Greece and Germany as Models for Habsburg Panslavs

Abstract

In the early 19th century, Habsburg Panslavs sought not Russian expansion but instead linguistic and cultural unity between Slavs speaking different “dialects.” To make their vision of literary unity despite political fragmentation more persuasive, Panslavs invoked the examples of Ancient Greece and modern Germany. Greek and German examples feature prominently in the writings of Jernej Kopitar, Josef Šafařík, Jan Kopitar, and Jan Kollár, all of whom posited a single Slavic “language.” The 1848 Revolution, however, transformed Slavic literary activism: Slavs at the Prague Panslav congress understood each other only poorly, and Habsburg authorities showed a sudden willingness to use Slavic in state administration. Some Slav patriots, including Josef Podstránský, Václav Krolmus and Peter Hitzinger, focused on particularist literary work, others, such as Ľudovít Štúr and Imbro Tkalac, took an interest in the Russian literary standard. The Greek and German examples remained popular, but were invoked with different purpose.

Notes

1 Tara Zahra, “Imagined Noncommunities: National Indifference as a Category of Analysis,” Slavic Review 69, no. 1 (2010): 93–119; Maarten Van Ginderachter and Jon Fox, eds., National Indifference and the History of Nationalism in Modern Europe (London: Routledge, 2019).

2 Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (London: Verso, 1991), 140.

3 Ibid., 81.

4 Benjamin Neuberger, “The Western Nation-State in African Perceptions of Nation-Building,” Nationalism: Critical Concepts in Political Science 3 (2000): 946–63, 949. Originally published in Asian and African Studies 11 (1976): 241–61.

5 Michael Billig, Banal Nationalism (London: Sage, 1995), 85.

6 For example, Alexander Maxwell, “Literary Dialects in China and Slovakia: Imagining Unitary Nationality with Multiple Orthographies,” International Journal of the Sociology of Language 164 (2003): 129–49.

7 Charles Ferguson, “Language Development,” in Language Problems of Developing Nations, edited by Joshua Fishman, Charles Ferguson, Jyotirindra Das Gupta (New York: John Wiley, 1968), 28–33; R. Anthony Lodge, French: From Dialect to Standard (London: Routledge, 1993); Miroslav Hroch, “The Social Interpretation of Linguistic Demands in European National Movements,” in Comparative Studies in Modern European History: Nation, Nationalism and Social Change, edited by Miroslav Hroch (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007), 67–96; Miroslav Hroch, “The Social Interpretation of Linguistic Demands in European National Movements,” in Comparative Studies in Modern European History: Nation, Nationalism and Social Change, edited by Miroslav Hroch (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007), 67–96; Jaap von Marle, “Dialect versus Standard Language: Nature versus Culture,” in Taming the Vernacular: From Dialect to Written Standard Language, edited by Jenny Cheshire and Dieter Stein (London: Routledge, 13–34).

8 Einar Haugen, “Dialect, Language, Nation,” American Anthropologist 68, no. 4 (1966): 922–35, 933.

9 Alexander Maxwell, “Effacing Panslavism: Linguistic Classification and Historiographic Misrepresentation,” Nationalities Papers 46, no. 4 (2018): 633–53.

10 Jernej [Bartholomäus] Kopitar, Grammatik der slavischen Sprache in Krain, Kärnten und Steyermark (Ljubljana: Wilhem Heinrich Korn, 1808), xxv–xxvi.

11 Ibid., xxvi.

12 Ibid., xxi.

13 Vatroslav Jagić, ed., “Letter no. 13 (Kopitar to Dobrovský) 20 April 1810,” Pisma Dobrovskago i Kopitara (St. Petersburg: Imperial Academy of Sciences, 1895), 133–44, 136–37.

14 Jernej [Bartholomäus]. Kopitar, “XXXV: Deutsche Sprache,” (a Review of Stadler’s Versuch Eines Schweizerischen Idiotikons), Wiener Allgemeine Literaturzeitung 2, no. 39 (1814): 617–24, 617.

15 Jernej Kopitar, “Slavische Literatur,” Annalen Der Literatur Und Kunst Des in- Und Auslandes 1-2, (1810): 424–40, 237–56, 2:244.

16 For example, Jernej Kopitar, “Neugriechische Literatur,” Wiener Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung 1, no. 23–24 (1813): 379–84, 360–68; Jernej Kopitar, “Neugriechische Literatur,” Wiener Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung 1, no. 77 (1813): 1232; Jernej Kopitar, ““VII” [Book Reviews of Serbian and Greek Songbooks],” Jahrbücher Der Literatur 30, (1825): 159–277.

17 Jernej [Bartholomäus] Kopitar, Hesychii glossographi (Vienna: Gerold, 1839).

18 Jernej Kopitar, “Anthim Gazi’s Griechischer Merkur,” Vaterländischer Blätter 27 (1811): 160–2, 160–1.

19 Jernej Kopitar, “Ein Beytrag Zur Menschen- Völker, Und Länderkunde,” Archiv Für Geographie, Historie, Staats- Und Kriegskunst 2 (1811): 267–72, 271.

20 Pavel Jozef Šafařík, Geschichte der slawischen Sprache und Literatur nach allen Mundarten (Buda: Royal University, 1826), 36.

21 Šafařík, Geschichte der slawischen Sprache, 201.

22 Ibid., 479, 483, 485.

23 Ibid., 483.

24 Ibid., 64.

25 Ibid., 65–6.

26 Ibid., 66.

27 Ibid., 6, 9, 40, 44, 49, 56, 71, 134, 140, 198

28 Ibid., iv.

29 Aloys Ugarte, “Wir Franz der Erste…” (Vorwort). Allgemeines Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch für die gesammten deutschen Erbländer der Oesterreichischen Monarchie, vol. 1, pp. i-ix (Vienna: k.k. Hof und Staatsdruckerey, 1811), 1:ix.

30 Šafařík, Geschichte der slawischen Sprache, 64.

31 Ján Herkel, Elementa universalis linguae Slavicae e vivis dialectis (Budapest: University Press, 1826), 4.

32 Ibid., 11.

33 Ibid., 29–51; see also Ľudmila Buzássyová, Ján Herkeľ a jeho dielo (Bratislava: Comenius, 2009), 56–81, 205-7.

34 Kopitar, Grammatik der slavischen Sprache, xix–xx.

35 Jernej (“K”). Kopitar, “Patriotische Phantasien eines Slaven,” Vaterländische Blätter Für Den Österreichischen Kaiserstaat 3, no. 9 (1810): 87–93, 87–88.

36 Šafařík, Geschichte der slawischen Sprache, 33.

37 Pavel Josef Šafařík, Serbische Lesekörner (Pest: Hartleben, 1833), 3.

38 Pavel Josef Šafařík, Slowanský Národopis (Prague: Wydawatele, 1842), 6.

39 Herkel, Elementa universalis linguae, 16.

40 Jan Kollár, Sláwy Dcera: we třech zpěwjch (Buda: Royal University Library, 1824); Jan Kollár, Sláwy Dcera: lyricko-epická báseň w pěti zpěwjch (Prague: Trattner and Károly, 1832).

41 Jan Kollár, Rozprawy o gmenách, počátkách i starožitnostech národu slawského a geho kmenů (Buda: University Press, 1830), 346.

42 Ibid.

43 Jan Kollár, “O Literarnég Wzágemnosti,” Hronka: Podtatranská Zábavnice 1, no. 2 (1836): 39–53.

44 Jan Kollár, Über die literarische Wechselseitigkeit zwischen den verschiedenen Stämmen und Mundarten der slawischen Nation (Pest: Trattner-Károly, 1837).

45 Jan Kollár, Reciprocity between the Various Tribes and Dialects of the Slavic Nation, translated by Alexander Maxwell (Bloomington: Slavica, 2009).

46 Kollár, “O Literarnég Wzágemnosti,” 40.

47 Kollár, Über die literarische Wechselseitigkeit, 6; Kollár, Reciprocity between the Various Tribes and Dialects, 74.

48 Kollár, “O Literarnég Wzágemnosti,” 41; Kollár, Über die literarische Wechselseitigkeit, 10; Kollár, Reciprocity between the Various Tribes and Dialects, 76.

49 Kollár, “O Literarnég Wzágemnosti,” 40; Kollár, Über die literarische Wechselseitigkeit, 8; Kollár, Reciprocity between the Various Tribes and Dialects, 75.

50 See, for example, Pulszky Ferenc [Ferencz], “A’ Slávok literariai viszonsságáról,” Pesti Hirlap 183 (1842): 702–3.

51 Kollár, Über die literarische Wechselseitigkeit, 9–10; Kollár, Reciprocity between the Various Tribes and Dialects, 76.

52 Kollár, “O Literarnég Wzágemnosti,” 41; Kollár, Über die literarische Wechselseitigkeit, 11; Kollár, Reciprocity between the Various Tribes and Dialects.

53 Kollár, Über die literarische Wechselseitigkeit, 11; Kollár, Reciprocity between the Various Tribes and Dialects, 76.

54 Kollár, Über die literarische Wechselseitigkeit, 14; Kollár, Reciprocity between the Various Tribes and Dialects, 78.

55 Kollár, “O Literarnég Wzágemnosti,” 44; cf. Kollár, Über die literarische Wechselseitigkeit, 15; Kollár, Reciprocity between the Various Tribes and Dialects, 79.

56 Kollár, Über die literarische Wechselseitigkeit, 17; Kollár, Reciprocity between the Various Tribes and Dialects, 80.

57 Kollár, “O Literarnég Wzágemnosti,” 43; Kollár, Über die literarische Wechselseitigkeit, 16–7; Kollár, Reciprocity between the Various Tribes and Dialects, 79–80.

58 Ibid.

59 Kollár, “O Literarnég Wzágemnosti,” 43; Kollár, Über die literarische Wechselseitigkeit, 18; Kollár, Reciprocity between the Various Tribes and Dialects, 80.

60 Kollár, “O Literarnég Wzágemnosti,” 49–51; Kollár, Über die literarische Wechselseitigkeit, 120–7; Kollár, Reciprocity between the Various Tribes and Dialects, 131–4.

61 Kollár, “O Literarnég Wzágemnosti,” 50; Kollár, Über die literarische Wechselseitigkeit, 123; Kollár, Reciprocity between the Various Tribes and Dialects, 132.

62 Boro Petrovich, The Emergence of Russian Panslavism (Westport: Greenwood, 1985), 107–8; Magdalena Dąbrowska, “Piotra Dubrowskiego związki z polską (z zawartości io zawartości wybranych czasopism polskich oraz rosyjskich połowy xix wieku).” Acta neophilologica 1 no. 20 (2018): 155–167.

63 For example, Karl Jaromír Erben, “народныя чешскія пѣсни/Pieśni Ludu w Czechach,” Денница/Jutrzenka 1, no. 3 (1842): 36.

64 Kollár, Über die literarische Wechselseitigkeit, 127–8; Kollár, Reciprocity between the Various Tribes and Dialects, 134.

65 Kollár, Über die literarische Wechselseitigkeit, 89; Kollár, Reciprocity between the Various Tribes and Dialects, 115–6.

66 Kollár, Über die literarische Wechselseitigkeit, 128; Kollár, Reciprocity between the Various Tribes and Dialects, 134.

67 Kollár, Über die literarische Wechselseitigkeit, 18; Kollár, Reciprocity between the Various Tribes and Dialects, 80.

68 Kollár, Über die literarische Wechselseitigkeit, 21; Kollár, Reciprocity between the Various Tribes and Dialects, 82.

69 Kollár, Über die literarische Wechselseitigkeit, 95–6; Kollár, Reciprocity between the Various Tribes and Dialects, 119.

70 Kollár, Über die literarische Wechselseitigkeit, 95–6; Kollár, Reciprocity between the Various Tribes and Dialects, 119.

71 Vuk Karadžić, Kleine serbische Grammatik (Leipzig: Reimer, 1824).

72 Václav Hanka, Mluwnice českého gazyka podlé Dobrowského (Prague: Pospišíl, 1831), xiv, xvi.

73 Ibid., v, xviii, xxv, 5.

74 Václav Hanka, Mluwnice polského gazyka podlé Dobrowského (Prague: Háze, 1839); Mateusz Sartyni, Wortforschungslehre der polnischen Sprache (Lviv: Piller, 1842).

75 Ljudevit Gaj, Kratka osnova Horvatsko-slavenskoga pravopisaňa/Kurzer Entwurf einer kroatisch-slavischen Orthographie (Buda: University Library, 1830), 22/23. References give both Slavic/German page numbers.

76 Ľudovít Šuhajda, Der Magyarismus in Ungarn (Leipzig: Drobisch, 1834), 57.

77 Michael Flack, The Slav-Congresses and Pan-Slavism, 1848-1914 (Medford: Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, 1953); Hans Kohn, “The Impact of Pan-Slavism on Central Europe,” The Review of Politics 23, no. 3 (1961): 323–33.

78 Stanley Pech, The Czech Revolution of 1848 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1969).

79 Friedrich Engels, “Der demokratische Panslavismus,” Neue Rheinische Zeitung, 222 (15 February 1849): 222–2.

80 Lawrence Orton, “Did the Slavs Speak German at Their First Congress?,” Slavic Review 33, no. 3 (1974): 515–21, 517.

81 “Der Slawencongreß,” Südslavische Zeitung, 1, no. 19 (1849): 73.

82 Orton, “Did the Slavs Speak German,” 516–8.

83 Reichs-Gesetz- und Reigierungsblatt [RGRB], Einleitung (Vienna: k.k. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, 1850), i–viii, ii, iii.

84 For example, Adolf Ficker, Die Völkerstämme der österreichisch-ungarischen Monarchie, ihre Gebiete, Gränzen und Inseln (Vienna: Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, 1869), 32; Ervín Špindler, “29. Sitzung der XI. Session am 24. Juni 1891,” Stenographische Protokolle über die Sitzungen des Hauses der Abgeordneten des österreichischen Reichsrates, XI. Session, vol. 2, pp. 1164-76 (Vienna: Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, 1891).

85 RGRB, Einleitung, iv.

86 Národní nowiny. 2 no. 259 (259):1012; Südslavische Zeitung, 1, no. 194 (1849): 561.

87 Ivan Kukuljević et al., “Književni Dogovor,” Narodne Novine 16, no. 76 (1850): 215.

88 See Vladimir Osolnik, “O Južnoslavenskim Književnostima i Njihovim Jezičnim Osnovama te o Bečkom Književnom Dogovoru,” Časopis za Filologiju 10, no. 2 (2004): 75–83; Keith Langston and Anita Peti-Stantić, Language Planning and National Identity in Croatia (New York: Palgrave, 2014), 75–112.

89 Josef Boleslav Podstránský, Kapesní slovník polsko-český i česko-polský (Prague: Hess, 1852), iii–iv.

90 Karel Sklenář, Václav Krolmus: život a dílo archeologa – romantika (Roudnice nad Labem: Podřipské museum, 2012).

91 Václav Krolmus, “O všeslovanské písemní řeči, spolu návrh ksjednocení řeči česko-polské pod jmenem: západo-slovanské,” appendix to: Josef Boleslav Podstránský, Kapesní slovník polsko-český i česko-polský, four unnumbered pages, 1.

92 Ibid., 3.

93 Ibid., 4.

94 Ibid.

95 Josef Boleslav Podstránský, Kapesní slovník polsko-český i česko-polský, iv.

96 Krolmus, “O všeslovanské písemní řeči,” 1–2.

97 Peter (as Podlipski) Hitzinger, “Píšmo, Kakor Smo Pisali!,” Novice Kmetijskih, Rokodelnyh in Narodskih Rečí 7, no. 20 (1849): 82–3, 83.

98 Ibid., 83.

99 Vladimír Matula, “Ľudovít Štúr und Rußland,” Jahrbücher Für Geschichte Osteuropas 15, no. 1 (1967): 34.

100 Ľudovít Štúr, Das Slawenthum und die Welt der Zukunft (Bratislava: Šafaříková společnost, 1931), 234.

101 Ibid., 235.

102 Ibid.

103 Imbro Tkalac, Jugenderinnerungen aus Kroatien (Leipzig: Otto Wigand, 1894), 235.

104 Ibid., 249.

105 Imbro Tkalac, Südslavische Zeitung 2, no. 71 (20 March 1850): 171.

106 Ibid., 171.

107 Mirjana Gross, Počeci moderne Hrvatske: neoapsolutizam u civilnoj Hrvatskoj i Slavoniji 1850-1860 (Zagreb: Globus, 1985), 380.

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Alexander Maxwell

Alexander Maxwell is associate professor of history at Victoria University of Wellington. He is the author of Choosing Slovakia, Patriots Against Fashion, and Everyday Nationalism in Hungary. He has also published widely on nationalism theory. He is currently working on pan-Slavism and the language-dialect dichotomy.