Acta Historica Universitatis Klaipedensis

The article discusses the origin of the place-name Preila. Preila is a settlement located in the Curonian Spit. To this day, there is no obvious and definitely proven interpretation of this name’s origin. The reason for this is a failure to detect linguistic motivation of the origin of the onym in the kursenieku language. The settlement itself was set about as late as the 19th century, while most linguists tend to look for ancient (Curonian of Prussian) origin of its name. Both phonetic and morphologic structure of the name seems to support this approach, but there was a shortage of proof that motivating lexeme with the theme Preil- could survive through to the 19th century in the language or onomastics of kursenieku language.The article employs several analysis methods, in particular: comparative, internal reconstruction, cartographic, geolinguistic. As some proof surfaced of presence of the onym in cartography prior to establishment of the settlement, the author makes assumption that it was an undocumented Curonian person’s name that gave birth to a place-name, which could initially be just a name of a steading or a micro-toponym.

The article analyses the conscious use of the principle of ethnocentrism in the perception and understanding of Lithuanian vocabulary at the level of short-term education in courses in the Lithuanian language and culture. The use of the methods of analogy and association allowed users of East Slavic languages to identify shared and different characteristics with their native language. Common features include vocabulary with phonetic consonances, among which internationalisms make up a separate group. Various signs are associated with ‘false friends’ and diphthongs.

The paper presents a morphological classification of revolutions in Western culture, and focuses on the transformation of the revolution into a political idea, the gravitation of the concept of revolution from implications of ‘returning to the essence’ towards ‘a breakthrough to the essence in the future’, the differences between national, class and social revolutions, and ultimately, concepts of revolution of everyday life and hybrid revolution. In the context of the changes in the idea of revolution, the question is raised as to how the concept of revolution, having experienced numerous differences in notional content, can be applied to armed and unarmed attempts at the transfer of power in Lithuania in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The object of the research is German epitaphs in the old cemeteries of Klaipėda Region. German inscriptions are compared to Lithuanian ones on the basis of the historical-comparative method with the aim of disclosing their textological and linguistic characteristics. The analysis of inscriptions on German tombstones showed that, compared to Lithuanian tombstones, the attributes indicating the relationship of the deceased to family members were used more frequently. The profession of the deceased was indicated more often than in Lithuanian epitaphs. Starting with the 20s of the 20th century, the constructions of extended appositions were less frequent, and the epitaphs became more concise. Laconicism of linguistic expression and of the structure of the epitaphs restrained their linguistic diversity and the potential for linguistic research. The analysis considered the brief language of the epitaphs as the facts of the living language, whereas Bible and canticle citations were not studied. A few examples of dialecticisms and archaisms were identified, e.g. an archaic form of the verb geben: es giebt. Vowel reduction, a phenomenon characteristic of the High German dialect, was identified. The present article did not discuss the principle of Germanization of Lithuanian names, surnames, or place names, as well as the distribution of German epitaphs over the localities of Klaipėda Region. New data are expected that may promote linguistic research.

The article reviews the historical causes of multilingualism in Klaipėda Region and the reflection of language combinations in the objects of confessional heritage, mainly in the epitaphs recorded in the Old Lutheran cemeteries of Klaipėda Region. The specificity of the confessional heritage in the context of Lithuania is disclosed by comparing some specific characteristics of the Old cemetery (the tradition of cross erection, the use of languages in epitaphs) to the Old cemetery artefacts in other Lithuanian regions.