Book of Henryków
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The Book of Henryków (Polish: Księga henrykowska, Latin: Liber fundationis claustri Sancte Marie Virginis in Heinrichau) is a Latin chronicle of the Cistercian abbey in Henryków (German: Heinrichau) in Lower Silesia. Originally created as a registry of belongings looted by the Mongol raids of 1241, with time it was extended to include the history of the monastery. It is notable as the earliest document to include a sentence written entirely in what can be interpreted as an early Old Polish language[1][2] or Czech or Silesian language[3]. Currently the book is on exhibition in the Diocesan Museum in Wrocław.
The first part of the 100-page-long book is devoted to the early history of the abbey, from its foundation by Henry the Bearded in 1227 until 1259. The second part includes the later history until 1310. In the record for 1270 a semi-anonymous peasant from the nearby village named Brukalice is reported to say to his wife "Day, ut ia pobrusa, a ti poziwai", which could be roughly translated as "Let me, I shall grind, and you take a rest".
The circumstances under which this sentence was written closely reflected the cultural and literary conditions in Poland in the first centuries of its national existence. It appeared in a Latin chronicle, written by a German abbot. The man who reportedly uttered the sentence almost one hundred years earlier was Bogwal, a Czech (Bogwalus Boemus), a local settler and subject of Bolesław the Tall, as he felt compassion for his wife, who "very often stood grinding by the quern-stone".
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[edit] The Czech, Polish or Silesian sentence
"Bogwali uxor stabat, ad molam molendo. Cui vir suus idem Bogwalus, compassus dixit: Sine, ut ego etiam molam. Hoc est in polonico: Day, ut ia pobrusa, a ti poziwai." - Book of Henryków (Liber fundationis claustri Sancte Marie Virginis in Henrichow) 1270[4]
The medieval recorder of this phrase, the Cistercian monk Peter of the Henryków monastery, noted that "Hoc est in polonico" ("This is in Polish").[5][6] [7] However the sentence has also been recognised as being in ether Silesian or Czech.[8]
The sentence "Day, ut ia pobrusa, a ti poziwai" contains elements characteristic of (alphabetically) Czech, Polish, and Silesian languages[2]: "day" (modern Polish ending "-aj", in modern Czech and Silesian "-ej"), "ut" (modern Czech "ať", Silesian "dyć", Old Polish language "ać"[9]), "pobrusa" (Silesian ending "-a", Polish "-ę" - yet Old Polish "-ã"[10], Czech "-ím"). In Silesian till today functions the verb form "pobrusa" (Silesian infinitive brusić, Czech brousit - both meaning "to sharpen", modern Polish "ostrzyć") but this word was not use in this meaning in the Book of Henryków.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Allen Kent, Harold Lancour, Jay E. Daily, "Encyclopedia of library and information science", CRC Press, 1978, pg. 3, [1]
- ^ a b Barbara i Adam Podgórscy: Słownik gwar śląskich. Katowice: Wydawnictwo KOS, 2008, page 12. ISBN 978-83-60528-54-9.
- ^ (Silesian) www.slunskoeka.pyrsk.com
- ^ Digital version Book of Henryków
- ^ Digital version Book of Henryków in latin
- ^ Barbara i Adam Podgórscy: Słownik gwar śląskich. Katowice: Wydawnictwo KOS, 2008, ISBN 978-83-60528-54-9
- ^ Bogdan Walczak: Zarys dziejów języka polskiego. Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego, 1999, ISBN 83-229-1867-4
- ^ (Silesian) www.slunskoeka.pyrsk.com
- ^ "AĆ" in Old Polish language Dictionary
- ^ Grzegorz Jagodziński: Rozwój polskiego systemu wokalicznego. 6.5. Rozwój samogłosek nosowych
- (Polish) Słownik Encyklopedyczny - Język polski. Europa. 1999. ISBN 8387977209. http://portalwiedzy.onet.pl/93721,,,,ksiega_henrykowska,haslo.html. Retrieved 2006-06-22.
- (English) (Polish) Michał Jacek Mikoś (1999). "Middle Ages: Literary background". Polish Literature from the Middle Ages to the End of the Eighteenth Century. A Bilingual Anthology. Warsaw: Constans. p. 683. ISBN 8390101432. http://staropolska.gimnazjum.com.pl/ang/middleages/Mikos_middle/Literary_m.html. Retrieved 2006-06-22.
