Hubane ja õdus: Johannes Aavik

Anu Lamp is a well known actor who provided voices for many children's animated films such as Ladybird's Christmas and Lotte from Gadgetville. She also wrote a play with her senior theatre students using the texts of Johannes Aavik. „Keeleuuenduse lõpmatu kurv“ (The Infinite Potential of Language Innovation), was published and produced in 2006. It is sadly out of print but a great find if you come across it.

"Keeleuuenduse ∞ kurv" sai alguse lavakunstikooli lavakõne tundidest, kus uuriti Johannes Aaviku süvenemisi eesti keele võimalustesse ning tema taotlusi keelt uuendada, kaasajastada. Anu Lambi juhendamisel jõudsid tudengid peagi omanäolise lavastuseni. Teater NO99 palus neil kava ka publikuni tuua.

Johannes Aavik was a philologist and translator who saw the need to modernize and standardize the Estonian language. He created new words, many of which were borrowed from Finnish and became part of mainstream Estonian. He also had suggestions for plural endings and use of vowels. His principles (utility, aesthetics and native quality) were summarized in „Keeleuuenduse äärmised võimalused“ (Extreme Perspectives of Language Innovation; Tartu, 1924), but he also wrote many essays and translations to highlight his words.

Aavik preferred short words to long ones; he strongly suggested adding foreign words with the stress on the second syllable to add flavour to Estonian. From Anu Lamp's book:

"Et rõhu viimine esimesele silbile labastab ja lamestab sõna jume, selles veendub kõige paremini, kui võõrsõnu rõhutada esmasilbiliselt: europa, amerika, iitalia, Paris nagu soomlased ja lätlased hääldavad. Seega öelgem: diftong, kefiir, kiosk, poliitika, sopraan, tapeet, teaater.”

For example, hubane ja õdus (warm and cosy) are both Finnish words that Aavik suggested; they are quite popular. Doing a google.ee search, adding kohvik or sohvabaar, will pull up many Estonian hotel and restaurant descriptions:

Garanteeritud on soe, hubane ja õdus magamistuba. Hubane salongiõhtu täis flamenkomuusikat. Sohvabaar on hubane koht einestamiseks. Vanalinna on tekkinud noobleid sohvabaare kus veetsime kokteiliõhtu.

A wonderful Aavik word that is not as popular but still used is ilge (vile, detestable). If you want to avoid bad places, a search using ilge koht on google.ee will pull up some colourful commentary.

Some recent words for fashionable restaurants and decor are trendikas and moekas.
Trendikas on kasvatada väikeste õitega orhideesid. Menüü peaks vastama trendika pealinlase rahvusvahelisele maitsele.
Do you think Johannes Aavik would be amused or horrified by this? Õudne night be his answer!

"Märtsikuu esimesel kolmapäeval leidis lounge`is Deja Vu aset Buduaar Fashion Night, mis tutvustas Halensi kevad-suviseid moetrende, lisaks lahedale moeshow`le üllatas Halens külalisi snäkitaldrikute ja kingikottidega. Õhtut juhtis Buduaari veebiajakirja uus peatoimetaja Merlyn Uusküla, kes esitas esmakordselt oma uut singlit "Soovin Sulle head". Peo üllatuskülalised olid Koit Toome ja Uku Suviste."