History
It is believed that the Baltic Finnic languages evolved from a proto-Finnic language, from which Sami was separated around 1500–1000 BC. It has been suggested that this proto-Finnic had three dialects: northern, southern and eastern. The Baltic Finnic languages separated around the 1st century.
The first written form of Finnish language was created by Mikael Agricola, a Finnish bishop in the 16th century. He based his writing system on Swedish (which was the official language of Finland at the time), German, and Latin. Later the written form was revised by many people.
The Reformation marked the real beginning of writing in Finnish. In the 16th century major literary achievements were composed in Finnish by people like Paavali Juusten, Erik Sorolainen, and Jaakko Finno, as well as Mikael Agricola. In the 17th century books were written in Finland in Finnish, Danish, Norwegian, Estonian, Latvian, German, and Swedish. However, the most important books were still written in Latin. Finnish and Swedish (which in the late 17th century was decreed the sole language of government) were small languages of lesser importance.
Agricola's work
Agricola used dh or d to represent the voiced dental fricative (th in this) and tz or z to represent the unvoiced dental fricative (th in thanks). Later when these sounds disappeared or changed in the dialects, no one knew how to pronounce them so they adapted the pronunciation as in German (z = /ts/ and d = /d/), producing the soft D problem. Later the z became written 'ts'. (In the eastern part of Finland, dh became j,v, or disappeared; and it became r or l, or remained as dh for some time, while tz became ht or tt, in the Western parts.)
Agricola made up some words during translation of the New Testament. Some of these words are still in use ('armo' mercy, 'vanhurskas' righteous). One word which is still widely known, but not in use, is 'jalopeura' which means lion - the word 'leijona' is more common nowadays. 'Jalopeura' can be translated as 'noble deer'. Agricola used about 8500 words and 60% of them are still in use.
Ch, c or h was used for unvoiced velar fricative (ach-laut). Nowadays these sounds are allophones and thus represented only with h. Agricola used gh or g to represent the voiced velar fricative. Later this sound was lost and it wasn't written anymore.
Classification
Finnish is a member of the Finno-Ugric branch of the Uralic language family. Finnish is an agglutinative language and a synthetic language which modifies both noun and verb forms depending on their role in the sentence.
Geographic distribution
Finnish is spoken by about 6 million people, mainly in Finland; there are small Finnish-speaking minorities in Sweden, Norway, Russia and Estonia; in addition, a few hundred thousand emigrated Finns live in Sweden, and also in North America there remain communities of Finnish speaking emigrants, notably in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Official status
Finnish is an official language of Finland. It enjoys the status of an official minority language in Sweden.
Dialects
The Finnish dialects are divided into two distinct groups, the Western dialects and the Eastern dialects. [2] (http://www.internetix.ofw.fi/opinnot/opintojaksot/8kieletkirjallisuus/aidinkieli/murteet/)
Western dialects
The South-West dialects (Lounaismurteet) are spoken in Finland Proper and Satakunta. The Tavastian dialects (Hämäläismurteet) are spoken in Tavastia. The Southern Ostrobothnian dialects (Eteläpohjalaiset murteet) are spoken in Southern Ostrobothnia. The Middle and North Ostrobothnia dialects (Keski- ja pohjoispohjalaiset murteet) which are spoken in Central and Northern Ostrobothnia. The Far-Northern dialects (Peräpohjalaiset murteet) are spoken in Lapland.
One of the Far-Northern dialects, Meänkieli, which is spoken in Swedish Westrobothnia, is sometimes regarded as a distinct language from Finnish. Based on linguistic criteria, there are no grounds for treating Meänkieli other than dialect of Finnish. The reasons for such classification are mainly political.
The Ruija dialect (Ruijan murre) is spoken in Finnmark (Finnish Ruija), Norway. It is remnant from Finnish emigrants in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Eastern dialects
The Eastern dialects consist of the widespread Savonian dialects (savolaismurteet) spoken in Savo and near-by areas. The South-Eastern dialects (kaakkoismurteet) are spoken in South Karelia, on the Karelian Isthmus around St. Petersburg in Russia and Ingria. The Karelian language could be called a dialect of Finnish, especially in the parts of Karelia closest to Finland.
Formal and informal Finnish
Main article: Spoken Finnish
The Finnish linguistic situation is to some extent comparable to that of much of the Arabic speaking world, where Classical Arabic is used in official and religious speech and in the literature, whereas colloquial forms of Arabic are used in everyday conversation and in personal letters.
There are two main varieties of Finnish used throughout the country. One is the yleiskieli, or the general language, and the other puhekieli, or the speaking language. Yleiskieli is usually used in formal situations like church sermons, political speech and newscasts. Its written form, kirjakieli, is used nearly in all of the written texts, not always excluding even the dialogue of common people in popular prose. Kirjakieli means the book language. Puhekieli, on the other hand, is the main variety of Finnish to be used in popular TV and radio shows, at workplaces and it is sometimes preferred to speaking a dialect in personal communication. Also, the kirjakieli is quite rare in personal letters and in conversations in the Internet.
The puhekieli has mostly developed naturally from earlier forms of Finnish, and spread from main cultural and political centers. The kirjakieli, however, has always been a consciously constructed medium for literature. It preserves grammatical patterns that have mostly vanished from the colloquial varieties and, as its main application is writing, it features complex syntactic patterns that are not easy to handle when used in speech. The puhekieli develops significantly faster, and the grammatical simplifications includes also the most common pronouns and suffixes, which sums up to frequent but modest differences.
Finnish children usually acquire the knowledge of kirjakieli when educated in school, but many children who read much learn it as their (written) "first language".
Examples
- formal language — colloquial language
- he menevät — ne menee (they go)
- onko teillä — onks teil (do you have?)
- emme sano — me ei sanota (we don't say)
- (minun) kirjani — mun kirja (my book)
- kuusikymmentäviisi — kuus(kyt)viis (sixty-five)
- tulen — tuun (I'm coming)
- väkeä — väkee (people)
- punainen — punanen (red)
Sounds
Grammar
Vocabulary
Since Finnish is agglutinative and inflected, it has a smaller core vocabulary than, for example, English, and uses derivative suffixes to a greater extent. As an example, take the word kirja (a book), from which one can form derivatives kirjain (a letter [of the alphabet]), kirje (a letter [a piece of correspondence]), kirjasto (a library), kirjailija (an author), kirjallisuus (literature), kirjoittaa (to write), kirjoittaja (someone who writes), kirjallinen (something in written form), kirjata (to write down, register, record), kirjasin (a font), and others.
Here are some of the more common such suffixes. Which of each pair used depends on the word being suffixed using the rules of vowel harmony.
- -ja/jä : someone who does something (eg. lukea = to read -> lukija = reader)
- -lainen/läinen : inhabitant of (either noun or adjective) Englanti = England -> englantilainen = English person or thing; Helsinki -> helsinkiläinen = person from Helsinki
- -sto/stö : forms a noun indicating a collection (kirja = a book -> kirjasto = a library; laiva = a ship -> laivasto = navy, fleet)
- -in : a tool or instrument (kirjata = to book, to file -> kirjain = a letter (of the alphabet); vatkata = to whisk -> vatkain = a whisk, mixer)
- -uri/yri : someone or something that does something (kaivaa = to dig -> kaivuri = a machine that digs; laiva = a ship -> laivuri = shipper, shipmaster)
- -os/ös : forming nouns describing the result of some action (tulla = to come -> tulos = result, outcome; tehdä to do -> teos = a piece of work)
- -ton/tön : describing lack of something (onni = happiness -> onneton = unhappy; koti = home -> koditon = homeless)
- -llinen : having (the quality of) something (lapsi = a child -> lapsellinen = childish; kauppa = a shop, commerce -> kaupallinen = commercial)
- -kas/käs : another suffix similar to the above one (itse = self -> itsekäs = selfish; neuvo = advice -> neuvokas = resourceful)
- -va/vä : doing or having something (taitaa = to be able (old-fashioned), might (modern modal auxiliary) -> taitava = skillful; johtaa = to lead -> johtava = leading)
- -la/lä : a place related to the main word (kana = a hen -> kanala = a henhouse; pappi = a priest -> pappila = a parsonage)
- Plenty more to add ...
Borrowing
Over the course of many centuries, the Finnish language has borrowed a great many words from a wide variety of languages. Indeed, some estimates put the core Finno-Ugric vocabulary surviving in Finnish at only around 300 word roots!
The first loan words into Finno-Ugric languages seem to come from very early Indo-European languages, and later mainly from Indo-Iranian, Turkic, Baltic, Germanic, and Slavic languages.
The usual example quoted is "kuningas" = "king" from Germanic *kuningaz, but another example is "äiti" = "mother" (cf. Gothic eiþai) - interesting because borrowing of close-kinship vocabulary is a rare phenomenon. The original Finnish word for mother is 'emo', which still exists, though its use is now confined to animal species, as is the variant 'emä'. This latter is also used in compounds in a figurative sense, such as 'emälaiva' = 'mothership' and 'emävale' = 'huge lie' ('a mother of lies'). There are other close-kinship words that are loaned from baltic and germanic languages ('morsian' = 'bride', 'armas' = 'dear').
More recently, Swedish has been a prolific source of borrowings due to present-day Finland being part of the kingdom of Sweden from the 12th century A.D. until ceded to Russia in 1809. It is still today the case that about 6% of Finnish nationals have Swedish mother tongue. The Swedish speaking part of Finnish is known as 'suomenruotsalaiset' (Finland-Swedes). A range of words were subsequently acquired from Russian - especially in older Helsinki slang - but not to the same extent as with Swedish. In all these cases, borrowing has been partly a result of geographical proximity
For example, Raamattu (The Bible) is a loanword from Russian, also other religious words are loaned from Russian. This is mainly believed to be result of trade with Novogorod 9th century and so on and Orthdox converting in 13th century.
Most recently, and with increasing impact, English has been the source of new loanwords in Finnish. Unlike previous "geographical" borrowing, the influence of English is largely "cultural" and reaches Finland by many routes including: international business; music; film (except for the very young, foreign films are shown subtitled); literature; and, of course, the Internet — this is now probably the most important source of all non-face-to-face exposure to English.
The importance of English as the language of global commerce has led many non-English companies, including Finland's Nokia, to adopt English as their official operating language.
Recently, it has been observed that English borrowings are not only ousting existing Finnish words, but also previous borrowings, for example the switch from "treffailla" = "to date" (from Swedish, träffa) to "deittailla" from English, to date.
Neologisms
Some modern terms have been synthesised rather than borrowed, for example:
- puhelin = "telephone" (literally: "thing for speaking")
- tietokone = "computer" (literally: "knowledge machine")
- levyke = "diskette" (from levy = "disc" + a diminutive -ke)
- sähköposti = email (literally: "electrical mail")
The generic term for a diskette is "levyke", but colloquially diskettes are referred to as "lerppu" (the now obsolete 5¼-inch floppy, derived from the word floppy) and "korppu" (the 3½-inch floppy, Finnish word for rusk or biscuit that obviously fits the description of the more rigid diskette and nicely resembles "lerppu"). The colloquial word "romppu" for the CD-ROM was invented in a contest by the magazine Suomen Kuvalehti when CD-ROM drives were becoming common in PCs in the early 1990s.
Orthographic features
The Finnish orthography is built upon the phonetic principle: with just a few subtle exceptions, each phoneme (distinct sound) of the language is represented by exactly one grapheme (independent letter), and each grapheme represents exactly one phoneme. This makes the language easy for its speakers to spell, and facilitates learning to read and write.
Some orthographical notes:
- Pre-1900's texts and personal names use "W" for "V" - both correspond to the same phoneme /ʋ/, a V without the fricative ("hissing") quality of the English V.
- Long vowels and consonants are represented by double occurrences of the relevant graphemes. This causes no confusion, and permits these sounds to be written without having to nearly double the size of the alphabet to accommodate separate graphemes for long sounds.
- The N in "NK" is a velar nasal, like in English. As an exception to the phonetic principle, there is no G in "NG", which is a long velar nasal as in English "singalong". "N", you will notice, does not sound like "N" when followed by either "K" or "G" in English!
- "H" occurring before a consonant sounds slightly harder than when occurring before a vowel.
The characters "Ä" and "Ö", although drawn as an "A" or "O" with two dots above, nevertheless are considered to be independent graphemes, even though "Ä" and "Ö" represent sounds similar to the corresponding sounds in German. An appropriate parallel from the English alphabet are the characters "C" and "G". They have a closer kinship than many other characters, but are indeed considered as graphemes in their own merits, since they distinguish meanings.
How the Finnish letters Ä and Ö differ from the Germanic (German, English) letters with diacritics:
- In German, the umlauted vowels are alphabetized together with their mother-characters, which is convenient as they often correlate with distinctions of tense, mood, or plurality such as Rad—Räder for "wheel"—"wheels". No such grammatical correlations occur in Finnish, e.g. päätös and paatos are different words. In collation, the letters Ä and Ö are placed at the end (see top of article for alphabetical order).
- In German, umlauts are replaceable; "Ä" may be written as "AE" and "Ö" is replaceable by "OE". This is for instance used when the ¨ diacritic is not available, e.g. on a computer with a British or American keyboard. The German poet Goethe's name is written this way as a matter of historical loyalty, although it may be written as the equivalent 'Göthe'. This is not possible in Finnish. Replacing 'lähtö' with 'laehtoe' produces a word that is nonsense to a Finnish reader, and makes reading so hard that the reader usually stops after a few of those. Also AE and OE (and ÄE, ÄÖ, etc.) are vowel combinations of their own right; jae "division" is distinct from jää "ice".
- The "Ä" occurs more frequently than its Germanic equivalent; for example it occurs five times in päivämäärä (calendar date).
- The two dots on "Ä" and "Ö" are used in English and several other languages to mark dieresis; i.e. two consecutive vowels forming separate syllables (adjacent monophtongs), as in coördinate. This is again not the case in Finnish.
Thus it is a misnomer to call "Ä" and "Ö" umlauts when used in Finnish. However, no better name is known in English.
For technical reasons or convenience, the letter combinations "sh" and "zh" are often used in quickly or less carefully written texts instead of "š" and "ž". This is a deviation from the phonetic principle, and as such is liable to cause confusion. In practice however, these letters are used nowhere else than in transcriptions ( e.g. šakki, Tšekki, Saakašvili), so the damage is minimal. Finnish does not use the sounds "z", "š" or "ž", but for the sake of exactitude, they can be included in spelling. (The recommendation cites the Russian play Hovanshtshina as an example.) Many speakers pronounce all of them "s", or distinguish only between "s" and "š", because Finnish has no voiced sibilants (z, ž).
I Give Full Credit To:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_language
www.wikipedia.com
This article is licensed under the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html">GNU Free Documentation License</a>. It uses material from the <a
The Kalevala is an epic poem compiled by Elias Lönnrot in the 19th century from Finnish folk sources. It is commonly called the Finnish national epic and is one of the most significant works of Finnish-language literature. The Kalevala is credited with inspiring the nationalism that ultimately led to Finnish independence from Russia in 1917. The name means "land of Kaleva". The text of the Kalevala consists of 22,795 verses, divided into 50 "runes" (finnish runot, singular runo) or chapters
Influence of the Kalevala
The effect of the Kalevala upon later art in Finland has been tremendous, inspiring composer Jean Sibelius, modern poet Paavo Haavikko, painter Akseli Gallen-Kallela, and many others.
There are two English translations of the Kalevala. The older translation follows the original rhythm of the poems that may sound cumbersome to English ears. Poet Keith Bosley has written another version in a more fluid linguistic style.
J.R.R. Tolkien claimed the Kalevala as one of his sources for the writings which became the Silmarillion. It was an inspiration for Longfellow's 1855 poem, The Song of Hiawatha, which is written in the same metre, and also inspired the British science fiction writer Ian Watson to write the Books of Mana duology: Lucky's Harvest and The Fallen Moon.
Kalevala
Ensimmäinen runo
Mieleni minun tekevi, aivoni ajattelevi
lähteäni laulamahan, saa'ani sanelemahan,
sukuvirttä suoltamahan, lajivirttä laulamahan.
Sanat suussani sulavat, puhe'et putoelevat,
kielelleni kerkiävät, hampahilleni hajoovat.
Veli kulta, veikkoseni, kaunis kasvinkumppalini!
Lähe nyt kanssa laulamahan, saa kera sanelemahan
yhtehen yhyttyämme, kahta'alta käytyämme!
Harvoin yhtehen yhymme, saamme toinen toisihimme
näillä raukoilla rajoilla, poloisilla Pohjan mailla.
Lyökämme käsi kätehen, sormet sormien lomahan,
lauloaksemme hyviä, parahia pannaksemme,
kuulla noien kultaisien, tietä mielitehtoisien,
nuorisossa nousevassa, kansassa kasuavassa:
noita saamia sanoja, virsiä virittämiä
vyöltä vanhan Väinämöisen, alta ahjon Ilmarisen,
päästä kalvan Kaukomielen, Joukahaisen jousen tiestä,
Pohjan peltojen periltä, Kalevalan kankahilta.
Niit' ennen isoni lauloi kirvesvartta vuollessansa;
niitä äitini opetti väätessänsä värttinätä,
minun lasna lattialla eessä polven pyöriessä,
maitopartana pahaisna, piimäsuuna pikkaraisna.
Sampo ei puuttunut sanoja eikä Louhi luottehia:
vanheni sanoihin sampo, katoi Louhi luottehisin,
virsihin Vipunen kuoli, Lemminkäinen leikkilöihin.
Viel' on muitaki sanoja, ongelmoita oppimia:
tieohesta tempomia, kanervoista katkomia,
risukoista riipomia, vesoista vetelemiä,
päästä heinän hieromia, raitiolta ratkomia,
paimenessa käyessäni, lasna karjanlaitumilla,
metisillä mättähillä, kultaisilla kunnahilla,
mustan Muurikin jälessä, Kimmon kirjavan keralla.
Vilu mulle virttä virkkoi, sae saatteli runoja.
Virttä toista tuulet toivat, meren aaltoset ajoivat.
Linnut liitteli sanoja, puien latvat lausehia.
Ne minä kerälle käärin, sovittelin sommelolle.
Kerän pistin kelkkahani, sommelon rekoseheni;
ve'in kelkalla kotihin, rekosella riihen luoksi;
panin aitan parven päähän vaskisehen vakkasehen.
Viikon on virteni vilussa, kauan kaihossa sijaisnut.
Veänkö vilusta virret, lapan laulut pakkasesta,
tuon tupahan vakkaseni, rasian rahin nenähän,
alle kuulun kurkihirren, alle kaunihin katoksen,
aukaisen sanaisen arkun, virsilippahan viritän,
kerittelen pään kerältä, suorin solmun sommelolta?
Niin laulan hyvänki virren, kaunihinki kalkuttelen
ruoalta rukihiselta, oluelta ohraiselta.
Kun ei tuotane olutta, tarittane taarivettä,
laulan suulta laihemmalta, vetoselta vierettelen
tämän iltamme iloksi, päivän kuulun kunniaksi,
vaiko huomenen huviksi, uuen aamun alkeheksi.
Noin kuulin saneltavaksi, tiesin virttä tehtäväksi:
yksin meillä yöt tulevat, yksin päivät valkeavat;
yksin syntyi Väinämöinen, ilmestyi ikirunoja
kapehesta kantajasta, Ilmattaresta emosta.
Olipa impi, ilman tyttö, kave luonnotar korea.
Piti viikoista pyhyyttä, iän kaiken impeyttä
ilman pitkillä pihoilla, tasaisilla tanterilla.
Ikävystyi aikojansa, ouostui elämätänsä,
aina yksin ollessansa, impenä eläessänsä
ilman pitkillä pihoilla, avaroilla autioilla.
Jop' on astuiksen alemma, laskeusi lainehille,
meren selvälle selälle, ulapalle aukealle.
Tuli suuri tuulen puuska, iästä vihainen ilma;
meren kuohuille kohotti, lainehille laikahutti.
Tuuli neittä tuuitteli, aalto impeä ajeli
ympäri selän sinisen, lakkipäien lainehien:
tuuli tuuli kohtuiseksi, meri paksuksi panevi.
Kantoi kohtua kovoa, vatsantäyttä vaikeata
vuotta seitsemän satoa, yheksän yrön ikeä;
eikä synny syntyminen, luovu luomatoin sikiö.
Vieri impi veen emona. Uipi iät, uipi lännet,
uipi luotehet, etelät, uipi kaikki ilman rannat
tuskissa tulisen synnyn, vatsanvaivoissa kovissa;
eikä synny syntyminen, luovu luomatoin sikiö.
Itkeä hyryttelevi; sanan virkkoi, noin nimesi:
"Voi poloinen, päiviäni, lapsi kurja, kulkuani!
Jo olen joutunut johonki: iäkseni ilman alle,
tuulen tuuiteltavaksi, aaltojen ajeltavaksi
näillä väljillä vesillä, lake'illa lainehilla!
"Parempi olisi ollut ilman impenä eleä,
kuin on nyt tätä nykyä vierähellä veen emona:
vilu tääll' on ollakseni, vaiva värjätelläkseni,
aalloissa asuakseni, veessä vierielläkseni.
"Oi Ukko, ylijumala, ilman kaiken kannattaja!
Tule tänne tarvittaissa, käy tänne kutsuttaessa!
Päästä piika pintehestä, vaimo vatsanvääntehestä!
Käy pian, välehen jou'u, välehemmin tarvitahan!"
Kului aikoa vähäisen, pirahteli pikkaraisen.
Tuli sotka, suora lintu; lenteä lekuttelevi
etsien pesän sijoa, asuinmaata arvaellen.
Lenti iät, lenti lännet, lenti luotehet, etelät.
Ei löyä tiloa tuota, paikkoa pahintakana,
kuhun laatisi pesänsä, ottaisi olosijansa.
Liitelevi, laatelevi; arvelee, ajattelevi:
"Teenkö tuulehen tupani, aalloillen asuinsijani?
Tuuli kaatavi tupasen, aalto vie asuinsijani."
Niin silloin ve'en emonen, veen emonen, ilman impi,
nosti polvea merestä, lapaluuta lainehesta
sotkalle pesän sijaksi, asuinmaaksi armahaksi.
Tuo sotka, sorea lintu, liiteleikse, laateleikse.
Keksi polven veen emosen sinerväisellä selällä;
luuli heinämättähäksi, tuoreheksi turpeheksi.
Lentelevi, liitelevi, päähän polven laskeuvi.
Siihen laativi pesänsä, muni kultaiset munansa:
kuusi kultaista munoa, rautamunan seitsemännen.
Alkoi hautoa munia, päätä polven lämmitellä.
Hautoi päivän, hautoi toisen, hautoi kohta kolmannenki.
Jopa tuosta veen emonen, veen emonen, ilman impi,
tuntevi tulistuvaksi, hipiänsä hiiltyväksi;
luuli polvensa palavan, kaikki suonensa sulavan.
Vavahutti polveansa, järkytti jäseniänsä:
munat vierähti vetehen, meren aaltohon ajaikse;
karskahti munat muruiksi, katkieli kappaleiksi.
Ei munat mutahan joua, siepalehet veen sekahan.
Muuttuivat murut hyviksi, kappalehet kaunoisiksi:
munasen alainen puoli alaiseksi maaemäksi,
munasen yläinen puoli yläiseksi taivahaksi;
yläpuoli ruskeaista päivöseksi paistamahan,
yläpuoli valkeaista, se kuuksi kumottamahan;
mi munassa kirjavaista, ne tähiksi taivahalle,
mi munassa mustukaista, nepä ilman pilvilöiksi.
Ajat eellehen menevät, vuoet tuota tuonnemmaksi
uuen päivän paistaessa, uuen kuun kumottaessa.
Aina uipi veen emonen, veen emonen, ilman impi,
noilla vienoilla vesillä, utuisilla lainehilla,
eessänsä vesi vetelä, takanansa taivas selvä.
Jo vuonna yheksäntenä, kymmenentenä kesänä
nosti päätänsä merestä, kohottavi kokkoansa.
Alkoi luoa luomiansa, saautella saamiansa
selvällä meren selällä, ulapalla aukealla.
Kussa kättä käännähytti, siihen niemet siivoeli;
kussa pohjasi jalalla, kalahauat kaivaeli;
kussa ilman kuplistihe, siihen syöverit syventi.
Kylin maahan kääntelihe: siihen sai sileät rannat;
jaloin maahan kääntelihe: siihen loi lohiapajat;
pä'in päätyi maata vasten: siihen laitteli lahelmat.
Ui siitä ulomma maasta, seisattelihe selälle:
luopi luotoja merehen, kasvatti salakaria
laivan laskemasijaksi, merimiesten pään menoksi.
Jo oli saaret siivottuna, luotu luotoset merehen,
ilman pielet pistettynä, maat ja manteret sanottu,
kirjattu kivihin kirjat, veetty viivat kallioihin.
Viel' ei synny Väinämöinen, ilmau ikirunoja.
Vaka vanha Väinämöinen kulki äitinsä kohussa
kolmekymmentä keseä, yhen verran talviaki,
noilla vienoilla vesillä, utuisilla lainehilla.
Arvelee, ajattelevi, miten olla, kuin eleä
pimeässä piilossansa, asunnossa ahtahassa,
kuss' ei konsa kuuta nähnyt eikä päiveä havainnut.
Sanovi sanalla tuolla, lausui tuolla lausehella:
"Kuu, keritä, päivyt, päästä, otava, yhä opeta
miestä ouoilta ovilta, veräjiltä vierahilta,
näiltä pieniltä pesiltä, asunnoilta ahtahilta!
Saata maalle matkamiestä, ilmoillen inehmon lasta,
kuuta taivon katsomahan, päiveä ihoamahan,
otavaista oppimahan, tähtiä tähyämähän!"
Kun ei kuu kerittänynnä eikä päivyt päästänynnä,
ouosteli aikojansa, tuskastui elämätänsä:
liikahutti linnan portin sormella nimettömällä,
lukon luisen luikahutti vasemmalla varpahalla;
tuli kynsin kynnykseltä, polvin porstuan ovelta.
Siitä suistui suin merehen, käsin kääntyi lainehesen;
jääpi mies meren varahan, uros aaltojen sekahan.
Virui siellä viisi vuotta, sekä viisi jotta kuusi,
vuotta seitsemän, kaheksan. Seisottui selälle viimein,
niemelle nimettömälle, manterelle puuttomalle.
Polvin maasta ponnistihe, käsivarsin käännältihe.
Nousi kuuta katsomahan, päiveä ihoamahan,
otavaista oppimahan, tähtiä tähyämähän.
Se oli synty Väinämöisen, rotu rohkean runojan
kapehesta kantajasta, Ilmattaresta emosta.
Translation:
IN primeval times, a maiden,
Beauteous Daughter of the Ether,
Passed for ages her existence
In the great expanse of heaven,
O'er the prairies yet enfolded.
Wearisome the maiden growing,
Her existence sad and hopeless,
Thus alone to live for ages
In the infinite expanses
Of the air above the sea-foam,
In the far outstretching spaces,
In a solitude of ether,
She descended to the ocean,
Waves her coach, and waves her pillow.
Thereupon the rising storm-wind
Flying from the East in fierceness,
Whips the ocean into surges,
Strikes the stars with sprays of ocean
Till the waves are white with fervor.
To and fro they toss the maiden,
Storm-encircled, hapless maiden;
With her sport the rolling billows,
With her play the storm-wind forces,
On the blue back of the waters;
On the white-wreathed waves of ocean,
Play the forces of the salt-sea,
With the lone and helpless maiden;
Till at last in full conception,
Union now of force and beauty,
Sink the storm-winds into slumber;
Overburdened now the maiden
Cannot rise above the surface;
Seven hundred years she wandered,
Ages nine of man's existence,
Swam the ocean hither, thither,
Could not rise above the waters,
Conscious only of her travail;
Seven hundred years she labored
Ere her first-born was delivered.
Thus she swam as water-mother,
Toward the east, and also southward,
Toward the west, and also northward;
Swam the sea in all directions,
Frightened at the strife of storm-winds,
Swam in travail, swam unceasing,
Ere her first-born was delivered.
Then began she gently weeping,
Spake these measures, heavy-hearted:
"Woe is me, my life hard-fated!
Woe is me, in this my travail!
Into what have I now fallen?
Woe is me, that I unhappy,
Left my home in subtle ether,
Came to dwell amid the sea-foam,
To be tossed by rolling billows,
To be rocked by winds and waters,
On the far outstretching waters,
In the salt-sea's vast expanses,
Knowing only pain and trouble!
Better far for me, O Ukko!
Were I maiden in the Ether,
Than within these ocean-spaces,
To become a water-mother!
All this life is cold and dreary,
Painful here is every motion,
As I linger in the waters,
As I wander through the ocean.
Ukko, thou O God, up yonder,
Thou the ruler of the heavens,
Come thou hither, thou art needed,
Come thou hither, I implore thee,
To deliver me from trouble,
To deliver me in travail.
Come I pray thee, hither hasten,
Hasten more that thou art needed,
Haste and help this helpless maiden!"
When she ceased her supplications,
Scarce a moment onward passes,
Ere a beauteous duck descending,
Hastens toward the water-mother,
Comes a-flying hither, thither,
Seeks herself a place for nesting.
Flies she eastward, flies she westward,
Circles northward, circles southward,
Cannot find a grassy hillock,
Not the smallest bit of verdure;
Cannot find a spot protected,
Cannot find a place befitting,
Where to make her nest in safety.
Flying slowly, looking round her,
She descries no place for resting,
Thinking loud and long debating,
And her words are such as follow:
"Build I in the winds my dwelling,
On the floods my place of nesting?
Surely would the winds destroy it,
Far away the waves would wash it."
Then the daughter of the Ether,
Now the hapless water-mother,
Raised her shoulders out of water,
Raised her knees above the ocean,
That the duck might build her dwelling,
Build her nesting-place in safety.
Thereupon the duck in beauty,
Flying slowly, looking round her,
Spies the shoulders of the maiden,
Sees the knees of Ether's daughter,
Now the hapless water-mother,
Thinks them to be grassy hillocks,
On the blue back of the ocean.
Thence she flies and hovers slowly,
Lightly on the knee she settles,
Finds a nesting-place befitting,
Where to lay her eggs in safety.
Here she builds her humble dwelling,
Lays her eggs within, at pleasure,
Six, the golden eggs she lays there,
Then a seventh, an egg of iron;
Sits upon her eggs to hatch them,
Quickly warms them on the knee-cap
Of the hapless water-mother;
Hatches one day, then a second,
Then a third day sits and hatches.
Warmer grows the water round her,
Warmer is her bed in ocean,
While her knee with fire is kindled,
And her shoulders too are burning,
Fire in every vein is coursing.
Quick the maiden moves her shoulders,
Shakes her members in succession,
Shakes the nest from its foundation,
And the eggs fall into ocean,
Dash in pieces on the bottom
Of the deep and boundless waters.
In the sand they do not perish,
Not the pieces in the ocean;
But transformed, in wondrous beauty
All the fragments come together
Forming pieces two in number,
One the upper, one the lower,
Equal to the one, the other.
From one half the egg, the lower,
Grows the nether vault of Terra:
From the upper half remaining,
Grows the upper vault of Heaven;
From the white part come the moonbeams,
From the yellow part the sunshine,
From the motley part the starlight,
From the dark part grows the cloudage;
And the days speed onward swiftly,
Quickly do the years fly over,
From the shining of the new sun
From the lighting of the full moon.
Still the daughter of the Ether,
Swims the sea as water-mother,
With the floods outstretched before her,
And behind her sky and ocean.
Finally about the ninth year,
In the summer of the tenth year,
Lifts her head above the surface,
Lifts her forehead from the waters,
And begins at last her workings,
Now commences her creations,
On the azure water-ridges,
On the mighty waste before her.
Where her hand she turned in water,
There arose a fertile hillock;
Wheresoe'er her foot she rested,
There she made a hole for fishes;
Where she dived beneath the waters,
Fell the many deeps of ocean;
Where upon her side she turned her,
There the level banks have risen;
Where her head was pointed landward,
There appeared wide bays and inlets;
When from shore she swam a distance,
And upon her back she rested,
There the rocks she made and fashioned,
And the hidden reefs created,
Where the ships are wrecked so often,
Where so many lives have perished.
Thus created were the islands,
Rocks were fastened in the ocean,
Pillars of the sky were planted,
Fields and forests were created,
Checkered stones of many colors,
Gleaming in the silver sunlight,
All the rocks stood well established;
But the singer, Wainamoinen,
Had not yet beheld the sunshine,
Had not seen the golden moonlight,
Still remaining undelivered.
Wainamoinen, old and trusty,
Lingering within his dungeon
Thirty summers altogether,
And of winters, also thirty,
Peaceful on the waste of waters,
On the broad-sea's yielding bosom,
Well reflected, long considered,
How unborn to live and flourish
In the spaces wrapped in darkness,
In uncomfortable limits,
Where he had not seen the moonlight,
Had not seen the silver sunshine.
Thereupon these words be uttered,
Let himself be heard in this wise:
"Take, O Moon, I pray thee, take me,
Take me, thou, O Sun above me,
Take me, thou O Bear of heaven,
From this dark and dreary prison,
From these unbefitting portals,
From this narrow place of resting,
From this dark and gloomy dwelling,
Hence to wander from the ocean,
Hence to walk upon the islands,
On the dry land walk and wander,
Like an ancient hero wander,
Walk in open air and breathe it,
Thus to see the moon at evening,
Thus to see the silver sunlight,
Thus to see the Bear in heaven,
That the stars I may consider."
Since the Moon refused to free him,
And the Sun would not deliver,
Nor the Great Bear give assistance,
His existence growing weary,
And his life but an annoyance,
Bursts he then the outer portals
Of his dark and dismal fortress;
With his strong, but unnamed finger,
Opens he the lock resisting;
With the toes upon his left foot,
With the fingers of his right hand,
Creeps he through the yielding portals
To the threshold of his dwelling;
On his knees across the threshold,
Throws himself head foremost, forward
Plunges into deeps of ocean,
Plunges hither, plunges thither,
Turning with his hands the water;
Swims he northward, swims he southward,
Swims he eastward, swims he westward,
Studying his new surroundings.
Thus our hero reached the water,
Rested five years in the ocean,
Six long years, and even seven years,
Till the autumn of the eighth year,
When at last he leaves the waters,
Stops upon a promontory,
On a coast bereft of verdure;
On his knees he leaves the ocean,
On the land he plants his right foot,
On the solid ground his left foot,
Quickly turns his hands about him,
Stands erect to see the sunshine,
Stands to see the golden moonlight,
That he may behold the Great Bear,
That he may the stars consider.
Thus our hero, Wainamoinen,
Thus the wonderful enchanter
Was delivered from his mother,
Ilmatar, the Ether's daughter.
http://runeberg.org/kalevala/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalevala
