48: Estonian mythology and the name Linda
Written by Linden Alexander Pentecost and published in the UK by Linden Alexander Pentecost on the 10th of December 2024. This article contains no-sub sections but interconnected text, at first concerning Estonian and Finnish words, then a discussion on the Kalevipoeg, on Estonian mythological structures and a little on the name of the god Saarevaht and lighthouses, how this may connect to Lindon in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien and to the name Linda, and then, after some connecting and slightly humerous comments on language learning, a slightly more extensive discussion in relation to the name of the goddess Linda, followed by some quite extensive notes at the end on other publications, but nevertheless not really extensive when compared to the subject material in the main article. This article contains 1435 words. Written for the goddess Linda and for my family.
I can speak far better Finnish now than I could 5 years ago. Because of this I can also read Estonian to some extent; depending on the text and subject matter, it can be clear, having understood some of the main differences between Finnish and Estonian. But, I would be out of time and overworked if I was to attempt to learn Estonian right now, in the sense of using it in a practical everyday way. But I do content myself sometimes with learning about the etymologies of Estonian words, and how they differ from Finnish words. For example, in Finnish the word hehku means “a glow”, whilst the etymologically related Estonian word õhk means “air”. Another root where slight differences can be observed is in how Finnish vene means “boat” (discussed already many times in my Silly Linguistics articles and extensively elsewhere); but in Estonian vene means more specifically a smaller boat, even one created by hollowing out a tree trunk, i.e. a form of boat with its origins in prehistory.
One thing I to some extent am trying to demonstrate how two closely related languages should not be generalised as one entity. Finnish and Estonian are both Finno-Baltic languages, and structurally and lexically they are not massively removed from each other. But nevertheless, the fact that the root words for “glow/air” and “boat/dugout boat” are distinct, is just two examples of how the primary roots in Finnish and Estonian must have differed from each other a long time ago.
The same is true for the archaeological and mythological traditions in Finland and Estonia. These lands are linked, but their history and traditional spirituality differs greatly. This is something I want to go into a little in this article, and even more in the future, with regard to Estonian religious or spiritual vocabulary. In my recent series of articles for Silly Linguistics discussing the mysteriousness of Finnish (titled: "The mystical nature of Finnish & of language in Finland", I talked about the Kalevala. In Estonia, there are is an arguably more artificial mythological epic known as the Kalevipoeg. But in terms of the indigenous traditions included in the Kalevipoeg and Kalevala one might well think that they are the Estonian and Finnish equivalents of a common mythological tradition with common names for the original deities and spiritual concepts.
But this is not really so. The structure, even the entire story of the Kalevipoeg is not really notably similar to that of the Kalevala. There are Estonian and Finnish equivalents of certain figures, deities and mythological forces, for sure, and the trochaic tetrametre is also shared in some poetic forms of language. But they are two different stories, with some completely unrelated traditions expressed within them. Intrinsic to Estonian folk religion is animism, and there are numerous deities and beings that utterly fascinate me but which I will not include here but will discuss later on. One particularly interesting figure is the god Saarevaht. The name Saarevaht is curious as it could either translate to "Island Guard", which seems more likely, or to "Island Foam", as vaht has two meanings in Estonian, with unconnected etymologies. The god Saarevaht guards lonely islands and tends to live in a lighthouse. This imagery reminds me of the "Tower Hills" of Lindon in the fictional works of J. R. R. Tolkien. Could it furthermore be that the name Lindon in Middle Earth has some connection to the Estonian name Linda mentioned below, and perhaps even to my name, Linden?
To continue on, I wanted to discuss the name Linda, a key figure and present in Estonian indigenous history. I believe that it is a wonderful way to sample and to get a feel of a language and how it relates to the indigenous history of that place, regardless of personal beliefs. I do want to get to know Estonia more and its languages, as I have only been once, and only to Tallinn. And rather than say, discussing the Estonian words for “vacuum cleaner” or “assistant manager” I thought I’d delve into the depths of Estonian history, and I hope that others find this as interesting as I.
Linda - Linda is a goddess of Estonian folk religion, a sacred cosmic creation goddess. I do not know the exact, full etymology of her name, but the following comments will I hope be helpful. I doubt that it is related to for example Swedish lind, a root that connects to either a giant worm (Lindorm) or to simply a lime tree, Lind. (I have discussed Lindworms elsewhere including in the article on Estonian and Finland Norse referenced at the bottom of this article, and in a Silly Linguistics article titled: Småländska and language in relation to Småland. Note that my Silly Linguistics articles are generally not published elsewhere. It is more easy to say however that the name Linda is likely related to the Estonian word lind, meaning a “bird” and to the verb lendama/lennata - “to fly”. This is clear from the Estonian mythological tradition, where Linda seems to know the celestial pathways of the birds. This no doubt relates in some way to how birds are sometimes seen as carriers of souls between this world and the afterlife in Finno-Baltic traditions. The city of Tallinn has been known by the name Lindanisa. Within Tallinn there is also a hill named Lindamägi “Linda Hill”, and a large, pyramid-shaped boulder in lake Ülemiste which is known as Lindakivi “Linda rock”. In Estonian, place-names associated with Linda might in part stem from creation myths and narratives that connect the Estonian landscape to the more universal cosmological concepts in Estonian indigenous spirituality. Thus both Lindamägi and Lindakivi would be considered as pühad paigad - “sacred places”, pyhät paikat in Finnish.
I hope that this article was an interesting read.
Notes:
To find out a little more about the Norse languages of Estonia, one of my works on these languages is this following article on this website, titled: 29: A Norse language of Estonia and a Norse language of Finland (Ormsö Norse and Krono Norse), the link to which is: https://www.bookofdunbarra.co.uk/website-articles-20-to-29/29-a-norse-language-of-estonia-and-a-norse-language-of-finland - Lindworms are also discussed here.
I believed that this week I might have published an article in Silly Linguistics, titled: The Doric Scots tongue, language in Aberdeenshire, and polyandrous Attacotti, however this article was not as of yet published in Silly Linguistics. I mentioned that this article would be soon published in an article I published only on archive.org, titled: Ancient stone steps and a northern English dialect (only published on archive.org). This article is available at this link: https://archive.org/details/ancient-stone-steps-and-a-northern-english-dialect-only-published-on-arch
Note that soon I will be publishing an article about language in the works of H. P. Lovecraft, with some other topics also discussed. This aforementioned article is not connected to the article on the page you are currently on, even if the themes may somewhat relate. The article I published previously on my Bookofdunbarra site, titled: 47: The root “häme” - “Suomi” - “samay” and polygonal masonry in Finland (the link is: https://www.bookofdunbarra.co.uk/website-articles-46-55/47-the-root-haeme-suomi-samay-and-polygonal-masonry-in-finland) is also not related to the article on the page you are looking at, nor is it related to the Lovecraftian themed article on language that will be published soon, even if the topics may connect on some level. (Note on 12th December 2024: that before the Lovecraftian article will be published after the Gøtudanskt article I published after writing the article on the page you are currently looking at (48: Estonian mythology and the name Linda).
Note I have also discussed the Estonian language itself and South Estonian a little elsewhere.