ISSUE No.

27, June 2001 ISSN 0840-5565

Two Significant Macedonian Acquisitions

T
he Thomas Fisher Rare Book and Greece, it was slowest in establishing the publication of this work, Pejčinoviḱ
Library and Robarts Library recently a separate language and state. While a returned to the Tetovo region with the
received nearly three hundred separate Macedonian identity can be said ambition of restoring the monastery of St.
volumes from the Macedonian Collection to have its origins in the rise of South Atanas. He succeeded in this goal and
of Horace G. Lunt, Professor Emeritus of Slavic nationalism during the eighteenth remained at this monastery until his death
Slavic Linguistics, Harvard University. century, it is the published works of in March 1845.
Included in the collection are rare journals nineteenth-century Macedonians which During his lifetime Pejčinoviḱ had
from the nineteen forties and fifties, and allow us to chart the development of several books published, the most impor-
numerous first editions of works by the Macedonianism, an identity distinct from tant being the aforementioned Mirror, and
major Macedonian novelists, poets, and Bulgarian or Serbian.1 The works by Comfort to Sinners. The latter work, a
folklorists of the twentieth Pejčinoviḱ and Pulevski copy of which is now housed in the Fisher
century. Of greatest are of particular Library, has a particularly interesting
significance, however, significance.2 publishing history. Records suggest that
are two volumes Kiril Pejčinoviḱ was the work was completed by 1831, but
published in the born around 1770 in Pejčinoviḱ was unable to secure funds for
nineteenth century: the village of publication. Potential subscribers were
Kiril Pejčinoviḱ’s willing to buy the published text,
Utešenie grešnim but were reluctant to
(“Comfort to Sinners”), a make payment in
book of teachings and advance. After many
prayers, published in delays, the finished
Salonika in 1840; and text of the manuscript
Gjorgji Pulevski’s Rečnik was rejected by the
od tri jezika (“Three ecclesiastic censorship
Language Dictionary”), board and returned to
published in Belgrade in Pejčinoviḱ in 1836. In
1875. These two works are part this rejection was
of particular importance, caused by Pejčinoviḱ’s
both for the history of the insistence on writing in
modern Macedonian the local vernacular
standard language, and for rather than in the
the documentation of elevated archaic church
Macedonian national style. Pejčinoviḱ sought
awareness. other publishing houses
Title page and wood block
In order to place these before eventually turning
illustration from Comfort to
works in historical context, it to Teodosija Sinaitski who
Sinners, (Salonika, 1840).
is important to bear in mind had established in
that at the beginning of the Salonika the first printing
nineteenth century the south press for publishing books
Slavic languages were undergoing proc- Tearce in the western part of Macedonia in the local language. When the press
esses of standardization, as new nation near Tetovo. He received his education in burned down in 1839, Kiril Pejčinoviḱ
states were emerging in southeast Europe various churches and monasteries. He was helped finance the rebuilding of the press.
on the territory of the Ottoman Empire. ordained in the Hilandar Monastery on In return, Sinaitski published Comfort to
Macedonia remained under Ottoman Mount Athos, and by the beginning of the Sinners at the renovated press in 1840.
domination longer than either Bulgaria or nineteenth century he was employed as a This small book consists of forty-seven
Serbia, and since it was located at the cleric in various churches in Macedonia. pages dedicated to the education of his
centre of territory claimed both geographi- His first book Ogledalo (“Mirror”) was congregation. Teodosija Sinaitski wrote an
cally and linguistically by Serbia, Bulgaria, published in Budapest in 1816. Following introduction to the work which is
2

followed by Pejčinoviḱ’s teachings and Pulevski was born in the western In addition to its linguistic interest, the
collection of prayers. Macedonian village of Galičnik. A mason dictionary is as an important milestone in
During this period discussions were by training, for much of his life he pur- the development of a distinctly Macedo-
taking place on the nature of the literary sued his trade in Belgrade. Although he nian identity. These works testify to the
languages to be codified in the south had no formal education, Pulevski pub- fact that the term “Macedonian” was in use
Slavic linguistic territory. Some intellectuals lished several books, including two by Macedonian intellectuals during the
hoped to adopt a conservative standard, dictionaries, and a collection of Macedo- nineteenth century. In a question and
taking the archaic church language as its nian songs, customs, and holidays. It is for answer section Pulevski asks: “What does
base. Pejčinoviḱ followed those who the Three Language Dictionary, however, the term ‘nation’ mean?” He answers: “A
supported a that Pulevski is best nation is a people who are of the same
language based on known, and it is stock and who speak the same language,
the local vernacu- this work which who live together and interact with one
lar. In his works now resides in the another, who have the same customs,
Pejčinoviḱ wrote in Fisher Library. songs, and holidays. These people are
a hybrid of Church The 1875 called a nation and the place they live in is
Slavicisms and his dictionary is not a the fatherland of that people. So too the
native Tetovo dictionary in the Macedonians are a nation and their place
dialect of western usual sense. It is is Macedonia.”
Macedonia. printed in three Taken as a whole, the Lunt collection
Sinaitski’s press columns with provides a unique opportunity to study the
burned down a parallel texts in the development of the modern Macedonian
second time different languages. standardized language. The two books
between 1841 and The columns are discussed here are of the greatest impor-
1844 and Comfort not comparative tance and will be of value to all scholars
to Sinners remains word lists, but who are interested in these questions.
the only book to parallel conversa- Christina E. Kramer
survive from the tional phrases, Department of Slavic
press. A copy of intended to teach Languages and Literature
this extremely rare the reader about
1
work is now the language and For details see Victor A. Friedman
housed in the history of the “Macedonian” in The Slavonic
Fisher Library. It is Macedonian Languages, ed. Bernard Comrie and
printed on a hand- people. Because Greville G. Corbett; and Victor A.
press, and is Pulevski was self- Friedman “Macedonian Language and
adorned with taught, he mixed Nationalism during the Nineteenth and
wood-block dialect features and Early Twentieth Centuries.” Balkanistica 2,
illustrations, and Title page from Pulevski’s Three Language elements of 83-98.
retains its original Dictionary (Belgrade, 1875.) Serbian, though
2
paper covers. features of his Details on these two authors were taken
Gjorgji Pulevski’s works date from the Galičnik dialect predominate. Pulevski from Blaže Koneski, Za
latter half of the nineteenth century, by wrote of the need for the creation of a Makedonskiot literaturen jazik, Skopje,
which time both Bulgarian and Serbian standard Macedonian language, and, while 1981, and Blaže Koneski,
had been standardized, and teaching recognizing that a single individual could Makedonskiot XIX vek, Skopje 1986.
materials for primary schools had begun to not achieve this goal, he attempted to coin
appear. Several textbooks were published Macedonian words based on dialectisms,
by Macedonians who sought teaching or adapted and modified from other Slavic
materials that reflected Macedonian languages. Pulevski’s dictionary is of
dialects. significant linguistic interest for all three
This insistence on a separate Macedo- languages, for he transcribed them into a
nian language contributed to the coales- modified Cyrillic alphabet. His transcrip-
cence of a distinct Macedonian identity. tion is of particular interest for Turkic
One of the most significant landmarks of studies. Most Turkish texts of this period
this period is the Three Language Diction- were written in Ottoman script without
ary (Macedonian, Albanian and Turkish) vowels, whereas Pulevski indicated the
published in Belgrade in 1875 by Gjorgji vowels in his Cyrillic transcription.
Pulevski.