to the spirit of the Slavic languages. Among the inflectional pecularities of the language the following are most noteworthy: In declension of nouns—loss of dual; confusion of various stems; confusion of case-endings; change of quality and quantity of the root-vowels. In conjugation it comes very close to the primitive Slavic, retaining both the infinitive and the supine. All past tenses are periphrastic, and the forms of the future are either periphrastic—in verbs of incomplete or imperfective action—or are represented by the present in verbs of completed or perfective action.
From the point of view of euphony, the Czech language stands lower than the Russian or Polish, although superior to the latter in some particulars, as in the comparative rarity of sibilants and the absence of nasal vowels.
Slovakian. Along with the Czech language must be mentioned the Slovakian language, spoken by 2,500,000 persons in northwest Hungary and in America. Its literature is only a century old, and its independent development was entirely due to the great wave of national reawakening that swept over Europe at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century. The movement, communicated to the Czech language, spread to the kindred Slovakian. In spite of the serious opposition on the part of such prominent Bohemians as Havliček, Šafařík (q.v.), and Kollar (q.v.), himself a Slovak, a Slovakian literature was established. The pioneer of the movement was Antonin Bernolák (1702-1813), whose Dissertatio Philologica-Critica de Literis Slavorum, Grammatica Slavica (Presburg, 1790), and Lexicon Slavicum Bohemico - Latino - Germanico - Hungaricum (6 vols., Buda, 1825-27) supplied the foundation for Slovak literature. The other great names are: the poet Jan Hollý (1785-1849), Ljudevit Štur (1815-56), Josef Hurban, and Michael Hodž, who brought the language to its high standard of literary perfection. Among the more recent writers the following deserve especial mention: the famous Martin Hattala, one of the foremost of Slavic linguists; Svetozár Hurban Vajansky, son of Josef Hurban; the lyric poet Orsag Hvězdoslav, and the novelist Kukučin, a powerful portrayer of popular life and manners. The language in the works of these writers, though closely kindred to the Czech, exhibits many well-defined peculiarities which justify its classification as a separate branch. There are numerous works that are not found in the Czech language, and many features bring it nearer to the Russian, Polish, and Servian than to the Czech. Ethnographically considered, the Slovaks are yielding before the march of the stronger and politically dominant Hungarian nationality; but Sloaoak literature has received too strong a start to allow of any doubt as to its future development.
Bibliography. Grammars of the Czech language: Dobrovský, Lehrgebäude der böhmischen Sprache (Prague, 1819); Hattala, Srovnávací mluvnice jazyka českého a slovenského (ib., 1857); Gebauer, Hláskosloví jazyka českého (ib., 1876); id., Mluvnice česka pro školy střední (ib., 1890), excellent; id., Historická mluvnice jazyka českého (ib., 1894, 1896-98),—in all four volumes are promised by the author of this epoch-making work; Vymazal, Böhmische Grammatik für deutsche Mittelschulen und Lehrerbildungs - Anstalten (Brünn, 1881)—although somewhat behind latest philological researches, a most practical and simple handbook; Masařík, Böhmische Schulgrammatik (5th ed., Prague, 1890).
Dictionaries of the Czech language: Jungmann, Slovník česko-německý (5 vols., Prague, 1835-39); Čelakovsky, Additions to Jungmann's Dictionary (Prague, 1851); Kott, Böhmisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, especially Grammatico-Phraseological (7 vols., Prague, 1878-93); Sumavský. Böhmisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (3d ed., Prague. 1874); Rank, Taschenwörterbuch der böhmisch-deutschen Sprache (6th ed., Prague, 1895).
CZECH or BOHEMIAN LITERATURE. Among the Slavic literatures the Czech is inferior to the Russian or the Polish (qq.v.), although chronologically it precedes them both.
First Period (to 1410).—The earliest literature of the Czech language came into existence with the introduction of Christianity in Bohemia, in 865, by Cyril and Methodius, the apostles of the Slavs. The earliest extant monument is the Kyrie Eleison Hospodine pomiluj ny (Lord, have mercy upon us). Greek Christianity and the Cyrillic alphabet (see Kirillitsa), however, gave way to Latin Catholicism and Roman script. The famous Grüneberg manuscript (eighth or ninth century), the Judgment of Libusha, and the Königinhof manuscript (thirteenth or fourteenth century), discovered by Hanka in 1817, are the only remains in the native tongue which belong to this period, and their authenticity is somewhat doubtful. The influence of the Teutonic knights was growing rapidly among the natives, and the result was that until about the fourteenth century vernacular literature was entirely superseded by Latin. At the end of the thirteenth century a Czech translation of the Latin Alexandreis of Gualterus de Insulis (Philip Gaultier de Châtillon) was made, and to the early years of the following century belong Czech versions of two episodes from the Arthurian legend— Tristram, according to Eilhart of Oberge and Gottfried of Strassburg, and Taudariaš and Floribella, after Pleier. Original works in Czech are the famous Rhymed Chronicle of Bohemia, by Dalimil, of 1314, and the romantic story Tkadleček (The Weaver), written in strikingly beautiful prose about the end of the fourteenth century. Other works that contributed to the development of the literature were translations of the travels of Marco Polo and Sir John Mandeville. The original writers of the period are: Thomas Štitný (1325-1410), one of the first alumni of the University of Prague, which was founded in 1348; Andrew of Duba, and the poet Flaška. Štitný exercised a great influence over religion and literature in Bohemia, and, properly speaking, paved the way for the later Hussite movement. Andrew of Duba is the reputed author of The Book of the Old Lord Rosenberg and The Exposition of the Law of the Bohemian Land. Smil Flaška, Lord of Pardubitz, composed didactic and satirical poems—Father's Advice to His Son; Contest Between Water and Wine; Dispute Between Body and Soul; New Council; and The Groom and the Scholar. They abound in local allusions, and are a rich mine of information for the culture history of the country.
