Nii.
I just heard an incredibly intriguing tale about late Eesti President Lennart Meri tonight, and felt I should lock it down in visible, re-audible form for later times.
Härra Meri was once on an ethnographic trip to film Finno-Ugric doings amongst the Nganassaani prior to Eesti re-gaining independence (on a side note - definitely check out Lõhmus' film "Tantsud Linnuteele. Pildistusi Lennart Meri filmirännakutelt" when the opportunity arises). Obviously this meant it was Soviet times, and - not much differently from the norm amongst more eastern-centered Finno-Ugric peoples today - Russian was the language used for bridging linguistic streams. After paddling upstream with the crew and local Nganassaani to their camp to film a bear ritual, docking and unloading and such, Meri pulled one of the other Estonians on the trip aside and said "Come over here and let's speak in our own language for ten minutes." Eesti keeles, eks ole. "Ten minutes?" the guy asked. Meri nodded. So they sat on the bank of the river, amongst the bustle and after having felt a bit of resistance and slight hostility from the Nganassaani ("Why should we work for you?" I think was a rough translation of the phrase used prior to launch), and started chatting about the world in straight, lilting and üliilus eesti keeles. After a few minutes, one of the younger Nganassaani came up to them and asked, "What are you saying? I don't understand." Meri answered, "We're speaking our own language." The Nganassaani chap cocked his head and stared at them in more-than-slight bewilderment for a while, listening to the language.. hearing the sound and the rhythm, the deep similarities with his own. Afterwards, intertwining the group with the Nganassaani began to picked up pace and depth.
The words "Russian", "stranger/other" ("võõras") and "enemy" all share one common set of letters in Nganassaani - their word for "Russian". Once the people determined and took to heart the fact that eestlased (Estonians) were neither the first nor the third, the second was soon to fall and the understanding that there was a deeper bond came forth. Soome-ugri - Finno-Ugric.
Speak your language, no matter how "small" or whether anyone around you comprehends. It opens up its own worlds..
Räägi.
Edasi..
Posts
