Reconstruction:Proto-Finnic/se
Proto-Finnic
Etymology
From Proto-Uralic *śe(-j). Cognate with Proto-Mordvinic *śä (whence Erzya се (se), Moksha ся (sä); final vowel perhaps by analogy with Proto-Mordvinic *tä) and possibly Proto-Khanty *ćī (whence Northern Khanty [script needed] (śi); the Khanty comparison is rejected by Kallio on basis of it relying on Proto-Uralic *ć, which Kallio remarks as likely of secondary origin, but debate on Proto-Uralic *ć ~ *ś still continues).
Following Kallio (2020), the Finnic forms may have originally had a final *-j. This would explain the inessive *siinä and elative *siitä as deriving from earlier *sej-nä and *sej-tä, containing the same suffixes that, combined with *-s-, are found in the regular endings of the inessive (*-ssa < *-s-na) and the elative (*-sta < *-s-ta). The vowel would have been shortened in many other forms to simply *si- (specifically, *sej- > *si- originally in closed syllables); the essive *sinä and partitive *sitä (ultimately containing the same suffixes as the inessive and elative, respectively) have come about after this, and thus contain a short vowel. The genitive form (closed syllable) has *sej- > *se- due to its monosyllabic nature, and the nominative is likely analogous to it. *sei as the original form could also explain the Livonian development somewhat better.
Later analogy between the stems *se- ~ *si- ~ *sii- has further blurred the development, and this demonstrative pronoun goes under even more analogy in many descendants.
Pronoun
*se (plural *nek)
- it (medial?)
Determiner
*se (plural *nek)
- that (medial?)
Inflection
| Note: The Proto-Finnic declension system is yet to be reconstructed in detail. What is presented here is only one possibility. | |||
| singular | plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | *se | *nek | |
| accusative | *sen | *nek | |
| genitive | *sen | *neden *neiden *niiden | |
| partitive | *sitä | *neitä *niitä | |
| inessive | *siinä | *neissä *neihnä *niissä *niihnä | |
| elative | *siitä | *neistä *niistä | |
| illative | *sihen *siihen |
*neisen *niisen | |
| adessive | *sillä | *neillä *niillä | |
| ablative | *siltä | *neiltä *niiltä | |
| allative | *silen *silek |
*neilen *neilek *niilen *niilek | |
| essive | *sinä | *neinä *niinä | |
| translative | *siksi | *neiksi *niiksi | |
| instructive | *sen | *nein *niin | |
| comitative | *sinek | *neinek *niinek | |
| abessive | *sittä | *neittä *niittä | |
Descendants
- Estonian: see
- Finnish: se, (dialectal) see
- Ingrian: se, (dialectal) see, sen
- Karelian:
- Livonian: se
- Livvi: se
- Ludian: se
- Veps: se
- Võro: sê (obsolete; Wiedemann 1864), ⇒ seo
- Votic: se
Further reading
- “see”, in [ETY] Eesti etümoloogiasõnaraamat [Estonian Etymological Dictionary] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2012
- Itkonen, Erkki, Kulonen, Ulla-Maija, editors (1992–2000), “se”, in Suomen sanojen alkuperä [The Origin of Finnish Words][1] (in Finnish) (online version; note: also includes other etymological sources; this source is labeled "SSA 1992–2000"), Helsinki: Institute for the Languages of Finland/Finnish Literature Society, →ISBN
- Kallio, Petri. Se (2020). in мас сымыӈ нэ̄кве во̄ртур э̄тпост самын патум: Scripta miscellanea in honorem Ulla-Maija Forsberg. pp. 171—183. Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura.
- Kallio, Petri (2020–), “*se(i)”, in Yhteissuomalainen sanasto [Common Finnic Vocabulary][2] (in Finnish)