Category
Topic
Year
Making sense of human-nature relationships in essays
Keywords: cultural transfer, environmental ethics, Estonian literature, interdisciplinarity, scientific knowledge
The problem of how knowledge becomes understanding of complex phenomena, such as social-ecological systems, is of both theoretical and applied interest. This article is built on the premise that published essays serve as an archive of these cognitive processes. An important reason is that essay-writing is practised across different cultural systems (including scientists), providing potential grounds for cultural exchange.
I conduct a functional analysis of 108 essays, selected as a stratified sample from 36 Estonian authors representing three groups (literature; science; other) since the 20th century. The main criteria were that (i)…
The problem of how knowledge becomes understanding of complex phenomena, such as social-ecological systems, is of both theoretical and applied interest. This article is built on the premise that published essays serve as an archive of these cognitive processes. An important reason is that essay-writing is practised across different cultural systems (including scientists), providing potential grounds for cultural exchange.
I conduct a functional analysis of 108 essays, selected as a stratified sample from 36 Estonian authors representing three groups (literature; science; other) since the 20th century. The main criteria were that (i)…
Colonization and place names
Keywords: colonization, power relations, Abkhazia, Estonian diaspora
The Estonian villages of Salme, Sulevi, Estonia, and Linda were established along the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus in the 1880s. This was part of a broader migration movement that began in the mid-19th century, following the implementation of peasant laws and passport reforms that allowed peasants to leave their home provinces. Key push factors included demographic transition, overpopulation, and land shortages, while Russian imperial policies encouraged colonization in the southern and eastern regions of the empire. Estonians settled in Abkhazia after the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), a period during which much of the local population was exiled to the…
The Estonian villages of Salme, Sulevi, Estonia, and Linda were established along the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus in the 1880s. This was part of a broader migration movement that began in the mid-19th century, following the implementation of peasant laws and passport reforms that allowed peasants to leave their home provinces. Key push factors included demographic transition, overpopulation, and land shortages, while Russian imperial policies encouraged colonization in the southern and eastern regions of the empire. Estonians settled in Abkhazia after the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), a period during which much of the local population was exiled to the…
Attitudes toward snakes in medieval and early modern Estonian historical sources
Keywords: history, chronicles, folk traditions, snakes, slow-worm, household snake
Snakes appear relatively infrequently in medieval and early modern Estonian written and visual sources, and when they do, they are typically portrayed in a negative light. In theological writings and religious art, snakes symbolized Satan. Normative and narrative sources of the era often described Estonians through references to snakes, emphasizing their paganism, barbarism, and superstition. However, these sources contain little information about actual reptiles.
Attitudes toward snakes – and knowledge about them – varied depending on a person’s background: urban and rural dwellers, Germans and Estonians, and individuals of different social classes…
Snakes appear relatively infrequently in medieval and early modern Estonian written and visual sources, and when they do, they are typically portrayed in a negative light. In theological writings and religious art, snakes symbolized Satan. Normative and narrative sources of the era often described Estonians through references to snakes, emphasizing their paganism, barbarism, and superstition. However, these sources contain little information about actual reptiles.
Attitudes toward snakes – and knowledge about them – varied depending on a person’s background: urban and rural dwellers, Germans and Estonians, and individuals of different social classes…
From Kockeste to Koikson
Keywords: onomastics, anthroponyms, families, farm names, revisions, patronymics
The emergence of Estonian family names (in Estonian: perekonnanimi) is typically dated to the 19th century. However, approximately one-fourth of these names have older onomastic roots. The first comprehensive lists of Estonian peasants date back to the 16th century. This study examines eight regions of Estonia, encompassing 765 peasants. Of these, 662 (87%) were recorded with a binominal naming structure (byname + given name), which suggests that by the 1560s, Estonian peasants had adopted a binominal personal naming system. One list from the 1540s recorded 63% of peasants with a byname, indicating that…
The emergence of Estonian family names (in Estonian: perekonnanimi) is typically dated to the 19th century. However, approximately one-fourth of these names have older onomastic roots. The first comprehensive lists of Estonian peasants date back to the 16th century. This study examines eight regions of Estonia, encompassing 765 peasants. Of these, 662 (87%) were recorded with a binominal naming structure (byname + given name), which suggests that by the 1560s, Estonian peasants had adopted a binominal personal naming system. One list from the 1540s recorded 63% of peasants with a byname, indicating that…
The Republic of Estonia, the free state of Estonia, and Ehstenreich
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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…