Puppenbezeichnungen in den ostseefinnischen Sprachen
Terms for ’Doll’ in Finnic Languages

Summary/Abstract: The names for ’doll’ that might be nominated for term status in the Finnic languages originate in the following 16 word stems: d'it'a, kukla, lell, molla-, muča-, nukk, pipā, pupe, raukka, titt, tokka, tütti, vauva, vunukka, vänts, äppö. Most of them are obviously of Indo-European origin. Of those, tokka, pupe, kukla, lell, and probably also titt have been borrowed directly in the sense of ’doll’. In the neighbouring languages of Finnish and Karelian, the words d'it'a and vunukka as well as nouns with the stem tytt- refer to a little child or little girl; consequently, in the two Finnic languages their meaning of ’doll’ is secondary. The Finnish and Estonian nukkV and the Livonian pipā may also be loanwords. The words äppV and vauva, originating in nursery language, are used in Finnish dialects only, while vauva mostly means ’baby, little child’. The words with the stem muča- used for ’doll’ in Karelian and Vepsian originate in nouns ­denoting ’young wife’ or ’little’. In the case of descriptive words such as the Finnish raukka and mollakka and the Estonian vänts, term status is questionable. The origin of the words has been found by the help of their phonetic counterparts in neighbouring and contact languages and by considering the areal distribution and naming motives of ’doll’ in other Indo-European languages.

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