Jubilee of Gustav Reinhold von Klot in 1855 in the Reflection of Johann Theodor Berent and Karl Hugenberger: the Event and the Language of the Writers

Abstract

The celebration of 50 years of work as a pastor of the general superintendent of Livland, Gustav Reinhold von Klot (1780–1855) on June 12, 1855, was a cultural and historical event. From the articles of Hugenberger and Berent in the supplement of "Latviešu Avīzes" on June 23, 1855, one can get an idea of the events of that day. A special program and congratulations were prepared for the celebration. The articles tell how Klot was congratulated the previous day at his home, woken up by the sound of a trumpet on the morning of the celebration, honored and blessed in St. James's Church in Riga. Later, he was greeted with gifts at home, and at the end, the invited guests, without the honoree himself, gathered for a feast in the Riga House of Blackheads.

Although both authors' articles on Klot's tribute were published in the same supplement of "Latviešu Avīzes", their Latvian language differs, e.g., surnames (Berent (B) and Berents (H)), placenames (Nitaure (B) and Nihtaure (H), Ꞩunteſchu (H) and Ꞩuntaſchu (B)), the names of the same position (Wirs baſnicas teeẜas peeẜehdetajs (H) and augẜtas baſnizas teeẜas peeẜehdetajs (B)) are written differently.

In the language of Hugenberger, who worked in Courland, local dialect peculiarities can be observed: pēršs masc. 'song verse', skaņi masc. 'sounds',  liegi 'gently'. There are no such features in the language of Berent, who had worked in Livland all his life. Berent uses kas ‘who’ only as a relative pronoun in all case forms, while Hugenberger uses also kuŗš ‘who’ in the genitive and locative. The non-distinction between the prepositions par and pār is observed in Hugenberger's article, but not in Berent's text.

In general, the language of the writings of both pastors corresponds to the tradition of the first half of the 19th century, when such neologisms as, for example, veids ‘way’, vēsture ‘history’, were not yet created, instead vīze, palieki were used. Other peculiar lexemes or collocations can be mentioned, for example, cieta vājība 'severe illness', glītumi 'decorations', and verbs formed with the prefix ap-: apcietināt 'to harden', apgodināt 'to honor'.

The grammar shows such peculiarities as fluctuations in the declension of nouns, e.g, ẜirmgalwis, ẜirmgalwim, ẜirmgalwu // ẜirmgalwi (H), unsystematic use of adjectives with definite and indefinite endings, prepositions are used with several case forms, e.g., līdz ‘until’ with genitive and dative. The use of the pronoun tas ‘that’ according to the pattern of the German definite article is common.

Comparing the Latvian language of the authors of the two articles, it can be concluded that Berent has a better command of the Latvian language than Hugenberger.