and Jugoslavenske novine (Yugoslav Paper) in 1850. During the 1850s he wrote many textbooks (e.g. Learning to Read, Children's Primer, Natural Sciences for Primary School, Plant Studies for High School etc.). At the same time, he was writing a German-Croatian dictionary. He also wrote against the aggressive Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
n linguistic policy of the linguist and folklorist Vuk Karadžić.
Defender of Croatian heritage
One of the most important Šulek's articles was Serbs and Croats (1856), published in the Neven magazine on more than 30 pages. That sober text, combining history, literature and philology, challenged the Greater SerbiaGreater Serbia
The term Greater Serbia or Great Serbia applies to the Serbian nationalist and irredentist ideology directed towards the creation of a Serbian land which would incorporate all regions of traditional significance to the Serbian nation...
n positions which was attributing the entire Shtokavian literature to the Serbian linguistic corpus. Those who want to deny the existence of a people should be well-armed with reasons based on the nature of things and evidence from credible historians. The coastal writers call their language Croatian
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
, says Šulek, citing a dozen works mentioning the Croatian language in the title. On the other hand, there are no old books written in Glagolitic
Glagolitic alphabet
The Glagolitic alphabet , also known as Glagolitsa, is the oldest known Slavic alphabet. The name was not coined until many centuries after its creation, and comes from the Old Slavic glagolъ "utterance" . The verb glagoliti means "to speak"...
or Latin scripts where the writers call their language Serbian
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
; in fact, even the books written in Bosnian Cyrillic
Bosnian Cyrillic
Bosnian Cyrillic or Croatian Cyrillic, widely known as Bosančica, is an extinct Cyrillic script, that originated in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was widely used in Bosnia and Croatia . Its name in Bosnian and Croatian is bosančica or bosanica, which can literally be translated as Bosnian script...
call their language Croatian or Slav. Croatian writers could not call their language Serbian because the Serbs used a mixture of Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic or Old Church Slavic was the first literary Slavic language, first developed by the 9th century Byzantine Greek missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius who were credited with standardizing the language and using it for translating the Bible and other Ancient Greek...
, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
and Serbian during most of their history, while the Shtokavian language "flourished only with the Croats until recently".
From 1858 till 1865, Šulek was the editor of Gospodarski list. He was one of the initiators of Pozor magazine (1867). He was an exceptionally prolific journalist and scientific propagator. In 1868 he issued his most famous political work, Naše pravice. Izbor zakonah, poveljah i spisah, znamenitih za državno pravo kraljevine dalmatinsko-hrvatsko-slavonske od god. 1202 - 1868 (Our Rights. A Selection of Laws, Charters and Documents Important for the State Right of the Kingdom of Dalmatia, Croatia and Slavonia, 1202-1868). He was a member of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts
Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts is the national academy of Croatia. It was founded in 1866 as the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts , and was known by that name for most of its existence.- History :...
and its secretary from 1871 till his death. He was promoted into a doctor of sciences in 1867 on the basis of his study of Ruđer Bošković.
Influence on Croatian terminology
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
), Šulek dedicated much time to create the Croatian scientific terminology. After the Croatian-Hungarian Settlement of 1868, he also created many Croatian military terms.
He supported the linguistic principles of the Zagreb school of philology and promoted Croatian linguistic purism
Croatian linguistic purism
One of the features of standard Croatian language and in common with several languages such as Czech, Finnish, Slovenian, Tamil or Turkish is word coinage using roots or elements perceived as being characteristic or unique to the speech of the community....
. He replaced foreign words with solutions taken from Croatian dialects and other Slavic languages (most often from Slovak
Slovak language
Slovak , is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages .Slovak is the official language of Slovakia, where it is spoken by 5 million people...
and Czech
Czech language
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
, but also from Russian and Slovenian
Slovenian language
Slovene or Slovenian is a South Slavic language spoken by approximately 2.5 million speakers worldwide, the majority of whom live in Slovenia. It is the first language of about 1.85 million people and is one of the 23 official and working languages of the European Union...
) and created neologisms. This brought him in conflict with the promoters of the so-called "pure folk language" (the Croatian partisans of Karadžić) who criticized his actions and slurred his lexical solutions as "Šulekisms".
The modern Croatian language has retained many words created by Šulek. He formed some crucial parts of the Croatian terminology in the areas of social and natural sciences, technology and urban civilization. For this reason, Šulek is considered one of the most influential Croatian philologists in history.
Works
- "Deutsch-kroatisches Worterbuch - Njemačko-ilirski rječnik", I. - II. (Zagreb, 1860) - German-Croatian Dictionary
- "Hrvatsko-njemačko-talijanski rječnik znanstvenoga nazivlja", I. - II. (Zagreb, 1874/75; reprint: Zagreb, 1995) - Croatian-German-Italian Dictionary of Scientific Terms
- "Jugoslavenski imenik bilja", (Zagreb, 1879.) - Yugoslavian Plant Lexicon