Links between Konstantinas Sirvydas’s Dictionaries and His Lexis in Punktai sakymų

Abstract

This article aims to show the extent and the type of lexis of Punktai sakymų (two books of sermons published in 1629 and 1644) included in Sirvydas’s dictionaries of 1620 and 1642. The research was carried out using dictionary indexes prepared by Kazys Pakalka, dictionary transcriptions, concordances, and a morphologically annotated index of Punktai sakymų. The study sample consisted of words beginning with the letters L and S in the dictionaries and in the collection of sermons. According to the modern criteria of novelty of lexicographical works, Sirvydas can be considered the author of two different dictionaries. Sirvydas’s dictionaries contain about one-third of the lexis of Punktai sakymų. By linking the words in the quotations in Punktai sakymų to translation sources, Sirvydas’s trilingual dictionaries can be supplemented with the lexis of the said collection of sermons. The second book of Punktai sakymų (1644) differs from the first one, which was published in 1629: it has an older layer of linguistic elements and more frequent use of loanwords.