In this tweet in Madis Jürviste takes a look at the colorful world of the masters.
A word that has come down to us through the German language meister comes from the Latin word master, which was initially used in the sense of ‘head of religious ceremonies and rites’, but later the scope of the term expanded. In modern times, we know that a master is someone who is very skilled, expert in something, be it in art or music, in a craft, in a sport or in any other field. In ancient times the word “master” mainly referred to an expert craftsman, who at the end of his training had to create a masterpiece, but not necessarily: a master could also simply be Wiks teggia, as we can see in the voluminous Estonian-German dictionary compiled by the priest Salomo Heinrich Vestring three hundred years ago. Which masters can we find traces of in 17th and 18th century Estonian dictionaries?
In the six dictionaries containing the Estonian language, from that of Heinrich Stahl of 1637 to that of August Wilhelm Hupel of 1780, we find about a dozen words composed with the suffix meister. They are often based on the example of the German language. This is how it happened MayorIt’s in Estonian pormeister is a senior member; mayor’, from the word Drucker was derived Trukmeister. And for example, tax collector or rent master and cavalry officer rittmeister were written in the same form in Estonian and German. German Master‘ist became Estonian master, A teacher. The tanners are a little more Estonian park master and a master carpenter. Heinrich Göseken also mentions the word in his 1660 dictionary veomeister, which referred to the head of the weighbridge, or the weigher. But with the nobles they were in charge roammeister, cellar manager, foreman AND stable masterthat is, cooks, cellarmen, owners and stable masters.
For comparison: currently the largest Estonian dictionary, the EKI combined dictionary on Sõnaveeb, has 116 different meister-final compound word, for example masters of style such as Friedebert Tuglas and Andrus Kivirähk. In addition to them, we find 34 others meister-initial and derived word, for example masteraiskond AND master’s courses.
The relatively small number of words with the ending maestro in old dictionaries does not mean that few maestros themselves existed. There were probably many others, including in Estonian, but the authors of the dictionaries made their choice. Over time the meanings of this word have diversified: today we speak, for example, of world champions and champions of tone, but also of unsuccessful champions. There seems to be no end to the masters, because new areas of life in which to become an agent fox are expanding more and more over time.
2023-12-23 07:32:00
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