Z badań Ananiasza Zajączkowskiego nad folklorem karaimskim

This article deals with Professor Ananiasz Zajączkowski’s work on the folklore of the Polish-Lithuanian Karaites before the First World War. Ananiasz Zajączkowski authored several articles in which he edited and/or described manuscripts in the Karaite language. These manuscripts, which included works on fortune-telling, magic and herbalism, originated in late 19th-century Lithuania. The article describes the genesis of works on Karaite folklore and challenges Ananiasz Zajączkowski’s thesis regarding the origins of the Turkic peoples. It quotes a number of Hebrew manuscripts kept in Karaite collections and proves that most of the works have been translated into the Karaite language.