Friedrich Robert Faehlmann

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Eduard Hau : Portrait of Friedrich Robert Faehlmann (1838)

Friedrich Robert Faehlmann (born December 20, jul. / 31 December  1798 greg. On the estate Hageweid ( Estonian: Ao ), community of St. Mary Magdalene ( Jerwen ), Governorate of Estonia , † April 10 jul. / April 22  1850 greg. In Dorpat , Livonia Governorate ) was an Estonian philologist , doctor and writer . He was also a co-founder of the Estonian Scholarly Society established in 1838 .

Life

Faehlmann grew up as the son of an Estonian land manager. He went to school in Rakvere from 1810 to 1814 and then from 1814 to 1817 in Tartu . He was able to study medicine in Tartu from 1818 to 1827 thanks to the sponsorship of the landlord von Payküll-Hackeweid. In 1827 he obtained his doctorate with a dissertation on cardiac inflammation Observationes inflammationum occultiorum . Faehlmann had been practicing as a doctor for the poor in Tartu since 1824 and later gained a great reputation as a doctor in all classes of the population. But his real interest was in philology . to which he was able to devote himself entirely after he was surprisingly elected lecturer of the Estonian language at the University of Dorpat in 1842 . Nevertheless, he did not deal exclusively with language and literature, because in addition to his position as a university lecturer, he remained active as a doctor. For example, he was instrumental in combating various dysentery epidemics. In addition, he held lectures in the medical faculty from 1843 to 1845. And finally, from 1843 to 1850, he was President of the Estonian Scholarly Society, which he co-founded .

plant

Faehlmann's main merit is the collection and publication of Estonian saga material. Not to be neglected, however, are his linguistic and medical work.

Faehlmann's myths

In general, one speaks of eight Faehlmannian myths in Estonian literary history, which, however, were never united as such in one volume during his lifetime. They did not even all appear during Faehlmann's lifetime and were only brought together as a unit by the following generation. The individual texts are as follows: In 1840, Faehlmann published a cycle of Estonian sagas in volume 1 of the negotiations of the learned Estonian Society (where most of his texts appeared) , which included three sagas: The origin of the Embach (i.e. the one flowing through Tartu River), Wannemunne's Sang and The Cooking of Languages . They are based in part on legends actually circulating in the vernacular that Faehlmann had heard in Estonian. They were published in German because that was the usual language for academic treatises in the country at the time. In 1844, in the third volume of the negotiations, the saga Koit und Ämarik (Dawn and Dusk ) came up, which is considered the fourth myth and has become very popular. More than a dozen variants of this have appeared in German alone. In contrast to the three aforementioned myths, this is not a saga of origin, but the romantic description of a love affair between sunset and dawn, which only meet once a year on Midsummer Night. In 1848 Volume 2 of the negotiations brought a lecture by Faehlmanns from 1847, in which he deals with the question of the nature of the pagan belief of the ancient Estonians. This is a short, six-page essay on some Estonian deities that is considered the fifth of the Faehlmann myths. Thereafter, under the title The saga of Wannemuine, three sagas from Faehlmann's estate were published in the negotiations of 1852, which later research subdivided into three sub-sagas, so that one arrives at the eight myths mentioned.

Faehlmann's role at Kalevipoeg

Older research sometimes gives the impression that Faehlmann was the original author of the Estonian epic Kalevipoeg . However, this is only correct in so far as Faehlmann had actually received the commission from the Estonian Scholarly Society to compile an epic and had also done some preliminary work. But when Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald was entrusted with the continuation of the work after his death , it turned out that von Faehlmann only had very brief records, by no means an entire epic. The Kalevipoeg known today is clearly the work of Kreutzwald. However, Faehlmann had given an important lecture on the legendary material, which was also printed in a history book published in Moscow in 1846. This lecture on the Kalevipoeg is one of the "original texts" for Kreutzwald's later epic. It is generally not counted among the “eight myths”, but its content clearly belongs to Faehlmann's oeuvre of legends.

Faehlmann's other works

  • Attempt to arrange the Estonian verbs in conjugations (1842)
  • About the inflection of the word stem in the Estonian language (1843)
  • On the Declination of Estonian Nouns (1844)
  • Addendum to the doctrine of declination (1846)
  • Notes on the doctrine of word roots in the Estonian language (1847)
  • The dysentery epidemic in Dorpat in autumn 1846 (1848)
  • About Estonian Orthography (1852)

bibliography

Friedrich Robert Faehlmann: Kogutud Teosed (Collected Works) I-III. Tartu: Eesti Kirjandusmuuseum 1999, 2002, 2011 (the third volume in collaboration with Underi ja Tuglase Kirjanduskeskus, Tallinn. All volumes contain the original texts - German, Estonian or Latin - and an Estonian translation, extensive commentary).

literature

Web links

Commons : Friedrich Robert Faehlmann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Entry in the baptismal register of the parish of St. Marien-Magdalenen (Estonian: Koeru kogudus)
  2. ↑ Entry in the burial register of St. John's Church in Dorpat (Estonian: Tartu Jaani kirik)
  3. ↑ Observationes inflammationum occultiorum (full text, accessed March 22, 2013)
  4. ↑ Epp Annus, Luule Epner, Ants Järv, Sirje Olesk, Ele Süvalep, Mart Velsker: Eesti kirjanduslugu. Tallinn ± Koolibri 2001, p. 61.
  5. ↑ Cornelius Hasselblatt : Estonian literature in German translation. A reception story from the 19th to the 21st century. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2011, pp. 38–40: 1.4.3 .: “Koit ja Ämarik”: From the path of a legend.
  6. ↑ Henno Jänes: History of Estonian literature. Stockholm: Almqvist and Wiksell 1965. 188 p. (Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis. Stockholm Studies in History of Literature 8) p. 30.
  7. ^ Friedrich Kruse: Ur-Geschichte des Esthnischen Volksstammes and the Imperial Russian Baltic provinces Liv-, Esth- and Curland in general, up to the introduction of the Christian religion. Moscow: Friedrich Severins Verlagbuchhandlung 1846, pp. 175–184.
personal data
SURNAME Faehlmann, Friedrich Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fählmann, Friedrich Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Estonian philologist
DATE OF BIRTH December 31, 1798
PLACE OF BIRTH Hackeweid Estate, Koeru Municipality , Estonia
DATE OF DEATH April 22, 1850
Place of death Dorpat, Estonia