The Words for Malt in Finnic Languages
The Words for Malt in Finnic Languages

Summary/Abstract: The article analyses the words used for malt in Finnic dialects, taking into account their structure, etymologies, semantics and area of distribution. The words come from six different roots: variants of idu are used for malt in Karelian, Ludic, Veps and Ingrian, linnas is the singular of the Estonian and Votic equivalent, from mage come malt names in Livonian and in some Estonian dialects, mallas is the common malt name in Finnish and Ingrian, solod is used for malt in Karelian and Ludic, and suloim in Veps. Most of the Finnic malt names are formed on the basis of different loanwords, which in the donor languages also mean ’sweet, tasty’. This diversity of equivalents which are used in the group of the closely related languages for malted grain refers to language contacts and, at the same time, to quite important cultural and economic relations with neighbouring peoples.

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