Quote:
Originally Posted by Endoperez
This is the first I've heard of this. There are many poems in which the main character is a male sorcerer, and in which "Veen emonen" wouldn't fit, but Lönnrot could have changed it in few places. Perhaps the creation myth, where Väinämöinen is born from Ilmatar (air-ess, feminine personification of air) and then completes the creation of the world. Female creator-god might have been too controversial in Lönnrot's time.
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It is well known and accepted fact that Lönnrot wrote many of the poems himself to make the story "better".
Btw, in the 1950s Martti Haavio, a well known linguistic researched, proved (or "proved", your choice
) wrong the assumotion that Veen Emonen and Väinämöinen are the same. It was apparently too controversial even in 50's if it had been proved our beloved figure Väinämöinen was in fact a female originally
Anyway, the matter has again only recently been brought to light, and it may never be accepted as such.
Michael Agricola in 16th century listed Veen Emonen (or "Veden Emo", as he called her) as one of the mythological figures of Finland, but he did not for some reason list Väinämöinen. Personally I view that as the strongest proof, but then again what I think or don't think doesn't have that much of an impact on the linguistics