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CZECH (in Bohemian, Cech)
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See also:CZECH (in Bohemian, Cech) , a name which signifies an inhabitant of Cechy, the native designation of Bohemia. The Czechs belong to the Slavic See also:race, and according to the usually accepted See also:division they See also:form, together with the Poles and the almost See also:extinct Lusatians, the See also:group of the Western Slays. Speaking generally, it can be said that the Czechs inhabit a large See also:part of Bohemia, a yet larger part of See also:Moravia, parts of Silesia—both See also:Austrian and Prussian— and extensive districts in See also:northern See also:Hungary. In the 29th See also:century the Czechs of Hungary—much to their own detriment—developed a written See also:language that differs slightly from that used in Bohemia, but as regards their race they are identical with the Bohemians and Moravians. Beyond the See also:borders of this continuous territory there are many Czechs in See also:Lower See also:Austria. See also:Vienna in particular has a large and increasing Czech See also:population. There are also numerous Czechs in See also:Russia, particularly See also:Volhynia, in the See also:United States—where a large number of See also:newspapers and See also:periodicals are published in the Czech language—and in See also:London. Though the See also:statistics are very uncertain and untrustworthy, it can be stated that the Czechs number about eight millions.
The See also:period at which the Czechs settled in Bohemia is very uncertain; all theories, indeed, with regard to the See also:advent of the Slays in northern and eastern See also:Europe are merely conjectural. It was formerly generally accepted as a fact that all Bohemia was originally inhabited by See also:Celtic tribes, who were succeeded by the Germanic See also:Marcomanni, and later by the Slavic Czechs. According to a very See also:ancient tradition reproduced in the See also:book of See also:Cosmas, the earliest Bohemian chronicler, the Czechs arrived in Bohemia led by their See also:eponymous See also:chief Cechus, and first settled on the kip See also: In the See also:absence of all See also:historical See also:evidence, See also:modern Czech scholars have endeavoured by other means to throw some See also:light on the earliest period of the Czechs. By craniological studies and a thorough examination of the See also:fields where the dead were burnt (in Czech ldrove See also:pole), still found in some parts of Bohemia, they have arrived at the conclusion that parts of the See also:country were inhabited by Czechs, or at least by Slays, See also:long before the See also:Christian era, perhaps about the See also:year 500 B.C. It is certain that the Slays at the See also:time when they first appeared in history had a See also:common language, known as the ancient Slavic (praslovansky) language. When in the course of time the Slays occupied various countries, which were often widely apart, different dialects arose among them, many of which were influenced by the language of the neighbouring non-Slavic populations. Thus the Czech language from an early period absorbed many See also:German words. It is probable that the development of the Czech language as an See also:independent one, was very See also:gradual. Existent documents, such as the hymn to St Wenceslas, which belongs to the second See also:half of the loth century, are written partly in old-Slavic, partly in Czech. When the Slays first occupied Bohemia, they were probably divided into several tribes, of which the Czechs, who inhabited See also:Prague and the country surrounding it, were the most powerful. It is probable that these smaller tribes were only gradually subdued by the Czechs and that some of them had previously to their absorption adopted See also:special dialects. The Netolice, Lueane, Psovane, Sedh ane appear to have been among the more important tribes who were forced to acknowledge the supremacy of the Czechs, and it may be conjectured that their language for a time differed slightly from that of their conquerors. The Czech language has, like all Slavic ones, a strong tendency to develop dialects; this was the See also:case at the time of its first See also:appearance as an independent language, and has to a certain extent continued up to the See also:present See also:day. The dialects of Moravia and the northern districts of Hungary still show See also:variations from the generally accepted forms of the Czech language, though since the See also:foundation of the Czech university of Prague this—at least among the educated classes—is no longer 'true to the same extent as it formerly was. The Czech language at the time of its formation naturally remained closest to those other Slav-speaking countries which were geographically its neighbours, the Poles and the Lusatians, and it may be said that this is still the case. The Czech language at the time when in the 12th and 13th centuries it first appears as a See also:separate and distinct one, differed consider-ably from that of the present day. Ancient Czech had several diphthongs, such as: ia, ie, iu, uo and au, that are unknown to the present language. The See also:letter " l " had a threefold See also:sound, and besides the letters b, p, m, v, the softer forms b', p', m', v', were also in existence. The letter g (as in other Slavic See also:languages) was often used where modern Czechs employ the letter h. Ancient Bohemian had three See also:numbers, the singular, plural and dual; of the dual only scant vestiges remain in modern Czech.
Once it had obtained its See also:independence, the Czech language See also:developed rapidly, and the philosophical and theological writings of See also: The Bohemian reformer,
'For the See also:pronunciation of these see the footnote at the beginning of the See also:article BOHEMIA.zealous for the purity of the language of his country, often in his sermons inveighed quaintly and vehemently against those who defiled the Czech language by introducing numerous " German-isms." A century later the Czech language was largely indebted to the then recently founded community of the Bohemian (or as they were also often called, Moravian) brethren. A member of the community, See also:Brother John Blakoslav, wrote in 1571 a Grammatika &eska, that still has considerable philological interest. It contains a full See also:account of the construction of the Czech language, based on Latin grammar, with which the writer was thoroughly acquainted. Divines belonging to the same community also at the end of the 16th century published at Kralice in Moravia a See also:complete Czech version of the Old and New Testaments. Together with the Labyrint Sveta (See also:Labyrinth of the See also:World) of Komensky (See also:Comenius), who was also a member of the brotherhood, it can be considered a See also:model of the Czech language in the period immediately preceding its downfall.
The Czechs have always enthusiastically upheld the language of their country. In ancient Czech, indeed, the same word jazyk denotes both " nation " and " language." As See also:late as in 1608 a See also:decree of the estates of Bohemia declared that Czech was the only See also:official and recognized See also:state-language, and that all who wished to acquire citizenship in the country should be obliged to acquire the knowledge of it. While all patriots thus supported the See also:national language, it was greatly disliked by the absolutists who were opposed to the ancient See also:free constitution of Bohemia, as well as by all who favoured the See also: The first originator of the See also:movement, See also:Joseph Dobrovsky or Doubraysky (1753-1829) seems himself, at least at the beginning of his See also:life, to have considered it impossible that Czech should again become a widely-spoken language, and one whose literature could successfully compete with that of larger countries. Yet it was the works of this "See also:patriarch of Slavic See also:philology" which first See also:drew the public See also:attention to the half-forgotten Czech language. Dobrovsky's See also:work was afterwards continued by See also:Kolar, Jungmann, Palacky, Safafek, and many others, and Czech literature has, both as regards its value and its See also:extension, reached a height that in the middle of the 19th century would have appeared incredible. • Though met by See also:constant opposition on the part of the Austrian authorities, the Czechs have succeeded in re-establishing the use of their language in many of the lower and Middle schools of Bohemia and Moravia, and the foundation of a Czech university at Prague (1882-1884) has of course contributed very largely to the ever-increasing expansion of the Czech language. The national language has at all times appeared to the Bohemians as the See also:palladium of their See also:nationality and independence, and the movement in favour of the revival of the Czech language. necessarily became a See also:political one, as soon as circumstances permitted. The See also:friends of the national language at the beginning of the .19th century were generally known as the vlastenci (patriots), but when in 1848 representatives of many parts of Austria met at Vienna, the deputies of Bohemia—with the exception of the Germans—formed what was called the national or Czech party. See also:Parliamentary See also:government did not at that period long survive, and at the end of the year 1851 See also:absolutism had been re-established. In 186o a new See also:attempt to establish constitutional government in Austria was made, and representatives of the Czech party appeared at the provincial See also:diet of Prague and the central See also:parliament at Vienna. The Czech party endeavoured to obtain the re-See also:establishment of the ancient Bohemian constitution, but, allied as they were with a large part of the Bohemian See also:nobility, it was their policy to maintain a somewhat conservative attitude. After having absented themselves for a considerable time from the parliament of Vienna, the legality of which they denied, the Czech deputies reappeared in Vienna in 1879, and, together with the representatives of the Bohemian nobility, formed there what was known as the Cesky Klub. While the Czechs for a time continued united at Vienna, a See also:schism among them had some time previously occurred at Prague. Dissatisfied with the policy of the Czechs, a new party had been formed in Bohemia which affected more advanced views and became known as the " See also:Young Czech " party. The more conservative Czechs were henceforth known as the " Old Czechs." The " Young Czechs," when the party first became independent in 1872, had See also:thirty-five representatives in the diet of Prague, but at the elections of 1874 their number was reduced to seven. They continued, however, to gain in strength, and obtained for a long time a large See also:majority in the diet, while the Old Czech party for a considerable period almost disappeared. In Vienna also the Old Czech party gradually lost ground. Its See also:leader Dr See also:Rieger, indeed, obtained for the Czechs certain See also:con-cessions which, underrated at the time, have since proved by no means valueless. The decision of the Old Czech party to take part at a See also:conference in Vienna under the See also:presidency of See also:Count Taafe—then Austrian See also:prime-minister—which was to See also:settle the national See also:differences in Bohemia, caused its complete downfall. The proposals of the Vienna conference were rejected with indignation, and the Old Czechs, having become very unpopular, for a time ceased to contest the elections for the legislative assemblies of Prague and Vienna. The victorious Young Czechs, however, soon proved themselves very unskilful politicians. After very unsuccessfully assuming for a See also:short time an attitude of intransigeant opposition, they soon became subservient to the government of Vienna to an extent which the Old Czechs had never ventured. Dr Kramaf, in particular, as leader of the Young Czech party, supported the See also:foreign policy of Austria even when its tendency was most hostile to the interests of Bohemia. The Vienna government has, in See also:recent years, as regards See also:internal affairs, also adopted a policy very unfavourable to the Czech race. Even the continuance of some of the con-cessions formerly obtained by the Old Czechs has become doubtful. At the elections to the diet of Prague which took See also:place in See also: See J. Dobrovskjr, Geschichte der bohmischen Sprache (1818), and Lehrgebaude der bohmischen Sprache (1819); J. Blahoslav, Grammatika eeskd, printed from MS. (1867); Lippert, Social Geschichte Bohmens (1896); Gebauer, Slovnik Starocesky (See also:Dictionary of the ancient Czech language, 1903); I. Herzer, Bohmisch-deutsches Worterbuch (Prague, 1901, &C.); Coufal and Zaba, Slovnik eesko-' latinsky a Latinsko-cesky (Prague, 1904, &e.), and Historicka Uluonice Jazyka l eskeha (Historical grammar of the Czech language, 1904) ; Morfill, Grammar of the Bohemian or Cech Language (1899) ; Bourlier, See also:Les Tcheques (1897). Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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