%0 Journal Article %T ESTONIAN TRACES IN THE TREE OF LIFE CONCEPT AND IN THE LANGUAGE FAMILY TREE THEORY %A Urmas Sutrop %J Eesti ja soome-ugri keeleteaduse ajakiri %D 2012 %I University of Tartu %X In this paper the tree model ¨C a well-formed tree is shortly described. After that the language family tree model by August Schleicher is treated and compared with the Charles Darwin¡¯s tree of life diagram and metaphor. The development of the idea of the linguistic trees and the tree of life is considered historically. Earlier models ¨C scala naturae ¨C and tree models, both well-formed and not-well-formed are introduced. Special attention is paid to the scholars connected to Estonia who developed the idea of tree models: Georg Stiernhielm was the first who pictured a language tree already in 1671; Karl Eduard Eichwald published an early tree of animal life in 1829; and Karl Ernst von Baer influenced the tree of life models and diagrams of Charles Darwin. %K tree models %K Karl Ernst von Baer %K Charles Darwin %K Karl Eduard Eichwald %K August Schleicher %K Georg Stiernhielm %K Estonia %U http://jeful.ut.ee/public/files/Sutrop%20297-326.pdf