Syrjaenica
Title
Subject
Description
The Komi grammar is one of the few materials Castrén was able to publish himself. He collected the material during his third expedition in 1843 – he spent a period of five months near the Arctic Circle in what is today known as the Komi Republic, but which at that time belonged to the Governorate of Arxangelʹsk. The actual content of the grammar took shape in Ižma and nearby villages, and the Latin manuscript was completed in Kolva. Elementa grammatices Syrjaenae is, despite its name, not a grammar of the entire Zyrian language but one singular dialect, the Ižma dialect. This was the first of the published grammars by Castrén. The book consists of a grammar and a vocabulary of about 1,100 words with a sample dialect text: four chapters of the Gospel of St. Matthew, translated into the Ižma dialect.
In only five weeks after returning to Helsinki in May 1844, Castrén defended his licentiate (doctor’s) dissertation at the Imperial Alexander University in Helsinki and was awarded his doctorate in philosophy. The 22-page dissertation De nominum declinatione in lingua Syrjaena is included with minimal editing in the grammar published in the autumn of 1844 (III Nominals, A. Nouns, § 24–31).
Syrjaenica is a critical edition of Elementa grammatices Syrjaenae and seven wedding laments collected by Castrén, translated into English with editors’ comments.
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Contents
Manuscripta Castreniana: A General Preface to the Series by Juha Janhunen
Editor’s Foreword by Paula Kokkonen
Matthias Alexander Castrén:
Elementa grammatices Syrjaenae
Fundamentals of Zyrian Grammar
The Gospel of Matthew, Chapters 4–7
Vocabulary (Index Vocabulorum)
Appendix
The Gospel of Matthew (Chapters 4–7)
in the Vyčegda Dialect
Wedding Laments
Collected by Matthias Alexander Castrén
Seven Wedding Laments in the Ižma (Iźva) Dialect
by Paula Kokkonen
1. On the first day of the wedding
2. When the bride goes to the sauna
3. When the relatives have gathered
4. When the bridegroom comes to the wedding
5. On the morning of the wedding day
6. In the morning, to the father
7. In the morning, when the bridegroom comes