Trynimas

Trynimas is a Lithuanian noun that denotes the act of erasing, deleting, or obliterating something. It is formed from the verb trinti (to erase, wipe out) with the suffix -imas, which marks a process or result. In everyday use, trynimas describes removing marks from a surface, such as erasing pencil or chalk, and the correction of mistakes.

In information and archival contexts, trynimas refers to the deletion or destruction of data, documents, or records, whether by physical erasure or digital methods. It raises questions about privacy, data retention, and historical memory, since deliberate trynimas can erase traces of events, people, or cultures.

Culturally and historically, the concept is connected to censorship, the manipulation of memory, and debates over which records should be preserved or suppressed. Erasure can be voluntary, such as policy-driven deletion, or involuntary, resulting from decay, conflict, or other factors.

In literature and the arts, trynimas relates to erasure as a creative technique. Erasure poetics, for example, involves selectively removing portions of a text to produce a new work and reveal unforeseen meanings. The term appears in Lithuanian discussions of contemporary poetry and art, alongside broader studies of memory and disappearance.

Related terms include ištrynimas (deletion), censorship, and data destruction. The concept intersects with archival practices and memory studies, highlighting tensions between preservation and removal in information, culture, and history.