Estonianadj.n.
/ɛˈstəʊnɪən/, /ᵻˈstəʊnɪən/, U.S. /ɛˈstoʊniən/ A. adj.
Of or belonging to Estonia (native name Eesti), a country stretching along the south coast of the Gulf of Finland.From 1940 a constituent republic of the U.S.S.R., Estonia became an independent republic in 1991.
ΚΠ
1795 in W. Tooke Varieties of Literature I. 23 Esthonian poetry.
1863 R. G. Latham Nationalities of Europe I. xii. 132 The Estonian instrument is the harp.
1925 O. Rutter New Baltic States xi. 199 Estonian folklore owes something to the Finnish.
1941 J. H. Jackson Estonia i. 20 The Soviets..were asking for naval bases on Estonian territory.
1948 A. Oras Baltic Eclipse i. 20 The Estonian shipyards, railway works, plywood factories.
B. n.
1. A native or inhabitant of Estonia.
ΚΠ
1795 in W. Tooke Varieties of Literature I. 23 The Esthonians..have an extremely soft, delicate, and tender articulation.
1841 Lady Eastlake Resid. Shores Baltic II. xvi. 62 Nothing can exceed the hospitality of the Estonians.
1894 W. F. Kirby Hero of Esthonia I. p. xvi The Finns, the Esthonians, and the Lapps..speak very similar languages.
2. The Finno-Ugrian language of Estonia.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > languages of the world > Uralic > [noun] > Samoyedic > Finno-Ugric > Finnic > Baltic Finnic languages > Estonian
Estonian1863
Esth1868
1863 R. G. Latham Nationalities of Europe I. xii. 129 Ma, in Estonian, means land.
1874 A. H. Sayce Princ. Compar. Philol. 322 Wanna Issi in Esthonian means ‘the old father’.
1941 J. H. Jackson Estonia iii. 58 One of the eight chairs on the original foundation was a professorship in the Estonian language.
1952 E. Uustalu Hist. Estonian People v. 82 These tax and work registers, or ‘Vakus-books’, as they were called in Estonian.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1795