Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/423

* RUSSIAN LANGUAGE. 38a RUSSIAN LITERATUKE. al: (2) throe gcnikrs in nouns, adjectives, anil past tenses of verbs; (3) two terminations for adjectives: (a) 'complete,' or purely adjectival, (1)) 'clipped,' or predicative; (4) two varieties of participles: (a) adjectival and (b) adverbal ( =: Fr. gerondif) ; (5) only three tenses, but a great variety of 'aspects/ whereby a verb can be made to express the finest sulitlcties and shades of the Latin frequcntativcs. inchoatives, etc.; in gen- cr:il. Iliniiii;h composition with a preposition, every present becomes a future, every imperfect a perfect: thus, e.g. stoi/-u ( := sto) ; po-stoii-ti {= stubo) ; stoy-al (= stab(im) ; po-stoji-dl ( = stcti) : (0) a great variety of diminutives and augmentatives ; syn (son); sijiiishtche (a strapping son); si/n-ok (a little son); syih-otclick (a dear little son) ; ttynishetchka (a dear little mite of a son) : and (7) finally, the disuse of the copula in the present tense, the absence of the article, and the personal end- ings of the verb, which allow the omission of the pronouns when desired for rhetorical purposes. The capacity for compounds and derivatives is so great that thousands of words belong to the same root. The arrangement of words is almost entirely free, as the grammatical inllexions olivi- ate misunderstanding. This elasticity gives to the Russian tongue an incisiveness and jierspi- cuit.'a that most modern languages lack. On the other hand, the freedom of accent (there are Kussinn words with the accent on the seventh s'l- lable from the end ) and the variety of vowels from the ;/ (broader than English !)'to (' (softer than Italian t) allow of such a variety of cadences and poetic efiects as are given only to several other modern languages combined. Thanks to these qualities, works of such varied character as the epics of Homer, the tragedies of ^'Esehylus and Shakespeare, the sonnets of Petrarch, and the musical lyrics of Verlaine can be and have been translated into Russian with unsurjiassable fidel- ity to the form and spirit of the originals. The Dictionary of the Church Slnvonic and Russian Lanyuaycs. containing about 115.000 words, was published b,v the Second Section of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in 1847, but was very far from completeness. A new edition, the Academic Dictionary of the Russian Language, now in course of publication, embraces only nine or ten letters of the alphabet. The other stand- ard work, V. ,Dahrs Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language (.5th ed.. Saint Petersburg, 1SS0-S2). is the storehouse of current forms and expressions. The Essay of a Provincial Great Russian Dictionary (Saint Petersburg, 18.52), with Supplement (18.58), is of great value. The most iinportant granunati- cal treatises are: Busslayeff, Historical Gram- mar of the Russian Language (5th ed., JIoscow, 1881 ) ; Brandt. Lectures on the Historical Gram- mar of the Russian Language (vol. i., Saint Petersburg, 1802) ; Sobolevski, Lectures on the History of the Russian Language (2d ed., Saint Petersburg, 1891) ; and The Old Church Slavic Tongue, Phonetics (Moscow, 1801). The best books for foreigners are: Diction- aries: AlexandrofT, Complete Russian-English (3d ed., 1890), and Complete English-Russian (2d ed., 1807) ; Makaroff. Dietionnaire Francnis- Russe (7th ed.. 1802), ami Rnsse-Francais com- plet (fith ed., ISO.'?) : Pnvlovsky. Russisch-Deuts- ches nnd Deutsch-Russischcs Wiirterhuch (3d ed,, Riga, I88G), a monumental work of its kind. Cka-MMARs: Alexandrotr, .1 Practical Method of the Russian Languutjv (London, 1802) ; Uiola, Uow to Learn Russian awl Key (il>., 1878) ; .Man- assevitcli, Die Kunst die russische Spravhc :u irterncn (Vienna, Pest, Leipzig) : .Vbicli, Die Hauptschwicriykciltii der russisehrn Sprnchc (Leipzig, 1807) ; and K.irner, Ausfiilirlichv.i Uhr- huch der russi.Hchen Spraehc (Soiiderslniuscn, 1802). RUSSIAN LITERATURE. The literature of Russia presents an intcrcsling pliiiuMiieiion by the side of the other European literatures. Although it possesses a remarkable wealth of genuine folk-poetry, both epic and lyric, Rus- sian written literature developed imlependently of the |>urely national lilerature, and. with the exception of the famous Song of Igor's Hand in the twelfth century (sec Igoh'.s Ra.nd, Sonu OF), until modern times there was no artistic work on these national themes. For |)racticnl purposes Russian literature may be divided into four periods: ( 1 ) Period of Byza-ntine Greek Influence. As in many other countries, the beginnings of literature are found in translations from Old Church Slavic (q.v.) of the Bible and books for church service. Even when copying the Old Church Slavic books of worship, the scribes fre- quently modified the original texts to Russian, most often inadvertently, but also s<jmetiuies purposely to make the text more intelligible to Russian readers. Thus drawing upon lireek models, the Russians gradually came to write also independently. The most original writers of this period are llarion. the first Russian Metro- politan (10.51-54), and Kyril Turovski, both representatives of genuine oratory; Daniel the E.xilc (thirteenth century), whose Prayer was intended to soften the heart of YaroslafI Vsye- voloditch, who imprisoned him on Lake Laelie; the Abljot Daniel, whose Journey to .Terusalem (1106-08) is important for its topographical information concerning Palestine, and as throw- ing some light on the subsequent final schism of the Greek and Roman Catholic Church ; and finally Xestor (q.v.), the author of the Chronicle. Furthermore, almost every principality of any account had its annalist, so that numerous chronicles are extant. Mention must also be made of Yaroslati's Code, Russian Right (1054), and of Prince Vladimir Mononiakh's (1113-25) Precepts to My Children, a vade nieenni of prac- tical advice reinforced by examples drawn from his own life. (2) Period of Darkne.ss and Stagnation (from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century inclusive). The Tatar invasion under Batiy (1224-1237) almost annihilated Russian litera- ture. However, a few works of some merit be- longing to this period have been preserved. Chief among these arc the Journeys of Antony, .rch- bishop of Novgorod, to Constantinople (1200): of the monk Simeon and the Susdal Bishop Avraamiy, who accompanied the Moscow Met- ropolitan Isidor to the Florentine Council ( 1430) : and of Afanasiy Xikitin. a merchant of Tver who journeyed to India (1466-72). Then follow the .poerypha1 Tales about .'Solomon, taken from the Greek Chronographs and I'ahriis. and the fa- mous battle on the field of Kulikovo (1380), where the Tatars were routed, moved an un- known author to write ZadonshI china. "Events