# Estonian/Finnish: false friends



## jonquiliser

Tere jälle, people!

I've been reading (wel, trying to!) some Estonian texts these day, and every five words I seem to run into yet another Ee-Fin false friend! So I thought, if you feel like listing some of the ones you know, it would be nice in order to get a wider picture of which there are. Sock already provided a few of them (tänan!) that I'll include here, plus a few ones I've run into myself.

raiskama (Fin: raiskata) - to spend, to waste in Estonian, and to rape in Finnish
kummitäti (tädi) - rubber aunt in Estonian and god-mother in Finnish 
kortsu - (kortsus) wrinkled in Estonian and condom in Finnish

Ma kaotasin oma koti: it reminds of the Finnish "*m(in)ä kadotin (oma*n) *koti*ni" that would mean "I lost my (own)  home". In Estonian, I just learnt, it means "I lost my bag"! 

eesmärk, Estonian "aim/purpose/objective", cf. Finnish esimerkki "example". 

Ära puuduta mind! is Estonian for "don't touch me!", looks like the Finnish "älä puuduta minua" = "don't anesthetise me!" 

Ok, that's a few. I know there are mountains of them, so not something we can deal with exhaustively, but if anything particularly striking comes to mind for anyone, please share it!  

Jah jälle, tänan!


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## DrWatson

Tere kõik, terve kaikki, hello all!

Yay, this is a fun thread  Okay, let's see...

Est: *surema *(to die) - Fin: *surra* (to grieve)
Est: *halb* (weak, bad) - Fin: *halpa* (cheap, inexpensive)
Est: *vaim* (spirit, ghost) - Fin: *vaimo* (wife)
Est: *tema* (he/she) - Fin: *tämä *(this)
Est: *toore* (raw) - Fin: *tuore* (fresh)

Then, a compound word *puuviljamehu* (fruit juice) which could be a Finnish word, but in Finnish it'd mean "tree grain juice" (well it does make sense when you think about it). Finnish for "fruit juice" would be *hedelmämehu*.

Estonians, please comment if I made a mistake there, I'm relying mostly on a dictionary here.


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## jonquiliser

Good ones, DrWatson! I especially like the puuviljamehu!!  

(Come to think of if, perhaps puuvilja makes sense - it's the crop of the (fruit) trees, so in a slight stretch of the concepts, why not call them the cereals of trees? )


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## suslik

DrWatson said:


> Tere kõik, terve kaikki, hello all!
> 
> Yay, this is a fun thread  Okay, let's see...
> 
> Est: *surema *(to die) - Fin: *surra* (to grieve)
> Est: *halb* (weak, bad) - Fin: *halpa* (cheap, inexpensive)
> Est: *vaim* (spirit, ghost) - Fin: *vaimo* (wife)
> Est: *tema* (he/she) - Fin: *tämä *(this)
> Est: *toores* (raw) - Fin: *tuore* (fresh)
> 
> Then, a compound word *puuviljamehu* (fruit juice) which could be a Finnish word, but in Finnish it'd mean "tree grain juice" (well it does make sense when you think about it). Finnish for "fruit juice" would be *hedelmämehu*.
> 
> Estonians, please comment if I made a mistake there, I'm relying mostly on a dictionary here.


 
I would help you, but I don't know anything about Finnish.
Only couple of words, like tukkajumala and hassukissa


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## DrWatson

Here's another rather hilarious one: *kassiahastus *(hangover). To a Finn it sounds like *kassiahdistus* (colloquially maybe *kassiahistus*) which would mean "bag anxiety" . Does this word, by the way, have something to do with *kass* (cat)? Here's some more false friends:

Est: *määre* (fat) - Fin: *määre* (attribute, qualifier)
Est: *kannatus* (agony, suffering) - Fin: *kannatus* (support, adhesion)
Est: *kaabu* (hat) - Fin: *kaapu *(cloak, gown)

And suslik: tukkajumala? Very important word, indeed .


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## suslik

actually I've never heard that we use word kassiahastus to describe hangover...kassiahastus means big anguish. We use word 'pohmell' or shortly  'pohmakas' for hangover. And I don't think there is any connection with cat in kassiahastus, maybe old estonians thought that cats can have big anguish or smth...


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## jonquiliser

suslik said:


> I would help you, but I don't know anything about Finnish.
> Only couple of words, like tukkajumala and hassukissa


 
Tukkajumala is funny in its own right - how on earth did you get to learn that?!


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## suslik

2 years ago we had 2 exchange students in Estonia from Finland and one stayed in my friend's home, so they tought us some words
one was tukkajumala...and I remember something like kodinseurayhdistys and jauheliha and some other words.


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## elpoderoso

DrWatson said:


> Here's another rather hilarious one: *kassiahastus *(hangover). To a Finn it sounds like *kassiahdistus* (colloquially maybe *kassiahistus*) which would mean "bag anxiety" . Does this word, by the way, have something to do with *kass* (cat)? Here's some more false friends:
> 
> Est: *määre* (fat) - Fin: *määre* (attribute, qualifier)
> Est: *kannatus* (agony, suffering) - Fin: *kannatus* (support, adhesion)
> Est: *kaabu* (hat) - Fin: *kaapu *(cloak, gown)
> 
> And suslik: tukkajumala? Very important word, indeed .


 
I don't understand any of these languages, but I do enjoy these ''false friend'' threads very much. I wonder if anyone could tell me if Kaapu's similarity to the English word ''cape'' is more than just superficial.
Gracias


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## jonquiliser

hola elpoderoso:
I'd imagine the Finnish kaapu, which is the gown worn by priests and others) shares the etymological origin of the English cape. I can't provide you with any sources for that claim, though.. :|

Greetings from another one who enjoys false friends - linguistic, of course


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## DrWatson

I think the word has been loaned from Swedish into Finnish. I found such word as *kåpa* in Swedish. According to Wikipedia, however, *kåpa* is sleeveless, whereas *kaapu* has sleeves. Perhaps it's some kind of a missloan? The origin of the Swedish word I can only guess, but I imagine it may have a connection with English cape.


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## Hakro

DrWatson said:


> I think the word has been loaned from Swedish into Finnish. I found such word as *kåpa* in Swedish. According to Wikipedia, however, *kåpa* is sleeveless, whereas *kaapu* has sleeves. Perhaps it's some kind of a missloan? The origin of the Swedish word I can only guess, but I imagine it may have a connection with English cape.


According to "Modern Finnsh Dictionary" *kaapu* usually has no sleeves, usually it has a hood, a *capuche* (from  French), that could be the origin of this word. Who knows?


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## elpoderoso

Here is something I found about the origins of cape in the Online Etymology Dictionary:
"garment," O.E. _capa,_ from L.L. _cappa_ "cape, hooded cloak". The modern word and meaning were a reborrowing (1565) from Fr., from Sp., in reference to a Sp. style. 
This however doesn't explain the how the word arrived into Finnish.


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## jonquiliser

Might have something to do with the monks (capuchin monks, I mean), called like that because of their clothing. I don't know where there were monks of this order (apart from Italy -and France?) but it might explain the spread of the word..?


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## Emanresu

talo = house in suomi
Talo = jail in estonian

Mabye, might be wrong again


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## astlanda

"kassiahastus" is used for "hangover" in Estonian literature and was used in media as well. "pohmell" is a Russian word, but younger generations don't know much about Russian and use freely all the kind of rubbish, sometimes so rude, that only really bad Russian drunks may use them (I don't want to offend any Russian here. Don't get me wrong.). That's why the contemporary Estonian sounds worse to my ears.
'talu' is "farm" in "Estonian" = Finnish 'maatila'

"jail" is "linna" in Finnish and "linn" is "town" Estonian. Thus, if someone says in _Viru hotellin murre _(a mixed language used for illegal trade at Soviet time) "Minä elän Vasalemman linnassa." (trying to say "I live in Vasalemma town") a Finn could understand it "I live in a jail of Vasalemma." (There was one in Vasalemma indeed.)


There are several dictionaries about this issue published both in Finland and Estonia.
I saw one in Akateeminen Kirjakauppa of Tampere recently.


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## Elvus

Est: *raamat *('book') - Fin: *Raamattu* ('Bible')
Est: *surm* ('death') - Fin: *surma* ('murder' or rather 'manslaughter'[?])
Est: *tee* ('tea' but also 'road') - Fin: *tee *('tea')

Correct me if I'm wrong. I love both languages.


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## Hakro

Elvus said:


> Est: *surm* ('death') - Fin: *surma* ('murder' or rather 'manslaughter'[?])


The verb *surmata* means 'to kill, to murder' but the noun *surma* means simply death, usually an accidental death.


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## hollabooiers

Est: *pulm* (wedding) - Fin: *pulma* (trouble)
Est: *vahva* (fun, awesome; brave) - Fin: *vahva* (strong)
Est: *laud* (table; plank) - Fin: *lauta* (plank; board)
Est: *koristama* (to clean) - Fin: *koristaa* (to decorate)
Est: *ruumid* (kind of a weird word for rooms (plurar) used only in very specific instances, for example no one would say "minu ruum" meaning "my room") - Fin: *ruumiit* (corpses)

There's a funny story related to the last two words. Some people from Finland came to visit an Estonian hospital once - I don't know what the occasion was exactly, but I guess it was some kind of a work-related cooperation.. something. Anyway, apparently they got there early and the person who came to greet them told them something like "Oh I'm sorry, we didn't expect you so early, _ruumid on veel koristamata_ (the rooms haven't been cleaned yet).", which to Finnish ears sounds like "the corpses haven't been decorated yet".  Must have left a lasting impression of how hospitals operate in Estonia!


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## Gavril

astlanda said:


> "kassiahastus" is used for "hangover" in Estonian literature and was used in media as well. "pohmell" is a Russian word, but younger generations don't know much about Russian and use freely all the kind of rubbish, sometimes so rude, that only really bad Russian drunks may use them (I don't want to offend any Russian here. Don't get me wrong.). That's why the contemporary Estonian sounds worse to my ears.
> 'talu' is "farm" in "Estonian" = Finnish 'maatila'
> 
> "jail" is "linna" in Finnish and "linn" is "town" Estonian. Thus, if someone says in _Viru hotellin murre _(a mixed language used for illegal trade at Soviet time) "Minä elän Vasalemman linnassa." (trying to say "I live in Vasalemma town") a Finn could understand it "I live in a jail of Vasalemma." (There was one in Vasalemma indeed.)



You could also translate it in Finnish as "I live in Vasalemma Castle/Fortress/Palace" -- according to my dictionary, "castle" is the primary meaning of _linna_.


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## Gavril

Another thing that could be called a "false friend" is the suffix _-ma_/_-mä_: for example,

Est. _koolema _"to die"
Finnish _kuolema_ "death" (not used as an infinitive)

However, it seems that _surema _is the more common word for "to die" in Estonian. Does _koolema _mean something slightly different from _surema_?


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## hollabooiers

Gavril said:


> Does _koolema _mean something slightly different from _surema_?



After checking this, because I actually wasn't sure myself, it appears_ koolema_ doesn't officially exist in Estonian. ;D There's _koolma_, which is referred to as a dialectal word. You'd still hear and see _koolema_ used every once in a while as well, though, so it can indeed create those false friend situations.

To answer your original question, _koolema/koolma_ sounds relatively literary and/or archaic and you don't hear it that often in everyday language. If you ask me, it also has kind of an "uglier" sound to it than the more neutral _surema_ does, as in it could be used to describe the miserable death of a person who has suffered for  years beforehand or a group of people dying as a result of an epidemic or something along the lines of that.


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## KotkaSLC

jonquiliser said:


> Good ones, DrWatson! I especially like the puuviljamehu!!
> 
> (Come to think of if, perhaps puuvilja makes sense - it's the crop of the (fruit) trees, so in a slight stretch of the concepts, why not call them the cereals of trees? )



Not that different from pomme de terre or fruits de mer.

Anyway, I only discovered this site because I knew that Estonia in Finnish was Viro, but I wanted to know what Estonians called Finland which I found somewhere else, Soome.


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## Hakro

They call us "poro" (reindeer)  because we come from the north.


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## Nikolaos_Kandidatos

Gavril said:


> You could also translate it in Finnish as "I live  in Vasalemma Castle/Fortress/Palace" -- according to my dictionary,  "castle" is the primary meaning of _linna_.



That's correct, using _linna for_ "prison" is slang/informal. (Fortress, though, is in most contexts best translated _linnake_ or _linnoitus_ instead, and has slightly different connotations). The connection with Estonian _linn_  is obvious if one considers that in early medieval times real cities  were few: most comparable centres of habitation consisted of a fortified  strategic point (castle) and a surrounding settlement. Estonian  continues to use this word for modern cities where Finnish has _kaupunki _instead, but note that the names of some cities still end in _-linna_: Savonlinna, Hämeenlinna (both places with notable medieval castles still standing).

As for the topic of false friends: I'm not sure if this was already  mentioned but as a very young lad I once had a funny experience eating  in Estonia: having said yes to an offer of *viiner* (sp?) I expected to be served a sweet pastry (the meaning of *viineri* in Finnish) but ended up disappointed when I was confronted with a sausage instead.


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## Lugubert

Do these entities qualify as false friends?



			
				Wikipedia said:
			
		

> In Estonia, a limited liability company is referred to as _osaühing_ (OÜ)
> ...
> 
> Although not an exact equivalent, the Finnish version of the LLC is the Oy (osakeyhtiö)


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## Gavril

Lugubert said:


> Do these entities qualify as false friends?



The _*osa*- _in _osaühing _seems to be the Estonian word for "part" (_osa, _just as in Finnish), but I'm not sure about the composition of -*ühing*.

My best guess (knowing very, very little about Estonian) is that _*üh*- _is based on *üks *"one": cf. the inflected forms _ühes_, _ühel_ and so on. As far as the ending -*ing*, it resembles the Finnish suffix -*inko *seen in words such as _osinko _"dividend" < _osa_, but I'm not sure if the two are connected.

_osakeyhtiö _is composed of _osa- + _the suffix_ -ke, _and _yht- _"one" + the suffix -_iö_ (cf. _kolmio _"triangle" < _kolme _"three").

So, if the above is correct, the roots (_osa- _and _üh-_) of _osaühing _are not false friends with the roots of _osakeyhtiö_, but the suffixes added on to each root are different in the two languages.


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## sirammaris

Hey all,
here are a few more:

EST: hallitus (mold, mildew) - FIN: hallitus (government)
EST: kohtu (court, tribunal) - FIN: kohtu (uterus) <-- I've seen Finnish tourists take photos under the "Kohtu street" sign in my town
EST: padi (pillow) - FIN: patja (mattress)
EST: kalju (rocky mountain) - FIN: kalju (bald) <-- this is actually pretty funny

there are so many!
I've actually noticed a lot of false friends between Finnish and Italian as well, they're mostly rude for some reason.


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## Mordong

This thread is fund and useful. 

A couple more:
EST: kull, -i, -i (hawk) - FIN: kulli (cock,dick) (When I first moved to Estonia, my only condition concerning the apartment was, that I didn't want it to be on Kulli Street.  )
EST: veski (mill) - FIN: veski (spoken language for 'toilet')
EST: arvutada (to count) - FIN: arvuuttaa (ask riddles)
EST: kallistada (to hug) - FIN: kallistaa (to tilt (one's head), to tip (a chair))
EST: loss, -i, -i (castle) - FIN: lossi (ferry boat)

Anyhow, my personal favourite are the Estonian names, which would be quite suspicious in Finland, such as the already mentioned Kalju (Bald), Aivo (Brain), Raivo (Rage) and Rivo (Obscene).


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