The Latin-Polish editions of Donatus and the beginnings of the Polish grammatical terminology

Abstract

The bilingual Latin–Polish editions of the grammar book by Aelius Donatus, published in the 16th–18th c., are among the earliest studies comprising Polish grammatical terms. The terminology found in these editions forms an organised, hierarchical structure, which was transferred from the Latin original to the Polish translation. There are particular coincidences between Latin–Polish editions of Donatus and the dictionary of 1542 by Bartholomew of Bydgoszcz, which ascertains the thesis on a major infl uence of these editions on the dictionary and might serve as an argument for the existence of an earlier version of Donatus, one dating back to ca. 1530.