I'm on a nerdy mood today but I LOVE linguistics, I LOVE etymology! And I especially love Finnish etymology because it’s a melting pot of Proto-Germanic, Proto-Baltic, Norse, Sámi, and Slavic influences. Finnish has a surprisingly large portion of borrowed vocabulary from other languages. And that makes you wonder why did people abandon so many of the original Finno-Ugric words and replace them with foreign ones?
When adapting words for new inventions or concepts, borrowing makes perfect sense—you take the word along with the idea from the people who presented it. But Finnish has loaned a lot of basic vocabulary, such as emotions or kinship words, from other languages. It’s hard to say why this happened, but borrowed words may have felt more prestigious or advanced. It’s similar to how many languages adopt English words today. When a language, or its speakers, have cultural dominance, people naturally start using their words to keep up with modernity.
But what’s especially interesting is how this borrowing reflects different kinds of relationships between Finns and other people groups. There are many Proto-Baltic loanwords and many of them are surprisingly gentle: vaimo (wife), tyttö (girl), sisko (sister). These words suggests long-standing and peaceful relations, likely including intermarriage and close social ties between Finns and the Balts. Meanwhile Germanic loanwords often relate to trade, conflict, or even passion, which may suggest more violent relations: kuningas (“king”), rengas (“ring”), miekka (“sword”), kauppa (“trade, shop”).
But there is one word that I'm so fascinated by: love. And this word varies a lot between the Finnic languages. In Estonian, the verb "to love" is armastus, while in Finnish armas simply refers to adoration and could be translated as “dear” or “beloved.” Interestingly, this may also be a loanword from Proto-Germanic word *armaz, meaning “pitiful” or “poor,” adding a whole extra layer for this word. In Karelian, love is suvaita or suvaiva. While in modern Finnish, suvaita means to “tolerate” or “to accept one as they are,” which is oddly poetic in this context.
And finally, in Finnish love is rakastaa. The origin of the word is debated (read more about it here) but according to one theory, the word may come from Proto-Germanic word *frakaz meaning "lustful" or "greedy". And that's a very negatively packed word for something as wholesome as love itself, right?
But Finnish itself has multiple words around the concept of love. While rakastaa is the standard verb “to love,” rakastella specifically means “to make love” in a physical sense. Then there’s lempi and lempiä, which today carry more sensual or romantic undertones. But this is also where the word lemmikki "pet, animal companion" comes from ("lemmikki" is also the name for the forget-me-not flowers in Finnish). Or lempi can mean something that is your favorite, minun lempi asia -> "my favorite thing". These words origin traces back to Lempo, a fiery deity associated with love, fertility, and desire in Finnish folklore. He was seen as a dangerous spirit, rising from bonfires, who would possess people and make them act irrationally. So for Ancient Finns to adopt this new Germanic word for "lustful" could make sense here. Finns viewed love as both powerful and dangerous force, able to make people act in reckless ways they normally wouldn’t.
But if you compare this to the English language, the contrast is striking. "Love" is a rather wholesome and positive word in English. Love isn't necessarily passionate, but just a word to describe something you like. But in Finnish, rakastaa tends to carry significant weight and people don’t use it lightly. The word suggests something deeper than affection, closer to passion or borderline obsession. So there is always a little lost in the translation when you say "I love you" in Finnish, minä rakastan sinua.
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