Ljudevit Gaj
Ljudevit Gaj (born July 8, 1809 in Krapina ; † April 20, 1872 in Zagreb ) was a Croatian Slavist , philologist , poet , journalist , writer , founder of the new Croatian literary language and as a politician the main representative of Illyrism .
Creation of a Croatian spelling
Gaj received his education at various Hungarian, Austrian and German universities. In Pest , inspired by Ján Kollár , he came up with the idea of awakening the Latin-speaking southern Slavs to a new spiritual life through a common written language . For this purpose he published the font Kratka osnova hrvatsko-slavenskoga pravopisanja (Brief Explanation of a Croatian-Slavonic Spelling, Ofen 1830). In Zagreb , where he continued his studies, he quickly gathered a circle of like-minded people.
His song Još Hrvatska ni propala (Croatia is not yet lost), composed in 1833, contributed a lot to stimulating the national feeling among Croatians . The activities of Gaj and his followers were directed against Magyarism .
Founding a magazine
Gaj became a doctor of law in Leipzig . He returned to his homeland when the national upswing broke out in the southern Slavs after 1830. There he founded a magazine in the Slavic language in 1835.
When the Hungarian government refused to publish it, he received permission to do so from Emperor Franz II. The language of the newspaper was the most highly developed Croatian-Dalmatian dialect. The provincial spelling gave way to the common spelling , which was simplified by means of diacritical marks according to the analogy of the Bohemian-Polish ones , and in place of the old clumsy Latin characters were chosen, which made general understanding easier.
The magazine was initially called Nowine horvazke (Croatian newspaper), and the entertaining supplement was Danica horvazka (Croatian morning star). As early as the next year, the title was changed to Ilirske narodne novine (Illyrian People's Newspaper) and Danica ilirska (Illyrian Morning Star). Since 1838 the paper has appeared twice a week in large succession. Through these sheets Gaj achieved the acceptance of his new spelling by almost all Roman Catholic southern Slavs (predominantly Croatians and Slovenes ) and a literary unit of the same.
The new written language
In order to be able to disseminate the newly introduced written language used in his works, Gaj obtained permission from the government to run a printing company in 1839, from which a number of writings have emerged since that time, some of which aimed at the scientific justification of the new written language, partly gave the spiritual upswing of the southern Slavs the opportunity to publish their results in their homeland.
Of course, the influence was powerful. As early as 1842, the Illyrian Agricultural Society was established , which in the year in question founded an organ in the Illyrian language based on the model of Matice česká : Matica ilirska ( Matica hrvatska from 1874 ), which set itself the task of educating the writers of the Dubrovnik (Ragusaner) school of the 15th to 18th century and began to publish works by Ivan Gundulić from the 16th century.
Later a national women's association was formed, which took on the editing and distribution of instructive and moral folk writings. At the head of this was Ljudevit's wife Pauline Gaj . This literary rebirth gradually developed in such a way that as early as 1844 the Illyrian national newspaper had to return to its former name "Croatian-Slavonian" by order of the government . The intellectual and literary impulses that had begun could not be reversed, and the hatred of the Magyars on the part of the southern Slavs increased.
Gaj's influence
Elected several times to the Hungarian Diet , Ljudevit Gaj sought in vain an understanding with the Magyars ; neither did he succeed in reaching an agreement with the Greek Orthodox southern Slavs.
In 1848 Gaj came to Vienna with a Croatian deputation and was appointed "Imperial Councilor" . There he obtained the right to elect a Ban of Croatia and, on his return to Zagreb, called a popular assembly that raised Joseph Jelačić of Bužim to Ban. After the reactionary March events, he was suspected of having performed the same service.
The current property of the Mirogoj Cemetery in Zagreb used to belong to Ljudevit Gaj. Due to the high costs of maintaining the huge area, the Mirogoj property was sold at a public auction in the city of Zagreb . As a result, plans to merge numerous smaller cemeteries of the county into one central cemetery were concretized.
In his last years he lived far away from all public relations in Zagreb and occupied himself with the collecting of Illyrian works, in which he has already achieved a very respectable and valuable result for the Slavic linguist and historian. As a writer, Gaj's activity is limited to just a few newspaper articles. Gaj died on April 20, 1872 in Zagreb. He was buried in the Mirogoj cemetery in Zagreb .
- Gajica
The Croatian alphabet ( Croatian Abeceda ) was not standardized until the end of the 19th century. However, since this was based on Gaj's system from 1835, the spelling used is called Gajica . The Gajica was also instrumental in the development of modern Slovenian orthography .
Contemporary sources
- Lyudevit Gaj and Illyrism . In: Yearbooks of Slavic Literature . 1843, p. 15.
- Ludwig Gaj . In: Hamburg literary and critical papers . No. 149, 1845, p. 1174.
- Rittersberg: Kapesní slovniček (pocket dictionary). I. Vol. Prague 1850, p. 470.
- Latest additions to Pierer's Universal Lexicon . Altenburg 1855, p. 334. [Reported: “He continued his agitation against the Magyars and brought about the attendance of the Slavic Congress in Prague by South Slavic deputies. Since he later tried to work in Serbia for his plan, he was arrested in Agram at the end of 1853 and brought to Vienna. "]
- Bibl. Statist. Overview of liters. of the east Imperial State . III. Ber., Marg. 35315, p. 1076.
- Brockhaus: Konversations-Lexikon . 10th edition VI. Vol. P. 467.
- Meyer: The great conversation lexicon . III. Vol. Suppl. Bibl. Inst., Hildburghausen 1845, p. 876.
- Nouvelle Biographie générale… publiée sous la diretion de Mr. Le Dr. Hoefer . XIX. Vol. Paris 185? Sp. 199.
- Constantin von Wurzbach : Gaj, Ljudevit . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 5th part. Typogr.-literar.-artist publishing house. Establishment (L. C. Zamarski & C. Dittmarsch.), Vienna 1859, p. 58 ( digitized version ).
literature
- Holm Sundhaussen: Gaj, Ljudevit . In: Biographical Lexicon on the History of Southeast Europe . Volume 2. Munich 1976, pp. 2-5
- Gaj Ljudevit. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 1, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1957, p. 393.
Web links
Individual evidence
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| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gaj, Ljudevit |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Slavist and founder of the new Croatian writing system |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 8, 1809 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Krapina |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 20, 1872 |
| Place of death | Zagreb |