< Reconstruction:Proto-Finnic
Reconstruction:Proto-Finnic/mürkkü
 | 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
Unclear. Has been compared with Hungarian méreg (“poison”) and Proto-Germanic *markiją (“celery”), both assuming Finnic-internal development from earlier *merkkü (compare *lülü, *süntüdäk). The first comparison suffers from additional phonetic problems,[1], the second from semantic ones.[2] Alternately, Finnic-internal derivation from a root *mür- seen in *mürtüdäk (“to become grumpy, to become sour”) and *müredä (“grumpy”) has been suggested,[3] though no suffix *-kkü exists. If Finnish dialectal myrkkä (“smell”) is also related,[1][2] the immediate derivation would be *mürkkä + *-ü. Also posited to be borrowed from Iranian (cf. Ossetian марг (marg, “poison”), Persian مرگ (“death”)), although this theory is highly unlikely.[1]
Noun
*mürkkü
- poison
- Synonym: *viha
Inflection
Inflection of *mürkkü
| Note: The Proto-Finnic declension system is yet to be reconstructed in detail. What is presented here is only one possibility. | |||
| singular | plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | *mürkkü | *mürk'üt | |
| accusative | *mürk'ün | *mürk'üt | |
| genitive | *mürk'ün | *mürkküden *mürkküiden | |
| partitive | *mürkküdä | *mürkküidä | |
| inessive | *mürk'üssä *mürk'ühnä | *mürk'üissä *mürk'üihnä | |
| elative | *mürk'üstä | *mürk'üistä | |
| illative | *mürkkühen | *mürkküihen | |
| adessive | *mürk'üllä | *mürk'üillä | |
| ablative | *mürk'ültä | *mürk'üiltä | |
| allative | *mürkkülen *mürkkülek | *mürkküilen *mürkküilek | |
| essive | *mürkkünä | *mürkküinä | |
| translative | *mürk'üksi | *mürk'üiksi | |
| instructive | *mürk'ün | *mürk'üin | |
| comitative | *mürkkünek | *mürkküinek | |
| abessive | *mürk'üttä | *mürk'üittä | |
Descendants
- Estonian: mürk
- Finnish: myrkky
- → Lule Sami: mirkko
- → Northern Sami: mirku
- → Inari Sami: mirkkâ
- → Livvi: myrkky
- → Swedish: myrkko (Northern dialectal)
- → Votic: mürkkü
- Karelian: myrkky (at least partly borrowed from Finnish)
References
- Entry #547 in Uralonet, online Uralic etymological database of the Research Institute for Linguistics, Hungary.
- Kylstra, A.D.; Hahmo, Sirkka-Liisa; Hofstra, Tette; Nikkilä, Otto. 1991–2012. Lexikon der älteren germanischen Lehnwörter in den ostseefinnischen Sprachen. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
- Itkonen, Erkki; Kulonen, Ulla-Maija, editors (1992–2000) Suomen sanojen alkuperä [The origin of Finnish words] (in Finnish), [note: linked online version also includes some other etymological sources], Helsinki: Institute for the Languages of Finland/Finnish Literature Society, →ISBN