Jakob Hurt

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Jakob Hurt (22 July 1839 in Vana-Koiola - 13 January 1907 in St Petersburg) was a notable Estonian folklorist, theologian, and linguist. With respect to the latter, he is perhaps best known for his dissertation on "pure" -ne stem nouns ("Die estnischen Nomina auf -ne purum", 1886). He is also featured on the 10-krooni note.

Also known as the "king of Estonian folklore", Hurt planned the publication in the 1870's of a six volume series on Estonian folklore, called Monumenta Estoniae Antiquae. Hurt organised around 1400 voluteer collectors via a press campaign, who visited almost every house in Estonia collecting around 124,000 pages of folklore. However due to financial difficulties, only two volumes of folk songs were published in 1875-76, titled Vana kannel (Old Harp). Two more volumes were subsequently published quite some time later in 1938 and 1941. Hurt also published a three volume collection Setukeste laulud (The Setus' Songs) between 1894 and 1907.