A large share of the loanwords that accompanied the renewal of lifestyle centuries ago entered the Estonian language through oral communication — until written Estonian, which began developing five centuries ago, started recording them in writing.

Initially, written Estonian was largely limited to the needs of spreading the word of God. Over time, however, it gradually came to reflect all facets of life.  

Which German loanwords have made their way into Estonian and become established can now be looked up in the bilingual Estonian-German online dictionary "German Loanwords in the Estonian Language," compiled by Jüri Viikberg.

This dictionary provides an overview of known German loanwords and their source languages, treating as German loans those that originate from either Low, High or Baltic German — or reached Estonian via one of these.

In many cases, these are everyday words in our vocabulary that one often would not even recognize as borrowed.

Everyday objects

Looking around the house, for example, you may see a kamber (chamber), köök (kitchen), pööning (attic), kelder (cellar), trepp (stairs) or korsten (chimney). In the kitchen, you might find a pann (pan), pott (pot), kruus (mug), kahvel (fork) and seep (soap), and on the dining table you may find sink (ham), suhkur (sugar), vorst (sausage), kook (cake), kringel (kringle, a braided sweetbread), moos (jam), sült (headcheese, or aspic) and maybe even a naps (strong alcoholic drink, or shot).

In other rooms, you may see a pink (bench), tool (chair), peegel (mirror), riiul (shelf), kapp (cupboard) and a lamp (lamp) or lühter (chandelier), and clothes including püksid (pants), sokid (socks), a kleit (dress), pluus (blouse), kuub (coat), vest (vest), mantel (overcoat), lips (tie) and sall (scarf).

These and many other useful and delightful words have been adopted by our language from German. Loanwords are words that have not been borrowed in the financial sense — that is, they do not need to be "paid back."

Entries in the new dictionary focus primarily on revealing the origin of the word and its etymology, but in the interest of credibility, other evidence related to the borrowing has been included as well.

From metzhobbone to eesel

Sources of the written Estonian language add a chronological dimension to things, indicating when a loanword was first recorded and when it became established. This has often been a lengthy process, especially if the loan did not fill a gap in vocabulary, or if native words or descriptive phrases for something were already in use beforehand.

In the case of the word eesel (donkey), for example, one can see that this foreign animal was first referred to in 1601 as a metzhobbone — presumably metshobune, meaning wild horse, or literally forest horse, in modern Estonian — and later, in 1660, Heinrich Göseken even distinguished between metzhobbone referring to the jack, or male donkey, and metzhobbo to the jenny, or female donkey.

The arrival of new concepts was often characterized by a preference for native vocabulary, which helped make these ideas more understandable to readers.

Another way to give a native name to a foreign concept was to associate it with its country of origin.

Since new animal and plant species typically reached Estonia via Germany, Göseken recorded the pear as the saxa marri Oun — saksa mari õun, or literally German berry apple — the plum the Saksa mah marri  — Saksamaa mari, or German berry — and the lemon the Saxa mah oun  — Saksamaa õun, or German apple.

In Göseken's dictionary, the male turkey was called the Saxa mah kuck  — Saksamaa kukk, or German rooster — and the female turkey the Saxa mah kanna — Saksamaa kana, or German chicken.

An unfamiliar grain, rice, was named the Saxa mah tango — Saksamaa tang, or German groat — while cotton was dubbed Saxa mah lamba willat — Saksamaa lambavill, or German sheep's wool.

These kinds of descriptive names didn't last long, although the lehisepuu, or larch tree, is still sometimes referred to as the Saksamaa kuusk, or German spruce, even today.

Competing loans from different languages

A third method of word formation back then involved borrowing from foreign languages, and with the help of the dictionary, it's easy to trace how words were borrowed from various sources.

For the word kirsimari (cherry berry), you will find three words over time and in different sources — Karsberi Marri, a Low German loan, in the 1637 dictionary of the Järva County pastor Heinrich Stahl, Wissila marri, a Russian loan, in Johann Gutslaff's 1648 Urvaste dictionary, and Kirsimarri, a German loan, in Vetsring's Pärnu dictionary of 1720-1730.

The tree and its fruit have thus had various names across Estonian-speaking areas, depending on local contact languages — until kirss became the standardized written word for cherry.

However, it's not always possible to definitively determine which language a loanword originated from.

While the word plasku (flask) is clearly regarded as a Swedish loan — from flaska — an earlier loan, lascki, derived from the Low German vlasche, and a later dialect word, plass, once again came from the German Flasche. Thus, in the sense of a drinking bottle, Estonian has ended up with three different loanwords, each from a different language.

Three words — and three possible explanations.  

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