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."

Kalevala and Kalevipoeg

The Maiden of Northland
written by Aaron Shepard, illustrations Carol Schwartz
1996, 40 pages

This children's version of the hero tale Kalevala is simply and elegantly written by Aaron Shepard. It tells the story of two friends and rivals, Vainamoinen (greatest of magicians, who helped create the world) and Ilmarinen (the blacksmith who forged the heavens). They travel from Kalevala, set in the south of Finland, to the land of magic (Pohjola) in the north, to win the hand of Aila, daughter of Louhi, a powerful witch with the ability to change shapes. The illustrations are beautiful and wonderfully detailed.

Elias Lönnrot compiled Kalevala in the 1800s as he travelled throughout Finland collecting folk poems and songs. The poetry was usually sung to tunes, sometimes accomonpanied by the kannel-kantele (a five-string zither). The songs were based on folk tales from ancient times that were handed down by word of mouth. The first version, called Old Kalevala, appeared in 1835-1836. The final version of his epic poem, consisting of 22,795 verses, divided into fifty cantos or "chapters", was published in 1849. The first English translation appeared in 1888, the latest in 1998.

Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald started writing the Estonian national epic, Kalevipoeg, in 1850. It was based on an outline presented by Friedrich Robert Faehlmann at an academic lecture in 1839. He also travelled around Estonia collecting stories and songs. His epic tale first appeared as a series of academic publications; the final version of his epic poem was published in 1862 in Finland. It contained 19,023 verses and was divided into 20 cantos.

The word sampo may have originally referred to a pillar, a sort of good luck charm, but the original meaning was lost over the years. It has represented a magical chest, boat, eagle or mill; something that brought good fortune to its owner. In Ancient Powers of the Baltic Sea Finnish author Matti Klinge explores the concept of sampo-sammas as an ancient boundary marker, similar to the Roland statues that appeared all over Europe in medieval times.

The word ausammas in Estonian means monument, hauasammas is tombstone, tugisammas means pillar and ilmasammas is a very old person. Interestingly, the word sammal or moss, is not related to sammas, (although it does grow on old monuments).

Sammas (post) in Estonian derives from an indo-european word stambhas while sammal comes from the same Finnish-Lapland word group as huul, hõbe, ilves, ime, mahl, nina, kurk, nälg, põud, põõsas.

From Lembit Vaba:
Kalima oletus [Kalima 1930: 346–347], et e. sammas võiks tuleneda indo-iraani algkujust stambhas, sm. seiväs ja eL saivas võiksid olla sama ootuspärased balti *steibas ~ *staibas kujude järglased kui eP teivas..”
(Mägiste 1932: 131.)

Joonista mulle lammas!

Oli kord mees, kes elas üksinda, kellel polnud kedagi kellega rääkida. Tal oli lennuki õnnetus ja maandus Sahara kõrbes. Äkki palus üks väike hääl ta kõrval, et joonistagu talle lammast. Esimene lammas oli haige, teine oli hoopis oinas, kolmas oli liiga vana. Mehe kannatus sai otsa ja kritseldas lihtsalt väikese karbi. Selle sees oli lammas. Ja just see lammas meeldis väikese häälele, kes oli Väike prints.

These classic children's books for young readers and their parents are available at Võlusaared-Magic Isles, the TES Schools library. If you have read them, please comment! If you can recommend others, please do so! Weekly Estonian book updates, old and new, are coming! Keep checking in! For more information, please email us at: speakesto@gmail.com











Väike prints
Written and illustrated by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, 79 pages
2003 Tiritamm

Saint-Exupéry wrote The Little Prince in 1942 while living in New York City and Long Island, NY. It was first published in 1943 and is based on his experience as an international aviation courier (he delivered mail from Touluse to Dakar). He and his co-pilot crashed in the Sahara and were resued by a bedouin; they were lucky to be found alive. Terre des Hommes (Sand, Wind, Stars), 1939, was the basis for Expo 67 in Montreal, Canada - better known as Man and his World.

In this Ott Ojamaa translation (published in 1966 and reprinted many times) the language is clear and concise, compared to a later translation.

Väikese eurooplase lugemik
Lauri Leesi, illustrated by Joonatan Noor, 256 pages
1999 Avita

A collection of well known Estonian and European stories and poems written by Anna Haava, Betti Alver, Oscar Wilde, Rudyard Kipling, Oscar Luts and Voltaire, among others. Lauri Leesi has been teaching at the Tallinna Prantsuse Lütseum (Tallinn French Academy) since 1992 and has won may awards, including the French Legion of Honour.

Sookool ja sisalik
Aino Pervik, illustrated by Piret Selberg, 79 pages
Eesti Raamat 1986

Not Shrek! This is a real mud ogre who undergoes a change of heart in his search for a lizard. Aino Pervik is a children's author, well known for her Paula series. As this is an older book, the language is simpler and and the illustrations are cute. Aino Pervik's books are available here.












Draakonid võõrsil
Aino Pervik, illustrated by Piret Raud, 64 pages
2002 Tiritamm

This whimsical tale about dragons takes place in a mythical Estonia quite different to that of Kalevipoeg. It is a story of fighting without the gore that we usually see on modern media. The language is clear but with longer and modern words. Piret Raud is a wonderful illustrator, who worked with her mother Aino on the Paula series and others. Pätu and Härra Q are also in our library collection.