Kotsak, Arsenii

Kotsak, Arsenii [Коцак, Арсеній; Kocak, Arsenij], b 14 March 1737 in Bukovets, Prešov region, d 12 April 1800 in Mukachevo, Transcarpathia. Priest of the Basilian monastic order, writer, and pedagogue. After obtaining the degree of doctor of theology at Trnava University, he taught languages, history, and theology at monastery schools in Transcarpathia. He compiled a grammar of the Slavonic-Ruthenian language, Hrammatyka russkaia ... (1788), based on Meletii Smotrytsky’s well-known grammar and the local dialect. Kotsak also composed poetry. His works were never printed, but have been preserved in manuscript form.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 2 (1988).]