Felix Oinas

Felix Johannes Oinas (6 March 1911 – 25 September 2004) was an Estonian folklorist, linguist, and translator.

Early life and career Felix Oinas was born in Kambja to the dairy farmer Ernst Oinas (1885–1975) and his wife Marie (née Saarik, 1885–1960), who was a homemaker. He grew up in the village of Maltsa. Ernst had a keen interest in literature and maintained a small library. Felix became an avid reader during elementary school, particularly interested in Estonian folklore and literature.

Felix Oinas attended the University of Tartu, receiving his M.A in Finno-Ugric languages, folklore, and comparative literature in 1938. He later taught the Estonian language at University of Budapest in Hungary, as well as conducting research on Hungarian literature, and translating Hungarian works into Estonian.

After returning to Estonia, Oinas fled the Soviet occupation and annexation in 1944 with his wife Lisbet and children. While living as displaced persons in Germany, Oinas studied Slavic linguistics and literature. In 1949, the family emigrated to the United States after Oinas was hired as a research assistant for the Slavic Department at Wayne State University in Detroit. After a year in Detroit, he moved to Bloomington, Indiana and taught Finno-Ugric languages and folklore at Indiana University Bloomington. Oinas also became a Russian language instructor while simultaneously studying theoretical and Slavic linguistics and working at the Folklore Institute with American folklorist Stith Thompson.

In 1960, Oinas was appointed chairman of Indiana University Bloomington's Ural-Altaic Department, and later became a professor in the Slavic and Ural-Altaic Departments and at the Folklore Institute. Oinas taught Church Slavonic, Russian Literature, reading of Old Slavonic texts, and the history of Russian literary language. In the folklore department he taught Russian, Finnish, and Balto-Finnic folklore, Finno-Ugric and Siberian mythology, and religion.

Personal life and death Feix Oinas married Lisbet Kõvve. Their son Valdar Oinas is an astrophysicist. Oinas died in 2004 in Bloomington, Indiana, aged 93.

Honors In 1997 Felix Oinas was awarded the Order of the National Coat of Arms, II class.

Selected works Petőfi: vabaduse ja armastuse laulik. Eesti Kirjanduse Selts, Tartu, 1939 Kalevipoeg kütkeis ja muid esseid rahvaluulest, mütoloogiast ja kirjandusest. Toronto, 1979 Vargamäe tõde ja õigus. Stockholm, 1984 Surematu Kalevipoeg. Tallinn, 1994 Tuul heidab magama. Tallinn, 1999