Florian Ceynowa

Who was Florian Ceynowa?

Florian Ceynowa was a doctor, political activist, writer, and linguist. He undertook efforts to identitfy Kashubian language, culture and traditions. He and Alexander Hilferding were not the only ones to study the language and legends of the Kashubians, but they had the greatest influence and prompted others to take up investigations. The individual character of the Kashubian character and language was first described by Hilferding, to whom we are indebted for the first data about the range of Kashubian dialects. In 1856 he and Ceynowa travelled to the Kashubia. He awakened Kashubian self-identity, thereby opposing both Germanisation and Prussian authority, and Polish nobility and clergy. He believed in a separate Kashubian identity and strove for a Russian-led pan-Slavic federacy. He endeavoured a program aimed towards introduction of a Kashubian standard in grammar, pronunciation and spelling. It is based on the spirit of the 1848 Revolution. He compiled treatises on Kashubian grammar, and published Kashubian texts alongside with their translations into other Slavic languages.

Ceynowa attempted to take the Prussian garrison in Preußisch Stargard during 1846, but the operation failed when his 100 combatants, armed only with scythes, decided to abandon the site before the attack was carried out. He was the pioneer of the nationalist movement among the Kashubian people in the mid-19th century. He was an important person for Kashubian literature. He was also a translator of Russian texts into Kashubian language.