Folkloristista lingvistiikkaa – Christfrid Gananderin kansanrunokoelman Lypsäjän sanat

Authors

• Elina Palola

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30666/elore.79183

Abstract

Research on old poems in the Kalevala-metre has a long tradition in Finland. However, linguistic research on their language is scarce. This article explores the language of folk poems from a linguistic and folkloristic point of view. The author presents the method of text criticism which she has developed in her doctoral thesis. By analysing the poem Lypsäjän sanat (Milker’s Words) by Christfrid Ganander she explicates how a detailed folkloristic and linguistic study sets out old cryptic notes about poems in a new way. Ganander’s early collection from the late 1700s needs to be treated with source criticism.

The analysis of one poem with a few complex verses confirms the author’s earlier findings about the quality of Ganander’s poetic material. It seems that Ganander may have had valuable notes about these poems in his possession, which were not preserved in other collections. The analysis also conveys the meanings of the most complex verses of the poem Lypsäjän sanat.

The study and analysis of the language in the folk poems significantly extend the Fennistic research. The author believes that constructing an elaborate discussion between folkloristics and Fennistics, as it occurred in the early 1900s, would be beneficial for both domains, further supporting the research on old poems in the Kalevala-metre in these disciplines.