Lauri Kettuse viis tulemist
Lauri Kettunen’s Five Visits to Estonia

Summary/Abstract: Lauri Kettunen, one of the greatest scholars of the Finnic languages in the 20th century, came to Estonia for the first time in June 1908 and stayed here for the last time in January 1940. Kettunen collected and analysed the Estonian dialects (first and foremost the sub-dialect of Kodavere), established the professorship of Finnic languages at the University of Tartu and the Mother Tongue Society, and wrote a large number of papers and study materials on the Estonian language. In addition to professional activities, Kettunen mediated Finnish military aid during the Estonian War of Independence, and visited Estonia at the turn of 1939/40 with a secret mission. After the war many works by Kettunen were removed from public libraries. It was possible to start with the restoration of the pre-war situation in 1955 and to mark his anniversaries appropriately in 1985.

• Details
• Contents