Ametinimetustest ja sotsiaalsetest rollidest eesti varase leksikograafia põhjal
Occupational terms and societal roles in early Estonian lexicography

Summary/Abstract: This article explores findings from six German-Estonian and Estonian-German dictionaries compiled during the 17th and 18th centuries. It covers all the main lexicographical sources from that period, from Heinrich Stahl’s “Vocabula” (1637) to August Wilhelm Hupel’s “Wörterbuch” (1780), with the exception of two ­17th-century authors, Clare and Svenske. The primary aim of this overview is to examine professional titles that were extensively documented in these historical dictionaries. In addition, the article delves into terms describing incidental activities. Thirdly, the discussion also includes societal roles.Within the category of core occupational terms, prominent examples include “doctor” (arst), “baker” (pagar), “miller” (mölder), “carpenter” (puusepp) and “teacher” (õpetaja) vs “student” (õppija): all of these words remain in common usage in modern Estonian. These dictionaries also include approximately twenty different descriptions of the concept “witch” (nõid). Incidental activity descriptions include various terms for imposters, robbers and killers, along with words like “guarantor” (käemees) and “witness” (tunnistaja), as well as numerous others that play an important role in this lexical constellation. Key examples of the third category – societal roles – include terms such as “king” (kuningas), “landlord” (mõisnik) and “peasant” (talupoeg). Within this category, several sub-groups can be identified, e.g. governance (taatholder ‘vicegerent’), societal hierarchy (isetalumees ‘master of a farm household’), qualitative aspects of individuals or groups (koeraselts ‘ungodly rabble’), or their level of education (raamatumees ‘a man who can read’).Many words in this semantic group have changed in meaning or vanished from the language over the centuries due to societal changes. Nevertheless, these old lexicographical sources help us shed light on the development of the Estonian language and provide insight into cultural aspects that have evolved over time.

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