Estonian language
Uralic language, official in Estonia and the EU.
Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons
Estonian (eesti keel) is a Uralic language and the official language of Estonia. It is written with the Latin alphabet and serves as the first language for most people in the country. It is also one of the official languages of the European Union. Around 1.1 million people speak Estonian natively: 922,000 live in Estonia, and 160,000 live elsewhere.
The language belongs to the Finnic (or Baltic Finnic) branch of the Uralic (also called Uralian or Finno-Ugric) family. Related languages include Finnish and several endangered languages spoken around the Baltic Sea and in northwestern Russia. Estonian is usually classified as a Southern Finnic language and is the second most widely spoken among all Finnic languages. Along with Finnish, Hungarian, and Maltese, it is one of only four official EU languages that are not Indo-European.
In terms of grammar, Estonian shows both agglutinative and fusional features. Verbs tend to be more agglutinative in their inflection. Over time, the language has shifted from an agglutinating toward a fusional structure, developing a rich morphological system. Word order is more flexible than in English, though the basic order—especially in speech—is subject–verb–object.
The two major historical varieties spoken in Estonia were North and South Estonian. Some linguists believe their speakers arrived in at least two separate migration waves more than two thousand years ago, speaking quite different vernaculars. Some even classify South Estonian as a separate Finnic language rather than a dialect of Estonian. Modern standard Estonian developed during the 18th and 19th centuries, based on northern dialects. During the medieval and early modern periods, Estonian borrowed many words from Germanic languages, especially Middle Low German and, after the 16th-century Protestant Reformation, from Standard German.
The oldest written records of Estonian date from the 13th century. The Livonian Chronicle of Henry includes Estonian place names, words, and sentence fragments. The earliest surviving connected texts in North Estonian are the Kullamaa prayers from 1524 and 1528. The first confirmed Estonian book was printed in 1535—a bilingual German-Estonian translation of the Lutheran catechism by S. Wanradt and J. Koell. (An earlier 1525 printing is sometimes claimed, but no surviving copies exist, so the 1535 edition is the earliest confirmed bo
- language_family
- Uralic (Finnic branch)
- native_speakers
- ~1.1 million
- official_status
- Official language of Estonia and the European Union
- writing_system
- Latin script (32 letters, including ä, ö, ü, õ, š, ž)
- earliest_written_records
- 13th century
- first_extant_book
- 1535 (bilingual German-Estonian Lutheran catechism)
Lore & Background
Estonian belongs to the Finnic branch of the Uralic language family and is typically subclassified as a Southern Finnic language. It is the second-most-spoken Finnic language. The speakers of the two major historical dialects, North and South Estonian, are thought by some linguists to have arrived in Estonia in at least two different migration waves over two millennia ago, with some classifying South Estonian as a separate Finnic language. Modern standard Estonian evolved in the 18th and 19th centuries based on the dialects of northern Estonia. During the Medieval and Early Modern periods, Estonian accepted many loanwords from Germanic languages, mainly from Middle Low German and, after the 16th-century Protestant Reformation, from Standard German.
Reader's Guide
Estonian is significant as the official language of Estonia and one of only four non-Indo-European official languages of the European Union. Its oldest written records date from the 13th century, and the first extant book is a 1535 bilingual catechism. Writings in Estonian became more significant in the 19th century during the Estophile Enlightenment Period, with the birth of native Estonian literature in 1810–1820 through the poems of Kristjan Jaak Peterson, regarded as the founder of modern Estonian poetry. After Estonia's independence in 1918, Estonian became the sole official language; during Soviet occupation it shared official status with Russian, but regained sole status in 1991. Estonian has both agglutinative and fusional features, with a flexible word order. Its dialects are divided into northern and southern groups, with the central dialect forming the basis of the standard language. Estonians lead the world in book ownership, averaging 218 books per house.
Did You Know?
- Estonian is one of only four non-Indo-European official languages of the European Union, alongside Finnish, Hungarian, and Maltese.
- The first Estonian-language book, printed in 1525, was immediately censored and all copies destroyed.
- The letter õ in Estonian denotes the close-mid back unrounded vowel /ɤ/, similar to Bulgarian ъ and Vietnamese ơ.
- Estonians lead the world in book ownership, with an average of 218 books per house as of 2018.
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