Onufry Kopczyński was an important educator and grammarian of the Polish language

Polish language

Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...

 in the period of Enlightenment in Poland

Enlightenment in Poland

The ideas of the Age of Enlightenment in Poland were developed later than in the Western Europe, as Polish bourgeoisie was weaker, and szlachta culture together with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth political system were in deep crisis...

.

Life and work

Born near Gniezno

Gniezno

Gniezno is a city in central-western Poland, some 50 km east of Poznań, inhabited by about 70,000 people. One of the Piasts' chief cities, it was mentioned by 10th century A.D. sources as the capital of Piast Poland however the first capital of Piast realm was most likely Giecz built around...

, Kopczyński became an educator with the Piarist

Piarists

The Order of Poor Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of the Pious Schools or, in short, Piarists , is the name of the oldest Catholic educational order also known as the Scolopi, Escolapios or Poor Clerics of the Mother of God...

 order, teaching at Stanisław Konarski's Collegium Nobilium

Collegium Nobilium

-Olomouc:Following the Thirty Years' War, the education in Moravia was firmly in the hands of Jesuits. Moravian nobility were keen to expand the range of areas taught at the University of Olomouc beyond just theology and philosophy. Despite opposition from the Jesuits, the Emperor Leopold I...

 in Warsaw

Warsaw

Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

. In 1775 he became a member of the Society for Elementary Textbooks, and in 1809 visitor to the Prussia

Prussia

Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

n-Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 schools.

Kopczyński is best known for his efforts to improve the status of the Polish language

Polish language

Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...

 by making it a principal subject of study in schools. He in fact created Polish grammar

Polish grammar

The grammar of the Polish language is characterized by a high degree of inflection, and has relatively free word order, although the dominant arrangement is subject–verb–object . There are no articles, and there is frequent dropping of subject pronouns...

 terminology

Terminology

Terminology is the study of terms and their use. Terms are words and compound words that in specific contexts are given specific meanings, meanings that may deviate from the meaning the same words have in other contexts and in everyday language. The discipline Terminology studies among other...

. His major work was Gramatyka dla szkół narodowych (A Grammar for the National Schools, 1785), in which he laid out a formal grammar and method of study for the Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 and Polish language

Polish language

Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...

s. The part of the book relating to the Polish language

Polish language

Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...

would be reprinted many times in the first half of the 19th century.

Selected publications

• Essai de Grammaire Polonaise pratique et raisonnée pour les Français l'an 1807
• Grammatyka języka Polskiego ... Dziéło pozgonné
• Poprawa błędów w ustnéy i pisanéy mowie polskiéy, Warszawa 1808
• Grammatyka dla szkoł narodowych, 1780–1807
• Układ grammatyki dla szkół narodowych z dzieła iuż skończonego wyciagniony, 1785