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seems strange that there is no mention at all of an attempt to contact the main
authority on Sámi language and ethnography in the country during their three-
week stay in Trondheim. Other factors that may point to the improvised char-
acter of the linguistic research of the expedition include Sajnovics’s enthusias-
tic mention of having been supplied with a copy of the famous Nova grammatica
Ungarica (New Hungarian grammar [1610]) of Albert Szenczi Molnár (1574–
1634) during the southbound stay in Copenhagen: had there been a precon-
ceived intention to inquire into the subject, this book ought to have been an
almost mandatory item in the Jesuits’ luggage. It might be added that, besides
this work, the only Hungarian grammar referenced in the Demonstratio is the
standard Jesuit grammar by Pereszlényi, mentioned above.88 One would also
have expected Hell to have already asked for the most recent literature on the
Sámi language and ethnography while in Copenhagen, with the Royal Library
and the avid collector of learned literature and mighty interior minister Thott
close at hand.89
Throughout their stay in Denmark–Norway, Hell and Sajnovics enjoyed
Thott’s support. It is in this connection that the idea of introducing Hungarian
orthography into the Sámi language, as a fully new topic in the 1771 edition of
the Demonstratio also ascribed there to Hell, merits separate mention.90 This
had important, though short-lived resonances in Copenhagen: by Thott’s deci-
sion, the recommendations of the Viennese visitors were to be followed in the
revision and reissuing of the official Danish dictionary of the Sámi language. In
doing so, Thott overruled protests from Norwegian priests and missionaries
who had a different understanding of the Sámi language and its origins.91 The
88 Sajnovics, Demonstratio (1770), 82: “Alone Molnár’s words, full of perspicuity and honesty
that they are, are found worthy of being quoted. He […] wrote a grammar of Hungarian,
published in Hanover and not seen by me until it was communicated to me by the Illustri-
ous Gentleman Langebeck […]”; repeated in 2nd ed. (1771), 130. We are grateful to Zsuzsa
C. Vladár for having called our attention to the scarce reliance on Hungarian grammars in
the Demonstratio.
89 There is no record of an (attempted) meeting with Leem in 1768. However, the diary for
the southbound journey contains the brief statement that “Mr. Leem, professor of the
Lapponic language was visited.” Sajnovics, travel diary, draft version (wus), on September
7, 1769.
90 Sajnovics, Demonstratio (1771), 33.
91 This story is recounted in detail by Bente Martinussen, “Anders Porsanger: Teolog og
språkforsker fra 1700-tallets Finnmark,” Nordlyd 18 (1992): 15–59; for a brief English sum-
mary of her conclusions, see Even Hovdhaugen et al., The History of Linguistics in the Nor
dic Countries (Helsinki: Societas Scientiarum Fennica, 2000), 54–55. See also Pekka Sam-
malahti, “History of Finno-Ugric Linguistics in the Nordic Countries,” in Studies in the
Development of Linguistics in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, ed. Carol
Henriksen et al. (Oslo: Novus Forlag), 297–323; Per Pippin Aspaas, “Maximilian Hellin ja
Maximilian Hell (1720–92)
And the Ends of Jesuit Science in Enlightenment Europe
- Titel
- Maximilian Hell (1720–92)
- Untertitel
- And the Ends of Jesuit Science in Enlightenment Europe
- Autoren
- Per Pippin Aspaas
- László Kontler
- Verlag
- Brill
- Ort
- Leiden
- Datum
- 2020
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-90-04-41683-3
- Abmessungen
- 15.5 x 24.1 cm
- Seiten
- 492
- Kategorien
- Naturwissenschaften Physik
Inhaltsverzeichnis
- Acknowledgments VII
- List of Illustrations IX
- Bibliographic Abbreviations X
- Introduction 1
- 1 Shafts and Stars, Crafts and Sciences: The Making of a Jesuit Astronomer in the Habsburg Provinces 37
- 2 Metropolitan Lures: Enlightened and Jesuit Networks, and a New Node of Science 91
- 3 A New Node of Science in Action: The 1761 Transit of Venus and Hell’s Transition to Fame 134
- 4 The North Beckons: “A desperate voyage by desperate persons” 172
- 5 He Came, He Saw, He Conquered? The Expeditio litteraria ad Polum Arcticum 209
- 6 “Tahiti and Vardø will be the two columns […]”: Observing Venus andDebating the Parallax 258
- 7 Disruption of Old Structures 305
- 8 Coping with Enlightenments 344
- Appendix 1 Map of the Austrian Province of the Society of Jesus (with Glossary of Geographic Names) 394
- Appendix 2 Instruction for the Imperial and Royal Astronomer Maximilian Hell, S.J 398
- Bibliography 400
- Index 459