Talk:List of English words of Finnish origin

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Finland

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Nokia

Well, "Nokia" is a name, not a word. Also, I have no idea how common these words are in english, even in specialist usage... The only one I have heard about before in English is "sauna", the only(?) Finnish word that has truly become an internationalism...— Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.112.113.122 (talk) 01:11, 26 January 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Rapakivi

Ok, rapakivi seemed to be used in specialist usage, referring to some kind of granite, anyway. Too bad it doesn't have an article, yet... 213.112.113.92—Preceding undated comment added 01:20, 26 January 2005 (UTC).[reply]

What makes you think that it doesn't have an article? Please read the text in the big coloured box at the top of the article. Uncle G 16:13, 2005 Mar 3 (UTC)

OK, it had a samll Wiktionary definition, anyway.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.112.113.92 (talk) 00:50, 4 March 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Motti

I don't think "motti" is used in English. If it is, it would only be to describe Finnish tactics. Rick K 08:10, Feb 17, 2005 (UTC)

loanwords in "other languages" or loanwords to the English language

With all respect for attempts to make the Wikipedia less Anglo-centric, I believe that with regard to words the English language Wikipedia is so with good reason.

The analysis of whether cognates between Germanic or Baltic or Slavic languages and Finnic languages have been borrowed in one or another direction is an obscure discipline. It can not be expected that people knowledgable in this field have energy to invest in this article, given the low probability that their efforts would survive distortions introduced by less knowledgables.

However, the issue of borrowings to and from English is quite another matter. There can be expected a sufficiently large readership of people who know enogh of basic linguistics relevant for English to keep this article within reasonable limits for credibility.

Hence I return the article to the more specific wording on borrowings from Finnish to English.

--Johan Magnus 18:12, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)

The English language Wikipedia is an encyclopaedia written in English not an encyclopaedia written about English. After all, if it were, there wouldn't be a Finnish language entry at all. And your reasoning is wrong. An encyclopaedia article on words loaned from Finnish to all other languages naturally includes the English language amongst them. Phrasing the article in terms of the words that Finnish has loaned does not preclude the contributions of those who wish to discuss the subset of that set that is the words that it has loaned to the English language specifically. Whereas phrasing it in the way that you have does preclude the very analysis that you mention, and that this article would greatly benefit from having. The more inclusive discussion is the better one, irrespective of largely unprovable hypotheses of how potential contributors might feel. And you'd be surprised at the obscure disciplines that actually do get written about on Wikipedia, if they are given encouragement rather than stifled with a bias such as "we're only talking about English". Here's some proof of the pudding for you. Uncle G 02:35, 2005 Mar 4 (UTC)

I very much agree that the article would benifit from covering more than English, but I doubt very much this to be within the boundaries of what is realistically possible. The problem with obscure disciplines is that they easily get more attention from fringe POV-pushers than from contributors with authoritative knowledge, which Wikipedia unfortunately demonstrates again and again.

— However, stating that Finnish should have been a purely receiveing party is considerably less true if all languages are considered, although in many cases there exists some discussions on the direction of borrowings, than if that reasoning is applied specifically to English, which was the wording that I previously supported. In this respect I see your last edit as a great improvement. Kudos!

--Johan Magnus 07:26, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Rapakive

Why was Rapakive removed? Is the word too specialist?— Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.198.149.98 (talk) 00:07, 7 March 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I wouldn't say too specialist. There already is a reference to a list of words, so we don't need to make this article into a list too. One (to me the best known ;-) example out of (at the time) only a handful is fully sufficient. Besides, as you noted yourself, the text at motti is more to link to than the text at rapakivi. --Johan Magnus 17:17, 7 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Kelo

I have been told that the Finnish word "kelo" (meaning a dead standing tree without bark; in Finland usually a pine, Pinus sylvestris) is spreading into other languages. But I don't know if English-speaking biologists recognize it.(I'm a Finnish biology student so I wouldn't know.) If they do, it could perhaps be added to this article?— Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.76.88.126 (talk) 09:17, 29 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

molotov cocktail

How about molotov cocktail? Sunnan 11:51, 27 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Article is small

I think this article should be merged with the one on Finnish. Just a thought, since this is so small. Maybe there it could draw some attention to itself and encourage improvement.Atomsprengja 23:49, 8 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Kantele

That instrument, that's a finnish instrument with finnish name. how about that?

It's not an English word. --Vuo 08:04, 21 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Ahkio and pulk

What about ahkio and pulk (< pulkka)? They're pretty common amongst trekkers. -Yupik 22:16, 16 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Ahkio is from one of the Sami languages I think... --Tropylium 21:29, 7 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Scratch that, it's not. --Trɔpʏliʊm • blah 17:08, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

[xAlA]

Might be supposed to be Proto-Ugric or something, but it's not Proto-Uralic at least. --Tropylium 21:40, 7 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I remain skeptical to the entry... 惑乱分からん 16:52, 13 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Have you forgot boy?

Boy is from some skandinavian language, like in Swedish "pojke". However Scandinavian "pojke" is a loan from Finnish poika. 193.65.112.51 01:06, 10 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not certain "boy" is from Swedish. (Btw, "pojke" isn't used in any other Scandinavian language.) I read it was related to German "Bube". 惑乱分からん * \)/ (\ (< \) (2 /) /)/ * 18:20, 28 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Actually the Finnish language loaned the word for "boy" from Swedish. "Pojke" became "poika", not the other way round. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.64.20.175 (talk) 21:46, 18 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Mmmnope. The direction of Finnish → Swedish is actually quite clear. Pojke has no separate etymology nor clear relativs, whereas poika (and the Estonian counterpart poeg) is related to other Uralic words such as Hungarian fiú, Erzya пиё /pijo/, Komi пи /pi/. --Trɔpʏliʊm • blah 23:42, 20 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Merge

No consensus for merge

This page and its Samic counterpart are very short and will not be getting longer. I propose merging these as, say, List of English words of Finno-Permic origin (making space in case there are some Komi loans lurking somewhere ;)

(List of English words of Finno-Ugric origin may not do - the Hungarian counterpart looks adequate on its own.) --Trɔpʏliʊm • blah 17:17, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Oppose The languages aren't closely related and the cultural circumstances of borrowing are different. Length of article isn't a criterion on whether the article should exist, if there exists little information to begin with. --Vuo (talk) 19:24, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Much vaster linguistic diversity does not seem to be a problem for List of English words from indigenous languages of the Americas. I am not sure what you mean by "circumstances of borrowing". --Trɔpʏliʊm • blah 19:49, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'm also opposed, as per Vuo. The cultural circumstances, as I interpret it, refer to Finnish as an official or main language of a nation-state, which is not the case for any indigenous language of the Americas. 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 12:44, 8 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Of course, that's also the case for one or some Eskimo-Aleut languages. 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 12:51, 8 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

There are plenty of Sami languages spoken in Norway, Sweden and Russia. If there are loanwords from the Sami languages spoken there, why should they be merged with Finnish? Lund gren 8 01:09, 29 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I am not opposed to the proposed merger, but I don't see any consensus to do so; in fact, the appears to be sisu in those against it. Bearian (talk) 21:51, 23 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

No consensus for merge. SilkTork ^{✔Tea time} 09:55, 14 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]