# lääkäri



## lordwings

Where does the word lääkäri come from in finnish? Is it loan word from russian and if so, why with this meaning but not in meaning medicine?
I ask it because the word is almost the same in Bulgarian (lekar), though the word "lekar" in Bulgarian comes from "lek" - medicine. However this word does not exist in Russian where doctor is "vrač".


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## 盲人瞎馬

From a Germanic language, using Finnish suffix +‎ -ri (“-er”), compare Swedish läkare.


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## Määränpää

I don't speak any Slavic languages, but using Google translator I could find similar words in lots of Slavic languages from Czech to Belarusian. 
Even in Russian, лекарство seems to mean medicament.

The origin seems Germanic. Compare the word läka (to medicate) in a Swedish etymological dictionary from 1922.


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## lordwings

In my opinion the meaning atleast in Bulgarian is native. Or it is loaned too far ago as "lek" which means "lightweight" so, there are various of meanings including this word in meaning "feeling better" (oblekčavam - making burden less heavily, making pain less painful) therefore "lek" should have mean something that makes someone feel better. However, in the exact meaning  - doctor it is loaned for sure, because the word was used in different way till 20th century (lečitel), which word nowadays mean someone who heals with herbs, homoeopath. But thats only "er" ending that looks foreign to me.


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## Gavril

Vitalore said:


> From a Germanic language, using Finnish suffix +‎ -ri (“-er”), compare Swedish läkare.



I think _lääkäri _comes directly from Swedish _läkare_, and therefore the suffix _-*ri* _had been added before the word reached Finnish.

The verb *lääkitä *"to treat with medicine" apparently comes from Sw. _läka _(plus the Finnish verbal suffix _-itä_), and *lääke *"medicine" is from the stem of _lääkitä + _the Finnish noun/adjective suffix _-e._

(Source: Häkkinen, Nykysuomen etymologinen sanakirja, p.656)


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