# tuom(ari)



## Ben Jamin

[Moderator's Note: Split from this thread]


Gavril said:


> Another possible factor is that there are other common clothing items whose names end in -_arit_ (nearly identical to the -_*e*rit_ of _bokserit_), such as _haalarit_ "coveralls"/"overalls". This pattern could have discouraged the addition of an extra _s-_suffix to_ bokserit.
> _
> -_ari _is a widespread suffix in Finnish, ultimately related to English -_er_ (as in _baker_, _potter_, etc.) and often having the same meaning of "someone/something that does [verb], or is associated with [noun]": e.g. _tuomari_ "judge" is related to _tuomita_ "to judge", _tuomio_ "judgement" etc.


Isn't _tuomari _a direct loan from Swedish "dommare"?


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## fennofiili

_Tuomari _is a loan from old Swedish _domare_, apparently from a time when its _o _was pronounced as _oo _in Finnish (in modern Swedish it’s like _uu _in Finnish); this long vowel then participated in the general diphthongization _oo _→ _uo _in the first syllable.

_Tuomita _is a loan from some old Germanic language form. The reconstructed original is _dōmjan_.

_Tuomio _is either a loan from a Germanic language form or a derivation of _tuomita_.

(Source: Nykysuomen etymologinen sanakirja.)


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## Gavril

Ben Jamin said:


> Isn't _tuomari _a direct loan from Swedish "dommare"?



Probably so, but that doesn't mean that the -_ari_ in this word is not understood as a suffix by Finnish-speakers, with the meaning I described. There are many other examples from which this meaning can be inferred:

_- passari_ "servant" : _passata_ "to serve"
_- sieppari_ "catcher (in baseball)", "kidnapper" : _siepata_ "to seize, kidnap"
_- kassari_ "goalkeeper" : _kassa_ "safe, cash-box"
_- pakkari_ "luggage carrier (on a bike)" : _pakka_ "package" / _pakata_ "to pack"
etc.

-_ari _seems more common in colloquial words than in the standard written language, where you might be more likely to see e.g. _sieppaa*ja*_ and _passaa*ja*_ than _siepp*ari*_ or _pass*ari*_.


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## Ben Jamin

Gavril said:


> Probably so, but that doesn't mean that the -_ari_ in this word is not understood as a suffix by Finnish-speakers, with the meaning I described. There are many other examples from which this meaning can be inferred:


I have never denied that -ari is a productive suffix in Finnish, but I was sceptical to the suggestion that the word tuomari was constructed by adding the -ari suffix to the tuom- stem. I think that both tuomio and tuomari are parallel loans from Swedish, and neither of them has been constructed from elements.


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## Gavril

Ben Jamin said:


> I have never denied that -ari is a productive suffix in Finnish, but I was sceptical to the suggestion that the word tuomari was constructed by adding the -ari suffix to the tuom- stem.



OK, but that's not what I was suggesting. All that I meant to claim is that -_ari_ in _tuomari_ has the value of a suffix (i.e. is understood as a suffix) for present-day Finnish speakers, and that a connection is also understood between _tuomari_ and _tuomio_/_tuomita_, since all three are common words.
[...]


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