Simonas Daukantas 

Simonas Daukantas
100 litai banknote, released in 2000, featuring Simonas Daukantas

Simonas Daukantas (1793 - 1864; pen-names K.V.Mylė, Jokūbas Laukys1 (Jokyb's Łaukys)[1], Motiejus Šauklys, J.Devynakis, Jonas Girdenis, Jonas Raganius, Antanas Žeimys, Jonas Purvys, Antanas Vaineikis sometimes mentioned also in polonised form Szymon Dowkont23) was a Lithuanian writer4, ethnographer and historian. One of the pioneers of the Lithuanian national revival, he is credited with the first book on the History of Lithuania written in the Lithuanian language. He also published several books on Lithuanian and Samogitian folklore, and wrote a Polish-Lithuanian dictionary.4

Born October 26, 1793, at Kalviai, near Skuodas, then in the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania, part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, now in Lithuania. In 1814 he went to Vilnius and entered a local gymnasium. After graduating in 1816, he began studies at the The Imperial University of Vilna. In 1819 Daukantas received his first degree in the field of Law, and in 1822, a Masters Degree also in Law. Daukantas did not receive his diploma immediately due the suppression of the Filomat and Filaret student movements at Vilnius University, and only acquired it in 1825, three years later. He then relocated to Dorpat (modern Tartu), where he continued his studies until moving to Riga. From there he went to St. Petersburg, and obtained employment at the Lithuanian Metrica Office, and assistedFranciszek Malewski and Franciszek Czarnocki)3.

He also collaborated with Teodor Narbutt, a historian, and gave him almost eight hundred original documents dealing with Lithuanian history as well as that of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth2. He also published several history books and novels in Lithuanian, notably the Pałangos petris, a "Robinson Crusoe-like novel"2.

In 1846 fables by Phaedrus, were translated by Daukantas under the pen-name Motiejus Šauklys into the Lithuanian language and were published in St. Petersburg 5.

Finally in 1850 he returned to Lithuania, where he died December 6, 1864. He was buried on the summit of the Papilė hill fort. A monument, designed by V. Grybas, was erected there in 1930.

Among his manuscripts were a Polish-Lithuanian dictionary and a book on the history of Samogitia and Lithuania. Both were published posthumously2.

Bibliography

Notes and references

In-line:
  1. ^ Alfred Senn (1966). , 97. 
  2. ^ a b c d (Polish) various authors (1899). "Dowkont Szymon". S. Orgelbranda Encyklopedia Powszechna IV. Ed. Samuel Orgelbrand. Warsaw: S. Orgelbrand i Synowie. 455. Retrieved on 2007-11-05. 
  3. ^ a b (English) Patricia Kennedy Grimsted; Irena Sułkowska-Kurasiowa (1984). The "Lithuanian Metrica" in Moscow and Warsaw: Reconstructing the Archives of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Warsaw: Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences. ISBN 0892503408. "The study was carried out by Franciszek Malewski and assistants Franciszek Czarnocki and Szymon Dowkont." 
  4. ^ a b (Lithuanian) Giedrius Subačius (6 2004). "Grafemos <ſ> netektis Lietuvos rankraſzčiuose" (pdf). Archivum Lithuanicum (Vilnius: Lietuvių Kalbos Institutas) (6): 279. ISSN 1392-737X, http://www.uic.edu/classes/lith/lith520/SUB_strp/SUB_2004_S_rankrasciuose_ALt6.pdf. Retrieved on 6 November 2007. "In the beginning and the middle of the nineteenth century many Lithuanian authors had dropped the long <µ> from their manuscripts: Simonas Stanevičius (1799–1848),Aleksandras Butkevičius (ca. 1780–1829), Dominikas Sutkevičius (ca. 1782–1849), Kazimieras Kristupas Daukša (1795–1865), Simonas Daukantas (1793–1864),". 
  5. ^ Aušra Navickienė, Mikalojaus Akelaičio laiškai Adamui Zawadzkiui in KNYGOTYRA, 49. Vilnius 2007. ISSN 0204–2061.
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