Krikščioniškosios Bažnyčios raštų ir apeigų paskatintas sakinių modelis : laiko sakiniai su "kiek kartų" senojoje lietuvių kalboje

ENThe article discusses the reasons that determined the formation and establishment of temporal clauses with kiek kartų in Old Lithuanian, the frequency of their use, morphosyntactic properties, semantics and synonymous equivalents. In old Lithuanian texts the combination of words kiek kartų was not only used in the lexical meanings common to the modern Lithuanian language (with a determinative and quantitative kiek) but also as an adverbial subordinator of temporal clauses in the form of a multi-word expression. Temporal clauses containing the adverbial subordinator kiek kartų were used to provide information about the action that was expected to happen at an indefinite time and at an incidental or repetitive frequency. The dynamic desemanticization of the phrase word kiek kartų with the usual lexical meaning and its transformation into a word with special grammatical characteristics typical only of a functional word which occurred in Old Lithuanian can be associated with the performativity of certain phrases used by the Christian Church. The sentence models with temporal clauses containing kiek kartų, which express the lines 1 Cor 11, 25–26 and are used in the old Lithuanian texts, are linked with an important element of the Christian rituals – the Altar’s Sacrament or the Eucharist. To perform this ritual and to explain its importance, the temporal clauses with kiek kartų expressing the lines 1 Cor 11, 25–26 are not only found in old Lithuanian homilies, but also in catechisms. Different translations of The Small Catechism by Martin Luther into Lithuanian show a tendency to choose a temporal clause with the adverbial subordinator kiek kartų to express the line 1 Cor 11, 25, though structurally it does not correspond to so oft(ens) used in the original version in the German language.The choice of the adverbial subordinator kiek kartų can be explained by the better semantic agreement of the word combination of this model for expressing an action taking place at an indefinite time as well as the influence of the sentence model containing the clause with kiek kartų which was created by the example of Polish sentences with ilekroć and the Vulgate sentences with quotienscunque and was already recorded in the catechism by Martynas Mažvydas (1547), cf. Tatai darikiet kiek kartu gierssit ant atminima mana (MžK 27). The expression of the line 1 Cor 11, 25 by means of a temporal clause containing the adverbial subordinator kiek kartų which appears in the present Lithuanian translation of the Bible can also be explained by the precise use of the ecclesiastical language formulas. A rare use of temporal clauses with kiek kartų which is limited to the traditional expression of elevated style citations in modern Lithuanian leads to the conclusion that the cycle of the existence of the adverbial subordinator kiek kartų, following the example of other – Latin and Polish – languages and used in narrow grammatical frames, is nearly over. To highlight the indefinite or incidental nature of the time of action in modern Lithuanian, the temporal clauses with kiek kartų are replaced with temporal clauses containing kada tik, kai tik. [From the publication]