Finnish verbs with more than one meaning

Learn and discuss the Finnish language with Finn's and foreigners alike
Post Reply
maximumforum
Posts: 35
Joined: Mon Jul 29, 2013 4:17 am

Finnish verbs with more than one meaning

Post by maximumforum » Sun Jun 22, 2014 10:35 am

I'm wondering about verbs that have more than one meaning with different stems, but with the same dictionary infinitive. The one I know is tavata > tapaa- (meet) & tavaa- (spell). Is there more like this?



Finnish verbs with more than one meaning

Sponsor:

Finland Forum Ad-O-Matic
 

User avatar
onkko
Posts: 4826
Joined: Tue Jun 10, 2008 1:24 am
Location: kemijärvi

Re: Finnish verbs with more than one meaning

Post by onkko » Mon Jun 23, 2014 6:49 am

maximumforum wrote:I'm wondering about verbs that have more than one meaning with different stems, but with the same dictionary infinitive. The one I know is tavata > tapaa- (meet) & tavaa- (spell). Is there more like this?

http://naurunappula.com/1147031/kuusi-plussaa.png
Caesare weold Graecum, ond Caelic Finnum

ml14
Posts: 59
Joined: Mon Jun 23, 2014 7:21 am

Re: Finnish verbs with more than one meaning

Post by ml14 » Mon Jun 23, 2014 8:03 am

If we relax the requirement to include conjugated forms, rather than just infinitives, then

soi can be either

- the 3rd singular past tense form of suoda "to allow, give" or

- the 3rd singular past or present tense, or 2nd singular imperative, of soida "to ring, resound"


kylvin / kylvit / kylvimme / kylvitte can either mean

- "I / you / we bathed" (kylpeä "to bathe") or

- "I / you / we sowed" (kylvää "to sow")

User avatar
jahasjahas
Posts: 899
Joined: Sun May 15, 2011 11:08 am

Re: Finnish verbs with more than one meaning

Post by jahasjahas » Mon Jun 23, 2014 12:33 pm

If you want an explanation for the tavata/tavata situation:

The meeting one is derived from tapa. It might have been "tapata" originally, if it existed before the sound changes that gave us consonant gradation.

The spelling one is a more recent* loan from the Swedish stava. We tended to simplify word-initial consonant clusters back then, so you could think that the verb was originally "sta(a)vata", which then became "ta(a)vata".

It's mostly a coincidence that they eventually ended up looking the same.

*(=whatever century it was when Finns started going to schools taught in Swedish, I guess)

User avatar
Oombongo
Posts: 1949
Joined: Mon May 01, 2006 11:19 am
Location: local sewer pipe

Re: Finnish verbs with more than one meaning

Post by Oombongo » Mon Jun 23, 2014 1:14 pm

Nain eilen Annan.
Nain eilen Annaa.

may lead to very unpleasant situation and/or whole a lot of explanations.
Image Image

ml14
Posts: 59
Joined: Mon Jun 23, 2014 7:21 am

Re: Finnish verbs with more than one meaning

Post by ml14 » Mon Jun 23, 2014 11:29 pm

I tried to give an example using kaivata "to miss" vs. kaivaa "to dig", but then I realized that it didn't work. The forms kaivetaan "(something) is being dug" and kaivataan "(something) is being missed/needed" only differ by one vowel, but they aren't completely identical.


Post Reply