The great thought of Catherine II

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Who knows that Empress Catherine II devoted her royal time to science and literature, reading the works of great thinkers and people of the state. One evening in 1784, she came up with a great idea, which is very important for explaining the prehistoric fate of mankind, laying a solid foundation for a new science and refuting the faithfulness of the earliest biblical traditions.

It must not be allowed that the empress's thought was nothing more than a product of an idle Hermitage fantasy, like literary amusement, a plaything of an inquiring mind. Not! the idea, the realization of which the empress devoted nine months of assiduous labor, was not a passing fantasy. The scholarly contemporaries of Empress Catherine did not understand the high value of her ingenious design. The Empress, as a woman of genius and standing above many of the famous scientists of her day, felt and realized that the thought that had sunk into her head was of extraordinary importance, but she could not even then decide what shapes and sizes to give to the building that she wanted to build.

But neither the science of that time, nor the scientists, representatives of the Russian Academy, could help her and contribute to the development and understanding of what to make of such a happy concept, or find. There is no doubt that the striking similarity in the names of one object in different languages attracted Catherine's attention, but what of this? This similarity attracted the attention of many, but nothing came of it.

The idea of the need to study the languages of the entire globe, from a practical point of view, appeared, let's say, a long time ago and the first application to it was made by Catholic missionaries who spread the word of God in all parts of the world, then the Institute "De propaganda fide", that is, the institute of missionaries in Rome, organized the study of all kinds of languages for a religious purpose.

But the idea to compare all languages and draw conclusions that would serve as the foundation for the science of comparative linguistics, came for the first time only to Empress Catherine and belongs exclusively to her alone …

This idea was worthy of the Russian empress, whose kingdom included a special world of peoples and languages. And where, indeed, most perceptibly, there could be a benefit from such a publication, if not in Russia, where a hundred languages and dialects are spoken.

What difficulties the empress encountered in starting to realize her thought, and in what way she achieved her goal, we see this from her letter to Zimmermann, written to him in French, on May 9, 1785. Here is the letter in Russian translation:

“Your letter brought me out of that seclusion in which I had been immersed for about nine months and from which I could hardly free myself. You won't guess at all what I was doing; for the rarity of the fact, I will tell you it. I made a list of 200 to 300 Russian root words, which I ordered to be translated into as many languages and dialects as I could find them: there are already more than 200 of them. Every day I wrote one of these words in all the languages I collected. This showed me that the Celtic language is like the language of the Ostyaks, which in one language is called the sky, in others it means a cloud, fog, the vault of heaven. The word God means in some dialects (dialects) the highest or good, in others the sun or fire. Finally, when I read the book "On Solitude", this horse of mine, my toy (dieses Steckpenpferdchens) bored me. However, regretting to throw such a lot of paper into the fire, moreover, since the hall of nine fathoms in length, which served as my office, in my Hermitage, was quite warm, so I invited Professor Pallas and, sincerely confessing to him of my sin, I agreed with him print my translations, which, perhaps, will be useful for those who would like to take advantage of the boredom of their neighbor. Only a few dialects of Eastern Siberia are lacking to supplement this work”.

The letter ends like this: - "Let's see who wants to continue and enrich, it will depend on the appropriate sanity of those who take care of this, and will not look at me at all."

This letter clearly shows that Empress Catherine came to her great idea on her own, but the execution of her plan was spoiled either by not knowing the subject of the performers, or by outside forces in order to prevent the development of this subject in Russia.

But in the genius mind of the Empress the thought appeared that it would be interesting to trace how far and wide the similarity of the names of the same object in different languages goes. If it goes far, then it will serve as an indisputable proof of the unity of the human race, and all people are children of one father and one mother, no matter how these progenitors are called among different nations. But it is easy to think of such a thought, but for the first time to fulfill it, what is it!

But well, we must try and make sure: is the similarity really so frequent and obvious as it seems at first glance, and the empress began to try. Of course, at first, dictionaries of European languages that could be available to her were used. She eagerly set to work and was so carried away by it that, in spite of her state concerns, she devoted nine whole months to collecting the names of the same subject, in different languages.

Having devoted so much time to the fun, which attracted her more and more, the empress saw that she could only suggest such an undertaking, but that it was beyond the power of one person, and decided: his spiritual and physical nature. It turned out that here, too, one had to limit oneself in order to set oneself a feasible task. After a long debate and advice, only 286 words were chosen, the meaning of which had to be given in all the languages of the world then known. It turned out that at that time only 200 languages were known, that is, those that words could be obtained.

After lengthy preparations, the empress turned to academician Pallas, entrusting him with publishing all the collected materials. Pallas then informed European scientists about the imminent appearance of an extraordinary work, through an announcement published by him on May 22, 1786, to which many foreign scientists responded, who expressed their complete sympathy in writing for this great enterprise of Empress Catherine.

The following year, 1786, a small essay was published in St. Petersburg, which was supposed to serve as a guide to the comparison of languages "Model e du vocabnlaire, qui doit servir & la comparaison de toutes les langues" (Sketch of a dictionary that should serve to compare all languages) … It was sent throughout the state, delivered to our envoys at foreign courts and by many foreign scholars to translate the words contained in it into different languages.

The governors were also ordered to collect information about the languages of the peoples in the provinces they governed, which they did. Russian envoys who were at foreign courts, in turn, contributed to this great enterprise, collecting information about the languages and dialects of the state where they were. In addition, this synopsis was sent from Madrid, London and Gaga to China, Brazil and the United States. In these latter, the great Washington invited the governors of the United States to gather the required news. Famous scientists of all countries took an active part in this matter and delivered rich additions to the "Dictionary".

This is what a good thought can do when it gets into a brilliant head. Hundreds of employees showed up, spared no expense and spent a lot. The material accumulated day after day. Finally, it's time to start editing and editing it. It was decided after the Russian word to print under it its meaning in 200 languages (51 European and 149 Asian). 285 Russian words were distributed alphabetically.

When the great idea fell into the hands of academicians, who undertook to carry out their work as accurately as possible, the empress was no longer up to the similarity of names. It was occupied by other more important subjects - state needs.

Poor Pallas groaned and pored over a selection of words and pored for four whole years, until, finally, his work was completed and published under the title: “Comparative dictionaries of all languages and dialects, collected by the right hand of the Most High person (Empress Catherine II); published by P. S. Pallas. 2 parts. SPb. 1787-1789 . (The price was set at 40 rubles in banknotes). This was the first phase of the implementation of the great idea of the great empress!

This work made an era in linguistics - this is indisputable. But what did such a book, such a gigantic work in Russia serve, what and who could benefit? This book was of no use to anyone, to no one, it did not benefit anyone, no one needed it!

The printing of the dictionary took two years; it was printed in a significant number of copies and the printing cost a lot. The price was set unheard of - as much as 40 rubles. ac.! The great idea has failed. Our academy was not at the height of its calling and powdered academic wigs were extremely low in comparison with the brilliant empress.

Of course, the entire edition of the Dictionary remained in the hands of the academy. Europe knew about it only from a few reviews, but could not use it, and the matter ended with the fact that the entire edition of the Comparative Dictionary and its reprint according to a different system and with additions by F. Yankevich de Mirevo (in four volumes, also at the cost of 40 r.ac.) was sold for poods, for waste paper. It means that our academic Germans gave up and did the Empress a disservice.

And only a whole quarter of a century later, in 1815, in St. Petersburg was published in German (!?) F. P. Adelung's work under the title: "Catharinene der Grossen. Verdiaste am die vergleichende Sprachkunde" in which we find the complete history of the "Comparative Dictionary" and where the author says that the great spirit of this empress is in all its splendor in this creation of her, which should be considered a new monument for her.

But great thoughts don't die! They cannot be spoiled and filled with a scientific load, so that they do not emerge into the light of God. So it was with the ingenious thought of Empress Catherine.

In the same 1802, the young man Klaproth undertook, already in Weimar, "Asiatischer Magazin" - a periodical filled with very interesting articles and precious materials about Asia, and discovers before the scientist Germany the amazing successes he made without outside help in the field of science, for which before they did not pay attention. At this time, through Weimar passed

The Polish magnate and philanthropist, Count I. Potocki, in Weimar was carried away by the general rumors of the local intelligentsia about the young gifted Klaproth (sinologist) and his publication, the count invited him to his place and, having met him, considered it his duty to draw the attention of the Russian government to him, - then planning to send an embassy to China, at which it was necessary to have a person familiar with the Chinese language, at least theoretically. Count Potocki persuaded Klaproth to give up his publication and promised him mountains of gold in Russia …

Upon his arrival in St. Petersburg, Count Pototsky informed the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prince Czartoryski, about his extraordinary find in Weimar, referring to Klaproth. In 1804, Klaproth arrived in St. Petersburg and soon entered the Academy of Sciences as an adjunct in the department of oriental languages and literature.

The following year, he was assigned as an interpreter at the embassy sent under the command of Count Golovkin to China. He drove through Siberia, stopping on the road between the Bashkirs, Samoyeds, Ostyaks, Yakuts, Tungus, Kirghiz and other foreigners who roamed the endless deserts of northern Asia, and studied their customs, writing down words of various dialects, news about the faith of foreigners, collecting information about their gradual migrations, and thus prepared rich material for his important works, which he undertook later. The embassy arrived in Kyakhta on October 17, 1806 and crossed the Chinese border on January 1, 1806, but the empty question of the Chinese ceremony prevented it from achieving its goal, and forced our embassy to treat the Chinese demands with contempt and turn back.

If the embassy of Count Golovkin was not crowned with political success, then it was beneficial for scientific purposes and research, thanks to the diligence and activities of the scientific commission held at the embassy, subordinate to Count Pototsky, and in particular Klaprot, who not only closely and thoroughly familiarized himself with languages of northern Asia, but managed to collect a precious collection of books: Chinese, Manchu, Tibetan and Mongolian. As a reward for this, the Academy of Sciences, upon Klaproth's return in 1807, honored him with the title of Academician Extraordinary, and the Emperor Alexander granted him a permanent pension.

Barely resting after his exhausting journey, Klaproth began to consider all the memoirs published by the academy to the last, looking for everything that went to his chosen circle of knowledge; but this was not the end of the matter - he began to consider the lists of cases and, by the way, came across the works of Messerschmidt, who lived under Peter the Great for ten whole years in Siberia, before the opening of our academy, and was engaged there, with extraordinary conscientiousness, in the study of foreigners, among whom he lived, in all respects, and therefore linguistically.

Klaproth found whole treasures in the academic archive - these were vocabularies of different languages and dialects of northern Asia, which our academy did not care about.

The Academy felt what kind of goose had got into its environment, and began to think about how to get rid of it. Despite the fact that Klaproth spent as much as 20 months fiddling with our Siberian foreigners, that he traveled about 1,800 miles, that is, up to 13,000 versts, he was sent to the Caucasus (to Georgia), where he stayed about years, busy with the most difficult research, and soon returned to St. Petersburg with new rights to favor him with the Russian government. Unfortunately, while in the Caucasus, he was carried away by a passion forgivable in his years, and took away the Circassian woman, which caused a terrible hubbub in the whole village, the Circassian woman was taken away, and Klaprot hastened to leave for Petersburg. This insignificant circumstance presented the academicians with an opportunity to get rid of the restless linguist forever: the academy did not want to have such an indecent scientist in its midst, and the Germans collectively gave him a leg. In 1812, all this was brought to the highest attention with the necessary comments, and Klaproth was deprived of the rank, the title of academician and nobility and had to retire from the borders of Russia.

Although they say that the lying person is not beaten, but in the learned game the lying person is tortured. This rule has survived to the present … Academicians condemned Klaproth according to draconian laws, setting out in the "Memoirs" of the academy his entire history with various additions. In a word, they dishonored him to the entire scientific world.

Familiar with the works of Klaproth, the Prussian state dignitary and later famous philologist, Wilhelm Humboldt, took an active part in Klaproth, which he fully deserved, and asked him, in 1816, from his king, Friedrich Wilhelm, the title of professor of Asian languages and literature, with an annual a salary of 6,000 thalers, and permission to stay forever in Paris. If it weren't for the story of the Circassian woman, Klaproth would never have seen such a salary and the opportunity to live independently in Paris and do what you want … that is, study your favorite subject, having at hand the famous Parisian Royal Library, which contains invaluable treasures for a linguist …

No longer worrying about his future, Klaproth indulged in his favorite pursuits with renewed fervor and published a mass of works on linguistics, partly as an author, partly as a translator and publisher. We do not need to list his works, nor to acquaint the reader with them and move away from the main goal of our article - we can only say that his stay in Russia, from 1804 to 1812, served a great service to the cause, which Empress Catherine laid the foundation for.

Klaproth was the first to understand the significance of the empress's idea, and a plan was drawn up in his head how to move this great thing forward; he realized at the same time that the fulfillment of the empress's thought by Pallas was unsatisfactory. Our then academy did not understand, did not guess what the work entrusted to Pallas was supposed to lead to, what should have been done from this work. Klaproth stood with his whole head above our then-academicians. He had already come to the conclusion that one can draw from the work of Pallas, but seeing that everything done by the latter is very insufficient, he started talking about the need to appoint an expedition to study Siberian foreigners, in which he, under the command of Count I. Pototsky, would play the main role …

Returning with a failed embassy to St. Petersburg and revising all the periodicals of the academy and its archives, collecting everything that was suitable for his work, Klaproth could not help but notice a large gap in Pallas's comparative dictionaries regarding the Caucasian peoples, and this is the main reason why he did this rushed to the Caucasus, where, by the way, and ran into a Circassian woman, for which he paid too dearly …

Despite the fact that Klaproth stayed in the Caucasus for about a year, during this time he collected a rich harvest that could only be collected at that time, because many places in Dagestan were inaccessible to him. His dictionary (comparative) of Caucasian dialects was compiled quite conscientiously, fully satisfied his intended purpose and could benefit our officials who served in the Caucasus, if only they had the desire to know at least some language of the people among whom they moved and were in intercourse …

But of all his works, the most important is the work of his "Asia Poliglota" (multilingual Asia) - this is the first stone laid by Klaproth in the foundation of comparative philology, this is the first conclusion drawn from the work of Pallas, slavishly performed according to the thought of the great empress, but what had to be done, in fact, our academy.

In Klaproth, the thought of Catherine II found a genius follower, and "Asia Polyglot" until then does not lose its significance, until, finally, there are classical works on the comparative philology of northern and Central Asian languages and dialects, and we have more than just they do not think, but, on the contrary, hinder those who ought to cooperate.

But back to Asia Poliglota. This work fully acquaints us with the languages of North and Central Asia, the Caucasus and partly South Asia, with the exception, however, of the Indian languages and their dialects. This book is precious for every library, for every scholar who studies, at least in part, the languages spoken mainly by Russian foreigners in northern Asia and the Caucasus. The comparative atlas of oriental languages, attached to this work, written by the author in German, although published in Paris, with the intention of making his book available primarily to German scientists, including our academicians, is also extremely important.

But this purely scholarly work, which appeared only in 1823, to which Klaproth devoted about twenty years, and about which French scientists put it: "Ouvrage capital, il classe les peuples de l'Asie d'apres leurs idiomes" (The main work that classifies peoples of Asia according to their idioms), - was forbidden to be brought to Russia!

How do you like it? Do not give a run to the book in Russia, which serves as the only key to the study of our multinational people and their languages!..

The question naturally arises for what reason this book could have been banned?