Rusk, Rasmus

Back in school, Rask became addicted to the ancient Scandinavian language, and when in 1807 he entered the University of Copenhagen , the following year, together with Professor , translated the Younger Edda into Danish. As a student, Rask discovered brilliant linguistic abilities; at the end of the course, he became an assistant librarian of the university library and soon wrote a “Guide to Icelandic or Old Northern Language” (“Vejledning til det Islandske eller gamle Nordiske Sprog.” - Copenhagen, 1811; abbreviated processing it, “Kortfattet Vejledning”, published in 1832; 4th ed., 1861); also published the four-volume Icelandic dictionary of Bjørn Halldorsen (Copenhagen, 1814).

For two and a half years, from 1813 to November 1815, Rask studied local history in Iceland ; there was a collection of sagas and in 1814 he graduated from an essay on the origin of the ancient Norman (or Icelandic) language - “Research in the Old Northern Language, or the Origin of the Icelandic Language” ( “Undersögelse om det gamle Nordiske eller Islandske Sprogs Oprindelse” ^[6] ) ^{[7 ]} . The work was published in 1818 and was of major importance in the history of comparative linguistics and Germanic philology ^{[8] [9]} .

Upon returning from a trip, Rask was elected the first president of the Icelandic Literary Society. Under his presidency and at his suggestion and plan, the publication of Sturlunga Saga, a great Icelandic folk story, was launched.

In order to study the Germanic languages ​​at the site of Asian relatives, Rask conceived a trip to Persia and India . In 1816 he arrived in Stockholm, where he published The Elder Edda and The Younger Edda (with the Swedish translation of Avzelius , Stockholm, 1818), the Anglo-Saxon grammar (Angelsaksisk Sproglære, 1817) and the Swedish treatment of his Icelandic grammar (Anvisning till Isländskan eller Nordiska fornspråket (1818).

Rusk went to St. Petersburg through Finland , where he stayed for almost a year ^{[10] [11]} , and in 1819 arrived in Persia through Moscow and the Caucasus. After studying Persian here at 6 weeks so that he could freely explain to the Persians, Rask traveled to India, where he stayed for two years - mainly in Bombay , where he actively communicated with the Parsis , studying their sacred literature, and in Ceylon ^{[8] [9 ]} .

During his time there, he published in the "Documents of the literary and agricultural society of Colombo" the argument "A dissertation respecting the European languages" and "Singalesisk skriftlære" (1821) ^[9] .

In 1823, Rask returned to Copenhagen , bringing with him a rich collection of ancient Iranian and Buddhist manuscripts, and received the title of professor of history of literature at the University of Copenhagen . His later works: “Spansk Sproglære” (1824), “Frisisk Sprogl 18re” (1825), “Italiensk Sproglære” (1827), “Dansk Retskrivningslære” (1826), reasoning about the authenticity of the Zend (“On the Age and Genuineness of the Zend language "in" Transactions of the Liter. Society of Bombay ", vol. III, and in Danish:" Om Zendsprogets og Zendavestas ælde og ægthed ", Copenhagen, 1826; Rask proves here the English questioned the authenticity of Avesta and her language - the closest, in his opinion, relative of Sanskrit). In 1825 he promoted the founding of the “Royal Society of Northern Archeology”; in 1830 he published in Danish English grammar (2nd ed., 1846); in 1831 he received the title of professor of oriental languages ^[9] .

After his death, his Engelsk Formlære (1832) was also published. The remaining unfinished works and meetings were donated by his brother to the Copenhagen libraries. Some of them were included in the collected works of Rusk (“Samlede Afhandlinger”, published by the brother of Rusk, 1834–1838). By the time he traveled to India, Rask knew 25 different languages ​​and dialects . With all his influence on the development of comparative linguistics, his main attention was drawn to the exact description of individual languages ​​and their mastery. The wide combination of facts drawn from individual languages ​​and their construction in the form of bold comparative systems, as F. Bopp and Grimm did, were not to his liking; he regarded the capital works of J. Grimm negatively.

In particular, in 1834, Rask’s considerations and arguments in favor of the existence of a family of “Scythian languages” were published in Samlede Afhandlinger. This family included a wide range of Eurasian languages, and first of all it was about the Ural-Altaic languages, although Rask himself referred to it as Basque , Chukotka-Kamchatka and Eskimo ^[12] .

Ruska’s biographies were given by in Samlede Afhandlinger (Vol. I, Copenhagen, 1870) and F. Rönning, Rasmus Kristian Rask (Copenhagen, 1887). See the assessment of the activities of Rask as a Germanist by G. Paul , “Geschichte der germanische Philologie” (“Grundriss der germ. Philol.”, Vol. I, Issue I, § 68).

The greatest value for the development of linguistics was the essay of Rask "Study in the Old North Language, or the Origin of Icelandic Language" (1818). Along with F. Bopp’s book On the System of Conjugation of the Sanskrit Language in Comparison with That of Greek, Latin, Persian and Germanic Languages ​​(1816) and the first volume of German Grammar (1819), it laid the foundation for comparative historical linguistics , as well as was of paramount importance in the history of German philology ^{[8] [13]} .

The first part of this work was the first attempt to formulate a comparative grammar methodology. In the second part, Rask, on the basis of a methodical study of the phonetic and formal structure of the Icelandic language, proved his close relationship with other "Gothic" (that is, Germanic ) languages. The third part was devoted to proving his kinship with other European languages, especially with Balto-Slavic , with the most closely related relationship of Germanic languages ​​to Greek and Latin (Rask considered these two last languages ​​as the most southern branches of the "Thracian" language); at the same time, Rask did not find any signs of Icelandic kinship with such languages ​​as Greenland , Basque , Finnish . In his analysis of the degree of kinship of languages, Rask focused on establishing grammatical correspondences, considering them much more significant than lexical correspondences; among lexical correspondences, he attached the main meaning to the similarity of words related to basic vocabulary - “the most significant, necessary, material and primary words that form the basis of the language” ^{[5] [14]} .

For the first time, Rask clearly formulated the principle of regularity of correspondences that is most important for comparativistics. In distinguishing between different classes of vocabulary with regard to their significance for comparativistics, he noted that words associated with commerce, education, science, etc., too often “do not arise naturally” (i.e. are borrowed). Rask related the most stable words to the basic vocabulary: pronouns, numerals, kinship names, etc. He pointed out: “When there are correspondences in two languages ​​precisely in words of this kind and in such quantity that the rules regarding letter transitions from one language can be derived in the other, then there are close family ties between these languages. " This approach has retained its importance in modern comparative studies (with the replacement of the comparison of letters with the comparison of phonemes ) ^[15] .

In the same part, establishing sound correspondences between Germanic and related languages, Rask became the predecessor of J. Grimm in the formulation of the famous law of movement of consonants in Germanic languages ​​(the law of Grimm , or the law of Rask-Grimm ), outlining almost all of its main and main features. Namely, he showed that the following changes took place in the common German language: p, t, k → f, þ, h ; d, g → t, k ; bʰ, dʰ, gʰ → b, d, g . Rusk's only mistake was the misinterpretation of historical development b (an error corrected by Grimm that developed Rusk’s observations into a coherent system). At the same time, both Rusk and Grimm did not absolutize the regularities they revealed in the sound changes; Rask wrote that consonants “often” changed according to the rules he had formulated, and only young marathonists came to the idea of ​​sound laws that are not aware of exceptions ^[16] .

However, the significance of the work of Rask for comparative-historical linguistics was realized by European science with a delay, because this work was published in Danish, which is not familiar to all researchers, and the partial translation into German was poorly performed ^[17] .

• Rask RK Vejledning til det Islanske eller garnie Nordiske Sprog. - Kjöbenhavn: Trykt paa Hofboghandler Schubothes Forlag, hos J. R. Thiele, 1811. - lvi + 282 s.
• Rask RK Angelsaksisk sproglaere tilligemed en kort laesebog. - Stockholm: M. Wiborg, 1817. - 168 s.
• Rask RK Anvisning till Isländskan eller Nordiska fornspråket. - Stockholm: M. Wiborg, 1818. - xxviii + 298 s.
• Rask RK Edda Sæmundar hinns Fróda. Collectio carminum veterum scaldorum Saemundiana dicta. - Holmiae: Typis Elmenianis, 1818. - v + 288 s.
• Rask RK Undersögelse om det gamle Nordiske eller Islandske Sprogs Oprindelse. - Kjöbenhavn: Gyldendal, 1818. - xii + 312 s.
• Rask RK Singalesisk skriftlære . - Kolombo, 1818. - 16 s.
• Rask RK Frisisk sproglaere, udarbejdet efter samme plan som den islandske og angelsaksiske. - Kjöbenhavn: Hofboghandler Beeken, 1825. - ii + 138 s.
• Rask RK Über das Alter und die Echtheit der Zend-Sprache des des Zend-Avesta, und Herstellung des Zend-Alphabets nebst einer Übersicht des gesammten Sprachstammes - Berlin: Duncker und Humblot, 1826. - viii + 80 S.
• Rask RK Om Zendsprogets og Zendavestas lde og Ægthed . - Kjöbenhavn: Trykt hos A. Seidelin, 1826. - 46 s.
• Rask RK Italiensk Formlære, udarbejdet efter samme Plan som den spanske Sproglære. - Kjöbenhavn: Trykt hos J. H. Schultz, 1827. - 75 s.
• Rask RK Historien om de ti vezirer og hvorledes det gik dem. Ved kong Azád Bachts sön . - Kjöbenhavn: Trykt hos Jens Hostrup Schultz, 1829. - 159 s.
• Rask RK Engelsk Formlære, udarbejdet efter en ny Plan. - Kjöbenhavn: Gyldendal, 1832. - 112 s.
• Rask RK Samlede tildels forhen utrykte Afhandlinger. Udg. efter Forf.s Død af H. K. Rask . - Kjöbenhavn: Trykt i det Poppske bogtrykkeri, 1834. - 504 s.
• Rask R. Notes on Russia / Rasmus Christian Rask; compiled by the author. articles and footnotes. L.S. Chekin; per. from Danish, Icelandic, German and Swedish L. S. Chekina with the participation of O. V. Rozhdestvensky and T. L. Shenyavskaya. - M .: New Literary Review, 2018. - 240 p.

• Alpatov V.M. History of linguistic doctrines. 4th ed. - M .: Languages ​​of Slavic culture, 2005. - 368 p. - ISBN 5-9551-0077-6 .
• Amirova T. A., Olkhovikov B. A., Rozhdestvensky Yu. V. History of Linguistics. 2nd ed. - M .: Publ. Center "Academy", 2005. - 672 p. - ISBN 5-7695-2377-8 .
• World Biographical Encyclopedic Dictionary
• Rusk, Rasmus-Christian // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : 86 tons (82 tons and 4 extra). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• <Autobiography of Rusk> // Loboyko I.N. My memoirs. My notes. - M .: New Literary Review, 2013. - 328 p. - ISBN 978-5-4448-0067-6 . - S. 55—58.