Keeleküsimus Õpetatud Eesti Seltsis

Abstract

The Language Question in the Learned Estonian Society Kersti Taal University of Tartu Library The purpose of the Learned Estonian Society (LES) established in 1838 became to promote knowledge about the past and future of the Estonian nation, its language and literature and the lands settled by Estonians. Thus, studying and developing the Estonian language was one of the most important tasks of the Society. In this article, the language question is viewed from two perspectives: researching the Estonian language in the 19th century and the transition from German to Estonian in 1928/1929. LES started its activity at a time when even the first Estonian intellectuals, the founding members of the Society, were not yet certain whether Estonian would develop into a cultural language or whether the language of this small nation would fade away. Both the Estonians and German Estophiles thought that the language should be studied at least for the benefit of the future generations. In addition to the lecturers of the Estonian language at the University of Tartu, D. H. Jurgenson and Fr. R. Faehlmann, language studies were conducted by German pastors in the first decades. The most important linguistic undertaking became the compilation of an Estonian-German dictionary. The work progressed slowly and the dictionary was completed by F. J. Wiedemann, a member of LES and an academician at the St Petersburg Academy of Sciences as late as in the 1860s. The Ehstnisch-deutsches Worterbuch was published in 1869 by the St Petersburg Academy of Sciences since LES lacked money for it. In the second half of the 19th century Estonian was studied by the Estonians J. Hurt, M. Veske, and others. Villem Reiman was involved in publishing examples to commemorate the Old Written Language and, thus, LES published Georg Muller’s sermons, Joachim Rossihnius’s catechism and sermons dating back to the 17th century. Although Estonian was not spoken in LES in the 19th century, the Society received letters in Estonian: they were not considered untoward since some of the German members of the society were also fluent in Estonian in addition to the Estonian members. In the 19th century, only a tenth of the Society members were Estonian. When LES recommenced its activity in 1919 in the Republic of Estonia as a German-language organisation, the Germans still held the majority (in 1921 only 36 of the 164 members were Estonian). The first Estonian-language presentation – “The water deity Noova of the Livonians” – was made by Lauri Kettunen, a Finnish professor of the Estonian language on 1 March 1922. In 1928, just before the tenth anniversary of the Republic of Estonia, most of the lectures in the University of Tartu were held in Estonian and the public was increasingly asking the question of how long would the Learned Estonian Society, which was supported by the state, continue to be a German-language organisation? During the 1928 March session, the Society started to discuss the proposal of Henrik Koppel, rector of the University of Tartu, to make Estonian the official language of the Learned Estonian Society. Although the Germans did not agree with the decision, they had to accept the situation, as theirs was a minority opinion. The Germans specifically opposed that the Society’s publications would be in Estonian. The yearbook and transactions remained in German since they were meant for knowledge exchange and introducing Estonian research abroad. The Letters publication series in which works on folk poetry and ethnography were published was started to be issued in Estonian. The Germans reacted to the LES turning into an Estonian-language organisation with withdrawal; Professor Walter Anderson resigned from the position of the Society chairman and no longer edited publications. A new, mainly Estonian board was elected as late as on 4 December 1929, as the Estonians did not hold the majority in the previous year. Julius Mark, professor of linguistics, was elected the chairman. The transition to Estonian was accompanied by great changes in the entire activity of the Society. The new management succeeded in getting more financial support for the Society and its publications developed into more extensive works. Since LES turned into an Estonian-language organisation, it did not meet the fate of many other German-language societies (E(h)stlandische Literarische Gesellschaft, Pernauer Alterthumforschende Gesellschaft), which ended their activity in 1939 as the Baltic Germans left.