Mihkel Veske

Mihkel Veske (28 January [O.S. 16 January] 1843 in Holstre Parish, Viljandi County – 16 May [O.S. 4 May] 1890 in Kazan) was an Estonian poet and linguist.

Mihkel Veske was born in Veske farm, Holstre Parish (now in Metsla village, Tarvastu Parish), Viljandi County in northern Livonia. He attended the village school in Pullerits, the parish school in Paistu and secondary school in Tartu. Between 1866 and 1867 he attended the mission school in Leipzig. In 1872 he graduated from the University of Leipzig with a doctoral degree. He published his doctorate in 1873 on comparative grammar of languages. Veske then returned to Estonia and worked as a journalist for the newspaper Eesti Põllumees.

From 1874 to 1887 Veske was a lecturer in Estonian language at the University of Dorpat. From 1886 until his untimely death in 1890 Veske was a lecturer in Finno-Ugric languages at the University of Kazan.

During the 1880s, Veske was one of the leading representatives of the Estonian national awakening. He belonged to the strongly patriotic groups around the Estonian intellectuals and journalists Carl Robert Jakobson. From 1882 to 1886 Veske was the President of the Society of Estonian Literati. 1884 Veske edited the magazine Oma Maa (My Land).

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