Majanduse oskussõnu kahe maailmasõja vahelt
Economic terms between the two world wars

Summary/Abstract: The paper provides an analysis of Estonian economic terminology, including accounting terms. The first reputed Estonian bookkeeping publications, which appeared in print in 1900 and 1902, were thin booklets. The first economics and business books followed in 1907. On 1 December 1919, Tartu University opened its doors as Tartu University of the Republic of Estonia with Estonian as the language of instruction. As a result, the real development of Estonian economic terms started in the 1920s, when several business books were published. The 1930s saw further development of terminology. An important characteristic of this period is the publishing of dictionaries of foreign words as well as specialized dictionaries, including those devoted to business/commerce vocabulary. Using the right terminology was quite important, and a number of business books included small dictionaries of terms as appendices. In 1935, the Law of Language for Business Accounting came into force. By the law, from 1 January 1935 it became obligatory to keep books in Estonian. In the article, special attention is paid to Karl Inno, the most talented person in the fields of business economics, accounting and banking in the first Republic of Estonia. Inno demonstrated a thorough approach to the use of terminology throughout his writings. Although he relied on diverse sources in different languages (English, French, German, Russian and of course Estonian, his mother tongue), he was able to avoid literal translations that would carry no meaning in the Estonian language, instead coming up with reasonable Estonian terms, several of which influence their conceptual meaning in an explanatory way. Inno’s terminological analysis is impressive not only as that of an accounting/ banking specialist, but also in his high­level philological approach.

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