Bartol Kai

This article is about Croatian linguist. For the ferry, see experts believe it is one of three dictionaries made by
MF Bartol Kai. Kai and that the other two are archived in Perugia and
Oxford.
Bartol Kai (Latin: Bartholomaeus Cassius, Italian: Kai's native dialect was Chakavian.[3] In the 16th cen-
Bartolomeo Cassio; August 15, 1575 December 28, tury, the Chakavian dialect was prevalent in Croatian
1650) was a Jesuit clergyman and grammarian during works, though it now shifted towards the Shtokavian.[4]
the Counter-Reformation, who wrote the rst Croatian Kai opted for Shtokavian as it was the most common
grammar and translated the Bible and the Roman Rite dialect among his South Slavic (Illyrian) people.[5]
into Croatian.

2.1 The rst Croatian grammar

1 Life
Kai was born on the island of Pag, in the Republic of
Venice (in modern Croatia). His father died when he was
a small child, so he was raised by his uncle Luka Deodati
Bogdani, a priest from Pag, who taught him to read and
write. He attended the municipal school in the town of
Pag. After 1590 he studied at the Illyric College in Loreto
near Ancona, in the Papal States (in modern Italy), man-
aged by the Jesuits. As a gifted and industrious pupil,
he was sent to further studies in Rome in 1593, where
he joined the Society of Jesus in 1595. Kai contin-
ued propaganda activities of Aleksandar Komulovi af-
ter his death, being even greater Pan-Slav then Komulovi
was.[1] Kai censored and edited Komulovi's 1606 work
(Zrcalo od Ispovijesti).[2]
Kai was made a priest in 1606 and served as a con-
fessor in the St. Peters Basilica in Rome. He lived in
Dubrovnik from 1609 to 1612. In 1612/13, disguised as a
merchant, he went on a mission to the Ottoman provinces
of Bosnia, central Serbia and eastern Slavonia (Valpovo,
Osijek, Vukovar), which he reported to the pope. From
1614 to 1618 he was the Croatian confessor in Loreto.
He went on his second mission in 1618/19. In old age, he
described both missions in his incomplete autobiography.
His second stay in Dubrovnik lasted from 1620 to 1633.
Then he returned to Rome, where he spent the rest of his
life.
The rst edition of Kai's grammar in Rome in 1604.

It qualied Kai for further work in the area of Croatian

2 Literary activity
Already as a student, Kai started teaching Croatian in
the Illyric Academy in Rome, which awakened his in-
terest in the Croatian language. By 1599 he made a
Croatian-Italian dictionary, which has been preserved as
a manuscript in Dubrovnik since the 18th century. Some
language. Since the Jesuits took care of the Christians
in the Ottoman Empire and tried to teach in the local
language, they needed an adequate textbook for work-
ing among the Croats. In 1582 Marin Temperica wrote a
report to general Claudio Acquaviva in which he empha-
sized the importance of the Slavic language understand-
able all over the Balkans.[6] In this report of Temperica

1
2 3 WORKS

requested publishing of the Illyrian language dictionaries 2.3 The Roman Rite
and grammars.[7] Based on this request, Kai provided
such a textbook: he published Institutionum linguae illyri-
cae libri duo (The Structure of the Illyrian Language in
Two Books) in Rome in 1604. It was the rst Slavic
language grammar.[8]
In almost 200 pages and two parts (books), he provided
the basic information on the Croatian language and ex-
plained the Croatian morphology in great detail. The lan-
guage is basically Shtokavian with many Chakavian ele-
ments, mixing older and newer forms. For unknown rea-
sons, the grammar was not accompanied by a dictionary,
as was the practice with Jesuit dictionaries and grammars
of Croatian.
In periods 16121613 and 16181620 Kai visitied
various regions of Ottoman Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia.[9]
After 1613 Kai published several works of religious
and instructive content and purpose (the lives of the saints
Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier, the lives of Jesus
and Mary), a hagiographic collection Perivoj od djevstva
(Virginal Garden; 1625 and 1628), two catechisms etc.
In the late 1627 he completed the spiritual tragedy St
Venefrida, subtitled triomfo od istoe (a triumph of pu-
rity), which remained in manuscript until 1938.

Ritual rimski, 1640

2.2 Translation of the Bible Ritual rimski ("Roman Rite"; 1640), covering more than
400 pages, was the most famous Kai's work, which was
used by all Croatian dioceses and archdioceses except for
In 1622, Kai started translating the New Testament the one in Zagreb, which also accepted it in the 19th cen-
into the local Slavic vernacular more precisely, the tury.
Shtokavian dialect of Dubrovnik. In 1625, he was in
charge of translating the entire Bible. He submitted the Kai called the language used in Ritual rimski as naki
entire translation in Rome in 1633 to obtain the approval (our language) or bosanski (Bosnian). He used the
for printing, but he encountered diculties because some term Bosnian even though he was born in a Chakavian
Croatians were against translations in that vernacular. region: instead he decided to adopt a common language
The translation was eventually forbidden (non est expe- (lingua communis), a version of Shtokavian Ikavian, spo-
diens ut imprimatur). ken by the majority the speakers of Serbo-Croatian.
He used the terms dubrovaki (from Dubrovnik) for
Considering the fact that the translations of the Bible the Ijekavian version used in his Bible, and dalmatinski
to local languages had a crucial role in the creation of (Dalmatian) for the Chakavian version.
the standard languages of many peoples, the ban on
Kai's translation has been described by Josip Lisac
as the greatest catastrophe in the history of Croatian
language.[10] The preserved manuscripts were used to
3 Works
publish the translation, with detailed expert notes, in
2000. Razlika skladanja slovinska (Croatian-Italian dictio-
nary), Rome, 1599
The great linguistic variety and invention of his trans-
lation can be seen from the comparison with the King Institutionum linguae illyricae libri duo (The Struc-
James Version of the Bible. The King James Version, ture of the Illyrian (Croatian) Language in Two
which has had a profound impact on English, was pub- Books), Rome, 1604
lished in 1611, two decades before Kai's translation. It Various hagiographies; collection Perivoj od djevstva
has 12,143 dierent words. Kai's Croatian translation, (Virginal Garden; 1625 and 1628) *Two catechisms
even incomplete (some parts of the Old Testament are
missing), has around 20,000 dierent words more than Spiritual tragedy St Venefrida, 1627, published in
the English version and even more than the original Bible! 1938
4.1 Sources 3

The Bible, 1633 Hrvatska biblija Bartola Kaia (Croatian Bible of

Bartol Kai), Slobodna Dalmacija, December 5,
Ritual rimski (Roman Rite), 1640 2000

Zasluni jezikoslovac Bartol Kai (Bartol Kai, the

Great Linguist), Vjesnik, May 28, 1999
4 References
Bartol Kai
[1] Zlatar, Zdenko (1992). Between the Double Eagle and
the Crescent: The Republic of Dubrovnik and the Origins Bartol Kai i Biblija
of the Eastern Question. East European Monographs. p.
64. ISBN 978-0-88033-245-3. After his death his pro-
paganda activities were continued by an even greater Pan-
Slav: Bartol Kasic.

[2] Church, Catholic; Kai, Bartol; Horvat, Vladimir (1640).

Ritval Rimski: po Bartolomeu Kassichiu od Druxbae
Yesusovae. Kranska sadanjost. p. 457. Ujedno je
1606. bio cenzor i redaktor djela Aleksandra Komulovia
Zarcalo od ispovijesti, koje je objavljeno u Rimu 1606.
i(li) 1616, pa opet u Veneciji 1634.

[3] Harris, Robin (January 2006). Dubrovnik: A History. p.

236. ISBN 9780863569593. Kasic hailed from the Dal-
matian island of Pag and so, like Komulovic, he spoke the
Croatian variant known as cakavski (or cakavian).

[4] rnja, Zvane (1962). Cultural History of Croatia. p. 280.

[5] Sugar, Peter F (1977). Southeastern Europe Under Ot-

toman Rule, 1354-1804. p. 260. ISBN 9780295803630.

[6] Franievi, Marin (1986). Izabrana djela: Povijest

hrvatske renesansne knjievnosti. Nakladni zavod Matice
hrvatske. p. 190. Osnivanje Ilirskih zavoda u Loretu
i Rimu, spomenica koju e Marin Temperica, poto je
stupio u isusovaki red, uputiti generalu reda Aquavivi,
o potrebi jedinstvenoga slavenskog jezika koji bi mogli
razumjeti po cijelom Balkanu (1582), ...

[7] Franievi, Marin (1974). Pjesnici i stoljea. Mladost. p.

252. Tako se dogodilo da je isusovac Marin Temperica
ve u XVI stoljeu pisao spomenicu o potrebi zajednikog
jezika, traei da se napie rjenik i gramatika.

[8] Istoricheski pregled. Blgarsko istorichesko druzh-

estvo. 1992. p. 9. ...
,
,
.

[9] O'Neill, Charles E.; Domnguez, Joaqun Mara (2001).

Diccionario histrico de la Compaa de Jess: Infante de
Santiago-Piatkiewicz. Univ Pontica Comillas. p. 2899.
ISBN 978-84-8468-039-0.

[10] Neizdavanje Kaieve Biblije najvea katastrofa

hrvatskoga jezika (in Croatian). Zadarski list. Retrieved
February 6, 2014.

4.1 Sources

In Croatian:
4 5 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

5 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

5.1 Text
Bartol Kai Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartol_Ka%C5%A1i%C4%87?oldid=743561209 Contributors: Charles Matthews,
Mir Harven, Joy, Zmaj~enwiki, Gene Nygaard, Je3000, GregorB, Rjwilmsi, The Rambling Man, Jlittlet, RussBot, SmackBot, Orphan-
Bot, Iridescent, Cydebot, Travelbird, JamesAM, BokicaK, CommonsDelinker, Ivan T., Factanista, TXiKiBoT, Ivan tambuk, Admiral
Norton, Addbot, Tassedethe, Lightbot, Yobot, Sisyph, Anonymous from the 21st century, Silverije, Full-date unlinking bot, RjwilmsiBot,
Antidiskriminator, In ictu oculi, ZroBot, Zoupan, Petrb, BattyBot, Redsky89, 23 editor, VIAFbot, Dumuzid, KasparBot, Lule123, Bender
the Bot and Anonymous: 7

5.2 Images
File:Bartol_Kasic_Institutiones_linguae_Illyricae.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/
0/06/Bartol_Kasic_Institutiones_linguae_Illyricae.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://www.ihjj.hr/
oHrJeziku-bartol-kasic-Institutiones-linguae-lllyricae.html Original artist: Bartol Kai, Romae: Apud Aloyzium Zannettum
File:Commons-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contribu-
tors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Ritual_rimski.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Ritual_rimski.jpg License: Public domain Con-
tributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Text_document_with_red_question_mark.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Text_document_
with_red_question_mark.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Created by bdesham with Inkscape; based upon Text-x-generic.svg
from the Tango project. Original artist: Benjamin D. Esham (bdesham)

5.3 Content license

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