Category
Topic
Year
The depiction of war in modern Estonian literature
Keywords: war literature, representations of war, modern Estonian literature, Leo Kunnas
Unlike the traditional Estonian papers on war literature, which mainly deal with the so-called two big wars of the 20th century, the focus of this article lies on more recent wars and conflicts and their representations in modern Estonian literature, with closer attention to the works of Leo Kunnas. Modern Estonian literature is rich in war themes and representations of various conflicts (e.g. the Soviet-Afghan War, social upheavals, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, hypothetical wars of the future, an abstract threat of war) while their genre diversity is also considerable…
Unlike the traditional Estonian papers on war literature, which mainly deal with the so-called two big wars of the 20th century, the focus of this article lies on more recent wars and conflicts and their representations in modern Estonian literature, with closer attention to the works of Leo Kunnas. Modern Estonian literature is rich in war themes and representations of various conflicts (e.g. the Soviet-Afghan War, social upheavals, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, hypothetical wars of the future, an abstract threat of war) while their genre diversity is also considerable…
On the dictionary of Estonian surnames
Keywords: onomastics, surnames, dictionaries, etymology
In 2016 a new project was started aiming at compiling a dictionary of Estonian surnames. Most of the Estonian surnames were given in 1826–1834, while a significant part of the surnames were Estonianized in the 1920s and 1930s. The dictionary will comprise about 6 000 surnames that are selected based on the frequency of surnames in the Estonian population register (in order to be included the frequency has to be 30 or more) and the availability of historical records (only names given in Estonia will be included). Besides etymology, a surname entry will include data on…
In 2016 a new project was started aiming at compiling a dictionary of Estonian surnames. Most of the Estonian surnames were given in 1826–1834, while a significant part of the surnames were Estonianized in the 1920s and 1930s. The dictionary will comprise about 6 000 surnames that are selected based on the frequency of surnames in the Estonian population register (in order to be included the frequency has to be 30 or more) and the availability of historical records (only names given in Estonia will be included). Besides etymology, a surname entry will include data on…
Eventful life stories
Keywords: life stories, memory, autobiography, narrativity, World War II in Estonia
This paper focuses on a contextual analysis of a 250-page manuscript life story written by an Estonian man born in 1921, who survived mobilization into both World War II occupation armies, subsequent imprisonment in the Siberian Gulag, and later, after a failed escape attempt, several years of imprisonment and resettlement in the Kolyma mining district in the Far East. The text was submitted posthumously to an Estonian life story collection competition in 2004. In this paper, Erich Arak’s manuscript is used as an example to develop the concept of an…
This paper focuses on a contextual analysis of a 250-page manuscript life story written by an Estonian man born in 1921, who survived mobilization into both World War II occupation armies, subsequent imprisonment in the Siberian Gulag, and later, after a failed escape attempt, several years of imprisonment and resettlement in the Kolyma mining district in the Far East. The text was submitted posthumously to an Estonian life story collection competition in 2004. In this paper, Erich Arak’s manuscript is used as an example to develop the concept of an…
„Singing to the last throb”
Keywords: Bernard Kangro, poetry as testimony, trauma, World War II
The article discusses six poems from the poetry collection Põlenud puu (Charred tree, 1945) and three cycles from the collection Varjumaa (Shadowland, 1966), both published in exile by Estonian author Bernard Kangro (1910–1994). Those autobiographical poems and cycles are interpreted as a testimony, testifying not only to the author’s personal experiences of the World War II, but also in the name of the other Estonian refugees and in the name of those who suffered and perished in their home country. The article analyses Kangro’s themes, motifs and figures of speech associated with traumatic experience and…
The article discusses six poems from the poetry collection Põlenud puu (Charred tree, 1945) and three cycles from the collection Varjumaa (Shadowland, 1966), both published in exile by Estonian author Bernard Kangro (1910–1994). Those autobiographical poems and cycles are interpreted as a testimony, testifying not only to the author’s personal experiences of the World War II, but also in the name of the other Estonian refugees and in the name of those who suffered and perished in their home country. The article analyses Kangro’s themes, motifs and figures of speech associated with traumatic experience and…
Once again about the „foolish Mulks”
Keywords: etymology of bynames, place names and folk names
The article challenges again the widespread belief that the folk name Mulks derives from the Latvian word muļķis, muļķe ’stupid, fool’. The article explores in detail the spread of the byname Mulk and Mulgi in its various forms in early modern Estland, Livland and Kurland and comes to the conclusion that it was strikingly more common in Estonian-speaking areas than in the Latvian-speaking ones. In principle, the word muļķis could fit as a byname, but village dwellers generally preferred more specific words to designate other community members. The byname and place name Mulgi in the Estonian-speaking areas does not have to have one single root…
The article challenges again the widespread belief that the folk name Mulks derives from the Latvian word muļķis, muļķe ’stupid, fool’. The article explores in detail the spread of the byname Mulk and Mulgi in its various forms in early modern Estland, Livland and Kurland and comes to the conclusion that it was strikingly more common in Estonian-speaking areas than in the Latvian-speaking ones. In principle, the word muļķis could fit as a byname, but village dwellers generally preferred more specific words to designate other community members. The byname and place name Mulgi in the Estonian-speaking areas does not have to have one single root…
Jaak Põldmäe’s contribution from a comparative perspective
Keywords: verse prosody, Estonian verse typology, Russian versification studies, Jaak Põldmäe, Andrei Kolmogorov, Mikhail Gasparov
The article addresses the contribution of Jaak Põldmäe (1942–1979), former Assistant Professor of the University of Tartu, to the knowledge of Estonian versification. Before Jaak Põldmäe’s innovative studies, Estonian verse had been analysed within individual systems, without even wondering about the possible number and internal articulation of such systems. Jaak Põldmäe managed to answer both the questions, also demonstrating that a purely quantitative verse is not marginal at all, and that free verse is far from anarchic inside. To reach these results, he carefully studied the…
The article addresses the contribution of Jaak Põldmäe (1942–1979), former Assistant Professor of the University of Tartu, to the knowledge of Estonian versification. Before Jaak Põldmäe’s innovative studies, Estonian verse had been analysed within individual systems, without even wondering about the possible number and internal articulation of such systems. Jaak Põldmäe managed to answer both the questions, also demonstrating that a purely quantitative verse is not marginal at all, and that free verse is far from anarchic inside. To reach these results, he carefully studied the…
Self-mention in a scientific text – a way to circumvent the first-person pronoun?
Keywords: self-mention, Master’s thesis, scientific language, metadiscourse, discourse analysis
The requirement that a scientific text should be neutral and objective not only affects substantive issues, but alsolinguistic choices, including how to refer to oneself. The Estonian language offers numerous relevant options, the most natural of which are the first-person singular (for a single author) (Töös analüüsin. . . . ’In the thesis I analyse. . . .’) and the first-person plural (for collective authorship) (Töös analüüsime. . . . ’In the thesis we analyse. . . .’), both of which make an explicit mention of the author’s presence in the text, whereas the third person (Autor analüüsib. . . . ’The author analyses. . . .’), a metaphoric person (Töö…
The requirement that a scientific text should be neutral and objective not only affects substantive issues, but alsolinguistic choices, including how to refer to oneself. The Estonian language offers numerous relevant options, the most natural of which are the first-person singular (for a single author) (Töös analüüsin. . . . ’In the thesis I analyse. . . .’) and the first-person plural (for collective authorship) (Töös analüüsime. . . . ’In the thesis we analyse. . . .’), both of which make an explicit mention of the author’s presence in the text, whereas the third person (Autor analüüsib. . . . ’The author analyses. . . .’), a metaphoric person (Töö…
The public debate of 1967–1968 around the Estonian Literary Museum and the humanities
Keywords: folkloristics,, history of science, 1960s, humanities, information technology, Estonian Literary Museum, Estonian Folklore Archives
The article recollects a debate between humanities scholars published in two Estonian newspapers – Sirp ja Vasar and Edasi – in 1967 and 1968. One of the main issues was the prospective implementation of computers and information technology in the preservation of humnities collections as well as in data processing and retrieval in the Estonian SSR. The other hub of the discussion was the Fr. R. Kreutzwald National Literay Museum at the ESSR Academy of Sciences and its folklore department (Estonian Folklore Archives), also touching upon the problems and functions of the…
The article recollects a debate between humanities scholars published in two Estonian newspapers – Sirp ja Vasar and Edasi – in 1967 and 1968. One of the main issues was the prospective implementation of computers and information technology in the preservation of humnities collections as well as in data processing and retrieval in the Estonian SSR. The other hub of the discussion was the Fr. R. Kreutzwald National Literay Museum at the ESSR Academy of Sciences and its folklore department (Estonian Folklore Archives), also touching upon the problems and functions of the…
On the semantics of tüvitekst
Keywords: core text, base text, classic, archi-text, rhizome, structure, literature
The article discusses the synonyms, equivalents and connotations of the Estonian term tüvitekst ’core text, seminal text; lit. stem text’, which in the new century has gained popularity both in Estonian criticism and in the Estonian media. The notion was first introduced in Estonia by orientalist Linnart Mäll, who studied and translated the basic works of Oriental thought, which he called humanistic base texts. These are fundamental classical texts that consolidate the past and build the future by shaping the mentality of communities and the discourses to follow. Literary scholar Jaan Undusk…
The article discusses the synonyms, equivalents and connotations of the Estonian term tüvitekst ’core text, seminal text; lit. stem text’, which in the new century has gained popularity both in Estonian criticism and in the Estonian media. The notion was first introduced in Estonia by orientalist Linnart Mäll, who studied and translated the basic works of Oriental thought, which he called humanistic base texts. These are fundamental classical texts that consolidate the past and build the future by shaping the mentality of communities and the discourses to follow. Literary scholar Jaan Undusk…
The Finnish-Estonian linguistic bridge in the 21st century
Keywords: knowledge of language(s), multilingualism, foreign language learning, Finnish language learning, language prestige
Traditionally, the metaphor of a Finnish-Estonian „linguistic bridge” has been used to refer to the competence in both languages on either side of the Gulf of Finland. The focus of this article is on the teaching of and competence in Finnish on the Estonian side. Over the recent 75 years the numbers of the Estonian people skilled in Finnish has grown from 0.5 % of the population in 1934 to 12.9 % in 2011, that is from 5729 to 167 315 people. This growth of Finnish proficiency in Estonians has to…
Traditionally, the metaphor of a Finnish-Estonian „linguistic bridge” has been used to refer to the competence in both languages on either side of the Gulf of Finland. The focus of this article is on the teaching of and competence in Finnish on the Estonian side. Over the recent 75 years the numbers of the Estonian people skilled in Finnish has grown from 0.5 % of the population in 1934 to 12.9 % in 2011, that is from 5729 to 167 315 people. This growth of Finnish proficiency in Estonians has to…