Bilingual and Multilingual Rhenian Donatus-Based Grammars from Upper Hungary.

This paper presents the outcomes of research on elementary Latin grammar textbooks called Donati – or Donatus-based grammars –, which were written/compiled or printed and also used in the upper part of the Kingdom of Hungary (roughly corresponding to present-day Slovakia) in the period between approximately the second half of the 17thcentury and the middle of the 19thcentury. The textbooks fall into two categories: 1) bilingual textbooks originally written by Johannes Rhenius, compiled and printed in Upper Hungary, as well as those that accurately reflected his bilingual concept; and 2) multilingual textbooks that only loosely followed Rhenius’ model and were compiled by Pavel Doležal (1700–1778) and modified again by Imre Dunay (1767–1838). The research aimed first at identifying all bi- and multilingual editions of the given type. In terms of methodology, this research balanced on the boundary between philology and retrospective bibliography. In addition to the primary focus, this research additionally explored areas that emerged in the context of the specific region of Upper Hungary: the changing social-historical, religious, and pedagogical environment in which these textbooks were created and to which they were adapted. In doing so, the article also clarifies the cross-linguistic contexts and selected intertextual relationships into which these texts entered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]