Are Folklorists Studying the Tales of the Folk?

 [1] The definition of “folk” in sociological terms is notoriously vague. In recent years, folklorists have taken to using the term “vernacular” instead. Since this word is similarly imprecise, I might just as well stick to the established word, but prefer to place it in inverted commas.

 [2] For brevity's sake I shall speak of the nineteenth century, even though I am referring to the heyday of folklore collecting from oral sources in rural areas. This took place in Europe by and large between 1850 and 1950.

 [3] The present-day Republic of Estonia roughly covers the territory traditionally inhabited by ethnic Estonians. Until 1918 it was divided between the administrative units of Estonia and Livonia. The northern half of Livonia was settled by Estonians, the southern half by Latvians. Today the former territory of Livonia is divided between the Republics of Estonia and Latvia. The word “Estonian” is correspondingly unclear, relating to a territory of varying dimensions, its Estonian-speaking majority population and their language as well as to its German-speaking minority population. This will probably sound confusing to the general reader, but the only way out would be to switch language. In German (and similarly in Swedish or Estonian) it would be possible to differentiate between Este, Estländer, estländisch, estnisch and Estnisch. It should also be remembered that a smaller part of the populations of Estonia and Livonia was made up of Swedes, Germans and Russians. The last two of these groups shared the economic and political power in the area until the establishment of the Estonian and Latvian Republics in 1918. There is yet one more cause of terminological confusion: until the sixteenth century, the entire territory of later Estonia, Livonia and Courland was called Livonia.

 [4] See Lipp Citation1898/99 and Oehninger Citation1908. The second of these books is a translation by Põld of a German manual (see CitationOehninger n.d.); the Estonian version contains an appendix on pages 453–530: M[artin] Lipp. “Kodumaa Kirik Kristliku Hariduse Ja Äratuse Töös” (The Church of Our Own Country Working for Christian Education and Awakening). On the publisher's cloth one can read “Põld-Lipp. Oehningeri Ristikoguduse Ajalugu” (Põld-Lipp. Oehninger's Church History), which could explain why Ruus does not mention Oehninger.

 [5] A Russian-Orthodox population in the south-eastern corner of the Estonian language area.

 [6] See Levin Citation1990 and Jaago Citation2005b.

 [7] See Masing Citation1981 and Kuutma Citation2005.

 [8] Literally “very old stories” (muinasjuttusi). On the claims to antiquity inherent in the Estonian genre terminology, see Beyer Citation2003, 81–4.

 [9] See Eestikeelne raamat Citation2000. Of the 1,210 titles in this bibliography of books printed in Estonian up to 1850, only seven were published before 1600, eighty-three before 1700, 422 before 1800 and 624 before 1820; that is, almost one-half of the titles were published during the final thirty years covered by the bibliography.

[10] Some bibliographical additions in Jahresbericht … Citation1921, 123–6; reprinted (without the additions) in Studies in Estonian Folkloristics … Citation2005, 169–200.

[11] A large number of the relevant sources in Estonia can already be consulted online: available from http://www.ra.ee/vau/; INTERNET [accessed 13 July 2009].

[12] Folklore comprises, of course, also customs, beliefs, music and so forth, but this article is only concerned with narratives.

[13] I should love to see, for instance, a study of mafia folklore, but I am not keen on doing the research myself.