Matas Pretorijus Klaipėdietis apie tris XVI –XVII a. baltiškus tekstus

In the five-chapter volume XVI entitled Lingua Prussica (The Prussian Language), which was partially published in his work Deliciae Prussicae, oder Preussische Schaubühne (The Curiosities of Prussia, or The Prussian Spectacle), Matthaeus Praetorius of Klaipėda (c. 1635–1704) examined the origin, alphabet, and dialects of the Old Prussian language. He explored its relationship with other European languages, delving into language classification, the attribution of Old Prussian to other language groups, the state of the Prussian language in the mid-17th century, and the historical circumstances that led to its decline. Praetorius regarded languages as a defining trait of the ethnic identity of a community. For 23 years, he served in Lithuanian churches of Lithuania (Prussia) Minor, in Klaipėda and Nybudžiai (Ger. Niebudschen). This article examines new information he provides about three Baltic texts: a 17th-century catechism in the Nadruvian language; insights into the Our Father prayer in the Verulian/Herulian language; and a report about Melchiorus Schwabe’s editing of the Lithuanian translation of the Bible by Jonas Bretkūnas. Based on two surviving manuscripts of volume XVI , The Prussian Language, the article presents the text of the catechism in the Nadruvian language and the Our Father prayer in the Verulian/Herulian language. The study investigates the language that Praetorius referred to as the Nadruvian language, concluding that he claimed it was the 17th-century Prussian Lithuanian language used in the historical Prussian regions of Nadruva, Skalva, and Sūduva, whose original language was Old Prussian altered through contact with other languages. A comparison of the catechism’s Ten Commandments and the Our Father prayer, as published by Praetorius with the corresponding texts in the 1612 catechism of Baltramiejus Vilentas–Lazarus Sengstock and the 1709 quadrilingual catechism, demonstrates that Praetorius’ version was an independent translation of Martin Luther’s Small Catechism into the Prussian Lithuanian language, with some Prussian words inserted. The following conclusions are drawn: the catechism was a manuscript translated and distributed at the initiative of the clergy; it was translated by one or more unknown Lutheran clergymen serving in Lithuanian churches in the historical regions of Nadruva, Skalva, and Sūduva, i.e., in the central, northern, and eastern parts of Lithuania (Prussia) Minor; and the preparation of this manuscript reflects clerical efforts to compensate for a 58-year period during which Lithuanian catechisms were not printed. It is suspected that one of the translators may have been Melchiorus Schwabe, a priest from Valtarkiemis (Ger. Walterkehmen). It is also proposed that the text of the catechism published by Praetorius should be regarded as a resource for studying the history of 17th-century language, the processes of language change and convergence in the territories of Nadruva, Skalva, and Sūduva, and the linguistic context of the time.