Meletius Smotrytsky

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"What is a letter?..." from the first edition of Smotrytsky's grammar

Meletius Smotrytsky (Ukrainian: Мелетій Смотрицький, Meletiy Smotryts’kyy; Belarusian: Мялецій Сматрыцкі; Russian: Мелетий Смотрицкий), né Maksym Herasymovytch (c. 1577 – 17(27) December 1633) was a Ruthenian (Ukrainian, Belarusian) linguist from Galicia, author and religious activist. Son of the famous Ukrainian religious and political activist Herasym Smotrytsky. Education in Ostrog (modern Ostroh) and Vilnius, as well as Leipzig, Wittenberg and Nuremberg, later rector of the brotherhood's school in Kiev.

Smotrytsky is best known for his Grammar of Church Slavonic (Грамматіки славєнския правилноє Сvнтаґма, 1619), which codified what is now known as "Modern Church Slavonic" or, more specifically, "Meletian Church Slavonic". It was the sole handbook for grammar in Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian lands, and had an enormous impact on the literary usage in Church Slavonic texts throughout the Slavonic countries. The grammar was reprinted many times.

[edit] References

Frick, David A. Meletij Smotryc’kyj. Cambridge/Mass. 1995.
Horbatsch, Olexa (ed.). Meletij Smotryc’kyj: Hrammatiki Slavenskija Pravilnoe Syntagma. Jevje 1619. Kirchenslavische Grammatik (Erstausgabe). Frankfurt am Main 1974.
Pugh, Stefan M. Testament to Ruthenian. A linguistic analysis of the Smotryc’kyj variant. Cambridge/Mass. 1996.