August Ahlqvist ja eesti keel
August Ahlqvist and Estonian

Summary/Abstract: August Ahlqvist, one of the best-known 19th century scholars of Finnish and other Finno-Ugric languages, belonged to the most prominent and meritorious Estophils of the time. His interest in Estonian was first inspired by Votic, which is the language closest related to Estonian. In 1854 he visited Estonia. Staying mainly in Tartu he learnt some Estonian and read up on Estonian literature. The next year, when back in Helsinki, he published a book on the history of Estonian literature, also usable as an Estonian textbook. Having become Assistant Professor of Finno-Ugric languages at the University of Helsinki in 1859 he turned more attention to the teaching of Estonian. In 1863 August Ahlqvist was elected Professor of Finnish language and Literature, after which he extended the teaching of cognate languages, including Estonian, even more. He was also active in producing teaching materials. In 1869 he published a reader of closely related languages. His Suomen kielen rakennus ("Finnish Grammar") published in 1877 contains, among else, a comparative analysis of the Estonian language. Throughout his life August Ahlqvist maintained close connections with Estonian scholars and cultural figures. Thanks to his help, for example, Jakob Hurt was able to defend his doctoral thesis at the University of Helsinki and Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald could publish his main works in Finland.

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