Nimisõnade algustäht XVII sajandi lõpu ja XVIII sajandi alguse piiblitekstides
Noun Initial in the Biblical Texts of the Late 17th and Early 18th Centuries

Summary/Abstract: Publication of sacred texts has exerted a marked influence on the development of literary Estonian. The first Estonian editions of the New Testament (Wastne Testament 1686, Uus Testament 1715) regularly initate nouns with a capital letter. The NT reprint of 1727, however, as well as the Full Bible of 1739 uses lower-case letters, except at the beginning of proper names and words for God. The aim of this paper was to demonstrate that for Estonian sacred texts the upper/lower case policy would follow a German example. Even though Finnish or, in particular, Swedish may have had an influence, the decisive role belonged to German. Our analysis of the biblical texts mentioned above, as well as of Estonian grammars and many other 17th–18th-century publications, sacred and profane, shows that the Estonian tradition of a lower-case initial dates from the early 1720s, being closely connected with biblical publications. The relevant decision was made by a workgroup at the Estonian Consistory, with a more or less essential participation of Christoph Wrede, Heinrich Gutsleff, Johann Middendorf, Hermann Johann Heitzig and Anton Thor Helle.

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