Common words between Finnish and English

It is a common belief especially among us Finns that the Finnish and English languages have virtually nothing in common. But the fact is that they have a substantial amount of shared vocabulary. Some time ago as a fun exercise I started collecting such words. Here are my findings. But first, some points to note:

• If you are a non-Finnish speaker and have difficulty in seeing the relation, keep in mind that the relationship between the written form and pronunciation differs greatly between these languages, and that for the purpose of this exercise it is mostly the pronunciation that matters.
• A couple of the listed Finnish words are old and rarely used today. For example “ulvi” and “puri”. But you can still see these for example in the names of places.
• In some of the Finnish words the contemporary meaning is different. An example of this is “tuomio”, which today would more readily translate to ‘sentence’. It is still used in its old meaning when talking about churches with domes, though. Also, for example “helppo” means ‘easy’ rather than ‘help’. Nevertheless, the connection is quite obvious. There are several others, and discovering these is an interesting aspect of this exercise.

This list currently has 170 word pairs. I will add more as I find good examples.

Finnish	English	Finnish	English	Finnish	English
aari	acre	laki	law	raaka	raw
aasi	ass	lammas	lamb	Raamattu	framed
airo	oar	lankku	plank	raami	frame
akseli	axle	lasi	glass	rakuuna	dragon
almanakka	almanac	lattea	flat	ranki	rank
arkki~	arch~	lause	clause	reitti	route
asettaa	setup	lehti	leaf	rengas	ring
eesti	east	lima	slime	riitti	rite
enkeli	angel	linja	line/alignment	ritari	rider
hakata	hack	linssi	lens	rivi	row
harmi	harm	lista	list	rulla	roll
harppu	harp	lukko	lock	rumpu	drum
hattu	hat	löysä	loose	runo	rune
heinä	hay	mahti	might	ruoto	root
helppo	help	maissi	maize	ruuma	room
helvetti	hell	malli	model	ruuvi	screw
hertta	heart	mammona	mammon	rytmi	rhythm
huora	whore	markkina	market	sama	same
huppu	hood	massa	mass	sielu	soul
hyppy	hop	merkki	mark	siemen	semen
joulu	yule	mestari	master	siilo	silo
jumi	jam	metalli	metal	siivilä	sieve
kakku	cake	minä	me	sisko	sister
kalenteri	calendar	murha	murder	sointi	sound
kannu	can	muta	mud	solu	cell
kanootti	canoe	muusa	muse	soppi	shop
kanuuna	cannon	naapuri	neighbour	sotilas	soldier
kappeli	chapel	napata	snap	sukka	sock
kapteeni	captain	nimi	name	suola	salt
karaista	courage	numero	number	suora	sword
kartta	chart	nuotti	note	synti	sin
kaski	ash	orpo	orphan	säkki	sack
kassa	cash	paalu	pole	~tai	day
katu	gate	pakana	pagan	tammi	stem
kellari	cellar	paketti	package	tanssi	dance
kello	clock+bell	pallo	ball	tavara	ware
kippari	skipper	paperi	paper	temppeli	temple
kirkko	church	paratiisi	paradise	terva	tar
kolea	cool	pari	pair	tiili	tile
kortti	card	paroni	baron	tikku	stick
koti	cottage	parta	beard	tuoli	stool
koulu	school	pata	spade	tuomio	domain/dome
kristalli	crystal	peli	play	tusina	dozen
kukko	cock	penkki	bench/bank	tuuri	turn
kulta	gold	peti	bed	tuutata	toot
kuningas	king	piippu	pipe	tyyli	style
kunta	county	pissa	piss	ulvi	wolf
kuoro	choir	pistin	sting	utare	udder
kupoli	cupola	poika	boy	uuni	owen
kuppi	cup	portti	port	uurna	urn
kurssi	course	potta	pot	vaimo	wife
kuunari	schooner	pukki	buck	valli	wall
kveeni	queen	pumppu	pump	viikko	week
kynttilä	candle	punkka	bunk	viini	wine
köli	keel	puola	spool	viisas	wise
ladata	load	puri/pori	burgh	värssy	verse
laimea	lame	puska	bush

Notes

Now, what's the point, you may ask. The point—at least one of them—is to look for patterns. For example, we can note that there are no words for parts of the human body. This is in contrast to, for example, the common words between Finnish and Hungarian which include, among others, the words for 'hand' and 'blood'. The list has some words about nature, but not that many. Rather, most seem to be related to culture: household items, food, seafaring, war, etc. What does this tell us? I have some theories, but I won't go into that just yet.

Feedback received

2006-07-11 – An anonymous writer informed me about “rakuuna” and “ritari”.

2006-01-15 – David Marriott points out the connection between Finnish “katu” and English “gate” as follows:

In the South of England, e.g. in London, you get “Aldgate”, “Ludgate”, etc. which are all named after “gates” in the wall of the old Roman and medieval city.

In Nottingham we have “Bridlesmithgate”, “Pilchergate”, “Fletchergate”, etc. But Nottingham never had a wall or “gates”. It was founded by the Viking invaders, and the “gate” is the anglicised form of the Viking word for “street”. The Swedish “gatan” and the Finnish “katu” presumably derive from the same root.

Interestingly, York was both a Viking and a Roman city and streets named “gate” can be “streets” or “gates”.

2005-10-29 – An anonymous writer informed me of the word “leik” (play) in Huddersfieldian dialect. The Finnish equivalent is, of course, “leikki”.

2005-02-25 – Christer Nyberg informed me about “asettaa”, “enkeli”, “helvetti”, “hertta”, “kannu”, “karaista”, “kello”, “kortti”, “kuppi”, “kurssi”, “kynttilä”, “ladata”, “lause”, “lista”, “malli”, “metalli”, “nuotti”, “pata”, “pistin”, “portti”, “potta”, “sointi” and “tavara”.

2004-03-09 – Diesel Taylor writes:

In Scotland their word for church is Kirk, and English people would understand that.