Estonian language column explores the restless aspen

In a language segment published by ERR, Mari Kendla examines the aspen, which has been named Estonia’s tree of 2026.

The common aspen, or Populus tremula, also held the title in 2005. It is widespread in Estonian forests and familiar for its leaves, which begin to tremble and rustle in even a light breeze. The tree inspired the Estonian saying “trembles like an aspen leaf.” Its Latin species name, tremula, also means “trembling.”

The word haab, meaning aspen in Estonian, has equivalents in all Finnic languages, as well as in Sami and Mari. It is therefore part of the Finnic-Mari layer of the vocabulary. Estonian dialect forms include haav, vaab, vuab and vaav.

Because the inner part of an aspen trunk is often decayed, the tree is also known in popular usage as a “rotten tree.” Several words derive from haab, including haabjas, an old name for a boat that has the Finnish and Ingrian equivalent haapio.

Haabjas is also an adjective describing the greyish-green colour of aspen bark. Something made from aspen wood can be described as haabne, or in dialect forms haabine and haavane. Estonian place names derived from the tree’s name include Haavakannu and Haavakivi.

Aspen is also used as a surname. According to this year’s statistics, 106 people bear the name, although that is considerably fewer than the number of people with surnames derived from oak or birch.

This year is also notable because, at the proposal of forest scientists, Estonia has named its first forest insect of the year: the large aspen longhorn beetle, Saperda carcharias. The insect is likewise closely associated with aspens.

The segment was edited by Kaspar Viilup and originally broadcast on Vikerraadio.