Reconstruction:Proto-Finnic/nämä

This Proto-Finnic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Finnic

Etymology

From Proto-Uralic *nä +‎ *-mä (the suffix is only present in otherwise monosyllabic forms).

Pronoun

*nämä

1. these (proximal)

Determiner

*nämä

1. these (proximal)

Inflection

Singular: *tämä

This pronoun needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

In Southern Finnic (Estonian, Livonian, Võro, Votic), the pronoun has also developed into a third-person pronoun, whereas the Northern Finnic languages use *hek, *höö.

• Finnish: nämä
• Karelian:
  • North Karelian: nämä
  • South Karelian: nämä
• Livvi: nämä
• Ludian: nämä
• Votic: nämä

From *nämät (with standard plural ending *-t in the nominative):

• Estonian: nemad
• Finnish: (dialectal) nämät
• Ingrian: nämät
• Livvi: nämäd
• Livonian: nämād
• Ludian: nämäd
• Võro: nimäq, niäq
• Votic: nämäd

Further reading

• “nemad”, in [ETY] Eesti etümoloogiasõnaraamat [Estonian Etymological Dictionary] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2012
• Itkonen, Erkki, Kulonen, Ulla-Maija, editors (1992–2000), “nämä”, in Suomen sanojen alkuperä [The origin of Finnish words]‎^[2] (in Finnish) (online version; note: also includes other etymological sources; this source is labeled "SSA 1992–2000"), Helsinki: Institute for the Languages of Finland/Finnish Literature Society, →ISBN