Samogitian Version

Samogitian Version.

The Samogitian is a dialect of the Lithuanian language, spoken in three districts of Lithuania — namely, Telcha, Schaul, and Rosina. The Samogitians number about 112,000 individuals, and are, with few exceptions, of the Roman Catholic persuasion, whence it is also called the "Catholic dialect." In 1814, the New Test. had been for the first time translated into this dialect by prince Gedroitz, bishop of Samogitia, who designed to print one thousand copies at Wilna at his own expense. In 1816, a second edition left the press, and in 1831 a third one, printed by the monks in the monastery of St. Cazemir at Wilna. Of the Old Test. nothing has as yet been translated into this dialect. Comp. Dalton, Das Gebet des Herrn in den Sprachen Russlands, p. 41, 79; The Bible of Every Land, p. 313. (B.P.)