Onerva
Appearance
Finnish
[edit]Etymology
[edit]19th century coinage from archaic Finnish onerva (“aftermath of plants”).
Pronunciation
[edit]Proper noun
[edit]Onerva
- a female given name
- 1976, Anneli Toijala, Lentäkää linnut, Tammi, →ISBN, page 97:
- —Mistä sinä äidille keksit noin hullun nimen? kysyi Anniina.
—Miten niin hullun?
—Olisin laittanut Kanerva, muttei Akseli antanut. Yhtä heinää koko nimi, se sanoi, pistä Koiranputki kolmanneksi. Kaikki nauroivat, Onervakin. Joskus hän tunsi itsensä koiranputkeksi, kuivaksi, ontoksi ruohoksi, olisihan se voinut sopia.
—Hullun Lintellin talossa Suakarulla asui semmonen ompelija, jolla oli Onerva-niminen tytär ja kun mää kävin sen Lintellin morkussa, siä kaupassa ihan kivijalassa, se Onerva seiso aina portinpiälessä semmottessa musliinimekossa, jossa oli omenankukkia ja ruusuja, ja äitensä huuteli aina klasista: Onervaa, tuu kahveelle! Siittä mää sen otin.
—Olisit meille muillekin voinut jotain kunnollisempaa, sanoi Rauha.- —How did you come up with a crazy name like that for mother? Anniina asked.
—What do you mean crazy?
—I would've chosen Kanerva, but Akseli didn't want that. He said the name was just grassy and joked that we should put Koiranputki as the third name. Everyone laughed, even Onerva. Sometimes she felt like cow parsley too, a dry, hollow grass, and that could've fit.
—Down by Suakatu, at the house of that crazy Lintell, there was a seamstress who had a daughter named Onerva, and when I visited Lintell's shack, in the stone foundation of that house, Onerva was always standing by the gate in her muslin dress with apple flowers and roses, and her mother kept yelling: Onerva, come get coffee! That's where I got the name from.
—You could've come up with something more proper for us too, Rauha said.
- —How did you come up with a crazy name like that for mother? Anniina asked.
- 1994, Jouko Räty, Vanhan neidin syntymäpäivä, SLEY-kirjat, →ISBN, page 54:
- Että nuori? Onerva tuntuu Aholasta pikemmin vanhan ihmisen nimeltä, eikä hän malttanut olla kysymättä tämän ikää. Hämmästyksekseen hän kuuli, että Pylvälä saattoi olla yhtä vanha kuin hänkin. Mielenkiintoista―ikäisistään Ahola ei muistanut yhtään Onervaa.
- Young you say? Ahola feels Onerva sounds more like the name of an older person and could not restrain from asking her age, amd amazingly, Pylvälä could have been equally old. Interesting―Ahola could not remember meeting a single Onerva of such age.
Declension
[edit]Inflection of Onerva (Kotus type 10/koira, no gradation) | |||
---|---|---|---|
nominative | Onerva | Onervat | |
genitive | Onervan | Onervien | |
partitive | Onervaa | Onervia | |
illative | Onervaan | Onerviin | |
singular | plural | ||
nominative | Onerva | Onervat | |
accusative | nom. | Onerva | Onervat |
gen. | Onervan | ||
genitive | Onervan | Onervien Onervain rare | |
partitive | Onervaa | Onervia | |
inessive | Onervassa | Onervissa | |
elative | Onervasta | Onervista | |
illative | Onervaan | Onerviin | |
adessive | Onervalla | Onervilla | |
ablative | Onervalta | Onervilta | |
allative | Onervalle | Onerville | |
essive | Onervana | Onervina | |
translative | Onervaksi | Onerviksi | |
abessive | Onervatta | Onervitta | |
instructive | — | Onervin | |
comitative | See the possessive forms below. |
Statistics
[edit]- Onerva is the 516th most common female given name in Finland, belonging to 634 female individuals (and as a middle name to 4,573 more, making it much more common as a middle name), and also belongs as a middle name to 9 male individuals, according to February 2023 data from the Digital and Population Data Services Agency of Finland.