Oskar Loorits ja liivlased

• Main Author: Renate Blumberga
• Format: Article
• Language: Estonian
• Published: Eesti Kirjandusmuuseum 2004-01-01
• Series: Mäetagused
• Online Access: http://www.folklore.ee/tagused/nr24/blumberga.pdf

Oskar Loorits' expedition to the Livonians began in June 1920 in the Luzhnas village. Loorits was well-liked among the Livonians, and was even given nicknames - Valdapää (Livonian for `white head') and Nuorizand (`the young master'). Many families treated him as their own son and he got well along with children. Among the memories of the older generation only few mention other scholars from the 1920s-1930s, while the name and actions of Oskar Valdapää Loorits are remembered by many. In 1920, after the forced evacuation during World War I in Latvia, Estonia and Russia, many lose their language, which had previously been used only at home. The only Livonian-language piece of literature was Matthew's Gospel (the most recent edition published in 1880). Livonian fishermen were poor and uneducated, and therefore were in risk of Latvianisation. Loorits' own feelings on the Livonian issue, which he expressed in the Estonian press since 1920, alternate between optimism and deep pessimism.