Rosamunda wrote:This question was posted on the French forum, I copied it here. Any answers?
Karhu puristi purnukkaa. Vatanen kuuli truuttaavan äänen ja hämmentyneen ähkäisyn, tomaattisosetta suihkusi seinälle Vatasen pään oheen.
A. Paasilinna, Jäniksen vuosi, WSOY pokkari.
The OP would like to know the meaning of "truuttavan" and also the grammatical form/function of the word in the text.
It’s an onomatopoeic
nonce word of sorts, imitating the sound of the event. Something between “tooting” and “spluttering”. A fart-like noise.
(Note that you’re missing an “a” in the subject line and in your text: it should be
truuttaavan, as in the original quote.)
Grammatically it is a participle (verbal adjective):
truuttaava (the original verb is
truutata):
http://www.uusikielemme.fi/presentparticiple.html
The meaning of the verb would be “to make a drawn-out, tooting, spluttering, fart-like ‘trumpet sound’”.
It falls in the category of words you would generally only use in (none too high-falutin’) prose or in casual speech. The word would appear somewhat out of place in serious, formal texts.