JONO KRISTIJONO DICELIJAUS LIETUVIŠKA 1690 METŲ DEDIKACIJA
JOHANN CHRISTIAN DICELIUS'S LITHUANIAN DEDICATION OF 1690

Summary/Abstract: This article presents a dedication written in Lithuanian, that until recently was unknown, as well as additional information about its author and the circumstances of its writing. The poem of Johann Christian Dicelius from 1690, published together with Johann Christoph Taubert’s Master’s thesis, is the second known Lithuanian dedication created for the occasion of receiving a scholarly degree. Seven copies of the publication are known, and all of them are held outside of Lithuania. The exact date of Dicelius’s birth is not known, but he was born around 1670 into the family of Ernest Dicelius, a priest in Valtarkiemis (Walterkehmen), known for composing and translating Lithuanian hymns. In 1690 he began studies in Law at the University of Jena. After his studies, from 1695 he worked at the Vėluva (Wehlau) school until 1700 when he left his post as the school’s co-rector to return to Valtarkiemis where he lived with his mother until his death in 1706. From the 16th–17th century at least seven students from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and 25 from Lithuania Minor studied at the University of Jena. One of them—a fellow countryman from Klaipėda, Taubert—is the recipient of Dicelius’s congratulatory note written in Lithuanian. Dicelius’s mastery of the Lithuanian language and writing skills raise no doubts. The expected orthography of Lithuania Minor is used, but it is slightly altered due to the fact that the publishing house did not have the technical possibilities to produce Lithuanian script. Dicelius’s language is characterized by the typical mixing of the phonemes /ė/ and /ie/; for a more fluid rhyme or for the sake of a formal style he used the rare occasional derivative šviesimas ‘enlightening’ and the long athematic forms of the verbs plėšti ‘to rip’ and rėžti ‘to carve’.

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