Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism in Europe

Start Over

Bible / classics translations : Estonian

  • TranslationsEstonian
  • Cultural Field
    Texts and stories
    Author
    Ross, Kristiina
    Text

    Under Baltic-German rule, the first religious book containing Estonian was published in Germany in 1525. Estonian catechisms, pericopes, and hymnals published in the 17th century followed divergent standards based on different dialects, which also affected efforts to translate the Bible into the vernacular (finally accomplished in 1739). This established a written standard based on northern Estonian dialects for the rest of the century.

    A shift occurred after Johann Heinrich Rosenplänter’s periodical Beiträge zur genauern Kenntniß der ehstnischen Sprache (1813-32) placed Estonian alongside the cognate Finnish language rather than seeing it through the lens of the traditional Latin and German grammars. By 1853 the Bible translation and church language were severely criticized by Eduard Ahrens in his Sprachfehler der Ehstnischen Bibel, which opposed the “faulty church language” to a “pure vernacular”. At the same time Ahrens published a new Finnish-style grammar of Estonian (1843-53). Still, the first Bible translation, with revisions, persisted as the official version until 1968, although completely new 20th-century translations of individual parts had also been published.

    Since the end of the 1730s pietist stories began to be translated. These were unsophisticated adaptations from German, with originals often hard to track down. Some translations emerged from the Moravian Brotherhood. Mango Hans gave Estonian renderings, based on German adaptations, of Thomas Wilcox’s A choice drop of honey from the rock Christ and John Bunyan’s The pilgrim’s progress; made in the 1750s or 1760s, these translations were first published in 1779 and 1817.

    In the middle of the 19th century some Enlightenment-minded Baltic-German intellectuals argued that instead of translating texts into Estonian it would be more expedient and fruitful to teach Estonians to speak German. Estonian was considered to be appropriate merely for simple practical handbooks.

    Since the end of the 1830s the Estonian book market was flooded with international sentimental and/or adventure stories, still mediated via German adaptations. Many of them were Robinsonades inspired by Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (the first Estonian version was published in 1842), another large share consisted of adaptations of medieval passions such as the Genoveva legend. In the second half of the century, bandit stories, mostly calqued on Vulpius’s Rinaldo Rinaldini, gained popularity; the first one published in book form appeared in 1865. About the same time Estonians got their first taste of American stories of slaves and Indians, also mediated by way of German adaptations. In 1870 an adaptation of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin was translated. In the final decades of the century several of Fenimore Cooper’s novels were published in Estonian.

    Amidst these unsophisticated popular stories some more demanding works of different genres made a barely-noticed entrance. In 1814 Schiller’s An die Freude was published in an almanac; in 1818 the 17-year-old Kristjan Jaak Peterson translated two Anacreontic poems from Greek and tried to imitate the form of Pindar’s odes in his original verse, but his efforts were not recognized until the early 20th century. The first translation of a poem by Goethe appeared in a book of poetry by Suve Jaan (Johann Friedrich Sommer) in 1843. Since the mid-19th century individual translations of Heine’s poems began appearing in verse collections and almanacs (one in 1863 by Jakob Hurt).

    Attempts at translating sophisticated forms were rare at the time, but several of the plots current in European literature arrived in Estonian via German adaptations. Several fairy tales by Andersen, the Brothers Grimm, and Hauff were translated. In the mid-century Reineke Fuchs, on the basis of Goethe’s version, was adapted into Reinuvader rebane by Kreutzwald, and won immense popularity. In the 1870s several plays by Schiller were paraphrased in Estonian prose. The final decades of the century saw increasingly ambitious translations: Goethe’s Hermann und Dorothea was translated in hexameter verse in 1880; J. Bergmann undertook – beside some prose paraphrases of Homeric epics – a full hexameter translation of the mock-Homeric Batrachomyomachia.

    German long remained the conduit for the translation of English and French literature: Chateaubriand’s René, portions of Hugo’s Notre-Dame de Paris, and tales by Jules Verne appeared from the 1870s onwards. The first Shakespeare play on the Estonian stage (1888) was translated from German. Only by the end of the century did the first publications directly translated from English appear: Dickens and Kipling. Some French literature was mediated through Russian, e.g. Molière’s L’avare (1901).

    Russian literature was translated from the original relatively early, particularly favoured by general Russification in the late 19th century. Puškin’s Captains daughter was published in 1878, followed by translations of Gogol’, Turgenev, Čehov, and Gorkij in the 1880s and 1890s. Tolstoj’s War and peace was even published in two competing translations in 1899.

    A marked turn occurred with the rise of the literary “Young Estonia” group in the early 20th century, whose slogan was “More European culture!” The Young Estonians introduced, in the two decades leading up to Estonian independence, a canon of classical and modern European literature. There was a boost in the range of literatures as well as works translated. Instead of the predominance of leisure reading and German and Russian sources, a conscious effort was made to introduce valuable French, Italian, English, Scandinavian, and Finnish works. Translation from the original source language became normal practice, and increasing attention was paid to the artistic value of the translation. Thanks to the Young Estonians, European modernism made its way into the Estonian cultural space in the early decades of the 20th century.

    German sources remained dominant, but several Young Estonian authors had a particular interest in French literature (Anatole France), and poetry by Rimbaud, Verlaine, and Baudelaire provided a landmark of ambitious translation. A special interest in Finnish literature also arose. Several Young Estonians who had been educated at the University of Helsinki were well read in Finnish culture, spawning translations of various contemporary Finnish authors. In 1912 Matthias Johann Eisen’s translation of the Finnish epic Kalevala was published.

    Word Count: 983

    Article version
    1.1.1.4/a
  • Lukas, Liina; “Saksa kirjandus Noor-Eesti ajal”, Methis, 1.2 (2008), 186-198.

    Mits, Krista; “Pilk ingliskeelse kirjanduse tõlgetele 18. sajandi lõpust 20. sajandi algusveerandini”, Methis, 7.9/10 (2012), 70-87.

    Nirk, Endel (ed.); Eesti kirjanduse ajalugu II: XIX sajandi teine pool (Tallinn: Eesti Raamat, 1966).

    Paul, Toomas; Eesti piiblitõlke ajalugu: Esimestest katsetest kuni 1999. aastani (Emakeele seltsi toimetised, 72; Tallinn: Eesti teaduste akadeemia, 1999).

    Puhvel, H. (ed.); Eesti kirjanduse ajalugu III: XIX sajandi lõpust 1917. aastani (Tallinn: Eesti Raamat, 1969).

    Rajandi, Henno; “Prantsuse kirjanduse tõlkimisest Eestis”, in Ellip, Kai (ed.); Prantsuse kirjandus eesti keeles (Tallinn: Eesti Rahvusraamatukogu, 1996), 06-11-20.

    Sisak, Kaia; “Mõningaid tähelepanekuid Johannes Aaviku kirjanduslikust prantsuse-orientatsioonist ja tõlketegevuse spetsiifikas”, Methis, 1.2 (2008), 116-124.

    Soosaar, Enn; “Eesti raamatulugu algab tõlgetega”, in Ellip, Kai (ed.); Inglise kirjandus eesti keeles: Raamatud (Tallinn: Eesti rahvusraamatukogu, 1996), 6-13.

    Tamm, Marek; “Eesti kultuur kui tõlkekultuur: Mõned ajaloolised ja statistilised ekskursid”, Diplomaatia, 79 (2010), 02-04-20.

    Vinkel, Aarne (ed.); Eesti kirjanduse ajalugu I: Esimestest algetest XIX sajandi 40-ndate aastateni (Tallinn: Eesti raamat, 1965).

    Vinkel, Aarne; Eesti rahvaraamat: Ülevaade XVIII ja XIX sajandi lugemisvarast (Tallinn: Eesti raamat, 1966).


  • Creative Commons License
    All articles in the Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism in Europe edited by Joep Leerssen are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at https://www.spinnet.eu.

    © the author and SPIN. Cite as follows (or as adapted to your stylesheet of choice): Ross, Kristiina, 2022. "Bible / classics translations : Estonian", Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism in Europe, ed. Joep Leerssen (electronic version; Amsterdam: Study Platform on Interlocking Nationalisms, https://ernie.uva.nl/), article version 1.1.1.4/a, last changed 02-04-2022, consulted 28-03-2024.