The Philological Committee a Hundred-seventy Years Ago

Abstract

As it is commonly known, the 20 years research activity of Professor G. E. Grodek (1805-1825) at Vilna University appeared to be a remarkable stage in the history of Classical philology in Poland. He was the one to inaugurate and to lead a philological seminar, the first one to be organized in the Polish territories, which helped his disciples make the idea of founding a special Philological Society in Poland come true. Grodek undertook another initiative of organizing the Philological Committee at Vilna University. Although the latter had not lasted too long, its impact cannot be underestimated.

However a closer look at the Committee could not have been possible before 1958 and 1959 when the archive materials kept in the Library of the Polish Scientific Society at Kórnik (ms 1295, call No 258-270). The Committee decided to publish texts by Classical authors, duly prepared, in Poland, but the idea could not materialize because of the reluctance of the bureaucracy. Being especially inscribed on January 25, 1816 in the Ministry records, the Committee was permitted to publish dictionaries of the both Classical languages, but had to obey limitations as to writings of Classical authors. Hence respective preparations of the pro-ject were stifled, and it became impossible to carry out the useful and valuable initiative of Prof. Grodek. Nonetheless hardly 15 years allowed to prepare and publish three large Classical dictionaries ranging 600 editorial sheets (Bobrowski 200, Czerski 160, Jurkowski 240 sheets).