Does the names of places in Helsinki has a meaning?

weijie · Post by **weijie** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 4:30 pm

I am wondering is there any meaning of those names of places in Helsinki, like Vuosaari, Kumpula, Viikki, Rastila, Ruoholahti,? If any places you know, it does has a meaning, please teach me! I am very curious.

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Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 4:40 pm

Vuosaari - vuo+saari -> flow(as in river) island, see: http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vuosaari#N ... uper.C3.A4
Kumpula - kumpu -> hill, mound
Viikki - from Swedish vik -> lahti
Rastila - rasti -> cross
Ruoholahti - ruoho + lahti -> grass bay

weijie · Post by **weijie** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 5:30 pm

Upphew wrote:Vuosaari - vuo+saari -> flow(as in river) island, see: http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vuosaari#N ... uper.C3.A4
Kumpula - kumpu -> hill, mound
Viikki - from Swedish vik -> lahti
Rastila - rasti -> cross
Ruoholahti - ruoho + lahti -> grass bay

That's very interesting!! Thank you! Would you please show me more?
Kaisaniemi, Sörnainen, Pasila, Kulosaari, Haaga, Kontula...

maxxfi · Post by **maxxfi** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 7:24 pm

In this old thread: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=32614
you can see e.g. the names of Helsinki metro stations 'translated' to English

Jukka Aho · Post by **Jukka Aho** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 8:28 pm

Upphew wrote:Kumpula - kumpu -> hill, mound

The ending -la (which is common in Finnish place names, names of farms/houses and family names) refers to a place which somehow prominently features the things preceding the -la... in this case, hills. So Kumpula suggests a place where you can find hills/mounds.

MagicJ · Post by **MagicJ** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 8:54 pm

So does that mean there's a preponderance of passengers named Pasi passing peacefully along the platforms at Pasila?

Rob A. · Post by **Rob A.** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 9:05 pm

Oh yes...this can be fun...a good vocabulary builder....but probably best just to think of place names as they are in Finnish....

Here are a few:

Lappeenranta...."Shore of the Sami"
Saimaa= maybe..."Get Land"
Taipalsaari...a little more prosaic...="Passage Island"
Joensuu= "River's Mouth"
Kontiolahti = "Bear Bay"....kontio is a euphemism for karhu....[In the old days one must not directly mention the name of the "Revered One".]
Haaparanta...which is actually in Sweden = "Aspen Shore"
Kilpisjärvi= "Shield Lake"...unless kilpis is a shortened form of kilpikonna = "tortoise", "turtle"....

Suomi?? ....how about "Swamp Land"....

....well, that is one version I've heard....but the etymology apparently isn't certain.... Another version is that the Suo- part equates with "Sami"...therefore "Sami Land"....and yet another that it is related to the Russian word, zemlja...and simply means, "Land"...

Oh yes...and there is a Latvian word, zeme meaning "earth" or "land"...and this may tie in with one of the theories of the ancient origins of the Finns...

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 10:34 pm

Rob A. wrote:Lappeenranta...."Shore of the Sami"

Shore of Lappee in fact.

otyikondo · Post by **otyikondo** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 12:43 am

Jukka Aho wrote:
Upphew wrote:Kumpula - kumpu -> hill, mound
The ending -la (which is common in Finnish place names, names of farms/houses and family names) refers to a place which somehow prominently features the things preceding the -la... in this case, hills. So Kumpula suggests a place where you can find hills/mounds.

Jukka, might be worth adding that this is also the root for a great many surnames, since the family name is often a reference to the house/farm in which they lived, which in the case of Kumpula is effectively "the place of the people who live on the mound", and the extended family that lives there becomes "the people who live on the mound".

A good many newcomers are baffled by the almost complete lack of Central European and Anglo-Saxon "trade" names such as Carpenter, Taylor, Baker, Butcher, Farmer, Thatcher, Carter, Roper, Archer...

Smith (Seppä(nen)) exists of course, but is not so screamingly common, and Miller (apparently among the commonest names in the U.S. thanks to the German immigrants) is a relatively rare find here, though you'd be much more likely to find people called Myllylampi or Myllykoski.

Oh, and -vik is of course -wich or -wick, found prominently on the east coast of England all the way up to Northumberland, just as -niemi/-näs is -ness.

Rob A. · Post by **Rob A.** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 2:21 am

Here are a few more:

Hanko= "Pitchfork"
Kotka= "Eagle"
Seinäjoki= "Wall River"
Varkaus = "Theft"
Rovaniemi ...probably = "Reed Cape"
Salo = "Wilderness"
Jyväskylä = "Grain Village"
Sodankylä = "WarVillage"
Kuopio ...seems to have something to do with digging a hole...
Vantaa....might ...but I doubt it, have something to do with a "Plough"

...some of these spellings, though, are archaic and probably it is only coincidental that they are so close to a modern word....

...but I can't remember the Finnish name for that place that is called..."Just Another Pond"...

[Edit: I was just reading something that contained a reference to a lake in Canada...evidently a small lake I had never heard of before.....

"Crooked Lake"....so I thought...how about in Finland???

First, of course, it isn't absolutely clear in English which "crooked" is being referred to...though I guess you don't have to be 'rocket scientist' to assume which it probably would be....

For Finland a Google search resulted in the following:

Käyräjärvi....553 hits

Kierojärvi.....0 hits....

]

Keravalainen · Post by **Keravalainen** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 10:57 am

Hi!
Helsingin Sanomat published a few years ago a funny article on how some places in Helsinki and elsewhere would be in English...

"The Big S antaa viestissään parikymmentä esimerkkiä Helsingistä ja Espoosta.
Joukossa ovat muun muassa Sharing Hill (Jakomäki), Advantage-Töölö (Etu-Töölö), Three Ass (Kolmperä) ja Bird Hazard (Lintuvaara).
Muun muassa Fire Grass (Paloheinä), Gate Element Valley (Veräjälaakso) ja Rock (Kallio) olivat seuraavia ehdotuksia.
Käännöksiä alettiin ehdottaa myös muualta Suomesta. Samalla joukkoon alkoi eksyä monimutkaisempia sanaleikkejä.
Turusta löytyy muun muassa Hi Little Moth (Moikoinen), Have Some Drink (Kupittaa) ja Testicle Wax (Pallivaha).
Valkeakoskella ovat puolestaan I Roll Too (Jyräänmäki), Quicky (Sassi) ja Vomiting (Yrjölä).
Tuusula taas on Come, Unfrozen ja Espoon Haukilahti A Dog Went Mad. "

- My personal favorite of those is Haukilahti.

EP · Post by EP » Fri Mar 11, 2011 12:37 pm

Espoon Haukilahti A Dog Went Mad

How could Haukilahti be translated to A Dog Went Mad? I don´t get it. Why isn´t it just a simple Pike Bay?

kalmisto · Post by **kalmisto** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 12:56 pm

How could Haukilahti be translated to A Dog Went Mad? I don´t get it. Why isn´t it just a simple Pike Bay?

I think it is like this :

A dog went mad = Hau kilahti.

The problem is that "hau" should be "hauva".

"Kilahtaa" can obviously mean ( in slang ) "to go crazy" as it does here ( "Mies kilahti totaalisesti" ) :
http://www.vauva.fi/keskustelut/alue/2/ ... stauksia_k

EP · Post by EP » Fri Mar 11, 2011 1:10 pm

OK, I guess you are right. But when something is just simply Pike Bay a word play like that is a bit far fetched.

kalmisto · Post by **kalmisto** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 1:13 pm

EP wrote:OK, I guess you are right. But when something is just simply Pike Bay a word play like that is a bit far fetched.

Yes, it is TOO far-fetched.

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