Linguistic heritage of Jazep Drazdovič – a bright representative of the Belarusian national revival of the 1st half of the 20th century

Jazep Drazdovič is a multifaceted unique creative personality in the history of culture of the Belarusian people. He left a rich and unusual heritage in different spheres of art, literature, archaeology, astronomy. His occupation with collecting dialect linguistic material, creating terminological, thematic and dialect dictionaries due to various socio-historical and political circumstances had not the subject of special scientific research for a long time. This article evaluates some lexicographic works of Jazep Drazdovič, points out the degree of the author’s word creation when creating the terms of the Belarusian literary language, and compares the recorded lexical units with their equivalents of the modern colloquialisms of the north-western region of Belarus. The linguistic heritage of Jazep Drazdovič is a valuable contribution to the history of Belarusian national lexicography.