Category
Topic
Year
The Republic of Estonia, the free state of Estonia, and Ehstenreich
:
Keywords: Estonian nationalism, Andres Dido, Sõjalaul (“War Song”), historical reception, Baltic German propaganda
This article critically examines Andres Dido’s poem Sõjalaul (“War Song”) within its historical and literary context. Andres Dido (1855–1921) was an Estonian writer and journalist who participated in the radical wing of the 19th century Estonian national movement. He was arrested in 1882 for alleged anti-government actions, imprisoned for three years, and later lived in exile in Geneva and Paris. Dido’s poem Sõjalaul, confiscated during a house search in 1882, was an incendiary text calling for revenge against the Baltic Germans for past injustices and advocating for some…
Keywords: Estonian nationalism, Andres Dido, Sõjalaul (“War Song”), historical reception, Baltic German propaganda
This article critically examines Andres Dido’s poem Sõjalaul (“War Song”) within its historical and literary context. Andres Dido (1855–1921) was an Estonian writer and journalist who participated in the radical wing of the 19th century Estonian national movement. He was arrested in 1882 for alleged anti-government actions, imprisoned for three years, and later lived in exile in Geneva and Paris. Dido’s poem Sõjalaul, confiscated during a house search in 1882, was an incendiary text calling for revenge against the Baltic Germans for past injustices and advocating for some…
Environmental folklore and green communication
Keywords: folkloristics, environmental ethics, sustainability, environmental communication, lake folklore
The usefulness of traditional environmental folklore in addressing sustainability issues in modern contexts requires a more nuanced analysis. Despite the technologized and secularized surface of modern society, its values (including environmental ethics and concepts of sustainable resource use) are based on traditional worldviews. This article uses qualitative content and context analysis to look at key concepts and motifs in Estonian environmental folklore based on the corpus of Estonian lake folklore. It examines the following questions: How can we better integrate traditional knowledge about the causes of environmental problems, methods of prevention and…
The usefulness of traditional environmental folklore in addressing sustainability issues in modern contexts requires a more nuanced analysis. Despite the technologized and secularized surface of modern society, its values (including environmental ethics and concepts of sustainable resource use) are based on traditional worldviews. This article uses qualitative content and context analysis to look at key concepts and motifs in Estonian environmental folklore based on the corpus of Estonian lake folklore. It examines the following questions: How can we better integrate traditional knowledge about the causes of environmental problems, methods of prevention and…
From ning to ja and beyond
Keywords: old literary Estonian, grammaticalization, conjunctions, pragmatic particles
This article examines the occurrence and functional distribution of the linguistic units ja and ning (‘and’) in early written Estonian texts. In modern Estonian, ja and ning are high-frequency synonymous coordinating conjunctions, whose functions have been described in previous linguistic studies and subjected to prescriptive language regulation. The corpus-based study reveals that while the conjunction ning appears in the oldest preserved texts, evidence of the reinterpretation of the affirmative response particle ja(a) as a conjunction can already be found in early 17th-century texts. Based on the preserved sources of written Estonian, it is…
This article examines the occurrence and functional distribution of the linguistic units ja and ning (‘and’) in early written Estonian texts. In modern Estonian, ja and ning are high-frequency synonymous coordinating conjunctions, whose functions have been described in previous linguistic studies and subjected to prescriptive language regulation. The corpus-based study reveals that while the conjunction ning appears in the oldest preserved texts, evidence of the reinterpretation of the affirmative response particle ja(a) as a conjunction can already be found in early 17th-century texts. Based on the preserved sources of written Estonian, it is…
The old written Estonian feminine suffix -ik and its reflection in dialect dictionaries
Keywords: linguistics, Estonian language, dialects, Proto-Finnic, femininity, diminution, pejoration
This article examines the feminine function of the polysemous Estonian suffix –ik. The feminine function of this suffix is documented in numerous sources of old written Estonian and, due to its Proto-Finnic origins (diminutive suffix *-(i)kkoi̯), in studies of other Finnic languages. As a marker of feminine gender, the suffix was primarily used in ethnonyms (e.g., saksik ‘German woman’), but also appeared in broader contexts, such as hõimik ‘female relative’. These derivatives often carried a pejorative connotation, as seen in the following example from Hornung’s grammar: Saksik ein teutsch Weib / Rootsik…
This article examines the feminine function of the polysemous Estonian suffix –ik. The feminine function of this suffix is documented in numerous sources of old written Estonian and, due to its Proto-Finnic origins (diminutive suffix *-(i)kkoi̯), in studies of other Finnic languages. As a marker of feminine gender, the suffix was primarily used in ethnonyms (e.g., saksik ‘German woman’), but also appeared in broader contexts, such as hõimik ‘female relative’. These derivatives often carried a pejorative connotation, as seen in the following example from Hornung’s grammar: Saksik ein teutsch Weib / Rootsik…
Christoph Blume as a language innovator in the second half of the 17th century
Keywords: historical sociolinguistics, Old Literary Estonian, morphosyntax, language development
This article provides an insight into the language usage in the mid-17th century ecclesiastical texts by the Northern Estonian author Christoph Blume: Das Kleine Corpus Doctrinæ (1662), Geistliche Wochen-Arbeit (1666), and Geistliche Hohe Fäst-Tahgs Freude (1667). The focus is on various morphosyntactic phenomena, such as the expression of negation and future tense, the translation of the definite article, and the relationship between analytical and synthetic locative constructions. The article also explores the extent to which Blume followed in his works the example of authoritative writers or the established norms of the…
This article provides an insight into the language usage in the mid-17th century ecclesiastical texts by the Northern Estonian author Christoph Blume: Das Kleine Corpus Doctrinæ (1662), Geistliche Wochen-Arbeit (1666), and Geistliche Hohe Fäst-Tahgs Freude (1667). The focus is on various morphosyntactic phenomena, such as the expression of negation and future tense, the translation of the definite article, and the relationship between analytical and synthetic locative constructions. The article also explores the extent to which Blume followed in his works the example of authoritative writers or the established norms of the…
The development of written Estonian during the early national awakening period through the lens of literary translations
Keywords: written Estonian, 19th century, language attitudes, new orthography
This article explores the development of written Estonian during the early national awakening period, with a focus on the mid-19th century, as reflected in literary translations. The language reform process involved a transition from the old orthography to a new one, reducing dialectal differences, and enriching the vocabulary. Translated texts played a central role in this process. By broadening readers’ worldview with new concepts and ideas, and introducing language innovations in an appealing and engaging context, translations from the early national awakening period significantly contributed to the evolution of written Estonian. The…
This article explores the development of written Estonian during the early national awakening period, with a focus on the mid-19th century, as reflected in literary translations. The language reform process involved a transition from the old orthography to a new one, reducing dialectal differences, and enriching the vocabulary. Translated texts played a central role in this process. By broadening readers’ worldview with new concepts and ideas, and introducing language innovations in an appealing and engaging context, translations from the early national awakening period significantly contributed to the evolution of written Estonian. The…
On the translation of the agenda (Kässi-Ramat) printed in Tallinn in 1699
Keywords: historical linguistics, history of written Estonian, translation, manuscripts
This article provides an overview of the translation process of the Estonian-language agenda, a handbook for church services, printed in Tallinn in 1699. It also introduces two surviving translation manuscripts housed in the National Archives of Estonia in Tartu. The translation was based on the new Swedish-language church agenda published in 1693 in connection with the Swedish Church Law of 1686. The task of translation was to be carried out collaboratively by the clergy of Estonia and Livonia, who had recently been at odds over the Estonian language used in church texts…
This article provides an overview of the translation process of the Estonian-language agenda, a handbook for church services, printed in Tallinn in 1699. It also introduces two surviving translation manuscripts housed in the National Archives of Estonia in Tartu. The translation was based on the new Swedish-language church agenda published in 1693 in connection with the Swedish Church Law of 1686. The task of translation was to be carried out collaboratively by the clergy of Estonia and Livonia, who had recently been at odds over the Estonian language used in church texts…
Heinrich Göseken in Stockholm
Keywords: history, German St. Gertrude Parish of Stockholm, Johannes Rotlöben, Johann Linck, Johannes Weidling, Dorothea Siegel, Joachim Jhering, coronation of Queen Kristina of Sweden
The Lutheran priest Heinrich Göseken, a well-known figure in Estonian linguistic and cultural history, lived and worked briefly in Stockholm during the mid-1630s. This period of his life has received little attention in scholarly literature, even though it led to Göseken, originally from Hanover, becoming engaged to Dorothea Siegel, the daughter of a Tallinn merchant and widow of the prematurely deceased Johannes Weidling, a former professor of Oriental languages at the University of Tartu. After relocating to…
The Lutheran priest Heinrich Göseken, a well-known figure in Estonian linguistic and cultural history, lived and worked briefly in Stockholm during the mid-1630s. This period of his life has received little attention in scholarly literature, even though it led to Göseken, originally from Hanover, becoming engaged to Dorothea Siegel, the daughter of a Tallinn merchant and widow of the prematurely deceased Johannes Weidling, a former professor of Oriental languages at the University of Tartu. After relocating to…
A comparative view on early Estonian lexicography
Keywords: historical lexicography, comparative dictionary analysis, earliest Estonian dictionaries
The earliest Estonian dictionaries, published in the 17th and 18th centuries, have typically been studied in a narrow context, with a focus on individual sources or the authors in isolation. However, this period merits a comparative cross-source analysis, describing the lexicographical landscape from a broader perspective. This constitutes the main objective of this article. It provides a concise review of the existing literature on this period in Estonian lexicography, followed by a comparative analysis of the macrostructure and microstructure of these dictionaries.
The sources analyzed in this study range from Heinrich Stahl’s Vocabula…
The earliest Estonian dictionaries, published in the 17th and 18th centuries, have typically been studied in a narrow context, with a focus on individual sources or the authors in isolation. However, this period merits a comparative cross-source analysis, describing the lexicographical landscape from a broader perspective. This constitutes the main objective of this article. It provides a concise review of the existing literature on this period in Estonian lexicography, followed by a comparative analysis of the macrostructure and microstructure of these dictionaries.
The sources analyzed in this study range from Heinrich Stahl’s Vocabula…
Loans came, loans went or stayed
Keywords: linguistics, contact, history of written language, German loanwords, Estonian language
This article examines the arrival of German loanwords into Estonian through a small selection of once-exotic fruits of foreign origin (pear, plum, damson, cherry, lemon, bitter orange, and orange) alongside the potato, a vegetable of American origin. Linguistic data provides insight into when these foreign fruits and plants appeared on our tables and in our gardens, as well as the forms these loanwords took in Northern and Southern Estonia, two historical provinces with distinct dialects and written languages.
The adoption of new fruit names in Estonian reflects long-term linguistic processes. In…
This article examines the arrival of German loanwords into Estonian through a small selection of once-exotic fruits of foreign origin (pear, plum, damson, cherry, lemon, bitter orange, and orange) alongside the potato, a vegetable of American origin. Linguistic data provides insight into when these foreign fruits and plants appeared on our tables and in our gardens, as well as the forms these loanwords took in Northern and Southern Estonia, two historical provinces with distinct dialects and written languages.
The adoption of new fruit names in Estonian reflects long-term linguistic processes. In…
The meaning of raamat ‘book’ and kiri ‘letter’ in old written Estonian
Keywords: old literary language, historical sociolinguistics, lexical change, lexical borrowing, Estonian
This article explores the historical development of the meanings of two key words in 16th–19th century literary Estonian – raamat ‘book’ and kiri ‘letter, message, etc.’ Literary Estonian emerged in the first half of the 16th century, following the Reformation, with the translation of religious literature from German. Even at that time, the Estonian words raamat and kiri were used with distinct meanings. This article examines the evolution of their usage, drawing primarily on Corpus of Old Written Estonian and dictionaries. At the same time, it seeks to answer how…
This article explores the historical development of the meanings of two key words in 16th–19th century literary Estonian – raamat ‘book’ and kiri ‘letter, message, etc.’ Literary Estonian emerged in the first half of the 16th century, following the Reformation, with the translation of religious literature from German. Even at that time, the Estonian words raamat and kiri were used with distinct meanings. This article examines the evolution of their usage, drawing primarily on Corpus of Old Written Estonian and dictionaries. At the same time, it seeks to answer how…
Kaabakas, kabajantsik, and the like…
Keywords: linguistics, affective words, names for unlikable persons, names for animals, names for supernatural forces, distribution, origin, formation, Estonian language
This article examines common names for persons and supernatural beings with negative connotations in the Estonian language. These names are thought to originate from either onomatopoeic-descriptive roots or (as the author prefers) affective stems, the protoforms of which can be reconstructed as *ka(a)p(p)-. The analysis covers their distribution across Estonian subdialects, written texts, and runic songs. It also considers the etymology of these terms and tries to approach them from a somewhat novel perspective.
Noun derivatives of the *ka(a)p(p)– protostem are found…
This article examines common names for persons and supernatural beings with negative connotations in the Estonian language. These names are thought to originate from either onomatopoeic-descriptive roots or (as the author prefers) affective stems, the protoforms of which can be reconstructed as *ka(a)p(p)-. The analysis covers their distribution across Estonian subdialects, written texts, and runic songs. It also considers the etymology of these terms and tries to approach them from a somewhat novel perspective.
Noun derivatives of the *ka(a)p(p)– protostem are found…
The name(s) Kuningamäe
Keywords: linguistics, Estonian, place names, foreign names, name planning, socio-onomastics
This article examines Estonian place names containing the term kuningas ‘king’. The earliest records of Kuninga-names date back to the 16th century. The Place Names Archive of the Institute of the Estonian Language lists more than 200 place names beginning with Kuning(a)-. By comparison, terms denoting other noble ranks are significantly less common: there are 86 names starting with krahv ‘count’, 43 with parun ‘baron’, 29 each with keiser ‘emperor’ and prints ‘prince’, four with vürst ‘prince’ (from the German Würst), and one with hertsog ‘duke’.
Kuningamäe is a typical…
This article examines Estonian place names containing the term kuningas ‘king’. The earliest records of Kuninga-names date back to the 16th century. The Place Names Archive of the Institute of the Estonian Language lists more than 200 place names beginning with Kuning(a)-. By comparison, terms denoting other noble ranks are significantly less common: there are 86 names starting with krahv ‘count’, 43 with parun ‘baron’, 29 each with keiser ‘emperor’ and prints ‘prince’, four with vürst ‘prince’ (from the German Würst), and one with hertsog ‘duke’.
Kuningamäe is a typical…
The childhood of which songster?
Keywords: folklore, ethnomusicology, choral music, runosong, orality and literacy
One of the most iconic and seminal musical works of Estonian culture, the song Lauliku lapsepõli (“Childhood of the Songster”), often referred to by its opening words, “Kui ma olin väiksekene” (“When I Was Little”), was composed on the basis of Estonian folk songs in collaboration between Aino Tamm (1864–1945), one of the first professionally trained Estonian singers, and Miina Härma (1864–1941), the first Estonian female composer. The song has been performed in various formats – including choir, solo, and social singing – published in numerous songbooks, and even reintroduced into oral…
One of the most iconic and seminal musical works of Estonian culture, the song Lauliku lapsepõli (“Childhood of the Songster”), often referred to by its opening words, “Kui ma olin väiksekene” (“When I Was Little”), was composed on the basis of Estonian folk songs in collaboration between Aino Tamm (1864–1945), one of the first professionally trained Estonian singers, and Miina Härma (1864–1941), the first Estonian female composer. The song has been performed in various formats – including choir, solo, and social singing – published in numerous songbooks, and even reintroduced into oral…
”Everybody’s in favour, of course.”
Keywords: comparative literature, prose, motif, meetings, totalitarianism, Soviet regime
This article examines the portrayal of meetings in four novels: Enn Vetemaa’s “The Musician” (Pillimees), Herta Müller’s “The Land of Green Plums” (Herztier), Elena Chizhova’s “The Time of Women” (Vremia zhenshchin), and Eugen Ruge’s “In Times of Fading Light” (In Zeiten des abnehmenden Lichts). These works all explore the experience of living under a totalitarian regime, where the system had either fundamentally changed or collapsed by the time of the novels’ publication. Meetings play a significant role in conveying this experience. In The Musician, the meeting unfolds as a trap, destroying the…
This article examines the portrayal of meetings in four novels: Enn Vetemaa’s “The Musician” (Pillimees), Herta Müller’s “The Land of Green Plums” (Herztier), Elena Chizhova’s “The Time of Women” (Vremia zhenshchin), and Eugen Ruge’s “In Times of Fading Light” (In Zeiten des abnehmenden Lichts). These works all explore the experience of living under a totalitarian regime, where the system had either fundamentally changed or collapsed by the time of the novels’ publication. Meetings play a significant role in conveying this experience. In The Musician, the meeting unfolds as a trap, destroying the…