London
HENRY FROWDE
Oxford University Press Warehouse
Amen Corner, E.C.
A
FINNISH GRAMMAR
BY
C. N. E. ELIOT, M.A.
FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, OXFORD
Oxford
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1890
[All rights reserved]
Oxford
PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
BY HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
PREFACE.
My object in writing this book has been to give anaccount of Finnish sufficient to enable any one to understandthe grammatical structure of the written language,and also to place before the student of philology an accountof the chief phenomena it presents. In this latter respectI am conscious that my treatment is very inadequate onaccount of my inability to make myself acquainted with themany dialects spoken by the peasantry in various parts, theimportance of which for the scientific history of the languagecannot be overrated. I trust, however, that I may meetwith indulgence, as the present work is, to the best of mybelief, the only grammar of Finnish in English, and theonly syntax (except brief sketches) in any language moregenerally accessible than Swedish.
The Finnish language is still in so unsettled and fluid acondition, as regards both forms and style, that it is oftenhard to say what is correct and what not. A foreignernaturally cannot venture to decide what ought or ought notto be, and I have merely endeavoured to give an account of theforms and constructions found in existence. The examplesare taken chiefly from the Kalevala and Bible (which aregenerally cited by references), from the Suomen Kansan[vi]Sananlaskuja of Ahlqwist, from various modern works, andsome from the dictionaries of Lönnrot and Geitlin. Theremainder have all been approved by natives, and will,hence, I trust, be found idiomatic.
I must acknowledge my obligations to the grammars ofGenetz and Hämäläinen, to the Finska Språkets Satsläraof Jahnsson, and especially to the excellent Suomen KielenLauseoppi of Setälä.
But more than to all of these I am indebted to the constantassistance and collaboration of my friend Mr. Putroof the Finnish School in St. Petersburg, to whose thoroughknowledge of the language this work owes whatever accuracyit may possess. I have also to thank Mr. J. Marshallfor several philological suggestions.
C. N. E. ELIOT.
March 20, 1890.
HÄNEN KUNINKAALLISEN MAJESTETINSA
LÄHETTILÄÄLLE PIETARISSA
HÄNEN YLHÄISYYDELLENSÄ SIR R. MORIERILLE
KUNNIOITUKSELLA
OMISTAA
TEKIJÄ
INTRODUCTION.
In this book I have endeavoured to give a simple and clearaccount of the Finnish language, chie