V.V. Nimchuk

On July 6 of this year, the outstanding Ukrainian linguist, cultural researcher, organizer of science, public figure, Honorary Doctor of Vasyl Stefanyk National University of Prykarpattia Vasyl Vasyliovych Nimchuk would have turned 90 years old. He entered the history of Ukrainian linguistics as a researcher of Old Ukrainian and Old Slavic languages, dialects and onomastics of the Ukrainian language, the history of the Ukrainian literary language and Ukrainian linguistics, Ukrainian glottogenesis, problems of the Ukrainian language as a confessional language, Ukrainian-South Slavic parallels, etc. V.V. Nimchuk is the author of the monographs “Old Ukrainian lexicography in its connections with Russian and Belarusian” (1980), “Linguistics in Ukraine in the XIV-XVII centuries”, which are highly regarded in the scientific world. (1985), “Ancient Russian Heritage in the Vocabulary of the Ukrainian Language” (1992), “Problems of Ukrainian Spelling of the 20th – Early 21st Centuries.” (2002) and others. One of the authors of the works: “History of the Ukrainian language. Morphology” (1978), “Dictionary of Hydronyms of Ukraine” (1979), “History of the Ukrainian Language. Syntax” (1983), “History of the Ukrainian language. Vocabulary and phraseology” (1983), “Genres and styles in the history of the Ukrainian language” (1989) and others. Researched and prepared for publication a number of monuments of the Ukrainian language, in particular, “Lexis…” (1964) and “Slovenian Grammar” (1980) by Lavrentia Zyzania, “Pamva Berinda’s Slovenian Lexicon” (1961), “Slovenian Synonym” (1964), “Latin Lexicon” by Epiphany Slavynetskyi and “Slovene-Latin Lexicon” by Epiphany Slavinetskyi and Arseniy Koretskyi-Satanovskyi (both – 1973), “Grammar…” by Meletii Smotrytskyi (1979) and others. Researched and published “Kyiv Glagolitic Sheets” (1983).

Honoring the memory of the outstanding Ukrainian linguist V.V. Nimchuk, Honorary Doctor of our university, we present his memories published by Vasyl Hreshchuk, professor of the Department of Ukrainian Language, in the book “Professor Vasyl Nimchuk in the Recollections of Contemporaries” (Uzhhorod, 2018).

LIFE OFFERED TO SCIENCE

My acquaintance with Vasyl Vasyliovych Nimchuk took place long before our personal lateness. When I began my linguistic research in the 70s of the last century, Vasyl Vasyliovych was already a recognized scientist, a solid and authoritative researcher in various areas of Ukrainian and Slavic linguistics: language history, dialectology, onomastics, word-formation, and published by him with thorough historical – dictionaries, grammars, written records of the 16th-17th centuries with linguistic comments. even then became a national scientific asset, without which no linguist could do. While working on issues of the historical word-formation of the Ukrainian language, I was, of course, also interested in his thorough observations regarding the word-formation of nominal parts of speech in Nadborzhava dialects, and on the other hand, I was indebted to this fine scientist for the accessibility he created to the texts of medieval language monuments. The scientist’s scientific output already showed thorough linguistic erudition, knowledge of Slavic and non-Slavic languages, attention to specific material, the ability to analyze the facts and phenomena of the Ukrainian language, its dialects and their development in neighboring and distant languages, taking into account the latest developments in the relevant branches of science.

Already during my research internship at the Institute of Linguistics named after O.O. Our first meeting took place in Potebni. Vasyl Vasyliovych’s erudition, which I got to know from his scientific works, was also complemented by simplicity in communication, encouragement to research certain problems, wit and humor. Another characteristic feature of the scientist was impressive: exceptional knowledge of local dialects and translation of communication with the interlocutor into his native colloquial speech, which, in addition to a kind of witty-humorous attitude, strengthened trustworthiness in communication.

Vasyl Vasyliovych was generous with scientific thoughts and ideas, he helped many in determining the topic of research, and suggested where to look for sources. His advice was always sound, relevant, and helped solve many issues related to the organization and coordination of scientific studies. The talent of the organizer and coordinator of scientific research was especially evident in the decade (from 1998 to 2008), when the staff of the Institute of the Ukrainian Language elected him as its director. Despite his fruitful personal research activity, the scientist carried out a number of measures aimed at the comprehensive improvement of research in the area of the Ukrainian language. Thus, on the initiative of Vasyl Vasyliovych, in 2001, a new academic journal “Ukrainian Language” was created, the publication of the “Lexicographic Bulletin” was resumed, the Scientific Coordination Council “Ukrainian Language” was formed, on the basis of a number of departments of the Ukrainian language, together with the Institute of the Ukrainian Language, the work of joint scientific -research centers, in particular at our university – the Carpathian Derivatological Center named after Ivan Kovalik and others.

It was during this period that we became as close as possible. I remember with great pleasure the unforgettable moments of communication. On his initiative, our university together with the Institute of the Ukrainian Language became an organizer