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Poronkusema & the Finnish Linguistic Landscape

tXc · · · 3 Comments

It’s been said that the best way to get to know a society is through language, for it reflects  the idiosyncrasy, values and worldview of its speakers. Take Finland, the land of a thousand lakes and the midnight sun. Its dense forests, fertile mires and pristine lakes, as well as its harsh weather conditions and traditional lifestyles, have shaped the linguistic landscape of the Finnish language throughout the years, from surname conventions to everyday expressions.

One instance of this ever-present connection with nature is the obsolete unit of measurement poronkusema, used by the Sami people to describe the distance a reindeer can travel without having to stop to urinate – roughly 7 to 7.5 km. The compound is made of the elements poron (reindeer’s) and kusema (from the verb kusta, to pee; and the suffix -ma: the amount peed in one visit to the bathroom).

Expat Gone Foreign, tXc, Poronkusema and the Finnish Linguistic Landscape

 

Another example of nature’s presence in the Finnish language is the expression peninkulma, which refers to the distance a barking dog can be heard in still air (approximately 10 km after the 17th century conversion of Swedish versts to kilometers). Another interesting etymological fact: the compound is made of the words peni (archaic for dog, again penin being the genitive case; dog’s) and kuuluma (to be heard).

Moving on from travel distances to farming soil, back in the day the Finns used the units tynnyrinala, panninala and kapanala to refer to the area that could be sown, respectively, with one barrel, half a barrel and one thirtieth of a barrel of grain. But Finns weren’t the only ones having their linguistic baggage shaped by agricultural practices: “a barrel of land” was a widespread unit throughout Scandinavia (Danish tønde land; Swedish tunnland); Norwegian tønneland).

And since we are putting all the units on the table, here’s another voluminous fact: foods such as strawberries, cherries, mushrooms, peas and even potatoes are sold by liters in Finland. Why is that, you ask? Imagine the old John Doe farmer – or in this case, the old Matti Meikäläinen, since we are in Finland – collecting strawberries from the field and throwing them in a basket as he harvests. Back in the day, scales were not as reliable or affordable as they are now, so our Meikäläinen guy would go to the marketplace and use his strawberry basket as measurement of his goods, selling his produce by volume instead of weight. What started as a thrifty method of commerce stretched out to the current times. So, whenever you happen to be in Finland and the vendor asks how many liters of cherries you’d like, panic not, he’s not offering you smushed-cherry goop. But whether you end up with a carton of cherries or a glass of cherry milkshake, hyvää ruokahalua!

Ps. This article was written under the musical influence of Sibelius’s Finlandia, Op. 26.

: )

The Last Name Standing

tXc · · · 1 Comment

Two issues at hand. First, coming from a Spanish-speaking country I have always thought the notion of dropping your name upon marriage is barbaric. Second, here’s the problem I have with incongruous feminists in this country:

Expat Gone Foreign, tXc, last names, surnames, marriage, maiden name

In Spanish-speaking countries, women keep their last names (yes, we have two) from the cradle to the grave. However, many countries are still under the spell of the 9th-century English Doctrine of Coverture. According to this law, women lacked an independent legal identity, they received their father’s last name at birth and automatically took their husband’s upon marriage.

I get it, societies were quite different back then, and women were mere property passed on from fathers to husbands like a football. But what about now? One would think that the world would have moved into a new direction by now, but here we are, in the 21st century, and the norm of married women taking their husband’s name remains ubiquitous.

We continue fighting for rights and claiming women’s visibility in society, without realizing that this is one of the many profoundly patriarchal and heterosexist traditions being perpetuated out of inertia, even by highly successful, educated, independent women. Ladies, it’s time to embrace our own identity and never it let go – unless your name is horrific 1, in which case, f*ck that shit.