Slavistica Vilnensis ISSN 2351-6895 eISSN 2424-6115
2021, vol. 66(1), pp. 42–55 DOI: https://doi.org/10.15388/SlavViln.2021.66(1).59

“Die deutsche Grammatica … von Charmyntes” (Berlin, 1713): Creation, Author and Readers

Natalia V. Kareva
Institute for Linguistic Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences,
E-mail: natasha.titova@gmail.com
OCRID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6861-6512

Evgeny G. Pivovarov
St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute for the History of Natural Sciences and Technology, Russia
E-mail: pivovaro@mail.ru
ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8701-9684

Summary. The first printed German language grammar, created for Russians, “Die deutsche Grammatica <…> von Charmyntes” was published in Berlin, in 1713. The authors investigate its extant copies, paying particular attention to the variants, held in the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian National Library. They verify the assumption, stated by K. Koch (2002), that J. L. Frisch was the compiler of the manual, and discuss, why he might hide under the odd alias “Charmyntes”. The scholar’s biography and scientific legacy are succinctly outlined. Frisch’s role in the establishment of the first Russian-German coterie is considered. He taught several noble students from Russia (first — the Golovkins, especially Alexander, his long-time friend and collaborator; and then — “Moscowitische Prinzen oder Knaesen” — the Dolgorukies and Repnins). Frisch’s works were purchased for Russian private and public libraries. Some of them could be presented to the scholars (G. F. Müller) or aristocrats (tsarevna Maria Alekseyevna), visiting him. The authors suggest hypotheses, why Charmyntes did not want to reveal his real name and his possible encouragers: Muscovite acquaintances or German patrons. “Die deutsche Grammatica” was published in the year momentous for Prussian foreign affairs. The new king was establishing allied relations with Peter I. The country gradually waded into the Great Northern War.

Keywords: “Die deutsche Grammatica”, Russian students in Berlin, textbooks, didactics history, Charmyntes, J. L. Frisch

“Die deutsche Grammatica … von Charmyntes” (Берлин, 1713): история создания, автор и читатели

Аннотация. В статье рассмотрена история создания “Die deutsche Grammatica <…> von Charmyntes” (Берлин, 1713), первой изданной грамматики немецкого языка, предназначенной для русских студентов. Авторы исследуют ее сохранившиеся экземпляры, уделяя особое внимание вариантам, хранящимся в Библиотеке Академии наук и Российской национальной библиотеке. Развивается выдвинутая в работе К. Кох (2002) гипотеза, что составителем руководства был Й. Л. Фриш. Кратко изложены биография и научное наследие ученого, участвовавшего в создании первого русско-немецкого кружка, а также обучавшего нескольких знатных учеников из России: сначала Головкиных, особенно Александра, ставшего другом и соратником; а затем «moscowitische Prinzen oder Knaesen» — Долгоруких и Репниных. Работы Фриша закупались для частных и публичных библиотек России. Некоторые из них могли быть подарены посещавшим его ученым (Г. Ф. Миллер) или аристократам (царевна Мария Алексеевна). Исследуя немногочисленные сохранившиеся экземпляры “Die deutsche Grammatica”, авторы пытаются определить, был ли Й. Л. Фриш автором этого учебного пособия и почему он должен был скрываться под необычным псевдонимом — Карминт.

Ключевые слова: “Die deutsche Grammatica”, русские студенты в Берлине, история дидактики, учебники, Карминт, И. Л. Фриш

„Die deutsche Grammatica … von Charmyntes“ (Berlinas, 1713): sukūrimo istorija, autorius ir skaitytojai 

Santrauka. Straipsnyje nagrinėjama pirmosios, skirtos rusų studentams, vokiečių kalbos gramatikos – „Die deutsche Grammatica <…> von Charmyntes“ (Berlinas 1713) sukūrimo istorija. Autoriai analizuoja išlikusius ekzempliuorius, daug dėmesio skiria tiems, kurie yra saugomi Rusijos mokslo akademijoje ir Rusijos nacionalinėje bibliotekoje. Svarstoma K. Kocho (2002) hipotezė , kad vadovėlio sudarytojas buvo J. L. Frišas, trumpai pristatyta mokslininko biografija ir paveldas. J. L. Frišas dalyvavo steigiant pirmąjį rusų ir vokiečių ratelį (sambūrį), buvo kai kurių aukštuomenės atstovų iš Rusijos mokytojų (iš pradžių Golovkinų, visų pirmą Aleksandro, savo senojo draugo ir bendražygio, vėliau „moscowitische Prinzen oder Knaesen“ Dolgorukių ir Repninų). Frišo darbai buvo perkami Rusijos privačių ir viešųjų bibliotekų. Kai kurie jo darbai (knygos) galėjo būti padovanoti jį aplankusių mokslininkų (pvz., G. F. Miullerio) arba aristokratų (pvz., caraitės Marijos Aleksejevnos). Nedaugelio išlikusių knygos ekzempliorių tyrimas leido autoriams nustatyti, kad J. L. Frišas buvo mokymo priemonės autorius, ir pasiūlyti atsakymą į klausimą: kodėl jis turėjo slėptis, vartodamas savitą pseudonimą – Carmynt.

Reikšminiai žodžiai: „Die deutsche Grammatica“, didaktikos istorija, vadovėliai, rusų studentai Berline, Carmynt, J. L. Frišas 

Received: 13.09.2020. Accepted: 26.05.2021
Copyright © 2021 Natalia V. Kareva, Evgeny G. Pivovarov. Published by Vilnius University Press. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

1. Introduction. Few extant copies

The first printed German language grammar created for Russians “Die deutsche Grammatica, Aus Unterschiedenen Autoribus zusammen gebracht / Und Der in Deutschland Studierenden Rußischen Nation zum besten / In einem Compendio herausgegeben von Charmyntes” [Charmyntes 1713] was published in Berlin, in 1713. The book’s overall print run and circulation aerial have not been specified. Little is known about the audience of “Die deutsche Grammatica” within the kingdom and beyond its borders.

Only a few copies of the book have survived: two — in St. Petersburg, and one — in Rostock [Glück, Pörzgen 2009, 164].1 An item from the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin was lost during the war [Ibid.]. We may only guess, how and when it was brought there, but acquisition reasoning is quite obvious, — the Royal Library was storing an edition, published in the capital of the country. A Brandenburg historian and educator Georg Gottfried Küster owned one more copy [Küster 1777, 115], but its fate remains unclear.

The duplicate from the Universitätsbibliothek Rostock could have been purchased after Duke Karl Leopold of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Catherine Ivanovna’s marriage in 1716. The Duke allied his wife’s uncle, and the Duchy was occupied by Russian troops. Peter I dreamt of using its ports for regular trans-Baltic trade. So, the oldest university of the region might wish to have “Die deutsche Grammatica” on its book shelves.

A prima facie question is — how and when did two other editions arrive to Saint Petersburg? Regrettably, the variant from the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences has been severely exposed to fire in 1988. The “Chamber catalog” evidences, that the manual came to Russia before 1742 [Bibl. Imp. Petr. 1742, 233, 246].

The item from the Russian National Library is especially remarkable, because unlike its twins it contains translations of the original text into Russian. The notes were made on the blank sheets, and woven into the book. The flyleaf also keeps French and Russian minutes. Different handwritings and inks are clearly distinguished even nowadays. Their masters tried to create Russian variants of Latin terms: e. g. pomoshchnyye glagoly for Verbi Auxiliares [Charmyntes 1713, 41; Kareva, Pivovarov 2019, 42]. The term pomoshchnyye glagoly was also used by Johann Werner Paus in his “Manuductio ad linguam Germanicam sive Teutonicam in commodum juventutis Slavono Rossicae studio” (1706)2. Supposingly, it appeared within early oral school tradition, cultivated in the “German school” in Moscow.

The book’s masters neither used Russian parlance, introduced in Lomonosov’s “Russian Grammar” (1757), nor analogues of German terms, proposed by Martin Schwanwitz and Wassili Jewdokimowitsch Adodurow in 1730 and 1734 editions of “Die Teutsche Grammatica”. Therefore, we may guess, that the book had been read in the 1720s. The volume was damaged by the water. The owner’s red pencil inscription on the first page cannot be deciphered. According to the “Register for books, maps, plans, notes, prints and manuscripts recording”3, it was donated to the Imperial Public Library by Nikolai Fyodorovich Findeizen in 1893. Ergo, he was just the last proprietor of the copy.

2. Alleged Charmyntes

The issue circumstances of “Die deutsche Grammatica” are still rather obscure. The foreword was signed by two initials “S. C.”, while the title page specified, that the book “was compiled from different authors” for “Russian students in Germany” by “Charmyntes”, an odd and quite unexpected pseudonym to hide behind. There have been few assumptions about the authorship [Kareva, Pivovarov 2020, 490–492]. In the mid-18th century, Elias Caspar Reichard noted, that the anonymous compiler was “Juncker, a chamber councilor, who, in his youth, studied at Schulpforta with experienced teachers”4. Some later scholars shared his assumption [Adelung 1787, 2346; Holzman, Bohatta 1903, 263]. Though Reichard indicated only the surname, title and education, such data pointed to Gottlob Friedrich Wilhelm Juncker (1703–1746), a gifted poet who came to Saint-Petersburg in 1731 and soon was appointed to the Academy of Sciences [Alekseeva 2002, 19]. If we were to assume, that he was Charmyntes, the book would have been created by a ten-year-old child. This version seems dubious.

In 2002, K. Koch trustworthily asserted [Koch 2002, 218–221, 352], that the scholar’s real name was Johann Leonhard Frisch (1666–1743), known for a number of investigations, devoted to “Slavic language” [Frisch 1727a; 1727b; 1729; 1730; 1734; 1736]. Here, we are not analyzing his entire bio- and bibliography. Previously, they have undergone comprehensive study [Wippel 1744; Bernhagen 1958; Eichler 1958; Powitz, 1959; Eichler 1967; Noack, Splett 2000, 145–159]. Some highlights still deserve mentioning. They shed light upon, why Frisch could be Charmyntes.

He descended from an educated family from Nuremberg. His father was a lawyer and administrator, while two grandparents — preachers. Following ancestral pattern, a young man studied theology and orientology in Altdorf (1683–1686) and then moved to Jena (1686–1688)5. By that time, a renowned grammar school had been cultivated at the university. Johann Ernst Gerhardt, Johann Suevus6, Johann Wilhelm Baier — Frisch was especially addicted to his writings, which might then echo in his controversial perception of Pietism, — and other well-known orientalists, lowers and church historians had been professing there. In Jena the student began learning Russian [Bernhagen 1958, 114; Noak, Splett 2000, 145].

His origin — his grandfather was his first teacher of Greek, and education — protestant pastors had to be familiar with Biblical tongues and Holy landscapes, predetermined his entire career. Later, during his fruitful Berlin period, Frisch’s understanding of antiquity was ubiquitously acknowledged. He authored, compiled or reissued a number of popular volumes. Only few “Latin” titles were among them: “Grammatica Marchica” [Frisch 1718], widespread in Europe and Russia, and “Teutsch-Lateinisches Wörter-Buch” [Frisch 1741], fruit of his perennial, Leibnitz-inspired efforts. Frisch’s numerous books about Greek, French and Slavic languages were popular and regularly republished.

Charmyntes was also aware of various grammar traditions; he lavishly illustrated the text with hybrid borrowings and elaborate allegories. Even, excogitating his nom de plume, he might thus refer to a fragment from “Etymologiae sive Origines libri XX”, in which Isidore of Seville wrote about the nymph Carmenta, having introduced Latin letters to Italy7. Constructing a male analogue of her name, he changed gender endings, e.g. in “Die deutsche Grammatica”: “Johannes, Johanna, Philippus, Phillipina <…> Carolus, Charlotta” [Сharmyntes 1713, 11], hinting what his work would mean for Russia.

Frisch’s life-lasting passion for Nature was inspired by his professor of mathematics — Erhard Weigel, an “intellectual forefather of a long tradition of mathematicians and mathematical physicists”8, emphatically beginning with Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz. Besides philological surveys, he left behind impressive entomological, ornithological and parasitological treatises, and, in addition, was engaged in silk and “Berliner Blau” manufacturing [Kraft 2018]. His Leopoldina “akademischer Beiname” Vegetius [Büchner 1755, 497] also manifested his contemporaries’ attitude to their comrade-in-arms — a certain polymath.

Browsing through “Die deutsche Grammatica”, one may notice, that Charmyntes occasionally expounded rules, using technical terms or down-to-earth examples [Kareva, Pivovarov 2020, 489]: mentioning “Jacobstab” [Charmyntes 1713, 32], a device to measure angles; stating that all metals except alloys, are of neuter gender (“Neutra sind alle Nahmen <…> Der Metallen/ als das Gold/ Silber/ Bley/ Eisen/ Kupffer/ Zinn. Ausgenommen/ die aus andern eigentlich gemacht werden/ als der Stahl/ der Messing” [Charmyntes 1713, 14–15]); listing singularia tantum nouns (“Sind etliche Nomina Substantiva, die nur den Numerum Singularem haben <…> 2. Alle Elementen/ als: Erde/ Lufft/ Wasser/ Feuer <…> 3. Metallen und Mineralien/ als: Gold/ Schwefel” [Charmyntes 1713, 32]); reminding about no article demanding words (“Gold schmelzen” [Charmyntes 1713, 69]).

After university, Frisch earned his living, serving in French noble families, as a private teacher. It gradually became his professional credo: teaching students in order to learn their native tongues. On arriving back to his native city, he passed the required exams to become adjunct of a preacher. Howbeit, the restive clergyman did not stay long in Nuremberg. In 1691, he passed through Vienna and northern Hungary to Neusohl, today Banská Bystrica in central Slovakia. The local community did not support his harsh exhortation, and he left the town to become a translator for the royal corps, fighting against the Turks9. Getting through the Serbian territories, he might have learned the dalmatica lingua (see his book [Frisch, 1730]), and, only in 1693, he returned to Germany [Noak, Splett 2000, 146].

The spiritual quest of the author of “Die deutsche Grammatica” particularly affected the section “Wort = Fügung / Syntaxis”. While several examples were typical everyday phrases for textbooks: e.g., “Ich bin deiner Gesundheit froh”; “Ich esse des Brods / und trincke des Weins” [Charmyntes 1713, 74, 87]. Some quote the New Testament “Wir mangeln des Ruhms den wir vor Gott haben sollen” [Charmyntes 1713, 85 — see Rom 3: 23] or psalms “Die Furcht des Herrn ist der Weissheit Anfang” [Charmyntes 1713, 72 — see Psalm 3: 10]. Some are maxims about the transience of human life, faith and soul: “Das Menschliche Leben gleichet einem Schatten”; “Wie ein Vogel ohne Lufft / ein Fish ohne Wasser nicht leben kan; So kan eine gläubige Seele ohne Gott nicht leben” [Charmyntes 1713, 68, 70].

Five years later, Frisch started a new journey — to the Netherlands. According to his first biographer, J. J. Wippel, Frisch wanted to “understand the mindsets of the fanatics, chiliasts and people there, to whom rumor attributed the glory of the prophets” [Wippel 1744, 10]. In Amsterdam he got acquainted with Johann Georg Gichtel, the leader of a tiny mystic sect, the “Brethren of the Angels”, participated in Quakers’ worships [Noak, Splett 2000, 146]. Besides, he learnt about Quirinus Kuhlmann’s legacy and fate, — he went to Moscow, and there was arrested for heresy and burned at the stake [Collis 2012, 1–5]. Public attention to the distant lands was evidently nourished by the “Grand Embassy”. The Russian mission, led by Peter the Great, had recently left the country for England.

We omit Frisch’s further wanderings and misadventures. Finally, he became a Berlin resident. The Kurfürst willingly welcomed variegated groups of religious dissidents, able to replenish his treasury. There, he was offered a position at the prestigious “Gymnasium to the Greyfriars Monastery” (Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster) and gradually rose to its headmaster. Leibniz recommended him to the Royal Prussian Society of Sciences10. Finally, since the early 1730s, Frisch headed its historical-philological German division.

3. The “Moscowitischen Prinzen oder Knaesen”

Peter I’s westernization plans implied quick reception of European culture by Russian aristocracy. While, predominantly, the “fathers” perceived it perfunctorily and outwardly, their heirs were continuously studying and living in Germany, France, England, or the Netherlands. The “Gymnasium to the Greyfriars Monastery” was soon incorporated in the network of different institutions, educating Russian “blue blood” youngsters. Later, most of his “Muscovites” archived top ranks in the newly-born Empire’s hierarchy. Teaching German, Frisch simultaneously improved his skills in Slavic languages. In 1705, he supervised11 two sons of puissant Gavriil Ivanovich Golovkin [Koch 2002, 219], the future first Russian grand-chancellor. The eldest son Ivan (1687–1734) became an ambassador to Holland, where he patronized Vasily Kirillovich Trediakovsky12. While the younger one, Alexander (1689–1760) was appointed a Russian assignee to several European courts, including the Prussian one. He was one of the first Russian dignitaries, married to a noble foreigner; and, moreover, finally, in The Hague, converted to Protestantism [Anisimov 2012, 67].

Perhaps, such desire began shaping under his Berlin teacher’s personality. Their relationships were far closer and warmer than just mentor-pupil’s ones. Together they translated into Russian John Amos Comenius’s “Vestibulum linguae Latinae”13 [Eichler 1967, 20]. Frisch was not going to print the book in Russian. He clearly intended to type the Cyrillic text, using Latin letters14. In 1706, he began composing the German version of Peter Mohyła’s “Great Catechism” [Noak, Splett 2000, 148]. Though “Liber Symbolicus Russorum” was published only twenty years later, it was dedicated to Alexander. The author stressed, — he owed his knowledge of Russian and Church Slavonic to the Golovkins. The foreword also indicated, that the youngest of them sent books to his teacher, e. g. a “trilingual lexicon” by Fedor Polikarpov-Orlov [Mohyła 1727, 12].

In 1711, Peter I and Leibnitz got acquainted during wedding celebrations in Torgau. The philosopher urged the Society of Sciences to expand Russian investigations. At one of its philological sessions, Frisch announced, that some unnamed Russians encouraged him to translate Luther’s Small Catechism. Subsequently, he extracted a “catechism” from some Orthodox “symbolic book” [Gerje 1871, 129]. Yu. Kh. Kopelevich in her magnum opus set him to the midst of Russian-German coterie:

“A kind of the Russian-German circle, whose center was I. L. Frisch and Russian envoy A. G. Golovkin, was formed in Berlin during those years” [Kopelevich 1977, 41–42].

Frisch’s works were valued and often purchased for Russian private and public libraries. In 1730, being in Riga, Vasily Nikitich Tatishchev bought eight parts of “Beschreibung von allerley Insecten in Teutsch-Land” (Berlin, 1720–1728) [Safronova 2017, 20, 89, 246, 295]. Peter Pavlovich Shafirov owned an unspecified dictionary by Frisch [Khoteyev 2008, 207–208]. Judging by the library inventories (spring 1748 and summer 1750) [MAN 1897, 120–123; 1900, 473–474], Academical Gymnasium students were taught by “Frantzösisch-teutsches und teutsch-frantzösisches Wörter-Buch” [Frisch 1739; Khoteyev 2008, 262–263].

Newly published editions soon arrived to Saint Petersburg. In February of 1739, Schwanwitz, the Gymnasium Rector, ordered the dictionary from the Academy bookstore for his wards [MAN 1887, 18]. A copy of “Historiæ linguæ Sclavonicæ” [Frisch 1730], having been used by Lomonosov, is still kept in the Rare Books Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences Library [Samarin 2011, 17–19]. Some of those items could be presented by the author to the scholars from Russia, visiting him. In his “History the Imperial Academy of Sciences <…>” Gerhard Friedrich Müller (1705–1783), recalling his stay in Berlin in 1731, wrote:

“I had to examine the rich birds’ collection of so benevolent to me Rector <…> Frisch. It was one of Berlin landmarks, though mostly this collection contained only the birds of Prussia” [Müller 2006, 614].

Alexander Golovkin apparently fostered his mentor, introducing him to the Russian Upper class. On September 6, 1716, he informed Leibnitz about his meeting with the “tsar’s sister”15 and “princess Cherkasskaya”16. The letter acknowledges Frisch’s constant contacts with Russia and shows how information about his investigations achieved the distant land:

“Des Czaren Schwester ist hier aus dem Gesundbronnen wiederkommen und geht auf Riga, mit der Prinzessin Circasski, welche auf Petersburg geht. Meine blaue Farb ist in Petersburg bekannt, und hoffe ich, durch diese gelegenheit eine quantität dahin zu bringen” [Fischer 1896, 47].

Three years later, the intrigued travelers visited him again and offered assistance in “delivering his things” to the Russian capital. The note, made on September 19, 1719, stated, that Frisch had not known Russian well enough to talk to them without an interpreter:

“Ihro GrossCzarische Majestät Prinzessin Schwester und Prinzessin Tschirkaski ist hier gewesen in der rückreise und haben ihren Leute befohlen, meine Sachen nach Petersburg möglichst befördern zu helffen <…>. Ich bin auch mit einem schönen Stück von dem sogenannten Ruman von ihnen beschenkt worden, da ich durch den Tollmetscher danach fragte, welches eine Art von Schminkläpplein <…>. Sie sagten, es komme aus Kitai, welches der Tollmetscher China nannte” [Fischer 1896, 48].

It is disputable, whether he personally met the tsar. September 2, 1712, Frisch wrote to Leibnitz about six “Moscowitische Prinzen oder Knaesen”, being trained under his supervision [Fischer 1896, 34–35; see also: Eichler 1967, 18; Bernhagen 1958, 117; Koch 2002, 219]. 29 October, 1712, Frisch announced, that during his visit to Berlin, Peter I inspected the Russian students:

“Als Ihro Maj[estät] der Czar hier war, liess er meine 6 junge Knesen, die ich in der information habe, alsbald hohlen und fragte nach ihren studien. Es sind 3 Dolgoruki von zweyerley Fürsten dieses Namens, und 3 Repnin gebrüder” [Fischer 1896, 36].

Alas, he did not specify their first names. The Dolgorukies were traced in Leipzig University17 matricules [Khoteyev 2008, 51; Andreev 2005, 124, 379, 398]. Sergey Petrovich (1696–1761)18, Vladimir Petrovich (1708—1761), and the third, unidentified19 brother’s relatives belong to the autocrat’s inner cycle. They also made successful careers, but not so eminent as the Golovkins.

General Anikita Ivanovich Repnin’s children managed to show inevitable “ups and downs” of rapid and mandatory Europeanization. After Berlin, Vassili (1696–1748) and Yuriy (1701–1744) went on studying in Europe, but led such an “indecent life”, that “Prince Anikita” begged the sovereign for “the great mercy, so that his children could be taken away and given to him for their debauchery” [Kovrigina 1998, 360]. The Repnins were not alone. Riotous and luxuriant behavior of the young Russians astonished Amsterdam, Paris, London, and other western capitals [Pavlenko 1985, 241–243].

4. In lieu of the conclusion

If Frisch actually compiled “Die deutsche Grammatica”, it may explain some indistinct phrases in its foreword, dated October 3, 1713:

“Geneigter Leser! <…> Er verwundre sich nicht bey dem ersten Anblick / des Rubri daß solche der Rußischen Nation, zum besten in Deutscher / und nicht zugleich Rußischer Sprache das Tages=Licht gesehen: Die Ursache / warumb solches nicht geschehen / ist meistens / weil die Arbeit / denen zu Gefallen / die bereits der Deutschen Sprache einiger massen mächtig sind / beschleuniget werden muste / und ausser Amsterdam/ keine nähere Buchdruckerey / da Russische Buchstaben verhanden / zu finden”.

Although, “S.C.” clearly stated his initial desire to write a bilingual manual, the target could not be achieved. He hurried to accomplish the grammar, probably, anticipating the arrival of new “Knaesen”, but faced the same problem, that had occurred with Frisch’s translation of Comenius. By that time, Berlin had not possessed any printing facilities, holding Russian types. The nearest one was, as the author insisted, in Amsterdam. He meant Elias Kopijewitz and Jahn Tessing’s enterprise, having been printing Cyrillic books in the Netherlands in the turn of two centuries20. For some reason, the scholar did not consider Halle [Koch 2002, 220], though its printing house with Russian letters was closer to Berlin21. The book was finally published without specifying the issuing typography.

Such anonymity again causes doubt. We do not know, who and why ordered and sponsored the book. We may only suggest, by mischance, without proving, a couple of hypotheses.

Both his new king’s counselors and Russian “Berliners” avoided disclosing their covert negotiations during 1713, the year momentous for Prussian foreign affairs. Friedrich Wilhelm I was establishing allied relations with Peter I. The country gradually waded into the Great Northern War against Sweden. So, Charmyntes could not reveal his encouragers: Muscovite acquaintances or German patrons.

As a rule, Frisch indicated his paternity. Perhaps, he did not regard “Die deutsche Grammatica” as his original text. Indeed, the manual strongly depended upon a few antedating works [Koch 2002, 324–326, 339, 342, 352, 385]. Noteworthy, that in 1723, issuing a comprehensive revision of Bödicker’s grammar [Bödicker, Frisch 1723], he retained the author’s name on the title page.

And at last, might Charmyntes conceal several people? His best Russian pupils were appreciative and adoptive. Soon, under the tsar’s direct supervision, Alexander Golovkin translated [Shturm 1709] Leonhard Christoph Sturm’s “Architectura militaris hypotetica et eclectica” (Nurnberg, 1702) [Khoteyev 2008, 101; Bykova, Gurevich 1958, 347]. Still, these are just our preliminary speculations. The case obviously requires further investigation.

Works Cited

Adelung, J. Ch., 1787. Fortsetzung und Ergänzungen zu Christian Gottlieb Jöchers allgemeinen Gelehrten = Lexico, worin die Schriftsteller aller Stände nach ihren vornehmsten Lebensumständen und Schriften beschrieben werden. 2. Band. Leipzig: in J. F. Gleditschens Handlung.

ALEKSEEVA, N. Yu., 2002. Peterburgskiy nemetskiy poet G. V. Fr. Yunker. In KOCHETKOVA, N. D. (red.), XVIII vek, 22. St. Petersburg: Nauka. 8–27.

ANDREEV, A. YU., 2005. Russkiye studenty v nemetskikh universitetakh XVIII — pervoy poloviny XIX veka. Moscow: Znak.

ANISIMOV, M. YU., 2012. Rossijskaya diplomatiya v seredine XVIII veka (ot Ahenskogo mira do nachala Semiletnej vojny). Moscow: KMK Scientific Press Ltd.

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Natalia Kareva, Cand. Sc. in Philology, senior research fellow of the Institute for Linguistic Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences.

Наталия Карева, кандидат филологических наук, старший научный сотрудник Института лингвистических исследований РАН.

Natalija Kareva, filologijos mokslų kandidatė, Rusijos mokslų akademijos Lingvistinių tyrimų instituto vyriausioji mokslo darbuotoja.

 

Evegeny Pivovarov, Dr. Sc. in History, leading research fellow of the St. Petersburg Branch of the History of Natural Sciences and Technology, Russian Academy of Sciences.

Евгений Пивоваров, доктор исторических наук, ведущий научный сотрудник Санкт-Петербургского филиала Института истории естествознания и техники им. С. И. Вавилова РАН.

Jevgenij Pivovarov, istorijos mokslų daktaras, Rusijos mokslų akademijos S. Vavilovo Gamtų mokslų ir technikos istorijos instituto Sankt Peterburgo filialo vyriausiasis mokslo darbuotojas.