Sujet : Knygnešio Diena (Lithuania) (16 March)
De : benlizro (at) *nospam* ihug.co.nz (Ross Clark)
Groupes : sci.langDate : 17. Mar 2024, 11:00:33
Autres entêtes
Organisation : A noiseless patient Spider
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"Day of the Book Smugglers" is Crystal's English, though Google Translate gives me "Book Carrier Day".
It all goes back to a period (1863-1904) when the Russian Tsars (starting with Alexander II) attempted to stamp out all forms of Lithuanian language and culture in what was then their province of Lithuania. A creepy governor, Count Mikhail Nikolayevich Muravyov (his surname means "ants") was entrusted with carrying out this project.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Muravyov-VilenskyNaturally it was a crime to publish, sell or read books in Lithuanian. But various people managed to establish clandestine smuggling networks, obtaining Lithuanian books and periodicals from neighbouring countries and distributing them. (One estimate is that more than 5 million items found their way into the country during this time.)
March 16 is the birthday of Jurgis Bielinis, one of the leading smugglers, who became something of a folk hero.
https://www.ramuva.lt/index.php/istorijos/musu-mintys/108-kovo-16-knygneio-dienaOne site seems to indicate that "Su Knygnešio Diena!" is how you would say "Happy Book Smugglers Day!" in Lithuanian. I mention this only because it relates to a topic that came up recently on a.u.e. In place of the ubiquitous holiday-greeting "Happy..." in English, Russian just uses the preposition "S" (with) (plus the instrumental case of course). I'm guessing that "Su" is the Lithuanian cognate of this.
Here's a page announcing last year's Knygnešio Diena:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=896288054958596&set=a.502140551040017&type=3&locale=lt_LT&paipv=0&eav=AfZ3QNvcsN8tZR5oZhKVoJbv88ZWXkSfYVZcCoGaT3UltCd5dlUR2VfHy2iE5KWZ4G4&_rdrThe celebrations don't look all that colourful or exciting, but it's a nice idea, worthy of commemoration. Jim McCawley, who believed all linguists should celebrate Hangul Day along with the Koreans, might have considered this one also worth a party -- people risking death to keep their national language alive.