Page - 235 - in Maximilian Hell (1720–92) - And the Ends of Jesuit Science in Enlightenment Europe

235The Expeditio litteraria ad Polum Arcticum attention78 and received further reinforcement from the publication of the Af­ finitas linguae Hungaricae cum linguis Fennicae originis grammatice demon­ strata (Grammatical proof of the affinity of the Hungarian language with languages of Fennic origin [1799]), written in Göttingen with von Schlözer’s patronage by the Transylvanian physician and linguist Sámuel Gyarmathi (1751–1830). Today, the value of these two works is recognized to consist in go- ing beyond the predecessors mentioned above in their systematic application of the principles of linguistic comparison to their data—in the case of Sajno- vics, gained from first-hand empirical work—and their emphasis on evidence not just from vocabulary, phonetics, and phonology but also grammatical structures. Rather than venturing a detailed analysis of the linguistic contribution of the Demonstratio here,79 the question of authorship in strict and broader terms merits attention. This is not because of antiquarian issues of attribution, but because it is closely related to the larger problem of Hell’s development of new academic agendas, including the origin and early history of the Hungarians, which in turn became highly relevant to his position in the public–political landscape of the Habsburg monarchy in the wake of the suppression of the Society of Jesus in 1773. In the first, Copenhagen edition of the Demonstratio, Hell is acknowledged for having asked Sajnovics to undertake this research, for pointing out certain methodological guidelines for his assistant’s interviews with native Sámi speakers, and for never allowing him to give up, even though the task proved difficult. The second, Trnava edition, goes much further. As to the reason for electing Sajnovics as travel companion, the following statement is found in the slightly rephrased introduction to the second edition: For he [Hell], with the same benevolence that he had bestowed upon me already some time ago, during that two-year period when he wanted me to assist him in his astronomical tasks in Vienna, had chosen me also for this expedition to the Far North, and brought me along to Finnmark as a travel companion and an assistant in his activities, in particular in his en­ deavors to investigate the Lappish language. This was an occasion for Hun­ garians to visit the Lapps, this was an occasion to test the conjecture of a 78 The Copenhagen edition had already been extensively reviewed (a mere two months af- ter its publication) in the GAgS [18]:1, no. 78 (June 30, 1770): 674–79. The Journal des Sça­ vans also reported on it, see JS (February 1772): 121. 79 For an excellent assessment in English along the lines indicated above, see Zsuzsa C. Vladár, “Sajnovics’s Demonstratio and Gyarmathi’s Affinitas: Terminology and Method- ology,” Acta linguistica Hungarica 55, nos. 1–2 (2008): 145–81.