The ordering of the sources of Polish law and the reflection on language (on the material of "Akta grodzkie i ziemskie z czasów Rzeczypospolitej z archiwum bernardyńskiego we Lwowie", XIX century)

Abstract

The aim of the article is to reflect on linguistic manifestations of ordering information regarding the edition of source documents from the field of law by XIX century scholars dealing with the history of Poland. The work on preserving the printing of Polish monuments in the XIX century was motivated by the desire to document and prove the antiquity of Polish culture and Polish language, the historical significance of the Polish nation in the period of statehood loss. Organizing content in the studied source material is done by choosing materials, selecting them, giving them a chronological order, determining their origin and adding a commentary on linguistic, historical and moral themes. Reflection on the language concerns graphics, the writer’s efficiency, grammar and lexical correctness of the text, the realization of Latin, and exceptionally etymology. The authors of the commentary most often take the floor on the authenticity of the text. Reflections on the language of the document serve as an argument about the originality or inauthenticity of the source. Adjudication about the authenticity of a text and its meaning reflects one of the basic cognitive ideas of this period — ordering the editing of monuments of Polish law. In the discursive strategy of historians, reflections on language have been subordinated to it.