"Dictionary of foreign words of the less known origin" by Jan Karłowicz - an expression of knowledge and Lithuanistic tastes of author

The object of the description in the article is Lithuanian lexicon occurring in the Dictionary of foreign words of the less known origin (EWS) composed by Jan Karłowicz, who was involved in the multifaceted research on the Lithuanian language and culture – he studied the Lithuanian dialect, local names, and initiated research on Lithuanian folklore. He also published materials from Lithuania (ethnographic descriptions, folklore and language descriptions of the Samogitian nobility) in the Wisla, previK. ously editing them and adding comments in the text to the Lithuanian vocabulary. His onomastic collections as well as the study About the Lithuanian Language have been rediscovered by Lithuanian linguists who devoted a separate study to them. Solid knowledge of comparative linguistics and his own experience in research the Lithuanian language and culture, work with Lithuanian printed materials, handwritten or derived from field studies in Lithuania, allowed him to use the knowledge and materials in very different ways. Next to words analyzed in the EWS, he included the words of Lithuanian origin and next – Slavic borrowings of Lithuanian dialects, thereby contributing indirectly to the study of foreign lexis in the Lithuanian dialects. A similar historic-linguistic interpretation was acceptable in those days when the methodology of etymological research was just developing and every manifestation of language was worth documenting. Karłowicz’s EWS is very important for researchers of the Baltic-Slavic border. He detected a significant part of the Lithuanian lexicon and, more broadly – regional lexicon in intensive Slavic-Lithuanian relations. The greater part of Lithuanianisms was recorded in the mid-nineteenth century, when peasants in Lithuania started massive convertions to the Polish language. At the same time, he documented Lithuanian realities, giving them detailed descriptions. He provided much to linguists researchers who intensively practiced typological and comparative linguistics of Lithuanian words in the nineteenth century, citing unknown tokens of direct contacts with Lithuanianism, not listed in the then existing collections of Lithuanian lexis (Kurschat, Nesselmann)