A Grammar of the Bohemian or Čech Language [PDF]

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A GRAMMAR OF THE

BOHEMIAN OR CECH LANGUAGE MORFILL

HENRY FROWDE,

M.A.

PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND

NEW YORK

A GRAMMAR OF THE

BOHEMIAN OR CECH LANGUAGE

BY i

W.

i

J^ff*

R;

j|

MORFILL,

M.A.

READER

IN RUSSIAN AND THE OTHER SLAVONIC LANGUAGES IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD; CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE ROYAL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY OF BOHEMIA

AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1899

PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS BY HORACE HART, M.A. PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY

INTRODUCTION I

HAVE compiled

to feel

the

hope that a study

may

literature

induce English-

Europe have made greater efforts and civil liberty and the renaissance

countries of

in the cause of religious

Bohemia

in

sympathy with the struggles of a noble Slavonic

Few

people.

of

Grammar

Bohemian language and

of the

men

this

in the

;

second decade of the present century must

be reckoned as one of the most extraordinary phenomena

which the world has ever witnessed. scholars gave rise to a great political spirit

was there

:

The Bohemian

it

The enthusiasm

of a few

The

national

movement.

only waited to be quickened.

or

Cech

l

language belongs to the western

branch of the great Slavonic family. generally grouped by

scholars in

These languages are now

two classes:

(i) the South-

Eastern branch, including Old Slavonic (called also Old Bulgarian or Old Slovenish), Russian, Malorussian, White Russian, Serbian,

and Slovenish; and

Polish, with

Danzig

;

the

(2) the

Western branch, including

interesting Kashubish

Bohemian or Cech, spoken

in

dialect,

spoken near

Bohemia and Moravia,

By its inhabitants Bohemia is called Cechy as a name of the people have elsewhere ventured to use the form Chekh, so as to preserve the The Polish form ordinarily used in England (Czech) leads pronunciation. 1

;

I

to ambiguities.

INTRODUCTION

vi

with

its

cognate

Lower Bautzen

(in

Slovak, called

Serbish,

spoken in Hungary;

Saxony) and Kottbus

The

Slavonic people called Cechs the

appearance in A. D.

451

the usual

name

we

If

of the country, as

Slovaks

include the

corner, their capital

if

home

in

to

they used the Slovakish It is

made

much

to

the north-west

(in

Bohemian language

The

.

identical with

Slovakish

Bohemian,

Both Kollar and Schafarik were

Slovaks, and the writings of Holly, perfectly familiar

their

Sladkovic,

Bohemian

and Chalupka

brethren,

although

dialect.

to be regretted that attempts should have

develop

it

as

their

of the Boii), a Keltic

than seven millions 1

exhibiting a few peculiarities.

are

made

tribe.

Hungary

and purposes

dialect is to all intents

first

by the Boii (hence

settled

being Pressburg), the

now spoken by more

extinct

which they now occupy about

and the Marcomanni, a Teutonic

tribe,

is

territory

had previously been

It

;

and the

was afterwards the kingdom of

Polabish, once spoken in what

Hanover.

(in Prussia)

Upper and

spoken about

incorrectly Wendish,

a literary language;

the

been

Slovaks are

thereby only playing into the hands of their enemies. It

would be impossible

in this Introduction to

enumerate more

than the most prominent of the Bohemian authors. early

period we

In the

get the so-called Chronicle of Dalimil, which

dates from the beginning of the fourteenth century.

Of

this

an excellent edition has been published by Prof. Mourek, of Prague,

1

See

Ceskeho.

from the MS. preserved

article

The

by the

late Prof.

Sembera

in

the

Library of Trinity

in the Casopis

exact number, according to him,

is

Musea Krdlovstvi

7,581,187.

INTRODUCTION College,

Cambridge (Kronika Dalimilova podle Rukopisu Cam-

To

Prague, 1892).

bridgeske'ho.

belongs the Alexandrets, which Latin.

vii

it

Jirecek assigns

the fourteenth century also

a free adaptation from the

is

to a period as early as the thirteenth

At the beginning of the fifteenth century a complete was in existence. Before, however, we

century.

version of the Bible the fourteenth

leave

we must mention some

century

poetry, the most curious of which '

the Scholar

(Podkoni a

of mediaeval manners. of Smil Stitn^,

has

Zdk\ which

To

some

left

satirical

perhaps The Groom and '

gives us a quaint picture

period also belong the

this

But the greatest

Flaska.

who

is

literary figure

interesting

moral

poems

Thomas

is

in

treatises

the

vernacular, which show how well developed Bohemian prose

was

this

at

children

early

period.

were edited

The

addresses of

by Erben

in

He

obecnych Vecech Kresfanskych).

1852 is

to

Sti'tny

(Knffiky

his

Sestery

o

supposed to have died

about 1400.

Here may be mentioned a Bohemian version of of

the

War, composed

Trojan

the History

by Guido of Colonna, from

Dictys Cretensis and Dares Phrygius, which, to judge from the

number of MSS. It

was printed

in existence,

at Pilsen in 1468,

must have been very popular. and was one of the first books

which issued from the Bohemian Press. great

name

of Hus, a

a detailed account.

Bohemian

literature.

man whose

life is

I shall confine

During

We now too well

come

known

to the

to

need

myself to his influence upon

the latter part of the fourteenth

century and the beginning of the fifteenth the University of

Prague was

at

the height of

its

The

splendour.

of Wickliffe were introduced into the country

by

doctrines

the mysterious

INTRODUCTION

viii

Englishman, Peter Payne, a

in his native country

life

man

destined

Bohemia, although not

reputation in

.

made

and was there burnt

of Constance

language were collected

latter

They

1865-68.

them

is entitled,

attended the Council

in

Hus wrote

1415.

His works

in

and edited by Erben

in

One

of

are for the most part controversial.

Dcerka aneb

o pozndm cesty

Daughter, or the

Knowledge Hus corrected the Bohemian

his

in 1369, took the

a great deal in Latin, but also in Bohemian. the

a great

known about

rector of the University

how he

All have read

make

to

is

Hus was born

1

degree of M.A. in 1396, and was of Prague in 1402.

much

prave k spaseni (The

of the Right

Way

to Salvation)

translation of the Bible,

2 .

and may

be said to have fixed the orthography of the language ;

in the

present century a few modifications have been introduced, thus

w

is

now

always written

place to j.

It

may be

any

The

country was now

factions.

We

Jan Zizka, who

au has become

as well

should

case

students

v,

can only

to

refer

old

camp

in

g

has given

Bohemian books agitated

briefly allude to the

fortified his

and

mention these changes

to

some time

for

ou,

by

in s .

religious

famous captain,

an original manner, which

has been frequently imitated since.

About

this

time translations of the travels of Marco Polo, and

of those which went under the their appearance.

He

name

of Sir John Mandeville,

made

Peter Chelcick^ deserves a brief mention.

was one of the leaders of the United Brethren, and, being

a cobbler by trade, was nicknamed Kopyto, or the shoe-last. 1

2

8

A Forgotten Great Englishman, by James Baker, London, 1894. See John Hus, by A. H. Wratislaw, London, 1882. See

The

progress of

Bohemian orthography

is

clearly given

by Gebauer.

INTRODUCTION

ix

His works were written between 1430 and 1456.

The most

He

was a great

celebrated are his Postils and the

Net of Truth.

denouncer of war, somewhat anticipating the views of the

Quakers and some of the recent Russian In the sixteenth century the country of the Renaissance, and

appeared.

Especially

Veleslavin and

Hrub^

be

the

translations

many

to

sects.

felt

mentioned

full

from the

classics

Adam

Daniel

are

was

z Jelenf, or Gelenius as he

according to the prevalent

influence

called,

To

fashion of latinizing names.

the sixteenth century also belongs the chronicler Vaclav Hajek,

a very interesting

writer,

fond of fables, as our In

spite,

although somewhat inaccurate and

own Holinshed

was.

however, of the spirited attempts of the Bohemians

to preserve their constitution

and language,

as

shown by

the

enactment of the Statute of 1615, that no one could hold office in

Bohemia who was unacquainted with Cech,

pendence was crushed

Mountain

in

at

the

terrible

battle

literary history of Europe.

White

practically disappears

exiles, as

those of the great

pedagogue Komensk^, called among us by

Comenius (1592-1670). in the vernacular,

dictionary

is

from the

Such books as were produced were

almost exclusively the works of

Bohemian

of the

1620.

For two centuries Bohemia

many

their inde-

his

Latin

name

Besides his Latin works he wrote

and the

loss of the

MS.

especially to be regretted

of his great 1 .

Towards

the close of the eighteenth century and in the earlier part of 1

See the excellent Life of Comenius by Prof. Kvacala, in German. Also Great Didactic of Comenius, by M. W. Keatinge,

(Leipzig, 1892.)

London, 1896.

x

INTRODUCTION

the present, a revival of the national spirit took place;

Bohemian Museum

at

the

men

of such

efforts

Prague was founded as

Dobrovsk^, Palack^,

Jungmann, and Kollar placed a sure footing.

the

1818, and

in

Schafarik,

Bohemian language on

the

Palacty told the world his country's history,

Schafarik traced the ancient abodes of the Slavonic race, Jung-

mann

published a copious dictionary of the Bohemian language,

and Kollar became the national continued

till

the present day,

Their work has been

poet.

and Bohemia can now boast

a goodly array of authors, including such names as Vrchlick^,

Svatopluk Cech, Sladek, Eliska Krasnohorska (the nom de guerre of Jindriska Pech), Prof. Kalousek, the historian, and

The

others.

who

reader

earlier literature

may

wishes to

as

plan

follows.

based, with

of the present

The

1

Sketch'

of the

The language

principles which

I

is

have

given

is

by

(Vergleichende

Second Edition, Vienna,

thus brought into

endeavoured

in order to

those

Grammar

harmony with

to

carry

Russian, Serbian, and Bulgarian grammars.

on previous occasions,

stated briefly

nouns and verbs

upon

modifications,

great Comparative

Grammatik der Slavischen Sprachen. 1876).

London, 1896).

.

work may be

little

classification

only slight

Miklosich in his

many of the

be referred to the pages of Count Liitzow's

book (Bohemia, an Historical

The

know something

As

out in I

the

my

have said

understand these languages

thoroughly we must always keep in mind the relations in which they stand to the oldest Slavonic known, 1

There

ture,

is

also an account

London, 1883.

i.e.

the Palaeoslavonic,

by the present writer Early Slavonic LiteraFor those who can read Bohemian, see Tieftrunk,

Historic Literatury Ceske (several editions).

:

INTRODUCTION as

has come

it

down

in the translation of the Bible

When we make

works.

languages,

we

apparent anomalies

grammars

of

the

mental work of

are

and other

a comparative study of the Slavonic

how one

feel

xi

the

explains

removed.

I

have

other

consulted

The volumes

language.

Gebauer which

of

how

and

many monu-

the

have appeared up

the

to

present time (Historickd Mluvnice Jazyka Ceskeho) have been constantly used

much

;

Grammar

by the Bohemian Schulgrammatik,

useful information has

Prag,

published in Hartleben's

Joseph Masafik (Bohmische

of

and the

1878)

handy

little

volume

by K. Kunz, Die Kunst die erlernen, and also by the Bohemian

series

Bohmische Sprache schnell zu

Grammar

of J. Fr. Vymazal, Briinn, 1881.

with

German language

the

been furnished

there

are

To

those acquainted

abundant

for

facilities

acquiring Bohemian, but in English the only available works are

two

the

dictionaries,

University of

the

first

Prague, of

by Prof. V. E. Mourek, of which the

English-Bohemian

part has appeared and a portion of the Bohemian-English,

and

an English-Bohemian and Bohemian-English Dictionary, published

by Karel Jonas,

U.S.

For Bohemians desiring

lately deceased, at Racine, in Wisconsin,

to learn English there are the

Jazyka Anglicktho pro Samouky (Handbook of the English language for self-instruction), by Dr. V. E. Mourek, and Ucebne' Listy

a convenient

little

Grammar by

Prof. Sladek.

For those desirous of pursuing further studies in Bohemian literature the following

books

may

be recommended

(i) Vybor z Literatury Ceske' (Selections from ture),

:

Bohemian

litera-

two large volumes of which have appeared, published

the expense of the Matice Ceska or

Bohemian Literary

at

Society.

INTRODUCTION

xii

In the second volume the extracts are continued to the end of

familiar will

riches of old

whom

subject

is

un-

be surprised, on opening these volumes,

at

the

the sixteenth century.

Persons to

Bohemian

the

literature.

(2) Anthologie z Literatury Ceske (Anthology of

Bohemian

literature), by Joseph Jirecek, of which several editions have

This excellent

appeared.

book

gives

selections

from

the

earliest times to the present day.

A

good summary of Bohemian

history will be found in the

Deje Krdlovstvi Ceskeho (History of the Prof.

by

Tomek,

excellent maps.

It is

a great pity that this work has not been

As

yet

in

who

too content to are interested

depreciating them, but the valuable work of Count

Liitzow previously alluded to pate

we have been

about the Bohemians from people

learn

of Bohemia),

which Prof. Kalousek has added three

translated into English.

only

Kingdom

to

will

no doubt do much

As

the prejudices of ignorance.

I

the present occasion to give a complete sketch of literature,

I

am

obliged

to

over

pass

to dissi-

have not space on

many

Bohemian

other

valuable

works. I

have also with reluctance been compelled to omit extracts

from the older Bohemian student with

archaisms.

literature, It

will

for fear of confusing the

be observed that many of

the passages selected for translation are from the useful

of Prof.

Tomek

Prague, 1891.

what clumsy, but

already alluded to

The it

English

may

work

Deje Krdlovstvi Ceske'ho, occasionally appear some-

was not considered advisable

to depart too

much from the Bohemian idiom.

W.

R.

M.

CONTENTS PAGE

Introduction I.

v

Phonology.

The Alphabet The Consonants II.

I

3

Accidence,

(i)

INFLECTED PARTS OF SPEECH

The Noun First Declension

:

a-stems

:

.....

Second Declension o-stems Third Declension: Feminines in a and Fourth Declension: u-stems Fifth Declension i-stems Sixth Declension Consonantal Stems . . (1) v-stems (2) n-stems : (a) Masculine :

.

:

:

(b)

The

Neuter

.

e

.

.

.

.

.

5

6 9 10

.11

...

II

12 12

12 13

(3)

s-stems

(4)

t-stems

15

(5)

r-stems

15

14

.16

Adjective

Comparison of Adjectives

19

vsecek or vsechen,

20

all

CONTENTS

xiv

PAGE

Numerals

:

(1)

Cardinal

(2)

Ordinal

The Hours

20 .

of the

.21

.

Day

23

Fractions of Numerals Collective

23

Numerals

The Pronoun

23

:

The Personal Pronoun The Reflexive Pronoun Possessive Pronouns

24

.......

26

....

Demonstrative Pronouns Relative

25

and Interrogative Pronouns Pronouns

27 28

Indefinite

29

The Verb

The (1)

30

Prepositional Prefixes

The

Infinitive

31

Stem

34

The Aspects of the Verb (2) The Present Stem A.

34 36

Conjugation with the Present Suffix First Class. Stems without Connecting Vowel :

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)

(6) (7)

Those inland/ Those in s Those in b and v Those in h and k Those in m and Those in r and Those which end

Second Class. na-stems

37

37 38

38

/......40 ,

nasal stems

.

.

39

39

a vowel

in

.

.

....... ........42 Stems with Connecting Vowel:

41

Stems with Connecting Vowel First Group Second Group Fourth Class. Stems with Connecting Vowel

Third Class.

: