The Ludza Estonians (in the
Ludza dialect: ''Lutsi maarahvas'' – ‘Lutsi Estonians’, in
Latvian: ''Ludzas igauņi'') are a group of ethnic
Estonians living in and around
Ludza, south-eastern
Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
.
History
Most of the Ludza Estonians probably moved into the area in the 17th century before the
Great Northern War, but the settlement may have originated earlier. Throughout the era of
feudalism, when life was mostly confined to one's near environment, this ethnic group retained its Estonian identity and ethnographic features. Ludza Estonians were originally
Lutherans, but became Catholics and had close contacts with neighbouring
Latgalians and
Belarusians
, native_name_lang = be
, pop = 9.5–10 million
, image =
, caption =
, popplace = 7.99 million
, region1 =
, pop1 = 600,000–768,000
, region2 =
, pop2 ...
. As long as the church ceremonies and confessions were held in Estonian, the people had little need to speak
Latvian or
Belarusian
Belarusian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to Belarus
* Belarusians, people from Belarus, or of Belarusian descent
* A citizen of Belarus, see Demographics of Belarus
* Belarusian language
* Belarusian culture
* Belarusian cuisine
* Byelor ...
. Nevertheless, the local
Latgalian dialect of Latvian, Belarusian, and Russian were spoken to a certain extent in the areas where those people were their neighbours. In
manor
Manor may refer to:
Land ownership
*Manorialism or "manor system", the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of medieval Europe, notably England
*Lord of the manor, the owner of an agreed area of land (or "manor") under manorialism
*Man ...
s,
Polish was heard (in
Latgale
Latgale ( ltg, Latgola; ; ger, Lettgallen; be, Латгалія, Łathalija; pl, Łatgalia; la, Lettgallia), also known as Latgalia is one of the Historical Latvian Lands. It is the easternmost region and is north of the Daugava River. While m ...
, it was the administrative language at the time).
Language
Ludza Estonians speak the
Ludza dialect (Ludzī kīļ) which is closely related to
Seto.
By the 19th century the church had become Latvianised and Russian had become the official language and
lingua franca
A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...
. According to
Oskar Kallas
Oskar Kallas (also Oskar Philipp Kallas; in Kirikuküla, Saaremaa – 26 January 1946 in Stockholm) was an Estonian diplomat, linguist and folklorist.Toivo Miljan, ''Historical Dictionary of Estonia'', Scarecrow Press 2004 He was the husband o ...
, who made a studying trip to area in 1893, there were 4,387 Ludza Estonians of whom some 800 could speak Estonian. In the 1970s and 80s, there were some 20 people left in the area still using the language, but it is now most likely to have perished. The dialect spoken by Ludza Estonians, was closely related to eastern
Võro-dialects. It contained about 180 loanwords from Latvian language and some from Russian. Ludza Estonians reportedly had some difficulty understanding standardised Estonian.
References
Sources and external links
*
Paul Ariste ''Keelekontaktid''. Tallinn: Valgus 1981.
''Eestlased Lätis'' Retrieved May 8, 2007.
* Väinö Klau
''Läti eestlased'' Retrieved May 8, 2007.
* Hannes Korju
* Marjo Mela ''Latvian virolaiset'' Helsinki: Suomalaisen kirjallisuuden seura 2001, {{in lang, fi
* Uldis Balodis http://www.lutsimaa.lv/Lutsimaa__Land_of_the_Ludza_Estonians/Home.html
Social history of Estonia
Latvian people of Estonian descent
Estonian dialects
Ludza
Social history of Latvia
Ethnic groups in Latvia