Swedish or Finnish?

Pecchio · Post by **Pecchio** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 3:08 pm

suru wrote:Learn both at the same time.

Do not listen to this girl! She's got 1.8 average. That's like awesome, dude, in Germany! Like 3.5 or so in America. Honours degree from the grammar school and all that stuff. Medals...all gold...

But can you, suru, speak Finnish and Swedish and chew gum at the same time? I bet you can't do that. Hah!

**Sponsor:**

Pecchio · Post by **Pecchio** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 3:25 pm

suru wrote: the ethymology (damn, hope the word is spelled correctly...)

Nope. Hope gets you only so far...

Clive · Post by **Clive** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 4:03 pm

suru wrote:Learn both at the same time.

As if learning French and Finnish at the same time isn't enough

I'll just stick with Finnish. Then, if I feel the urge to move to Sweden I can 'just' learn Swedish.

suru · Post by **suru** » Fri Jul 29, 2005 4:58 pm

No, I'm serious. If you wonder, why it's tori - torin and not tori -toren, you'll find the answer when you know it's a loan from Swedish: torg. Also, when you know when the word came into Finnish, then you won't be surprised about the consonants not changing. esim auto-auton compared to outo-oudon.

Clive · Post by **Clive** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 1:17 pm

I could give it a try, I suppose, but I want to get to grips with the language before I learn another one as well.

kalmisto · Post by **kalmisto** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 9:18 am

suru wrote:No, I'm serious. If you wonder, why it's tori - torin and not tori -toren, you'll find the answer when you know it's a loan from Swedish: torg. Also, when you know when the word came into Finnish, then you won't be surprised about the consonants not changing. esim auto-auton compared to outo-oudon.

We say "lumi - lumen" but "kumi -kumin". Can you explain that ? I can´t.

lumi = snow

kumi = rubber

Lillukka · Post by **Lillukka** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 10:09 am

We say "lumi - lumen" but "kumi -kumin". Can you explain that ? I can´t.

kalmisto, the word kumi has its origin in Latin cummi, gummi, which is derived from Greek kommi, and from Egyptian qmyt (look in the Merriam-Webster online, the English for kumi is gum! http://www.m-w.com).

Now the word limi is a purely Finnish one, I suppose, and changes according to the rule for native words.

kalmisto · Post by **kalmisto** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 10:38 am

Lillukka

I should have noticed that "kumi" is a loan word from Swedish, like "kori" ( basket ).

Lillukka · Post by **Lillukka** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 11:17 am

Ha! I didn't even suspect that 'kori' could also be a loan word but then of course, I don't speak any Swedish.

Dear forumers, in your opinion are there more Swedish than Russian loan words in nowadays Finnish?

kalmisto · Post by **kalmisto** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 12:56 pm

Lillukka wrote:Ha! I didn't even suspect that 'kori' could also be a loan word but then of course, I don't speak any Swedish.

Dear forumers, in your opinion are there more Swedish than Russian loan words in nowadays Finnish?

There are many more Swedish loan words in Finnish. Two Russian loan words that come to mind : kapusta and pirssi.

Lillukka · Post by **Lillukka** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 1:20 pm

kalmisto wrote:There are many more Swedish loan words in Finnish. Two Russian loan words that come to mind : kapusta and pirssi.

There are many more! For example: lusikka, sontikka (this is Oulu dialect), smetana, poski (from old Russian). I am sure I am forgetting something.

And what is pirssi? My Russian is not that good

.

kalmisto · Post by **kalmisto** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 1:40 pm

>> And what is "pirssi" ? <<

It means "taxi", at least to me it does. According to this dictionary it means "taxi-rank" :
http://212.213.217.194:8081/?word=pirssi

I have never heard it used that way.

I do not know if "pirssi" is still used in some parts of Finland. Very few people ( if any ) use that word nowadays.

Hank W. · Post by **Hank W.** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 6:16 pm

suru wrote:No, I'm serious. If you wonder, why it's tori - torin and not tori -toren, you'll find the answer when you know it's a loan from Swedish: torg.

Err, no. Its a loan from Old Russian turgu meaning market-place. Hence the name of Turku. The Swedes loaned the word as well, as did the Estonians.

kalmisto · Post by **kalmisto** » Wed Aug 03, 2005 1:23 pm

>> Err, no. Its a loan from Old Russian turgu meaning market-place. Hence the name of Turku. The Swedes loaned the word as well, as did the Estonians. <<

Isn´t it possible that we got it from the Swedes even though the word is originally Russian ?

glorius · Post by **glorius** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 6:22 pm

I am Russian actually and do not know what is "turgu" or "pirssi". And as far as I know "moneta" is from Russian language and it means "coin"

Finland Forum

Find information about moving to, living in and life in Finland

Swedish or Finnish?

[Please read post before voting] Should I learn to speak...