Description

This unique edition for the first time offers readers a complete collection of the linguistic heritage of the prominent Belarusian figure, historian, and philologist Vacłaŭ Łastoŭski. The book includes about seventy articles and notes of various lengths published between 1912 and 1927 in the periodicals and calendars of that time (such as “Naša Niva”, “Kryvič”, etc.).

The collection presents Łastoŭski’s views on the development, purification, and authenticity of the Belarusian language. The author focuses on an uncompromising struggle against Russification and Polonization, as well as the creation of a unique national terminology and the revival of forgotten layers of folk vocabulary.

The compiler of the book, sociolinguist Uładzisłaŭ Harbacki, accompanied the texts with an introductory article and comments that help the modern reader comprehend Łastoŭski’s legacy in the context of history and the present, as well as understand his contribution to the aesthetics of Belarusian speech.

The publication is addressed to linguists, ethnographers, historians, and everyone interested in the intellectual heritage of this giant of Belarusian science.